Housing Secretary Michael Gove says those responsible have to pay to solve the crisis.
Image source, Getty Images
Developers have struck a deal with the government to help fix unsafe cladding on tall buildings they have worked on.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said it was a “significant” step to ensuring “those responsible pay to solve the crisis they have helped to cause”.
An industry levy will collect £3bn and developers will pay at least £2bn.
Companies failing to pledge to fix tall buildings they have worked on in the last 30 years will face consequences, Mr Gove has said.
Housebuilders who do not sign up to the voluntary pledge could be banned from new construction, the government has warned.
“We will do whatever it takes to hold industry to account, and under our new measures there will be nowhere to hide,” said Mr Gove.
More than 35 housebuilders so far have committed to fixing unsafe cladding on all medium and high-rise buildings, taller than 11m (36ft), under the new agreement. While currently voluntary, it is to become legally enforceable.
After the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people in 2017, flammable cladding and other fire safety defects were discovered in hundreds of blocks of flats in the UK.
Image source, Getty Images
In February the government guaranteed no leaseholder would “have to pay a penny” to remove cladding from buildings.
The new scheme will be partly funded through an extension to the building safety levy, chargeable to all new residential buildings in England.
Cladding means adding a new layer of material to the outside of a building – to increase insulation, offer weather protection or improve the appearance of a building.
- 2 March 2021
