Building Safety and The Remediation Acceleration Plan – What to expect in 2025

Melanie Blake and Rachel Murray-Smith summarise the actions flowing from the Remediation Acceleration Plan as it comes into action.

Following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report in September 2024, the Prime Minister pledged to fast-track the remediation of unsafe buildings, signalling a strengthened focus on building safety.

The Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP) was consequently launched in December 2024 with an aim that by 2029: “all 18m+ (high-rise) buildings with unsafe cladding in a Government funded scheme will have been remediated. Furthermore, by the end of 2029, every 11m+ building with unsafe cladding will either have been remediated, have a date for completion, or the landlords will be liable for severe penalties.”

The RAP sets out three objectives, which are to:

• Fix buildings faster
• Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding
• Better support residents and leaseholders through the remediation process.

1. Fix buildings faster

The Government proposes to legislate to create a legal duty on those responsible for buildings above the 11-metre height threshold. It will require them to fix their buildings within clear timescales or face significant financial consequences for their inaction, including a new criminal offence for those who ultimately fail to remove unsafe cladding.

In order to get buildings fixed faster, the Government will provide funding to enable local authorities to double enforcement activity and through support from the national Joint Inspection Team.

A remediation enforcement support fund for local authorities and fire and rescue authorities is to be introduced to enable funding and access to specific legal advice and support for pursuing those responsible for fixing unsafe buildings.

The Government also proposes to legislate to provide the Secretary of State and regulators with powers to require entities to disclose their ownership chains. This is with the intention that it will help identify legal ownership of the building and any associated entities – e.g. parent and sister companies.

Metro Mayors will work in partnership with local authorities and regulators to develop Local Remediation Acceleration Plans – collaborative working at a regional and sub-regional level is intended to help expedite works.

The Deputy Prime Minister convened 14 major developers on 11 November 2024 and agreed a new plan to achieve the acceleration of developer-led remediation. Signatories of the Developer Remediation Contract have been invited to sign this ‘Joint Plan’, which requires that signatories will finish assessing all of their buildings by end of July 2025 and will start or complete remedial works on all of their buildings by the end of July 2027.

2. Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding

Buildings that are 11-18 metres in height are not classed as higher-risk buildings, and so are not required to register with the Building Safety Regulator. Consequently, the number of 11-18 metre buildings that need to be remediated is unknown. To close this information gap, the Government proposes to legislate to require the registration of 11-18 metre residential buildings (thus giving a complete register of residential buildings above 11 metres).

Homes England are investigating over 540,000 building records, generated from Ordnance Survey data, to identify buildings that may have unsafe cladding.

The RAP confirms that “by April 2025, we will have assessed the highest risk buildings… Landlords will be contacted and given support to get their building assessed and join the appropriate scheme.”  This information is expected to also feed into Local Remediation Acceleration Plans.

3. Better support for residents and leaseholders through the remediation process

The Government has published a consultation on how to “ensure leaseholders are only charged a fair and transparent permitted insurance fee for work done in managing arranging insurance on their behalf.” The consultation closes on 24 February 2025.

There has also been an extension to the Waking Watch Replacement Fund until the end of March 2026 with further announcements to be made on this at the next spending review.

The RAP also confirms that there is a focus on ensuring funds recovered through Remediation Contribution Orders for future payments are used for the purposes intended and protecting those funds in the event of insolvency.

In respect of shared owners, the Government has made changes to guidance clarifying that those shared-owners living in buildings with remediation issues can charge a market rent when sub-letting.

Lastly, the Government proposes to amend the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, to make it clear that a manager appointed by the court to take on duties of the landlord can also be responsible for building safety duties. This is to ensure that remediation funds can be provided to a court appointed manager so they can progress remediation.

The Building Safety Levy (BSL)

The Government has previously launched a number of consultations on the BSL including in relation to methods of calculating the levy and collection process[1]. The RAP sets out some more thinking on the BSL including that:

• The BSL will raise funds to pay to remediate building safety defects, to help protect leaseholders from such costs. It aims to raise around £3.4 billion over at least 10 years.
• BSL will be charged on all new residential buildings in England (subject to exemptions which have not been set out in the RAP) which require building control approval.
• It is intended that the levy will come into effect in Autumn 2025 (exact date to be announced).
• Local authorities will act as the collecting authority on behalf of central Government.

Conclusions

Further information is due to be announced by Government in Spring 2025 including information relating to the additional funding set out in the RAP and a long-term strategy to accelerate remediation in social housing. This will be a welcome announcement particularly for social landlords where budgets are already constrained.

Based on the information set out in the RAP, building owners may want to consider the following pending further announcements:

• Review stock profiles to ascertain which buildings may fall within the 11-18 metre height threshold;
• Collate any building information for those properties including construction contract(s); professional appointments and any collateral warranties;
• Understand the tenure within the properties and the associated agreements; and
• Ensure this data is captured as part of any on-going stock condition surveys.

Melanie Blake is an Associate and Rachel Murray-Smith is a Partner at Sharpe Pritchard LLP.

This video is for general awareness only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this page was first published. If you would like further advice and assistance in relation to any issue raised in this article, please contact us by telephone or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..