Ballymore latest housebuilder to sign the government’s cladding contract

Anglo-Irish housebuilder Ballymore has become the latest housebuilder to sign the government’s building safety contract, after missing last Monday’s deadline. 

The firm issued a statement on Friday last week, three days after the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had demanded developers sign the contract by, stating it had signed the contract.

Then, late on Friday the government updated its website confirming it had put Ballymore Limited onto the list of developers who have signed the contract.

The firm, which in 2021 pledged to pay £20m to fix fire safety issues across its housing developments in London 10 days following a fire at one of its towers with ACM cladding, said: “Ballymore can confirm that it has today signed the UK government’s building safety contract, following final discussions this week with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.”

On Tuesday last week it had said: “We are currently finalising the last remaining details. We will sign the contract and expect to do so very soon”.

The Irish-based developer joins Telford Homes and London Square that have since signed the pledge after missing the deadline last week. Many, including  Barratt, Berkeley, Bellway, Gleeson, Crest Nicholson, Morgan Sindall, Persimmon, Redrow, Weston, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry, all confirmed they had signed ahead of time. 

Housing secretary Michael Gove last week threatened to effectively put housebuilders that had not signed the pledge out of business. Eleven had not done so by that time. With Ballymore’s signature, eight now remain on the list (see list below).

Rydon, the sister company of the Grenfell contractor Rydon Maintenance, is so far the only company to have signalled an intent not to sign the contract. 

The ‘developer remediation contract’ is designed to provide the legal underpinning to the pledge made in April last year, where developers take on responsibility for fixing any safety issues in blocks over 11m high, where they have had an involvement, through building or refurbishment, over the past 30 years. The contract now makes the housebuilders’ commitment to fix historic fire safety defects legally binding.