Government issues progress update on developer remediation contract

Once signed, the contract requires developers to:

*take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical fire safety defects arising from the design and construction of buildings of 11 metres tall and over in height that they developed or refurbished in England across the 30 years prior to 5 April 2022

*keep residents in those buildings informed about progress towards meeting this commitment

*reimburse taxpayers for funding spent on remediating their buildings

These requirements reflect a public pledge signed by 49 developers last year. Once signed, the contract makes the pledge commitments legally binding.

Four developers – namely Davidsons, MacTaggart & Mickel, Robertson and Wain Homes – who signed the pledge were subsequently found not to have developed buildings within the scope of the contract. Those developers have therefore not been required to sign the contract at this stage. They may be asked to sign the contract in future if information emerges indicating that they did, in fact, develop buildings which are in scope.

Signatories to the contract

Developers who have signed the remediation contract include the Allison Homes Group Limited, Ballymore Limited, Barratt Developments plc, Bellway plc, Bewley Group Limited, Bloor Investments Limited, Broadthorpe Limited (the parent company for William Davis Homes), Cala Group (Holdings) Limited, Canary Wharf Group plc, C.G. Fry and Son Limited, Churchill Retirement plc, Crest Nicholson Holdings plc, Croudace Homes Group Limited, Dandara Living Holdings Limited, Emerson Developments (Holdings) Limited (the parent company for Jones Homes), Fairview Holdings Limited, Frasers Property (UK) Ltd and the Galliard Group Limited.

Further signatories are the Grosvenor Group Limited, Hill Holdings Limited, the Hopkins Home Group Limited, Inland Homes plc, Jelson Holdings Limited, Keepmoat Limited, Land Securities Group plc, Lendlease Europe Holdings Limited, Lifestory Holdings Limited (which also covers the Anthology Group), London Square Development (Holdings) Limited, McCarthy & Stone Limited, Miller Homes Limited, MJ Gleeson plc, Morgan Sindall Group plc (the parent company for Lovell and Muse), the Morris Homes Group Limited, Persimmon Public Limited Company and Redrow plc.

Regal Holdco Limited (the parent company for Regal London), the Rowland Group Limited, the Sorbon Group Limited (the parent company for Shanly Homes), St Modwen Group Holdings Company Limited, Story Homes Limited, Strata Homes Group Limited, Taylor Wimpey plc, Telford Homes Limited, The Berkeley Group Holdings plc, The British Land Company plc, Tilia Homes Limited, the Vistry Group plc, Viva Midco Limited (the parent company for Avant Homes) and the Weston Group plc have also signed the contract.

“Significant consequences”

The Government has made it perfectly clear that eligible developers who refuse to sign the contract or otherwise fail to comply with its Terms and Conditions face “significant consequences”.

On 25 April this year, the Government laid draft affirmative regulations to establish a Responsible Actors Scheme for developers under Sections 126-129 of the Building Safety Act 2022.

As a condition of membership, the Responsible Actors Scheme requires that eligible developers enter into a contract with the Secretary of State containing the self-remediation terms as published on 16 March 2023.