Cost of fixing unsafe cladding soars to over £16bn

Aaron Morby 4 weeks ago
Share

Independent spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, believes it will cost over £16bn to fix unsafe cladding on all buildings over 11m in the country.

Spending watchdog warns cost to tax payers of dealing with the building fire safety crisis risks being higher than the planned £5.1bn cap
Spending watchdog warns cost to tax payers of dealing with the building fire safety crisis risks being higher than the planned £5.1bn cap

The huge cost of widening the scope of buildings needing to fix fire safety problems beyond 18m tall to lower rise building of 11m height was revealed in a new report from the spending watchdog.

Between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings above this height are now estimated to need cladding retrofits.

More than 7,200 of those buildings are yet to be officially identified. And the NAO fears identifying and remediating this huge backlog could take many more years than the 2035 date presently plugged into Government spending estimates for the programme.

To make all these buildings safe could drag on into the next decade, leaving residents “living with the fear of fire and costly bills”, says the report.

Now the NAO has called on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to set a hard deadline to complete works to all unsafe buildings. 

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: Seven years on from the Grenfell Tower fire, there has been progress, but considerable uncertainty remains regarding the number of buildings needing remediation, costs, timelines and recouping public spending. There is a long way to go before all affected buildings are made safe, and risks MHCLG must address if its approach is to succeed.

“Putting the onus on developers to pay and introducing a more proportionate approach to remediation should help to protect taxpayers’ money. Yet it has also created grounds for dispute, causing delays.

“To stick to its £5.1bn cap in the long run, MHCLG needs to ensure that it can recoup funds through successful implementation of the proposed Building Safety Levy.”

The government significantly changed the types of buildings within scope for its programmes, and its approach to remediation, as the scale and impact of the cladding problem has become clearer.

Mandatory registration of high-rise buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022 has helped to advance works and identified nearly all of the high rise buildings at risk.

But there is no mandatory registration for the thousands more medium-rise buildings of 11m to 18m.

Of the 4,771 buildings now in the government’s sight – the equivalent of 258,000 homes – remediation work has yet to start on over half, with around one third complete.

Of all the 9,000-12,000 buildings estimated to be potentially in scope, work is complete for only 12-16%. 

To keep taxpayer contributions within a £5.1bn cap over the long-term, the Government plans to recoup £700m through refunds from developers for remediation works already funded by the taxpayer, and around £3.4bn from the new Building Safety Levy.

In 2023-24 there were potential losses of over £500,000 through fraud by one applicant, which has led the MHCLG to tighten its counter fraud procedures in the management of the Building Safety Fund. 

The NAO report also said the Government needed to do more to ensure that its policies were not working at cross-purposes. 

The Government has accepted there may be overlaps between its remediation programmes and wider government priorities, from decarbonisation to building new homes.

Latest news

First contractor call for £80bn Government mega-framework

Seven-year deal will cover construction work across all departments
13 hours ago

Welding crisis road bridges revealed

Bridge projects in Midlands, Gateshead and Cornwall impacted
22 hours ago

£1bn Bishopsgate Goodsyard phase one go-ahead

London Mayor approves 550,000 sq ft office scheme above Shoreditch station
21 hours ago

Costain poised for major HS2 tunnel fit out deal

Latest major deal on project due imminently
21 hours ago

New builds overtake refurbs in London office market

Drop in new construction starts but developers remain bullish
21 hours ago

Willmott Dixon wins £23m net zero Surrey SEND school

Hopescourt School job takes low carbon work pipeline to £1.4bn
22 hours ago

£1.6m fine after mast climber crush tragedy

Court hears how worker died while unloading work platform
22 hours ago

Severfield welding crisis hits five National Highways bridges

Full penetration butt welds under scrutiny as weight restrictions imposed
2 days ago

HS2 awards £3bn of track contracts

Ferrovial BAM and Colas Rail among 'rail systems' winners
2 days ago

Chinese diggers face 83.5% duty after JCB dumping complaint

Fair trade body finds UK kit prices were undercut by 23%
2 days ago

Rayner puts freeze on 43-storey London office tower

Government to consider impact on nearby 18th century City synagogue
2 days ago

Subcontractors raise concerns at Salford site

Bridgewater Wharf scheme hit by series of company failures
2 days ago

Wates wins Middlesbrough Gresham regen scheme

Firm will build 230 rental flats, hotel and 450 student beds
3 days ago

Severfield finds weld problems on nine HS2 bridges

Steelwork specialist slumps to a loss after £20m hit to fix installed structures
3 days ago

Scottish Water launches £9bn bid race

Delivery Vehicle 4 is company's largest ever procurement programme
3 days ago

Multiplex signs off £400m Westminster barracks resi job

Super prime 179 flats to be built at former home of Royal Horse Artillery
3 days ago

Road worker dies after crash on A30

Collision involving two highways maintenance vehicles and a lorry in Cornwall
4 days ago

Vp launches dedicated rail division

Launch comes as equipment rental specialist posts latest results
3 days ago

Kori Construction lands £21m Leicester care home

Work to start next month with local supply chain
3 days ago

Kier in line for £70m Bishop’s Stortford town centre job

Developer Cityheart recommits to regeneration of Old River Lane site
3 days ago

Kier and Bam star in two Welsh frameworks worth £1.4bn

Welsh hospitals and South West Wales building frameworks awarded
4 days ago

Developer GPE targets 40% of reused building materials

Subcontractors will be asked for suggestions on how to cut use of virgin materials
4 days ago

95 secure spots on major consultants framework

Host of firms win places on Procure Partnerships deal
4 days ago

Arup restructures board to create new CEO role

Group chair Jerome Frost takes new role at consultant
4 days ago

Winners revealed for £5.4bn electricity grid upgrade

SP Energy Networks unveils 19 winners - full list
7 days ago

Balfour and Flannery hit training milestone

1,000th student trained at Operator Skills Hub
4 days ago

Fast-track skills hubs to train 5,000 extra apprentices

Plan for network of 32 skills hubs to train construction apprentices in half the time
7 days ago

Malaysian property giant to buy 50% stake in JRL

IJM Land to buy into diversified £800m turnover south east contractor
7 days ago

Luxury house builder files administration notice

£31m turnover Octagon Developments Ltd lodges court notice
7 days ago

Morgan Sindall takes on £22m stalled ISG Cardiff school job

Workplan is being drawn up ahead of restart on Penarth school
7 days ago

Contractor services