New plan to protect leaseholders and make industry pay for the cladding crisis

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New plan to protect leaseholders and make industry pay for the cladding crisis

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has reacted to the government’s new plan to fund the remediation of dangerous cladding and building safety failings.

The government has recently reset its approach to building safety with a plan to protect leaseholders and make wealthy developers and companies pay to fix the cladding crisis.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove announced that no leaseholder living in their own flat should have to pay a penny to fix unsafe cladding.

He has given industry given two months to agree to a financial contributions scheme to fund the new plan, otherwise, if necessary, the government will impose a solution in law.

RIBA President, Simon Allford, says: “This new plan should provide some welcome relief to the many homeowners who have unduly suffered at the hands of our flawed building safety regime – and we welcome that.

“We remain concerned however that the new funding mechanism will not raise enough money to fully address the widespread fire safety or structural defects that exist up and down the country.

“The extension of the Defective Premises Act will also seriously impact the availability of insurance for the entire construction sector, impacting not only architects who are needed to help design remedial works, but also others who have never worked on high-rise housing projects.

“While the new collaborative procurement guidance signals progress, that too will require much stronger government oversight to prove effective, because despite awareness of risks, too many construction projects confuse cost, value and safety.

“To help the construction sector to move forward, the government must, accepting of its role as the regulator that allowed this crisis to arise, devise and enforce a properly funded and sustainable solution.”