BUILDING UP TO BUILDING AGAIN…….

Six weeks down, and the pandemic has created a new industry of webinars, Zoom sessions and articles, all dedicated to exploring the outlook for housebuilders and house prices. But you’d have to look pretty closely to spot one key perspective: where’s the view of the housebuilder?

It’s week seven of lockdown, and for Barratt, it comes just days after the announcement of a safe and controlled return to building homes. These are strange times for everyone, but it’s strange indeed to work for a housebuilder when it isn’t building any houses.

Whilst I wouldn’t pretend to speak for the whole of Barratt, some perspectives from my seat are set down below.

Weeks 1 and 2: Sideswiped

As the pandemic worsened, and the health issues started to hit home, Barratt’s senior team got used to the daily conference calls to be briefed on the latest data and guidance. Safety was the overriding priority from the start, and it was decided to close all active sites ahead of Government advice. The leadership made it clear that Barratt is committed to doing the right thing and safety comes first.

But closing down about 400 operational building sites and 30 different offices was a Herculaean effort. A new cross-function Coronavirus shutdown manual, running to many pages of detailed guidance, outlined what was needed to exit each site safely and securely.

In short…….a lot.

In the land and planning function the focus was on rapidly collating information on the extent of potential planning delays and the extent of resultant contractual risks. And keeping close to our landowners and agents to ensure interests are aligned.

Weeks 3 and 4: Getting used to the new reality

IT had worked night and day, from prior to the lockdown, getting everyone kitted out for home working. Weeks three and four meant another another massive wave of software integration and training. In parallel HR deploying huge resources to make sure all team members, whether furloughed or not, remained connected to the business in such unsettling times.

The new reality of being a housebuilder without building or selling any homes began to hit home as the weeks ticked by. As did recognising the scale of resource required just to keep the business functioning: from IT, to payroll, to accounts, to HR and, in particular, the focus on the health and safety of all employees.

Throughout, the messaging from the leadership, both inside and outside the business, was constant and consistent: ‘do the right thing’ and focus first on safety.

The need for regular data collection, for internal and external reporting continued, with an added urgency, given the importance of reliable information to make good decisions in such a dramatically changing situation.

As lockdown continued planning issues started to emerge across the business. The key one being the potential for consents and contracts expiring. Other problem areas included inflexible demands for CIL and S106 payments, and also the inconsistency in terms of the LPA measures to maintain decision making. Whilst many are preparing for remote planning committees and increased delegation, fewer are already delivering it.

Weeks 5 and 6: Responding to guidance and preparing for the return

With the business effectively on pause, the Government then made clear that they wanted construction to re-commence, provided that safe working protocols were in place and strictly adhered to.

The Barratt health and safety team pushed the pace on preparing plans and investigating whether and how safe working could be delivered. They looked at every single aspect of the build and sale process. From there a pilot site was set up and tested. The results were positive and lessons were learned.

New guidance documents and training materials were prepared, all focussed on ensuring the safety of employees, suppliers, sub-contractors, and customers. Barratt is used to applying strict policies and procedures, and confidence returned that safe working could be achieved, with the right protocols, training, embedding and monitoring. It wouldn’t be easy but it could be done.

Next came the detailed plans for reconfiguring the sites, ready for return. They included a huge range of solutions, including widened walkways, new signage, more PPE, and new layouts for site offices and compounds. All accompanied by training materials making it crystal clear what needed to be done, both in advance and once work has restarted. For employees, sub contractors and suppliers.

And then, the excitement grew across the business as the announcement of the return was made public. Let’s hope we get some flexibility on working hours to help drive the recovery.

What next?

Well, perhaps it’s easier to say what won’t happen:

1. Build pace won’t be back at full speed for a while. There will be range of restraining factors, not least the lower build capacity to deliver safe working, and the phased approach to new site openings;
2. Breaches of the safe working guidance will not be tolerated;
3. Sales offices will not open to the public just yet. But they will be safe and ready for when the Government guidance changes on what is a ‘safe retail activity’;
4. There won’t be any reduced priority on handing over homes which customers are happy with.

Right now, there’s a further preparatory push and then the sites will be made safe and begin to be opened up, in phases, next week. It will be very different from eight weeks ago and hopefully, the Government will continue its efforts to remove complexity and unnecessary restraints on a fast pick up, whilst ensuring no threat to safety.

We talk about sustainability a lot and this last 6 weeks has made clear that no business is sustainable if it isn’t delivering its product. And thanks to sure footed leadership and a clear focus on safety, Barratt will soon be doing that again.