In a trading update today the house builder said 65% of site production had now been restored in England and Wales with jobs still shut in Scotland.

Persimmon said: “The ability to recommence operations swiftly has been made possible by the group’s decision not to furlough staff and to continue to pay all colleagues in full throughout the shutdown period, without recourse to Government assistance.

“This has retained talent directly within the business and ensured operational continuity at site level, supporting both the introduction of new safer working methods and restart activity.”

Sales offices will reopen from this Friday.

David Jenkinson, CEO, said: “Persimmon decided not to access any form of Government support during the shutdown period and has maintained its commitments to its colleagues and communities in full throughout.

“Now, as we re-start activity, this decision is also enabling us to get back to work swiftly and safely. Persimmon is open for business and we are looking forward to welcoming customers back to site and continuing to play our part in rebuilding Britain’s economy.”

• MJ Gleeson also announced a phased return to work on site with half of jobs opened by the end of this week and all up and running again by the end of June.

Gleeson said: “Initial on-site activity through May and June will focus on preparing site infrastructure and other ground-level works ahead of building out our forward order book.”

The company has furloughed 456 employees but is looking to bring them all back by the end of July.

James Thomson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We welcome the Government’s assistance in facilitating our return to work to build much needed homes.

“It will be some time before we can accurately assess demand but we are encouraged by the level of interest from prospective buyers in just the last few days. Our segment of the market is typically the one that recovers the fastest.”