Home builders construct case for getting NSW tradies back on site

A coalition of home building companies is urging the NSW government to immediately restart residential construction across Greater Sydney under a new plan.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

A coalition of home building companies is urging the NSW government to immediately restart residential construction across Greater Sydney under a plan that will significantly reduce mobility on worksites but allow homes to be built during the lockdown.

Devised by the Housing Industry Association, the plan seeks an immediate resumption of building activity across Greater Sydney by halving the number of trade teams allowable on work sites.

The plan would also limit those teams to a maximum of five people and restrict tradespeople to four jobs sites a week.

The plan was floated at a crisis meeting held with NSW government officials, industry representatives and other stakeholders on Tuesday afternoon, with further lobbying of government ministers to occur in coming days, The Australian understands.

The NSW government’s halt on construction, expected to continue until July 31, is believed to be preventing up to 12,000 new homes from being built across the state, according to David Bare, executive director of Housing Industry Association NSW.

An official who attended the meeting, headed by Infrastructure NSW chief executive Simon Draper, said progress had been made during the discussions and a plan to address residential construction appeared to be advancing.

The HIA proposal highlights that its Covid-safe practices and guidelines for building sites have been widely adopted during the pandemic and had earned an award from Safework NSW.

Mr Bare said the residential home sector had demonstrated it could safely function in a Covid-safe climate and should not be put on hold alongside large-scale infrastructure projects, which faced a different set of challenges.

“This vital sector needs to restart now for the sake of the NSW economy, the jobs of thousands of trades people and to deliver the many thousands of homes and renovations for families,” said a letter, signed by Mr Bare, outlining the plan.

NSW recorded 78 fresh cases of the virus in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday, with 29 cases detected in the community – either wholly or partly – during their infectious ­period.

Twelve cases are under investigation for their isolation status.

The government announced a seven-day lockdown for Orange and some surrounding areas in the state’s central west after a Sydney delivery driver infected a worker at the Nestle warehouse in nearby Blayney.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian indicated on Tuesday that construction in Sydney would resume in some form by the end of July, although further details about what form this would take were not made clear.

“There will definitely be construction activity on 31 July, I can give you that assurance,” she said.

“We’re also working with the industry in making sure there’s enough security and that equipment is taken care of so that they can resume as quickly as possible.”

The HIA’s proposal has been endorsed by at least 15 major building companies, which are understood to be responsible for about 75 per cent of home construction in NSW.

Industry officials have expressed disappointment that discussions with government have focused on the impacts of civil infrastructure and commercial project sites rather than the consequences for the residential housing sector. “The operation and movement of trades on residential home building sites is very different to that of large-scale construction sites,” the letter said.

The planning document stated that housing construction was largely conducted outdoors and involved a smaller number of workers. It also said tradespeople involved overwhelmingly use private cars to travel to and from job sites, rather than public transport.

“We’ve operated in a Covid safe way since April last year, providing guidelines to all our members on how they can operate residential sites safely,” Mr Bare said. “None of our members is aware of there being Covid transmission on a residential building site.”

Ms Berejiklian on Tuesday said the government would be better placed by the end of the week to make a determination around when the lockdown might end.

But while the Premier was eager to assure the community of a restart to construction, she was unable to provide a similar timeline for a return of face-to-face learning in schools.