Government sets out Remediation Acceleration Plan for building safety

The Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced “radical action” to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding with its long-awaited Remediation Acceleration Plan

Published on 2 December 2024, the plan outlines a series of new measures to ensure buildings are fixed more quickly, at-risk buildings are identified more efficiently, and better support is given to residents and leaseholders. MHCLG has pledged to make buildings safe by 2029 by ensuring “rogue” freeholders are held to account with proposals to introduce “significantly tougher penalties for refusing to act”.

Ahead of a parliamentary debate on 2 December, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government Angela Rayner said: “More than seven years on from the Grenfell tragedy, thousands of people have been left living in homes across this country with dangerous cladding. 

The pace of remediation has been far too slow for far too long. We are taking decisive action to right this wrong and make homes safe. 

Our Remediation Acceleration Plan will ensure those responsible for making buildings safe deliver the change residents need and deserve.”

The government’s “tough new targets” have been set out as follows:

  • By the end of 2029, all 18m+ (high-rise) buildings with unsafe cladding in a government-funded scheme will have been remediated
  • By the end of 2029, every 11m+ building with unsafe cladding will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.

To ensure these targets are met, there will be more investment in enforcement, and local authorities, fire and rescue authorities, and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will be provided with the capacity to “tackle hundreds of cases per year”.

With many having already criticised the “slow pace” of remediation work – including at a recent House of Lords debate – the plan seeks to overcome the “most significant barriers” that are causing this slow progress.

These barriers include landlord reluctance, constrained regulatory capacity, the issue of social housing providers having varying capabilities and access to funding, developer inconsistency and third-party disputes, skilled professionals, and resident experience.

The three core objectives of the Remediation Acceleration Plan are listed as follows: 

  1. Fix buildings faster: Expedite remediation of high-risk buildings with clear deadlines and penalties for non-compliance.
  2. Identify all unsafe buildings: Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding through advanced data assessments and the creation of a comprehensive building register.
  3. Support residents: Protect residents from the financial burdens of remediation and improve their experience throughout the process.

As part of its remediation drive, the government has also announced a ‘joint plan’ to accelerate developer-led remediation and improve resident experience. Since January 2023, up to 54 developers have signed the government’s remediation contract. Together, they have committed to the following:

  • Improve resident experience of remedial works
  • Accelerate determinations of which buildings require remedial works
  • Improve the quality of assessments used to determine whether buildings require remedial works
  • Accelerate starts and completions of remedial works
  • Expedite cost-recovery negotiations with social housing providers to accelerate remedial works
  • Establish a developer-MHCLG Remediation Action Group.

More information on the joint plan can be found here.

A Building Safety Levy will also be introduced on new residential developments, expected to come into force in autumn 2025, which will raise £3.4 billion for remediation.

Building Safety Minister Alex Norris explained: “Every resident deserves to feel safe in their home. By setting a clear timeline and firm deadlines, today’s announcement is a major step towards ensuring every building is made safe. 

He added: “This underscores our unwavering commitment to safeguarding residents and holding those responsible to account. We will not hesitate to actively pursue the owners of buildings who refuse to act.”

National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Chair, Mark Hardingham welcomed the government’s plans, seeing it as a “critical step towards preventing future tragedies”. However, he observed that the “ambitious targets” would present “significant practical challenges”.

Chief among these [challenges] is the current shortage of skilled, competent professionals required to deliver such a large-scale programme, which is not an issue that can be resolved through funding alone. Fire and rescue services, while committed to supporting this vital work, are already operating under significant pressure to meet their statutory obligations. Without a coordinated, long-term strategy to address workforce shortages and build capacity, there is a real risk of overstretching the capacity of competent practitioners across the fire and wider construction sectors,” Hardingham said.

London Councils also welcomed the initiative, with Councillor Grace Williams, London Councils’ Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration noting

Like the government, we want to see faster action in removing unsafe cladding and ensuring that all residents are safe – and feel safe – in their homes.

This is a particular concern in London, where we have 67% of all the UK’s high-rise residential buildings. Although good progress has been made in removing unsafe cladding from council-owned blocks and taking action against the owners of private buildings, there remain immense challenges and much more work to do.

Boroughs’ lack of resources are a critical factor holding back the enforcement and remediation we all want to see. We welcome the government’s commitment to investing in enforcement and look forward to seeing more details on this.”

Also responding to the announcement, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) added that through “voluntary self-remediation commitments and new taxes”, the industry had committed £6 billion to address building safety issues, with “significant progress” having been made so far.

Today’s announcement should mark the start of a new approach to addressing ongoing failures. While home building companies have stepped up to support remediation efforts, other sectors have receded into the background without rebuke from government. We welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s clear commitment to pursue other sectors and actors who should, by now, have made a proper financial contribution to this national effort,” HBF Chief Executive, Neil Jefferson said.

Looking ahead, MHCLG stated: “Many of these commitments will require changes to the law. We will bring forward legislation to deliver these reforms as soon as parliamentary time allows. In addition, funding will be deployed to drive forward the pace of remediation. Finally, further collaboration will be undertaken with regulators, partners, and those living in remediation so that we can make all buildings with unsafe cladding in England safe from the risk of fire.

We will provide an update in summer 2025 assessing progress and outlining further necessary steps.”

You can access the government plan here.