In the latest Highways England circular on ongoing approach to the COVID-19 challenges, the government-owned company has confirmed it is continuing to operate as close as possible to business as usual.
Malcolm Dare - executive director for commercial and procurement writes:
'Engagement Council: We are planning a further call on Wednesday 22 04 2020 at 11.00am for 30 - 45 minutes. The call will be focused around C-19 related activities (current and future plans) and there will be more time available for verbal or written questions. The agenda will be finalised on 20 04 2020 and a diary invite will be sent shortly.
'Public Health England (PHE) Guidance: The latest PHE guidance was published on 07 04 2020. It continues to emphasise the need to maintain the 2m social distancing as much as possible and offers some further guidance. It explicitly covers construction in order to support the continued operation of the sector. The Construction Leadership Council will be updating the current Site Operating Procedures early next week in line with the latest PHE advice. To help, I have also attached a file showing the best practice that has been developed on the A14 project. I hope that this is of use and please share with other organisations.
'#TransportHeroes Campaign: To help explain the importance of continuing to operate as close to business as usual as possible Highways England is supporting the #TransportHeroes campaign on social media. Noting that construction has very clear Government support and PHE have clearly said that construction should continue to operate via their guidance, we want to help raise awareness with people outside of construction about the importance of the industry, its support for essential public services and why it needs to continue to operate. You can see our recent posts and follow us on LinkedIn.
'Should you have any questions please use the Corona.Information@highwaysengland.co.uk e-mail address.
'Please also keep us fully informed of any challenges that you believe could occur, or you are experiencing, so that we can ensure a coordinated Highways England and supply chain response. Please also continue to work with your normal points of contact within Highways England on a daily basis.
'Once again thank you for your help and I hope you all have a good Easter break. I look forward to working with your organisations over the coming weeks.'
