Restrictions on regional construction sites throughout Victoria now mirror those previously in effect on metropolitan sites after the Victorian Government extended restrictions previously in place across metropolitan Melbourne into regional Victoria.

On Saturday, Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton declared that all restrictions which had previously been applied only to metropolitan Melbourne would be extended to regional Victoria.

The only exception will be that regional Victorians will not be subject to a curfew system.

For construction, this means that the following restrictions now apply across the state:

• For large scale construction, no more than 25 per cent of usual workers can be on site. In order to calculate 25 per cent of a project’s resourcing plan, take the daily average number of workers on the large-scale construction site across the project lifecycle, as derived from the large-scale construction site’s resourcing plan as of 16 August.
• For early-stage land development, there can be no more than 10 workers per hectare at any one time.
• For small scale construction, no more than five people plus a supervisor can be on site.

Exemptions apply for critical infrastructure and for emergency works.

Construction sites can be safely phased down and secured over coming days.

The authorised worker permit system will apply, under which businesses who require workers to attend site will need to issue an authorised worker permit to their employees.

Workers will need to carry their permit along with photo identification when travelling to and from work.

In a statement, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew said the decisions were difficult but necessary in the face of the growing delta outbreak and the large number of mystery cases.

Adding that the state aims to administer one million doses of vaccine over the next five weeks, he said the best way out of the situation remains mass levels of vaccination.

“This is not where we wanted to be as a community,” Andrews said.

“It’s not a decision we wanted to make after Victorians have sacrificed so much, but we have no other option. Cases need to be lower and vaccination rates need to be higher.

“There’s a million things that we miss about life before the pandemic and a million things we’re looking forward to doing again once we’re through this outbreak – each of those is a reason to get vaccinated.”

In a note to its members, the Property Council of Australia side the most important thing is to ensure that the construction sector can operate safely.

It added that vaccinations were the only way out of the pandemic.

“Our number one priority is to continue to deliver COVID-safe workplaces and ensure industry wide compliance to keep workers and the wider community safe,” the Council said.

“One in four Victorians work in the property and construction sector and these measures mean that at least some of them will be able to continue working safely and keep the economy’s largest sector going as they have during previous lockdowns.

“We will continue to work closely with the industry and the Government to ensure the industry plays its role in enforcing strict health and safety guidelines and delivering important jobs for Victoria.

“We strongly urge every property and construction industry professional to talk to their GP, book an appointment and get their vaccine. Vaccination is the only way out of lockdowns, and the only way to ensure the property and construction industry can keep working.”