House builders commit to fixing blocks built on behalf of social landlords under Section 106 agreements

Barratt published the pledge, which the government asked 53 companies to sign, alongside a letter to housing secretary Michael Gove. The letter confirmed its intention to fund remediation work “to address life-critical fire safety issues” on all blocks that are taller than 11 metres which the builder developed in the past year. 

The house builder said that leaseholders living in buildings that have already been identified as falling within this scope will be notified within the next month to confirm that their block is covered.

For any buildings that are subsequently identified as falling within scope, Barratt said it will agree a “proportionate process” with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure building owners and leaseholders are made aware. 

Under the pledge, house builders have also agreed to not claim any money from the government’s Building Safety Fund to cover the costs of remediation on the blocks they own. 

The agreement said that buildings will be “assessed and remediated proportionately to the standard as articulated in the PAS 9980 methodology”.

PAS 9980 is a guidance document that was published by the government in January to give fire risk assessors a framework to follow to assess the risk posed by an external wall on a building.

The building safety pledge is the latest development in ongoing negotiations between the government and house builders after Mr Gove announced in January his intention to make developers pay for the remediation of blocks between 11 and 18 metres. 

At the time, the housing secretary said it was the government’s intention to make house builders commit to a £4bn remediation fund on top of the money they pay to fix their own buildings, in order to help fund work at blocks where there is no developer to hold to account. 

It is currently unclear whether the government still intends to make developers commit to such a fund.