We would like to provide the following business update to all our valued customers and stakeholders with regards to how we are currently managing the COVID-19 situation.
It has been a very difficult time both operationally and mentally, with the majority of our office teams having to adapt to working from home at very short notice and a small number of staff having to be put on furlough for many weeks, the novelty soon wore off!
We now appear to be moving into what will hopefully be the final phase of this virus and start getting back to some sort of normality, if not a different normality.
As a business we have been following and adhering to the government guidance throughout this crisis. With our industry required to return to work before many other industries, it has been a difficult time for our site teams as, like everybody else, they had concerns for themselves and their family’s safety.
Working closely with our customers, we have been able to create a safe and secure working environment which has been a great example of collaboration and we would like to thank all of our customers that have committed to making this happen. We are in regular contact with our site teams and they have had nothing but praise for the efforts of others to make the working environment safe during this time.
As a business we are now 85% operational on site with a small number of our team having to remain at home to support the NHS or caring for relatives that still need to be shielded, but this increases each week and it will not be long before we are at 100% capacity again.
With regards to our office-based operations, we are currently working on adapting our office locations to ensure they provide a safe environment for all our teams and we will be looking to fully re-open the offices in early July. Until that point all our teams will be working as normal, but from their remote locations.
At the start of this situation there was a real fear that customers may look at this as an opportunity to just pass down the issues created by the virus and not look to support us, the sub-contractors further down the line, but I am really pleased that, apart from a very small few, our customers have been nothing but supportive during this time and I hope now that we are back up and running that we can repay that support by helping them to get their contracts back on track.
You have our full commitment that we will be doing everything to support you as we come out of this situation and moving forward to what we hope is a better time ahead, both as an industry and a country.
We would just like to end by sincerely thanking all the people and companies that have supported us through this situation and we look forward to working with you and returning that support in the coming months.
As we move into this next phase your primary contacts can be reached on their normal emails or alternatively, please contact me directly on support@smdltd.co.uk
Please keep safe!
Ben Pratten
Managing Director