Tag Archives: Building cladding

Student developer Unite said it expects to recoup up to 75 per cent of a £55m fund set aside to cover the costs of cladding remediation over the next three years. In a preliminary results statement, the developer said that it had set aside £55m as its share of a…

The government was warned that cladding such as that used on the Grenfell Tower was unsafe over 20 years ago and that the UK risked becoming a “dumping ground” for unsafe products, the Grenfell Inquiry has heard. Giving evidence to the inquiry, former Building Research Establishment managing director Debbie Smith…

Communities secretary Michael Gove has said that developers had the principal responsibility to pay for cladding costs but could not clarify how the government would assess a freeholder’s ability to afford the costs. Gove was questioned in Parliament on Monday over the recent proposals to the Building Safety Bill which…

The government had evidence 15 years before the Grenfell Tower tragedy that ACM cladding had failed a fire test and should not be used on high-rises, the inquiry into the 2017 fire has heard. During questioning, former Building Research Establishment (BRE) director Debbie Smith agreed the government “should have been…

The cost of professional indemnity insurance has soared in recent years by as much as 1,500 per cent for some firms, resulting in squeezed margins, supply chain pressure and business failures, as Joshua Stein reports

“Without PI insurance, the industry cannot survive or operate.” That is the blunt reality of the…

Developers face planning application blocks and no building control sign-off if they fail to fix problem cladding, housing secretary Michael Gove has warned. The new proposals would effectively block developers from the housing market. The rules are set to be part of the Building Safety Bill. They mark the latest…

For McLaren, the future of construction is tied to the effective use of data – and the business intends to gather as much information as it can, while retraining staff and recruiting external experts. Ian Weinfass gets an exclusive insight into its new digital strategy

“Data is the new oil,” declared…

A recent notice for a new monitoring contract for Grenfell Tower is not linked to a pending decision on the building's future, the government has confirmed. A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We know how important and sensitive a decision on the future of…

The government is looking for a supplier to renew a two-year structural monitoring contract at the Grenfell tower site, raising questions about the building's future. In an early engagement notice, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said it was looking for a firm to carry out all…

Cladding manufacturers have been targeted by the government in its bid to raise £4bn to fix unsafe cladding. In a letter addressed to the Construction Products Association, housing secretary Michael Gove told cladding suppliers they would have to bear some of the cost to fix the problem and invited them…