Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove warned developers on 10 January that they must pay to fix the cladding crisis that they caused as he overhauls the government’s approach to building safety.

Gove has given developers a deadline of early March to agree a fully funded plan of action including remediating unsafe cladding on 11-18m tall buildings, currently estimated to be £4bn. He warned that he will take all steps necessary to make this happen, including restricting access to government funding and future procurements, the use of planning powers and the pursuit of companies through the courts. He added that if industry fails to take responsibility, the government will if necessary impose a solution in law.

Gove has asked companies to agree to:

• make financial contributions to a dedicated fund to cover the full outstanding cost to remediate unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre buildings, currently estimated to be £4bn
• fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11 metres that they have played a role in developing
• provide comprehensive information on all buildings over 11 meters which have historic safety defects and which they have played a part in constructing in the last 30 years

He stated: “The vast majority of 11-18m buildings are safe and others that do have combustible cladding may also be safe or can be made safe through effective use of existing or new fire safety measures, such as sprinklers and alarms. There are, however, a small number of residential buildings with unsafe cladding which must be addressed.”