The government is promising ‘severe penalties’ for owners of builders more than 11-metres high who fail to get unsafe cladding fixed by the end of 2029.
It also says that by that sane date, another five years away, all 18-metre+ (high-rise) buildings with unsafe cladding will have been remediated thanks to a government-funded scheme.
The new remediation acceleration plan, published today, comes seven and a half years after the Grenfell Tower fire that claimed 72 lives and exposed a national scandal around the mis-selling, misspecification and misapplication of cladding systems.
To date, 95% of buildings with the same type of cladding used on Grenfell have been remediated. However, only 30% of identified buildings in England have been remediated, with potentially thousands more buildings yet to be identified.
At least 29 developers, covering more than 95% of the buildings that developers are remediating themselves, have committed to more than doubling the rate at which they have been assessing and starting to fix unsafe buildings, meaning work on all their buildings should start by summer 2027.
The Ministry of Housing says that its remediation acceleration plan is focused on three key objectives:
- Fix buildings faster, with deadlines and penalties for non-compliance
- Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding and create a building register
- Protect residents from the cost of remediation.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who is secretary of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, said: ”More than seven years on from the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of people have been left living in homes across this country with dangerous cladding.
“The pace of remediation has been far too slow for far too long. We are taking decisive action to right this wrong and make homes safe.
“Our remediation acceleration plan will ensure those responsible for making buildings safe deliver the change residents need and deserve.”
Building safety minister Alex Norris added: “By setting a clear timeline and firm deadlines, today’s announcement is a major step towards ensuring every building is made safe. Our remediation acceleration plan will fix buildings faster, identify all buildings with unsafe cladding and support vulnerable residents.
“This underscores our unwavering commitment to safeguarding residents and holding those responsible to account. We will not hesitate to actively pursue the owners of buildings who refuse to act.”
