WORK has restarted on a construction site – despite the Scottish Government saying building work should stop.

Troubled workers at the £250 million Sighthill Transformational Regeneration Area were called back to work yesterday.

The Glasgow Times was contacted by several workers who said they were furious contractor Morgan Sindall was forcing them to return to work during the coronavirus crisis.

Glasgow City Council is the main funder of the project and has removed its staff from the site.

The Scottish Government said it understood the concerns of staff and expects non-essential business to close.

One staff member said: "This has been highly stressful. First we were told we had to go back to work on Monday, then it seemed like the company would do the right thing and close the site.

"Now we're back and they are saying the site has been made safer but it does not feel safe being made to work when other building sites are closed."

A Glas City Council spokesman said: “Our position remains that we do not believe that this work is essential, and in line with current advice from the Scottish Government, council staff are no longer working at the site.

“It is a matter for each main contractor to consider the most recent advice from the Scottish Government in relation to construction and make a decision as to whether they would wish to continue construction in the current circumstances.

“We will continue to engage in dialogue with our contractors during this challenging time, and after the current crisis is over, we will work closely with all of our contractors to plan our recovery.”

Unite the union also last week called for Morgan Sindall to stop work at Sighthill, the largest regeneration project in the UK outside London.

But staff are back at work with no sign of the project stopping.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The First Minister has been absolutely clear that all construction work must cease unless, for example, it is for an NHS facility.

"We absolutely understand the concerns raised and we expect all non-essential businesses to adopt a precautionary approach by closing to protect the lives of their workers and their families.”

A Mrogan Sindall spokesman said the health and wellbeing of staff is the firm's "overriding priority."

He added: “As a precautionary measure, the Sighthill site was closed last week to allow for a reconfiguration of its facilities to ensure that social distancing measures could be implemented.

“The project has reopened yesterday morning on a phased basis with reduced numbers of workers on site. We have also put in place new travel arrangements and augmented on-site welfare facilities.

“Across all our operations we are strictly following Government guidance.

“We continue to monitor the situation very closely to ensure the continued wellbeing of our people.”