Housebuilders to pay "proportionate" cladding repairs

This comes despite housing secretary Michael Gove telling housebuilders in March he expected them to commit to full self-remediation of unsafe buildings “without added conditions or qualifications”.

The full text of the building safety costs pledge said both sides had agreed a “proportionate and consistent approach” to scoping the works, according to Building.

The full wording sets out “agreed principles”, including a promise that works to remediate blocks over 11 metres in height involve “no betterment” beyond a minimum requirement to repair critical fire-safety issues.

The buildings must have been built or refurbished in the past three decades, excluding builders where they are solely the contractor. The firms have said they will fund this without utilising the government’s Building Safety Fund.

It said: “We will work under DLUHC’s leadership to establish an approach for determining the nature and scope of remediation and/or mitigation works that is proportionate and consistent, taking into account learning over time, and that involves no betterment beyond what is required to remediate and/or mitigate life-critical fire-safety issues.”

Eight of the 10 housebuilders to publicly sign the government’s pledge have given cost estimates. They total a maximum of £1.1bn and are in addition to £777.8m already set committed by developers for fire safety remediation.

The 10 firms are: Bellway, Countryside, Vistry, Barratt, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson, Persimmon, Berkeley and MJ Gleeson.