黑洞社区

Persimmon has become the second major housebuilder to announce it has signed the proposed cladding pledge negotiated with housing secretary Michael Gove as a central part of his strategy to address the fire safety crisis.

The 拢3.6bn-turnover builder鈥檚 announcement followed hot on the heels of Crest Nicholson, which this morning said it intended to sign the pledge, details of which are expected to be officially unveiled by the government as soon as tomorrow.

Persimmon鈥檚 statement confirmed publicly for the first time the terms of the pledge, .

It said the pledge will commit housebuilders to remediate all buildings they have built over 11m in height with fire safety problems, going back 30 years, without recourse to the government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Safety Fund.

Persimmon鈥檚 statement came as separate housebuilding industry sources said an announcement from government on the pledge was likely to come tomorrow, with the final wording having been agreed with the HBF and handed to housebuilders鈥� boards to consider in the last few days.

Individual housebuilders will need to decide whether or not to sign the pledge, with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) thought likely to include names of housebuilder signatories on any announcement.

Housing secretary Michael Gove has threatened to stop housebuilders that don鈥檛 behave responsibly over the cladding issue from trading and has tabled amendments to the 黑洞社区 Safety Bill which will prevent developers from getting planning permission or building regs approvals.

Persimmon said the pledge was 鈥渃onsistent with the approach already announced by Persimmon in February 2021鈥� and that it wouldn鈥檛 need to make any further financial provision following signing up to the commitments in the pledge.

This puts it in stark contrast with Crest Nicholson, which this morning said it expected to have to spend between 拢80m and 拢120m more on fire safety repairs to historic buildings than previously provisioned for, following the signing of the pledge.

Last year Persimmon, which has historically mainly built low-rise housing, made a provision of 拢75m for fire safety repairs and said this morning 鈥渨e continue to believe that the 拢75 million provision set aside for the rectification works remains appropriate鈥�. It had already said it did not intend to make any claims from the government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Safety Fund.

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Dean Finch, Persimmon group chief executive, said: 鈥淥ver a year ago we said that leaseholders in multi-storey buildings Persimmon constructed should not have to pay for the remediation of cladding and fire related issues. We are pleased to reaffirm this commitment today and sign the Government鈥檚 Developer Pledge.

鈥淲e made this commitment last year as we believed it was not only fair for leaseholders but also the right thing to do as one of the country鈥檚 leading homebuilders. We are pleased that we were able to work constructively with the Government to secure this agreement.鈥�

Persimmon added that the Developer Pledge committed developers specifically to: 鈥淎ddress life-critical fire-safety issues on all buildings of 11 metres and above in England developed by the Group in the 30 years prior to 5 April 2022鈥�; and, 鈥渘ot to claim any funds from the Government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Safety Fund鈥�.

DLUHC has been contacted for comment.