Abbey finally signs Gove’s developer remediation contract

Anglo-Irish housebuilder Abbey Developments has finally signed the government’s developer remediation contract committing it to fix fire-safety issues in historic buildings, having been the last firm holding out against the scheme.

The £175m turnover housebuilder signed the government’s developer contract yesterday, according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, meaning it has legally guaranteed to fix all life-critical defects on homes going back 30 years.

The 500 homes-a-year business, which is owned by the Gallagher family since being bought outright in 2021, was one of 11 developers named by housing secretary Michael Gove in Parliament in March as having failed to sign up to the scheme, since when all but Rydon and – until now – Abbey had subsequently signed up.

Failure to sign the contract would have put Abbey in breach of the government’s new Responsible Actors Scheme, set up in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, which gives councils powers to prevent developers from carrying out planning permissions or receiving building regulations consents. 

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Abbey has not previously explained its delay in signing the contract, with Rydon Homes – an SME housebuilder which is a sister company of Grenfell contractor Rydon Maintenance – previously having been the only firm to vocally oppose the signing of the contract, on the grounds it was being singled out as the only small company targeted. However, even Rydon Homes has now signed the contract.

Dandara was the most recent firm to sign. The government has previously said it intends to approach smaller firms once it has all the largest companies signed up to the contract. The HBF estimates that financial commitments of more than £2bn have already been made.

The government has said that 51 firms have now signed the developer remediation contract, with 37 firms now signed up members of the Responsible Actors Scheme.

Abbey has been approached for comment.