Housing and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove
(Picture: PA Media)Michael Gove has warned there will be “consequences” for house builders and cladding firms that fail to sign up to his building safety plans, warning time is running out to agree.
The Housing and Levelling Up Secretary said the government “will do whatever it takes to hold industry to account, and under our new measures there will be nowhere to hide."
Gove has been strong-arming the house building industry into signing up to his new Building Safety Pledge, which was announced in January and commits developers to fixing cladding issues on projects stretching back 30 years.
35 developers had so far agreed to the plan. Gove has secured £5 billion for remediation work, split between £2 billion in commitments from companies and £3 billion from the new Building Safety Levy.
Gove said: “Today marks a significant step towards protecting innocent leaseholders and ensuring those responsible pay to solve the crisis they helped to cause.”
The Housing Secretary is now putting pressure on cladding and insulation manufacturers to sign-up. He has written to the Construction Products Association today calling for its members to commit to his plans. He pledged to “hold cladding and insulation manufacturers to account.”
The government is passing legislation that will make the pledge legally binding and those who fail to sign-up are at risk of legal action or having planning permission withheld.
Investment bank Investec said: “We read today’s announcement as a net positive for house-builders, albeit with the uncertainty remaining over how the issue of ‘orphan’ buildings will be addressed.”
