Nine major housebuilders have signed up to the Welsh Government's developers pact to remediate buildings with "life-critical fire safety issues".
Flintshire-headquartered Redrow along with Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Lovell, McCarthy and Stone, Countryside, Vistry, Crest Nicholson, and Barrat will address fire safety issues in buildings that 11 metres and over in height in Wales. These will include developments over the last 30 years.
Three developers - Laing O’Rourke, Westmark, and Kier (now Tilia) - are still yet to respond.
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The announcement, made by MS Julie James today, follows a lengthy campaign by leaseholders in the five years since the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The Climate Change Minister said she has made £375m available to tackle building safety and has "taken steps to ensure all appropriate routes are being explored to make sure that all medium and high-rise buildings in Wales are as safe as they can be from fire."
She said: "I have always made it clear that I do not expect leaseholders to bear the cost of repairing fire safety issues that are not of their making and that I expect developers to step up to their responsibilities.
"I am very pleased that following our roundtable meeting in July a number of major developers have acknowledged their responsibility by signing up to the Welsh Government’s Developers Pact. I met with these developers yesterday to confirm next steps, and their plans and timescales for remediation.
"In some cases, developers have started their remediation works, and are making the repairs necessary and I look forward to this work continuing at pace."
In a statement, Redrow said the £200m already pledged as part of the Developers Fire Safety Pledge for buildings in England, will not increase after signing the Welsh pact.
It said: "Our existing provision for fire safety in high rise buildings is £200m and this provision will not increase as a result of signing the Welsh Pact as the relevant buildings in Wales were included in the exceptional item recorded in the 2022 Financial Year.
"We will work with leaseholders to remediate their buildings and, where possible, pursue recoveries from main contractors, warranty providers and other third parties. These remediation works are expected to take a number of years to complete."
Ms James also confirmed that survey costs funded by residents, building owners and managing agents will be reimbursed by the Welsh Government.
"While it is right that developers take responsibility for defects that they are accountable, building owners and managing agents also have accountabilities when it comes to ensuring the safety of buildings and it is important that effective maintenance programmes are in place."
She added: "I would encourage all residents to assure themselves that maintenance on their buildings is being carried out in accordance with their lease agreements."
She added: "I would encourage all residents to assure themselves that maintenance on their buildings is being carried out in accordance with their lease agreements."
The announcement was welcomed by the Welsh Liberal Democrats but warned that significant gaps remain.
Party leader Jane Dodds MS said: “I am of course glad to finally see some movement from Labour on this issue. However there remain a number of significant gaps in the announcement today. Due to the lack of legislation in Wales, those homeowners in properties that were built by property developers refusing to engage with the process are effectively being asked to sit tight and wait after 5 years of already doing just that.
“As an interim measure, we would like to see the three developers refusing to engage barred from any work contracted by the Welsh Government or local authorities in Wales.
“We also don’t have an answer to what will be done about all the money victims have had to spend on waking watches, extortionate service charges and in many cases court cases against developers over the last few years while the Welsh Government failed to act. We want to see this reimbursed."
She added: "Overall communication from the Welsh Government to the victims continues to be extremely poor. Victims and managing agents have spent the morning finding out by drip feed from the Welsh Government press releases rather than the Welsh Government engaging with them directly. This has been a feature throughout the ordeal, with the Welsh Government not engaging directly with victims or including them in discussions about resolutions."
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