FRIDAY'S NEW MOVES SIGNAL NEXT STAGE IN THE 'HAND OF HOD' RESTART FOR CONSTRUCTION

HOUSEBUILDERS and construction companies around Atherstone and district are ramping up their operations with plans to open sales offices to potential buyers.

Persimmon had already started upping tools on April 27, but on Friday it will open showhome doors to customers for the first time since Covid-19 lockdown measures were imposed.

The builder – which has a development of 450 new properties at Eaton Place off the A5 Watling Street in Higham Lane, Nuneaton – had originally shut all of its construction sites at the end of March.

The Yorkshire company said it had not relied on Government support to furlough its staff during the period, so is able to get them back to work quickly.

During the weeks that its sites were closed, Persimmon staff were testing a range of new methods for working safely during a pandemic.

"Now, as we re-start activity, this decision is also enabling us to get back to work swiftly and safely," said chief executive David Jenkinson.

Earlier this week, the Government said it would allow people to visit estate agents if they need to move homes.

The economy has been in lockdown for weeks in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The lockdown is thought to have put around £82 billion of transactions on hold in the property market.

The news follows similar moves from fellow housebuilders Taylor Wimpey – one of the UK's biggest – which said on Wednesday it would scale up its works.

Mr Jenkinson said: "We support the Government's view that the housing sector has a key role to play in the UK's economic recovery.

"The urgent need for new homes has not been diminished by Covid-19 and the new measures announced by the Government will reopen the housing market and allow people to get moving again."

The phased reopening of sites began at the end of last month and beginning of this with Taylor Wimpey workers returning to its building sites – one at Galley Common and another off the A5 at Higham Lane, Nuneaton, a couple of miles down the road from Mancetter – along with construction employees from the Vistry Group, which has a North Warwickshire base of Bovis Homes in Coleshill.

There are three current sites "under construction" in Grendon.

The proposed 56-homes Keir Living site at Grendon Point – on the former Sparrowdale School and Warwickshire County Council Recycling Centre – is due to be completed this year.

Across the Grendon Island, the Co-op is turning the old Boot Inn into a convenience store with indoor and outdoor customer seating while Costa is developing a drive-through coffee shop on the site of the Black Swan which has been pulled down. All three projects have been on hold during the coronavirus crisis.