Taking advantage of the government’s Covid-19 job retention scheme, Gleeson furloughed 456 employees in early April, representing 76% of the workforce.
“Over the coming weeks we will begin to bring colleagues off furlough in line with the phased return to work,” the company said today. “We hope to have all furloughed colleagues back at work by the end of July.”
Gleeson is re-opening its building sites in phases, with 50% open for limited build activity by the end of this week and all sites reopened by the end of June. Initial on-site activity during May and June will focus on preparing site infrastructure and other ground-level works, it said.
Chief executive James Thomson said that Gleeson’s segment of the market – low cost homes – would be the one that would recover fastest. He said "We welcome the government's assistance in facilitating our return to work to build much needed homes. It will be some time before we can accurately assess demand but we are encouraged by the level of interest from prospective buyers in just the last few days. Our segment of the market is typically the one that recovers the fastest."
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