Development company Crest Nicholson announced today that it would be signing up to the government’s new 'Building Safety Pledge', which commits developers to new guidelines for work on potentially unsafe cladding on buildings between 36ft (11m) and 59ft (18m) high. The firm became the first builder to commit to signing the pledge to fund retrofit works on buildings over 11m in height.
Levelling-up minister Michael Gove had given house builders until today, April 5, to sign the pledge. He had previously warned of dire commercial and financial consequences - including blocking planning permission and even a potential ban on trading - for any company that failed to fix historical fire safety problems, such as dangerous cladding similar to that which caused the devastating fire at Grenfell.
Crest said it expects a further charge from the commitments of between £80m and £120m, though it said this is only its “best estimate” at this stage. This comes...