The government has revealed a wide-ranging agreement that will see industry contribute £5 billion to address the building safety scandal.

Under the new agreement, which will become legally enforceable, over 35 of the UK’s biggest homebuilders have pledged to fix all buildings 11 metres and higher that they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years.

For the companies yet to make the pledge, the Secretary of State has also confirmed that there is little time left for them to sign up, and that those who continue to refuse will face consequences if they fail to do so.

The new scheme will be funded through an extension to the Building Safety Levy that will be chargeable on all new residential buildings in England. This is expected to raise up to an additional estimated £3 billion over ten years from developers and ensure no leaseholder in medium-rise buildings faces crippling bills, even when their developer cannot be traced.

New proposed laws, announced in February under the Building Safety Bill, will ensure qualifying leaseholders are protected from the costs of historical building safety defects, including total protection against cladding costs.

See: Agreement with major developers to fund building safety repairs – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)