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House builders submit counter proposals to Gove over cladding funding
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has submitted what it describes as “reasonable and realistic” counter proposals to the government’s plan to make developers pay for building safety remediation work.
The HBF has submitted a number of building safety proposals that are conditional on the government agreeing to all of them #UKhousingThe HBF sent a letter to the housing secretary Michael Gove on Friday with proposals that include remediating buildings dating back to the year 2000 and withdrawing from the Building Safety Fund (BSF).
In exchange for these commitments, the HBF is demanding the government makes “no further call on our members in respect of these issues, except insofar as is currently enshrined in law”.
It comes shortly after the government proposed amendments to the upcoming Building Safety Act, which would alter the law to make developers liable for fire safety costs ahead of leaseholders.
The HBF has been engaged in negotiations with the government since Mr Gove announced plans to force developers to pay for the remediation of cladding on buildings between 11 and 18 metres.
Since then, the government has threatened developers that do not co-operate with a number of measures, including preventing them from receiving planning permission commencement or building control sign off for their projects.
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In its latest letter, the HBF said its new proposals “go even further than their existing commitments to remediate legacy buildings”.
The HBF has made three major proposals. First, its members will commit to resolve “critical” fire safety concerns on all their buildings that are taller than 11 metres, through what is described as “a proportionate and risk-based approach” that will need to be agreed.
Remediation works will date back to developments built since January 2000, as HBF members consider this timescale to be “reasonable and realistic”.
Previous announcements had suggested it could affect buildings going back as far as 30 years after developers were asked to provide comprehensive information on all buildings over 11 metres that have historic fire safety defects which they have built over that period.
Finally, HBF members will withdraw from the BSF, including for buildings where they no longer retain a legal interest.
Where a building has already secured money through the BSF, the HBF said it believes its members would be prepared to reimburse the the fund for “reasonable” fire safety remediation costs.
The proposal is conditional on all components being agreed, as well as a public commitment from the government that it will make no further call on HBF members.
However, a spokesperson for the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities said developers “have not yet gone far enough”.
“They must work with us intensively in the coming weeks to agree a fully funded plan to fix unsafe buildings. We have been clear that if they do not, we will impose a solution,” the spokesperson added.
The HBF also wants a commitment from the government to engage more widely with the industry in the "broadest sense”, as it said that UK home builders cannot solve the crisis on their own.
Stewart Baseley, executive chair of the HBF, said: “We reiterate our full support for the principle that leaseholders should not pay for fire safety remediation works. Our proposal is a strong indication of the seriousness with which HBF members take this matter and goes significantly further than their substantial existing commitments. We will continue to engage constructively with the government to find fair and proportionate solutions.”
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