‘​Few housebuilders have built much over 11 metres in height’, HBF tells MPs

The Home Builders Federation has said only a “relatively small” number of buildings needing remediating through Gove’s controversial £4bn cladding fund were built by housebuilders.

The trade body, in a submission to a cross-party committee of MPs, said fresh data from its members suggests few of the mid-rise buildings needing work were built by UK housebuilders, with many of them instead built by overseas developers, investment vehicles, landowner interests or public bodies. It said it is concerned by the government’s “targeting” of UK-based housebuilders, when other parts of the industry have made “no discernible contribution”.

Housing secretary Michael Gove last week announced new legislation to force housebuilders to pay for the remediation of mid-rise blocks. The government has not confirmed which builders will be required to pay but suggested in January it could apply to those with annual profit of £10m or more.

In a submission to the Levelling Up Housing & Communities Committee as part of the latter’s building safety inquiry, the HBF said: “We are still unclear about how the government’s estimate of £4bn has been reached.

“Based on the information our members have provided, we expect the proportion of the total sum that relates to buildings built by mainstream home builders to be relatively small.

“Indeed, we expect government will have had it confirmed in its data capture that relatively few home builders have ever built many, or any, buildings of 11-18 metres. We urge the government to work with us in the coming weeks to develop a detailed cost estimate of the buildings requiring remediation.”

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The HBF is not revealing what proportion of the homes it thinks may have been built by its members as DLUHC continues to analyse data from 40 housebuilders.

The HBF said: “With a majority of affected buildings having been constructed by other parties, it is difficult not to draw the conclusion that UK home builders are being targeted because, as UK headquartered businesses, it is a simpler proposition than pursuing overseas developers, influential property sector interests and foreign product manufacturers.

“While just a small proportion of affected buildings have been built by HBF members, established home builders have worked hard to identify and put right issues with buildings relevant to them”

The HBF said housebuilders have already made commitments to remediate buildings and is contributing to a £2bn residential developer levy and £3bn in “home-builder specific taxes”.

Gove is set to appear in front of the Levelling Up Housing & Communities Committee this afternoon to take questions on the government’ s building safety plans, particularly the £4bn levy.