Radical action to speed up removal of unsafe cladding

1 Government sets out tough new targets to fix unsafe buildings
2 Comments on the initiative
3 Further information
4 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Government sets out tough new targets to fix unsafe buildings

The government will set out tough new targets to fix unsafe buildings in England as part of a new Remediation Acceleration Plan due to be published today.

The plan is expected to introduce new measures to get buildings fixed quicker, ensure rogue freeholders are held to account, and put the end in sight for affected residents.

It will - for the first time - set clear target dates for making buildings safe and will propose to introduce significantly tougher penalties for refusing to act:

By the end of 2029, all 18m+ (high-rise) buildings with unsafe cladding in a government-funded scheme will have been remediated.
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.

The plan will also be backed by investment in enforcement - so that local authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the Building Safety Regulator have the capacity to tackle hundreds of cases per year.

Alongside the plan, the government will publish a joint action plan with developers to accelerate their work to fix buildings for which they are responsible. At least 29 developers, covering over 95% of the buildings which developers are remediating themselves, have committed to more than doubling the rate at which they have been assessing and starting to fix unsafe buildings, meaning work on all their buildings will start by summer 2027.

Seven years after 72 lives were tragically lost following the Grenfell Tower fire, thousands of residents still live in buildings wrapped in unsafe cladding. To date, 95% of buildings with the same type of cladding used on Grenfell have been remediated. However, only 30% of identified buildings in England have been remediated, with potentially thousands more buildings yet to be identified. Since July, the Government has engaged with Mayors, local enforcement agencies and developers to address the unacceptably slow pace of remediation and will now set out its plan to speed it up.

The plan follows the publication of the full Grenfell Tower Inquiry report in September, which highlighted catastrophic and systemic failures in keeping people safe. It delivers on the Prime Minister’s commitment that the government set out further steps on remediation by the autumn to deliver real change. The government is considering the Phase 2 report of the Inquiry and has committed to providing an update on our progress by March 2025.

The Remediation Acceleration Plan will speed up the process of making homes safe by focusing on three key objectives:

Fix buildings faster: Expedite remediation of high-risk buildings with clear deadlines and penalties for non-compliance.
Identify all unsafe buildings: Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding through advanced data assessments and the creation of a comprehensive building register.
Support residents: Protect residents from the financial burdens of remediation and improve their experience throughout the process.

[edit] Comments on the initiative

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

"More than seven years on from the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of people have been left living in homes across this country with dangerous cladding. The pace of remediation has been far too slow for far too long. We are taking decisive action to right this wrong and make homes safe. Our Remediation Acceleration Plan will ensure those responsible for making buildings safe deliver the change residents need and deserve."

Building Safety Minister Alex Norris said:

"Every resident deserves to feel safe in their home. By setting a clear timeline and firm deadlines, today’s announcement is a major step towards ensuring every building is made safe. Our Remediation Acceleration plan will fix buildings faster, identify all buildings with unsafe cladding and support vulnerable residents. This underscores our unwavering commitment to safeguarding residents and holding those responsible to account. We will not hesitate to actively pursue the owners of buildings who refuse to act."

[edit] Further information

The Remediation Acceleration Plan introduces ambitious new targets to address unsafe cladding in England.

The publication of the plan coincides with a debate in Parliament on the findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report. Announcements made during the debate include the introduction of a continuous review process for statutory guidance to building regulations, covering fire safety and building design by the Building Safety Regulator. Additionally, the way in which the Building Regulations guidance is produced, updated and communicated to the construction industry will also be reviewed, emphasising the need for clarity and accountability in ensuring building safety.

This announcement follows letters sent by the Deputy Prime Minister to organisations responsible for fixing residential buildings with unsafe cladding. Alongside new deadlines for the commencement of remediation works on residential buildings, organisations were told they must take accountability and act now or face the consequences.

We expect to have reviewed 80% of the 11m+building stock, contacting responsible entities for those we believe might have a cladding risk concurrently, with plans to increase this to over 95% by late 2025.

The government will commit to bringing forward a long-term social housing remediation strategy in Spring 2025. Before then, the government will begin to accelerate remediation of social housing by making sure that social landlords who are eligible apply for government funding do so and increasing targeted support for eligible social landlords who apply so that works can start sooner.