Top Tips for Winter Site Working

Here’s how to keep your project on track as temperatures plummet

How to ensure work continues on site

1 Manage lighting

“With decreasing hours of daylight through the winter it is important that the site owner or contractors allow for additional lighting within their project costings,” begins project manager Oliver Steele-perkins. “This would normally be seen as a ‘ preliminary’ cost and agreed pre-contract, just the same as scaffolding, welfare, health and safety, skips and so on. Contractors should provide 110-voltage lighting both inside and outside a building. This will reduce the risk of injury and ensure a full working day is maintained throughout the winter months.”

If you’re acting as project manager, you may need to provide site lighting — Screwfix has a good range, or lighting can be hired.

2 Deter thieves

“Bad weather tends to see sites more unmanned than usual, and the nature of the ‘multi-trade’ approach makes the presence of a new person on site less noted or worried about by neighbours. Budget often precludes security personnel, but you could engage a firm for the fit-out stage when the high-value items are on site,” suggests chartered surveyor Bob Branscombe. “CCTV accessed via the internet is a good means of monitoring the project, but that is often only useful for seeing what has already happened.

“Managing the timing of your build programme can also be an effective means of enhancing security. Sage project management advice leads us to getting the superstructure completed during the summer, to avoid winter working outside. We can then forget the impact of bad weather as the building is secure and weathered in. Also try to stagger the deliveries to suit the fixing schedule, to avoid high-value items sitting around tempting fate.”

3 Manage safety

“Start by monitoring the temperature and making sure it is safe for workers to be outside — workers also need to ensure they are appropriately protected against frostbite and hypothermia,” says Oliver Steele-perkins. “The site should also be checked daily for changes in conditions due to the weather — including checking scaffolding, ladders, paths and walkways from ice. Icy areas can be treated with sand or salt; after strong wind or heavy rain you may need to sweep away debris, strap back netting or sheeting to scaffolding and pump away excess water. The site foreman should always initiate a site safety check before work starts and address any issues.”

4 Avoid loft conversions and roofing projects

“A lot of customers try to do their loft conversion over the winter period and while it’s possible to protect from the rain, it’s very difficult to protect workers from heat loss,” says contractor Ross Malone of Orchestrate. “I’d also avoid roof projects, as fibreglass doesn’t work below 5°C.”

For smaller projects, generally try to avoid the Christmas rush, advises Trish Nuttall, MD of Jo Simon Construction. “Suppose your job is due to start on 20 November, you’ll only have five weeks before all the trades shut down for a full two weeks over Christmas,” she says. “Schedules like that can put builders under huge strain, and while it shouldn’t affect quality, no builder likes to be harried or rushed. January and February can be a really good time for a project like this to start.”

5 Deal with motivation

Levels can noticeably dip during the winter. “As project manager you can look to mitigate some of the effects of the winter weather conditions by locking programme performance compliance into the builder’s contract,” says Bob Branscombe. “Programme the works to be slightly less productive during the poor weather, and maybe find ways to make the site a more motivated and convivial place during poor conditions.” A supply of hot drinks is one such motivator. Also look to avoid tasks that can’t be undertaken in freezing temperatures. H