Cladding Coordination
Services
Government Cladding Remediation Fund
Since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, the Government have been committed to ensuring that people are safe in their homes and have already committed £5bn to ensure that combustible cladding is remediated off of buildings over 18m. The new 11-18m Cladding Safety Scheme will ensure that where a responsible developer cannot be identified, access to funding will be made available to pay for life-critical external wall system repairs.
Key Facts
There are between 6,220 and 8,890 mid-rise (11-18m) residential buildings that will require remediation or partial remediation of external wall systems to alleviate life-safety fire risk (source: The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities).
If the responsible party (normally the landlord) fails to make an application, tenants and leaseholders may look to recover any liabilities passed on to them through the courts.
The new Fire Safety Bill requires landlords to mitigate the fire safety risks of any external wall systems; if they fail to do so, it is likely that the Government will consider taking action.
The Government want to assist the removal of unsafe cladding, and if applications are successful, leaseholders will find themselves living in safer buildings with the value of their apartments having been restored.
Submitting an application is a highly complex and time-consuming process, requiring input and co-ordination with over a dozen parties as well as meeting the prescriptive requirements of the application itself. From identifying the type of external wall system, to, liaising with fire engineers, base build contractors and architectural teams and in order to successfully claim the cladding has to pass the eligibility tests.
Due to the complexity of the application, we are advising landlords, RMC’s and managing agents to start preparing their applications for the new fundings as soon as possible.