An agreement between the Government and 35 major developers will see £5 billion committed from industry towards addressing the building safety scandal, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced.
As IFSEC Global reports, £2 billion of this has been committed directly from the 35 developers to fix their own buildings, while the remaining £3 billion will come from an extension to the Building Safety Levy, which the department says will “force industry to pay and protect innocent leaseholders”.
On 10 January the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities set out his approach to resetting building safety in England.
This established the principle that leaseholders must be protected and that the industry responsible should pay to fix the problems it created.
36 developers have signed a pledge committing to remediate life critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres that they have played a role in developing or refurbishing over the last 30 years in England.
Developers making this commitment have also agreed to reimburse any funding received from government remediation programmes in relation to buildings they had a role in developing or refurbishing.
The government is in discussions with several other developers who are considering the pledge within their internal approval processes.
These agreements were reached following constructive discussions with developers and the Home Builders Federation and will protect leaseholders from the costs of remediation of life-critical fire safety defects.
Each developer will be expected shortly to sign a legally binding contract reflecting these pledges and inform leaseholders in affected buildings how they will be meeting their commitments.
The work does not stop here. The government is fully committed to ensuring those responsible pay to fix the problems they created. It intends to continue to pursue those who played a role in developing unsafe buildings.
Unlike the approach taken by responsible developers, cladding and insulation manufacturers have not delivered. The Secretary of State has written to the Construction Products Association and warned he will do whatever it takes to hold them to account.
Developers who have agreed to a pledge:
*Signalled intent
What is the Building Safety Levy?
Placed under Clause 57 of the Building Safety Bill, the Building Safety Levy is a new levy on developers, which is designed to contribute towards fixing historical fire safety defects such as unsafe cladding.
It applies to developers making an application to the Building Safety Regulator for building control approval – the new Gateway Two process to be introduced in building regulations, which takes place before building work starts. Those covered within Gateway Two will be residential buildings or care homes over 18m or seven storeys – with subject to exclusions.
The levy rate has yet to be confirmed at the time of writing, with an ongoing consultation process designed to assess this, though it may vary over time.
Find out more about the Building Safety Levy, here.
