Building safety: Remediation Acceleration Plan announced

The government has announced a Remediation Acceleration Plan, aimed at overcoming the obstacles to rectification of residential buildings with unsafe cladding via a three-part objective plan. The Government’s current estimates suggest that 4,000-7,000 residential buildings in England that have unsafe cladding have yet to be identified. As of December 2024, 50% of identified residential buildings with unsafe cladding have started remediation works, of which only 30% are completed. Some of the key points of the three objectives are set out below:

Objective 1 – fix buildings faster

The Government has said that its aim is that by the end of 2029 all buildings of 18m or in height, with unsafe cladding will have been remediated and all buildings between 11m and 18m with unsafe cladding will, as a minimum, have a date for completion. If this does not happen landlords ‘will be liable for severe penalties’. 

To achieve this, the Government says it will legislate to ‘create a clear and legal duty on those responsible for buildings 11 metres or over to take the necessary steps to fix their buildings within clear timescales’. The Government also says that there will be ‘significant financial consequences for inaction’ and ‘a new criminal offence’ for those that ultimately fail to do this.

There will also be powers to compel entities to disclose their beneficial ownership chains.

A joint plan has been agreed with certain developers, which includes 35 commitments from those developers and the government including target dates to finish assessing all their buildings by the end of July 2025 and to start or complete remedial works on all their affected buildings by the end of July 2027.

Objective 2 – identifying buildings with unsafe cladding

Residential buildings between 11m and 18m in height will now be required to register, extending the current registration requirement which apply to buildings over 18 metres or 7 storeys in height with two or more residential units. 

Objective 3 – support residents

The Government will directly engage with residents in affected buildings and will work with the HSE to see how advice and guidance on health and safety during the remediation phase can be improved. In the meantime, the HSE will continue sampling inspections of cladding remediation projects.

There are also measures being devised to deal, with among other things, leaseholders who find themselves in buildings where the freeholder, for example, has become insolvent. 

The Waking Watch Replacement fund is being extended to the end of March 2026.

And the Government reports that it is working with insurers to reduce fire related liabilities for the duration of remediation programmes, with the objective of reducing insurance bills for leaseholders. 

Finally, the Government will be introducing the Building Safety Levy in the Autumn of 2025. The levy will be charged on all new residential buildings in England that require building control approval. with some exceptions – it is not yet clear what the exceptions are. The only indications so far come from the previous government’s response to the consultation on the building safety levy.

Future updates

The Government has said that it will provide an update on building safety progress in the summer of 2025 and vows to implement statutory reform as swiftly as parliamentary process permits. 

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