Three in five buildings with dangerous cladding have yet to be identified, warns watchdog

Three in five buildings with dangerous cladding have yet to be identified, according to a report by the National Audit Office.

The watchdog said that the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) had estimated that cladding remediation would not be complete until around 2035.

It also found that hundreds of thousands of residents were in the dark about their own buildings, due to a failure to publish milestones.

It recommended that the government publish an official target date for completion of works and provide greater transparency on remediation performance.

The report is the NAO’s first on the government’s remediation portfolio since five different programmes were unified in 2023.

Last week’s Budget included a £1bn funding boost for remediation work.

According to the NAO, the government now has programmes to address dangerous cladding for all the estimated 9,000 to 12,000 buildings over 11 metres it considers need remediating.

It said there had been a substantial increase in activity since its 2020 Investigation, with 4,771 buildings so far brought into the portfolio.

However it said it was taking longer than expected to identify the remainder, with some likely never to be identified. Roughly 7,200 buildings or more (up to 60%) are still to be identified, the NAO estimates.

As it previously reported, incomplete building records, construction materials that differ from those on plans, and difficulties tracing owners can make identifying affected buildings difficult.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Seven years on from the Grenfell Tower fire, there has been progress, but considerable uncertainty remains regarding the number of buildings needing remediation, costs, timelines and recouping public spending. 

“There is a long way to go before all affected buildings are made safe, and risks MHCLG must address if its approach is to succeed.

“Putting the onus on developers to pay and introducing a more proportionate approach to remediation should help to protect taxpayers’ money. Yet it has also created grounds for dispute, causing delays.

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“To stick to its £5.1 billion cap in the long run, MHCLG needs to ensure that it can recoup funds through successful implementation of the proposed Building Safety Levy.”

In order to cap taxpayer contributions to £5.1bn, MHCLG plans to recoup £700 million through refunds from developers for remediation works the taxpayer has already funded, and around £3.4 billion from a new Building Safety Levy. 

However, payment mechanisms have yet to be confirmed and the department does not expect to introduce the levy until autumn 2025 at the earliest.