More than 35 developers have signed up to housing secretary Michael Gove’s building safety pledge.
The pledge, with its signatories, will be published later today. But while the government has said “more than 35” have signed, some have merely signalled their intent to do so, and as many as 18 developers who were asked to sign have either refused or are waiting for more detail.
The pledge requires housing developers to fix all safety issues in any buildings over 11m tall that they had a hand in building during the previous 30 years. So far it has raised more than £2bn.
Gove said: “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.”
For the companies yet to make the pledge, Gove said there was little time left for them to sign up, and that those who continue to refuse will face consequences if they fail to do so.
The government is introducing new powers that allow enforcement on any remaining companies who fail to sign, as well as those that breach the agreement they have signed up to. These new powers would allow the government to block firms from building and selling new homes.
This morning Watkin Jones said that it would not be signing the pledge until more detail was published.
The industry will also be forced to pay to fix buildings where those responsible cannot be identified or have ceased to trade. The scheme will be funded through an extension to the building safety levy, which will be chargeable on all new residential buildings in England. This is expected to raise up to an additional £3bn over 10 years from developers.
This follows a previous confirmation that plans for a 30-year loan scheme paid for by leaseholders would be scrapped.
Michael Gove has also written to cladding manufacturers, who have refused to make a similar commitment. “This is simply not good enough,” he wrote, adding that he will now do “whatever it takes… to make sure that there are significant commercial and reputational consequences for those firms that have not stepped up”.
The full list of signatories so far:
■ Avant
■ Ballymore
■ Barratt
■ Bellway
■ Berkeley
■ Bewley
■ Bloor
■ Cala
■ Churchill Retirement
■ CG Fry
■ Countryside
■ Crest Nicholson (which was the first to agree to the pledge, but has so far only signalled its intent to sign)
■ Croudace
■ Davidsons
■ Fairview
■ Gleeson
■ Hill Group
■ Jelson
■ Keepmoat Homes
■ Tilia
■ Lioncourt Homes
■ London Square
■ Lovell
■ Mactaggart & Mickel
■ McCarthy & Stone
■ Miller Homes
■ Morris Homes
■ Persimmon
■ Redrow
■ Rowland Homes
■ Strata
■ St Modwen
■ Taylor Wimpey
■ Vistry Partnership
■ Wainhomes
■ William Davis
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