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CLADDING REMEDIATION PLANS

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The Government announced on 2 December two new plans in relation to remediation:-

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1. The Remediation Acceleration Plan

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The Government's stated objectives of this Plan are:-

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Objective 1: fix buildings faster

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Many of the highest risk buildings are known to us. We must ensure they are remediated at pace, while also taking action to get newly identified buildings fixed more quickly than in the past.

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Objective 2: identify all buildings with unsafe cladding

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We have a long way to go to be confident that all buildings with unsafe cladding have been identified. We must work urgently to identify all buildings at risk.

 

Objective 3: support residents

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Some residents, including leaseholders, face crippling bills and other difficulties while they wait for remediation to take place. We must better support residents and leaseholders through the remediation process. 

 

Through this plan we aim that by the end of 2029 all 18m+ (high-rise) buildings with unsafe cladding in a government funded scheme will have been remediated.

 

Furthermore, by the end of 2029, every 11m+ building with unsafe cladding will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.

 

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We intend to:

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• create a legal obligation on landlords to remediate unsafe cladding so that those who should take action, but don’t, face severe penalties

• give regulators – local authorities, fire and rescue authorities, and the Building Safety Regulator – robust new powers to enforce remediation

• crack down on bad actors, by providing funding for regulators so they have the capacity to tackle hundreds of cases a year

• begin accelerating remediation of social housing while working with the sector to announce a long-term strategy in Spring 2025

• encourage and support developers to achieve their stretch target to start or complete remedial works on 80% of the buildings for which they are responsible by July 2026, and on 100% of those buildings by July 2027

• speed up the progress of buildings in government-funded schemes by reducing the time from application to works starting on site

• empower metro mayors to work in partnership with local authorities and regulators to drive remediation in local areas through Local Remediation Acceleration Plans – bringing together expertise, local knowledge and resources to create single area strategies

 

We will continue to identify 11m+ buildings that could need cladding remediation.

 

We intend to:

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• intensify the government’s current data assessment of over 175,000 building records in the next 6 months and over 540,000 in total

• legislate to create a comprehensive building register

• strengthen expectations on landlords by tightening building assessment requirements

 

We will make remediation work for residents and ensure they are protected from costs.

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This will be achieved by:

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• keeping residents informed by driving compliance with the Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings

• introducing shared ownership protections, with new guidance allowing leaseholders to sub-let at market rates

• protecting residents during remediation, through the extension of the Waking Watch Replacement Fund to the end of March 2026 which can save leaseholders £172 per calendar month (pcm)

• engagement with the building insurance industry to consider whether, for the duration of the remediation programmes, we might support industry to reduce unaffordably high insurance bills

• further reforms to support residents through the remediation process, including where a freeholder has become insolvent, or where a court-appointed manager is in place for a building

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To see the full policy paper, follow this link:

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2. Joint plan to accelerate developer-led remediation and improve resident experience

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Executive Summary

Following publication of the public inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower Fire, the Prime Minister made clear that unsafe buildings must be remediated more quickly. This joint plan is being published alongside the government’s broader Remediation Acceleration Plan.

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The government welcomes the commitment that 54 developers made in signing the developer remediation contract and recognises the progress made by many developers, in line with their contractual obligations, towards assessing and remediating their buildings.

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This plan reflects a commitment by the government and developers to work together to accelerate progress so that residents are able to feel safe in their homes again as soon as possible.

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The obligations in the developer remediation contract and the membership conditions of the Responsible Actors Scheme are entirely unaffected by the commitments in this plan.

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Developers and the government jointly commit to the following actions.

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1. To improve resident experience of remedial works: developers commit to sign up to the Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings and to adopt best practice measures on communication and letters of comfort to help leaseholders borrow and sell.

2. To accelerate determinations of which buildings require remedial works: developers commit to complete determinations for all buildings for which they are responsible under the contract by the end of July 2025, save for cases genuinely outside their control. The government commits to work with developers to resolve third party disputes, to publish dispute-resolution guidance, and to support work on template license agreements.

3. To improve quality of assessments used to determine whether buildings require remedial works: developers commit to use independent, competent assessors to undertake all assessments of buildings, including using the Cladding Safety Scheme panel of fire risk assessors. The government commits to commission sufficient audits of building assessments.

4. To accelerate starts and completions of remediation works: developers commit to start works on at least 80% of their buildings requiring works by end July 2026, and 100% by end July 2027, save for cases genuinely outside their control. Government commits to work with developers and the Building Safety Regulator to minimise avoidable delays and to intensify pressure on any third party that unreasonably blocks progress.

5. To expedite cost-recovery negotiations with social housing providers to accelerate remedial works: where developers are obligated to contribute towards the cost of remedial works in social housing (having acted as a contractor), developers commit to make every effort to agree their contributions by end of July 2025. Government commits to work with developers and Registered Providers of Social Housing to accelerate dispute resolution.

6. To establish developer-MHCLG Remediation Action Group: Government and developers commit to establish a working group to overcome barriers to remediation.

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​For full details  of the Joint Plan follow this link:

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