Housebuilders pledge £1.3bn for mid-rise block fire safety remediation

theguardian.com:

Major UK housebuilders have so far promised to spend about £1.3bn to remove cladding and other fire hazards from mid-rise housing blocks, but are still short of the estimated £4bn needed to avoid another Grenfell Tower-style disaster.

On Wednesday Barratt Developments and Redrow were the latest to reveal how much they would put aside to address life-threatening fire safety issues in the housing developments constructed by the firms over the past 30 years. Barratt said the decision would cost it up to £400m, while the figure for Redrow is £200m.

The sums add to the cash already put aside by stock market-listed rivals including Bellway, which has so far pledged £186.5m, and Taylor Wimpey, which has promised to spend about £245m, amid growing government pressure.

Barratt said its decision to sign an industry pledge to address the issue reflected four years of talks with government, following the Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017 that claimed 72 lives andwas blamed in part on developers’ use of combustible cladding. Housebuilders have stressed that they followed building rules set by the government at the time.

“Through constructive engagement between industry and government, a proportionate and sensible approach has been found and we look forward to completing the remediation process as quickly as possible,” Barratt said.

Persimmon confirmed earlier this week that it expected to spend about £75m to address the issue, while Crest Nicholson said remediation would cost the firm between £80m and £120m. Berkeley Group said it was committed to dealing with the issue, but did not disclose its own estimates.

The collective provisions from the UK’s largest housing builders are still short of the £4bn that the government has