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Redrow PLC and MJ Gleeson PLC on Wednesday said they signed a UK government pledge which aims to ensure the safety of high-rise buildings.
The announcements come a day after the April 5 deadline set by the UK government, and similar announcements made by other UK housebuilders Persimmon PLC and Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC.
The improvements that Redrow will enact will cost the company an additional provision of £164 million, which will be ‘treated as an exceptional item in the results for the 2022 financial year,’ Redrow announced. Another, previous provision for fire safety in high rise buildings comes at a cost of £36 million, it said.
The additional provision is higher than what Persimmon and Crest Nicholson reported on Tuesday, citing additional costs of £75 million and a range of £80 million to £120 million respectively.
‘In signing up to the pledge we will be remediating all the buildings in which we were involved, whether or not we constructed them, going back 30 years,’ Redrow, an Ewloe, Wales-based housebuilder explained.
The firm said the remediation works will take several years to complete.
Sheffield-based MJ Gleeson said it signed the pledge even though none of the buildings in development in which its legacy arm was involved with were over 11 metres tall, or 36 feet, for which the safety pledge rules apply.
‘Leaseholders should not have to pay for any costs associated with life-critical fire-safety issues and I support the government's efforts to engage the wider industry in remediating buildings made unsafe by life-critical fire-safety issues,’ commented James Thomson, chief executive of MJ Gleeson.
The company added that it is assessing the buildings which it aims to conclude by June 30.
The Building Safety Pledge programme was established by the UK government in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 to make sure that residents of high-rise buildings are safe by removing combustible materials, such as cladding. The pledge commits housebuilders to new guidelines for work on potentially unsafe cladding on buildings between 36 feet and 59ft high.
Redrow shares were 1.6% lower at 516.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. MJ Gleeson shares were 3.1% higher at 602.24p each.
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