The company said: “Two-thirds of the homes we sell are to people in what are now designated Key Worker roles.

“In recognition of their extraordinary efforts in keeping us all safe, fed and healthy the Board has decided that, when the Company is able to recommence site build activities, it will prioritise house sales to Key Workers.”

The M J Gleeson update also confirmed that three-quarters of its workforce – 456 employees – will be furloughed while the board will take a 30% pay cut and senior managers between 5% and 20%.

Work has stopped on all sites and Gleeson is now focusing on getting ready to restart construction once the crisis is over.

The company said: “A key priority is to reopen sites and sales offices once it is appropriate and safe to do so and our focus now turns to putting in place a programme to ensure as efficient a re-start as possible immediately the resumption of trading is permitted.

“We are keen to work with central government and local authorities to agree what provisions might be put in place to enable the safe resumption of building much-needed quality affordable homes as soon as it is practicable to do so.”