Acceleration of building safety remediation – ‘radical action’ announced

Yesterday the Government announced “radical action” to fix England’s unsafe high-rise buildings.

Remediation Acceleration Plan

In its Remediation Acceleration Plan (“RAP”) the Government stipulates it aims to meet the following targets:

1. All buildings 18m+ (i.e. higher-risk buildings (“HRBs”)) with unsafe cladding which are in a Government-funded scheme (e.g. the Building Safety Fund (“BSF”), Cladding Safety Scheme (“CSS”), etc.) will be remediated by the end of 2029.
2. By the end of 2029, all buildings 11m+ with unsafe cladding must either (a) be remediated or (b) have a date for completion.

Just how will this be accomplished?

Among other measures, the Government intends to:

• establish legal obligations on landlords to remediate unsafe cladding or face severe consequences, including significant financial penalties and a criminal offence;
• reduce the time from application to start on site for Government-funded schemes like the BSF and CSS;
• work with the Building Safety Regulator (“BSR”) regarding its capacity to deal with the additional requirements; and
• expand the existing building register to include registration of buildings 11m+ similar to the current requirements for HRBs.

The RAP also includes various steps to assist residents in such buildings, key of which are:

1. seeking to address capacity and capability in the remediation supply chain;
2. extending the Waking Watch Replacement Fund to the end of March 2026; and
3. working with insurers to investigate the potential of the Government supporting the industry for the duration of the remediation programmes to reduce the high insurance bills which leaseholders face.

Joint Action Plan

The Government also published a joint action plan (“JAP”) with developers which, along with speeding up developer-led remediation works, seeks to improve the experience of the residents in impacted buildings.

The obligations within the JAP include:

1. a commitment from developers to sign-up to the Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings;
2. providing ‘comfort letters’ to enable leaseholders to remortgage and sell their properties;
3. completing assessments and determinations of a developer’s buildings by July 2025; and
4. starting remedial works on 80% of the buildings for which a developer is responsible by July 2026, and on 100% of those buildings by July 2027.

Comment

In our extensive experience with building safety remediation projects, while delays due to the BSR and lack of competent resources are frequent, other matters which impact progression include obstacles with insuring a building while it is undergoing remediation and finding that defects are far more extensive then as originally thought. Furthermore, there is an often a lack of appreciation that for many buildings the repair obligation lies with a Right to Manage (“RTM”) or Resident Management Company (“RMC”) comprised of lay directors who are unfamiliar with construction; thus these parties require both expert professional and experienced legal advice to progress remediation projects. Moreover, pressure from developers seeking to force RTMs/RMCs to sign licences, works contracts and/or settlement agreements without adequate legal advice needs to be addressed.

While acceleration in remediating unsafe buildings is welcomed, it is imperative that ‘proceeding at pace’ is not done to the detriment of ensuring (a) proper investigations are undertaking, (b) appropriate licences, appointments and contracts are agreed, and (c) suitable insurance cover is put in place. Rather, caution must be exercised to ensure acceleration does not lead to the another ‘cladding crisis’ in years to come.

If you have questions about the Remediation Action Plan, the Joint Action Plan, the Building Safety Act, the Building Safety Fund, the Cladding Safety Scheme or any cladding and/or building safety issues, please contact Brenna Baye or any other member of our Building Safety and Cladding Team.

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