High rise sites hit as city builders dodge harder lockdown

Victoria imposes tough rules on running building sites as it tackles coronavirus but seeks to keep construction at ‘pilot light’ levels.

Any Melbourne project of more than three storeys can only have a maximum of a quarter of staff normally on site. Photo: AFP

Builders in Melbourne are preparing to reshape their operations to comply with strict lockdown rules imposed by the Victorian government, with the industry saying it won’t be able to keep to the strict regime for long.

Some of the country’s best known builders have already started moves to temporarily trim their workforces on high-rise city sites back to just a quarter of previous levels in order to comply with strict stage four restrictions.

The private Hutchinson Builders will be transitioning its 12 sites in Melbourne to operate with 25 per cent of their workforces as per the new restrictions.

Chairman Scott Hutchinson said construction timelines and completion dates would definitely be blown out. “It will delay things, of course, so we have to reprogram. It’s unfortunate but that’s the situation,” he said.

The national builder is too large to qualify for the federal government‘s JobKeeper scheme and will be looking to redeploy workers throughout the business.

Builders and developers have been slugged by the tough restrictions on high-rise projects in Melbourne as the state government moves to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the city.

But the under-pressure industry has won a slight reprieve from a broader shutdown that could have crippled it as a major economic driver as the city is still in the midst of an infrastructure overhaul.

Dubbed the lifeblood of the Victorian economy by Premier Daniel Andrews, construction is also slated to play a crucial role in the state’s recovery.

Mr Andrews said the sector would be entering a “pilot light phase” — reduced but not turned off completely.

Work on major government projects will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with staff shed where non-essential and non-immediate infrastructure can be put on pause.

But the key focus is on keeping private sector jobs moving as there are more than 30,000 houses under construction across Victoria, with another 30,000 apartments, mostly in Melbourne.

The city also has a wave of office towers underway with most listed REITs and developers undertaking projects that were started in rosier days for white collar jobs.

Strict rules will apply for large scale construction with any Melbourne project of more than three storeys to have a maximum of a quarter of staff normally on site.

Builders must also show they are not blending shifts, with workers kept to one site.

Small building sites of three storeys or less can have a maximum of five workers.

Urban Development Institute of Australia, Victoria, chief executive Danni Hunter said the restrictions were detrimental to the industry and must be kept to six weeks.

“This will put 300,000 Victorian jobs at very real risk of disappearing. It will put many residential and commercial construction projects at risk of being shut down completely,” she said.

The industry also called for the Andrews government to develop a support package for construction and development, including extending worksite hours.

“The economic impacts will be significant, and further measures and concessions will be required once restrictions are lifted, in order for industry to recover,” said the Property Council of Australia’s Victorian executive director Cressida Wall.

The housing industry welcomed moves to keep sites open, saying continuing with limited numbers of workers would allow hundreds of thousands of Victorians to stay in work and complete the more than 60,000 homes under construction in Victoria.

“This is an industry that can navigate its way through this crisis and stay open. Supporting home building with practical arrangements for trade supplies and building products and materials will ensure activity can continue with sensible COVID-19 safety controls,” said HIA executive director Victoria Fiona Nield.

The industry had pushed to remain open and avoided harsher restrictions that were mooted that would have essentially halted projects where building was yet to start.

This would have hit projects that are yet to get off the ground, pushing back start dates and making it difficult for some to launch as they are already finding apartment pre-sales and tenants hard to secure.

The Australian on Monday reported that a letter had been signed by the powerful development lobby and unions led by the CFMEU calling on the Andrews government to allow building sites to stay open.