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Our approach to Building Safety


Our commitment

Our first priority is the safety of our buildings and the people that live in them. We have always been clear that we do not believe leaseholders should have to pay for the necessary remediation of their homes, and have been working to remediate, where required, our legacy developments for some years.

In signing the industry Building Safety Pledge in April 2022 and the Developer Remediation Contract in March 2023, we underlined our commitment to funding or undertaking any necessary remediation to resolve life-critical fire safety defects in the design or construction of buildings we built, over 11m in height, over the past 30 years.

Background

We work hard to lead the industry on high quality construction and aim to put the customer at the heart of everything we do. All of our buildings, including the cladding and external wall systems used, are signed off by approved inspectors as compliant with the relevant building regulations in place when they are built.

However, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy it became clear that the whole industry, including architects, contractors, designers, developers, suppliers and local and central government , needed to work together to ensure that buildings completed over recent decades were designed and built properly. Since then, we have dedicated significant focus to this area, working alongside building control bodies, freeholders, managing agents and leaseholders to identify solutions and support leaseholders and residents at affected buildings.

Barratt has consistently demonstrated its commitment to leading the industry in addressing the issue of building safety:

  • In the spring of 2018, we were one of the first companies to take responsibility for the removal of Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) cladding, the type used at Grenfell Tower, from our historic developments, despite having no liability to do so.
  • In December 2018, Barratt was asked by Government to become a member of the Early Adopters Group. The Early Adopters are committed to supporting cultural change across the industry to ensure buildings are safe for those living and working in them, now and in the future.
  • In June 2019 Barratt were founding signatories to the Building Safety Charter, which was conceived and created by the Early Adopters Group as a first step towards spearheading the cultural and behavioural changes required across the industry to achieve a safer building system.
  • In February 2021, Barratt was the first company to call for an industry-wide levy to cover the cost of remediation of buildings over 18m including helping leaseholders in “residual developments” where the original developer or contractor no longer exists or the freeholder or other responsible parties cannot help. This levy is now in existence as the Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT).
  • In July 2021, we created a dedicated internal Building Safety Unit, which reports directly into our Board.
  • In April 2022, we signed the Building Safety Pledge.
  • In March 2023, we signed the Developer Remediation Contract. A copy of the contract can be found on GOV.UK.
  • In March 2023, we became one of the first companies to be awarded Champion status by the Building a Safer Future (BSF)

Through our Building Safety Unit we are helping building owners and management companies as they carry out reviews of their buildings and we will work with them to find suitable solutions to support leaseholders and residents in buildings we built. This can take time, we understand and appreciate the concerns that leaseholders have but we are working hard to ensure that appropriate solutions are found and implemented as soon as possible.

For more information, you can read the industry-wide building safety pledge.

While the pledge covers England, we have made similar commitments in Scotland and in Wales, where we have signed the Scottish Government's Scottish Safer Buildings Accord and the Welsh Government's Building Safety Pact.

Contact us

If your building is affected by any of these issues, your managing agent or the Responsible Person should be keeping you informed. However, if you have questions for our team, you can email us at [email protected].  

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