Concrete manufacturer Besblock sees orders double in a matter of days

The Telford-based firm has been supplying blocks throughout the Covid-19 crisis, but has seen a significant increase in demand in the last week.

Andrew Huxley, MD of Besblock, said: “We’ve had a skeleton staff throughout the lockdown period and have furloughed about half the workforce, but we have never stopped delivering blocks.

“We have been doing just under a third of the business we would normally have been doing, but have seen a 50 per cent increase in orders over the last few days.”

Building companies which are looking to get operations back underway are in need of the materials to do so, but Andrew said building sites, and his own factory, won’t quite look the same in the future.

“Some of the meetings I have attended have been very good, with companies emphasising the importance of social distancing and hand washing, and explaining the things you can’t do which you used to,” he said.

“We’ve all got to get used to the fact that you can’t have multiple trades in one room doing a job in a house, for example.

“For us here at Besblock, there is one person per office and per control room, and there are only three people in the factory at any one time, so we are all quite well spaced out. We are doing everything we can to keep our staff as safe as possible.”

The Besblock production site, which invited more workers back last week, has increased signage, made extra PPE provisions, introduced more hand washing areas, and has added an extra shift to keep staff separate.

“We have spoken to all our staff individually, and it is those that want to come back that are returning. The ones that don’t want to return and we know have things like health problems, we haven’t asked to come back yet,” he added.

In recent years Besblock has invested millions across all of its departments over recent years to expand the business and enable block deliveries to go further afield. Up until the crisis the firm’s fleet of lorries were making some 60 deliveries a day.

Building contractor Pave Aways said more than 75 per cent of its sites have reopened with stringent measures in place to protect our teams.

The Knockin-based firm said it has issued operating procedures that are particular to each location and follow the Construction Leadership Council guidance.

MD Steven Owen said: “It is important that construction restarts to provide a boost to the economy but it is vital that we do everything we possibly can to ensure the wellbeing of our staff and sub contractors.

“Our measures are designed to ensure that progress can be made on our operational sites whilst keeping our teams safe.We are working closely with our staff and sub contractors to keep them informed and will amend our protocols and work schedules accordingly as the sites develop. We are also maintaining open communication with our clients so they know how we are delivering their projects safely.”