Covid-19

Businesses across the country have now been awarded more than £100 million through the Scottish Government Business Support Fund. The scheme, announced by cabinet secretary Fiona Hyslop at the end of April, has to date helped more than 2,500 businesses and 4,160 self-employed people.

Melrose-based housebuilder Rural Renaissance Limited (RRL) has secured a six-figure funding package from Bank of Scotland to support its working capital, enabling it to continue to pay suppliers and honour its contractual commitments during the coronavirus crisis. RRL is parent company to

Engineering services bodies BESA and ECA have released a joint sector guide on work-related travel and updated their guides on working in close proximity and in areas of increased risk of transfer of COVID-19, such as healthcare settings. The three sector guides are based on the latest government &l

As Scotland’s colleges and training centres discuss reopening, the Construction Industry Coronavirus Forum (CICV Forum) has helped develop a new set of guidelines designed to keep staff and apprentices safe.

The Scottish Government has asked planning authorities to be pragmatic in allowing requests to extend working hours on construction sites.

Construction site preparation works for Edinburgh’s Trams to Newhaven project will start today in line with the Scottish Government’s Phase 1 pre-start site preparation.

As Scotland’s building sector emerges from prolonged shutdown, the Construction Industry Coronavirus Forum (CICV Forum) has issued expanded health and safety guidance to help steer companies through the crisis and back to work.

The UK's furlough scheme implemented to save jobs during the coronavirus crisis will finish at the end of October, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced. Mr Sunak said employers will have to start sharing the cost of the scheme. From August, employers must pay National Insurance and pension contribut

New guidance from PASMA is helping managers keep scaffold tower users safe during the coronavirus outbreak. The industry body has offered its advice on the challenges being faced by those responsible for the health and safety of tower users as they plan a return to work, whether they're off on a tra

Scotland’s contractors have been instructed to follow physical distancing and strict health & safety guidelines as the industry took its first steps out of lockdown today.

Four in ten architects have said their mental health has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new survey has revealed.

John Jameson outlines a COVID-19 issue which many people may not have factored; the risk of Legionella created by stagnant water apparatus and cooling systems which have been largely redundant for over two months. As most property and health and safety professionals know, Legionnaires’ disease

A survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and its Global Construction Review publication has found that 92% of construction professionals around the world said they expect their business to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Scotland’s construction sector can begin site preparation work from Friday after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon began a phased reopening of the lockdown restrictions.

As the Scottish Government prepares to update its COVID-19 construction sector guidance, Laura McCorquodale details the industry’s six-phase plan to resume work. A six-phase plan has been drawn up for construction work to resume in Scotland as lockdown begins to ease from the end of this week.