Sir Robert McAlpine to shut down UK sites

Sir Robert McAlpine, one of the UK’s largest building contractors, will shut down almost all of its sites with immediate effect, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

In a statement about the situation, the company’s CEO, Paul Hamer, said the latest government measures make it unfeasible to continue on all sites, apart from those where safety can be guaranteed and where critical work is taking place.

He said, “As of today, Wednesday 25^th March 2020, most of our sites will be closed to all but essential safety and security employees. The only sites that remain operational are those where it is absolutely safe to do so and where critical work, such as building hospitals continues, or where we are putting safe shutdown plans into operation.

“While this will have a detrimental impact on progress and impact heavily on our people, we recognise that this action is in the best interests of wider society. It is quite simply the right thing to do.”

He added that the company’s priority, once it is permitted, would be to ensure it is fully operational as quickly as possible and that the damage resulting from the current status is minimised.