The government has secured an agreement with the UK’s 35 leading home builders to pay for the remediation of cladding on any building over 11 metres tall that they have developed over the past 30 years.

These include Barratt, Berkeley, Bellway, Countryside, Crest Nicholson, Persimmon and Redrow.

The cladding package will initially be worth some £2 billion with an extension to the Building Safety Levy due to raise a further £3 billion.

This new agreement struck today will be a legally enforceable pledge rather than being an option and those who fail to sign up to the scheme will ‘face consequences’ says DLUHC Secretary of State Michael Gove.

His department is also to usher in new powers that will enable enforcement on any remaining companies who fail to sign up, as well as those that breach the agreement they have signed up to.

Cladding

These new powers would allow the Secretary of State to block those who refuse to make and deliver on their commitments from building and selling new homes.

As set out in January, a new government scheme will also see industry pay to fix buildings where those responsible cannot be identified or forced to in law.

This follows previous confirmation that plans for a 30-year loan scheme paid for by leaseholders would be scrapped.

The new scheme will be funded through an extension to the Building Safety Levy that will be chargeable on all new residential buildings in England and raise £3 billion.

Gove (pictured) says: “Today marks a significant step towards protecting innocent leaseholders and ensuring those responsible pay to solve the crisis they helped to cause.

“I welcome the move by many of the largest developers to do the right thing.

“But this is just the beginning. We will do whatever it takes to hold industry to account, and under our new measures there will be nowhere to hide.”

The full list of developers who have signed up can be read here.