Persimmon Homes is the first developer in Scotland to sign an
agreement to fund and complete essential cladding work in
buildings for which they are responsible.
In October, Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan invited nine
developers with an average operating profit of more than £10
million to sign the Scottish Government's Developer Remediation
Contract. This aligns with similar obligations on developers
elsewhere in the UK and means the process of addressing
potentially unsafe cladding will move forward more quickly.
The contract commits developers to:
- Arranging safety assessments for all buildings in scope that
need to be checked as quickly as possible and providing this list
to Scottish Ministers within 30 days of signing the contract.
- Fixing all life critical safety problems in buildings 11
metres or taller they built or renovated in Scotland over the
last 30 years to 1 June 2022
- Keeping residents informed throughout the process.
Welcoming Persimmon's signing of the legally binding contract, Ms
McAllan said:
"This is a positive step forward in making relevant buildings
safer and giving residents confidence in work carried out and I
would like to see the remaining developers follow Persimmon's
lead.
"By signing this contract, developers will give reassurance to
the people living in these buildings that essential remediation
work will progress at pace.
"Developers who sign the contract will also be required to
reimburse taxpayers for funding already spent on remediating
buildings they were responsible for."
Persimmon Homes Regional Chair John Roocroft, said:
“Persimmon has consistently taken a proactive, industry-leading
approach to building safety, to do the right thing for the
residents affected. We are pleased to reaffirm this by becoming
the first developer to sign the Scottish Government's Developer
Remediation Contract. We are already making good progress in
remediating the buildings requiring works and will continue
working constructively with the Scottish Government and residents
to complete the works as quickly as possible.”
Background
Scottish Safer Buildings Accord:
developer remediation contract - gov.scot
The developer remediation contract was initially shared with nine
developers in September 2024, with active negotiations continuing
through multiple detailed discussions since November that year.
This followed on from the Developer Commitment Letter (Scottish
Safer Buildings Accord) in 2023, committing the nine developers
to remediate life-critical fire safety works in buildings over 11
metres.
Scottish Ministers have powers under section 25 of the Housing
(Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 to introduce a
Responsible Developers Scheme to ensure those working in the
building industry address risks to human life created by external
wall cladding systems.
