Emerson Group signs cladding contract

The Emerson Group has signed the government’s cladding contract, leaving only four firms out of the 11 that missed the government’s original deadline yet to commit. 

Yesterday just after 3.30pm the government confirmed Emerson had been moved from its list of developers who have yet to sign the contract to the list of developers who have signed the contract.

The group, in which Jones Homes is the residential subsidiary, joins Galliard, Ballymore, Inland Homes, Lendlease, as well as Telford Homes and London Square in signing the contract. It means they have committed to remediating tower blocks over 11m high where they have had involvement, through building or refurbishing, over the past 30 years. 

Abbey Developments, Avant, Dandara and Rydon Homes are still yet to sign. Rydon Homes, a sister company of Grenfell contractor Rydon Maintenance, is still the only firm that has so far signalled an intention not to commit to document, that makes the pledge developers signed up to last year legally-binding. 

Housing secretary Michael Gove demanded developers sign the pledge on 13 March, and named the 11 who had not in the House of Commons the next day, effectively threatening to put them out of business unless they committed. 

The Emerson Group then issued a statement saying it intended to sign “imminently”. However, it added: “The Emerson Group and Jones Homes have co-operated fully with all parties, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to address remediation issues for more than three years. It is therefore disappointing that a misleading impression has been given by the government last week.”

Gove has also invited companies Kingspan and Arconic that supplied cladding to the Grenfell tower, in which 72 people died in a blaze in 2017, to meet him to discuss how they can contribute to building safety compensation.