Building safety

31 March 2022

Dear

ATISN 16052 - Building/Home Fire Safety

Information requested

Thank you for your request which I received on 07 February 2022.  You asked for:

1. The names of the developers, management agents, freeholders contacted regarding building/home fire safety and remediation works, between 20 February 2021 and 31 January 2022?

Taylor Wimpey, Laing O’Rourke, Bovis Homes, Bellway Homes, Redrow, Westmark, Persimmon Homes & Celestia Management company. An open letter was issued to the developers listed above inviting them to a meeting to discuss building safety issues.

2. The names of the housing industry bodies the Minister has consulted or met with about the building safety crisis between 20 February 2021 and 31 January 2022?

The Minister has met with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Association of Residential Managing Agents, TPAS Cymru (previously known as the Tenant Participation Advisory Service), Community Housing Cymru & The Home Builders Federation Wales. The minister has also attended meetings with residents of South Quay development in Swansea and residents of David’s Wharf development in Barry.

3. How many of these developers responded to the Minister?

Four

4. How many of the developers who responded agreed to meet with the Minister?

Three

5. What were the names of the developers who agreed to meet?

Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon Homes & Redrow.

6. How many of the developers responded but declined to meet?

One

7. What are the names of the developers who declined to meet?

Laing O’Rourke

8. How many of the developers failed to respond to the Minister?

Three

9. What are the names of the developers who did not respond?

Bellway Homes, Bovis Homes & Westmark. It should be noted that Bellway Homes did not respond to the Minister’s request for a round table meeting on 5 October 2021. However the Minister did meet with representatives of Bellway Homes on 10 March 2021.

10. How many of the developers that agreed to meet, has the Minister met with to date?

Four, this includes the meeting with Bellway Homes on 10 March 2021

11. Please provide dates of when the Minister met with the developers.

24/02/2021

10/03/2021

5/10/2021

12. Please provide the duration of all meetings.

24/02/2021    45 minutes

10/03/2021    45 minutes

 5/10/2021     60 minutes

13. What are the names of the developers the Minister has met with?

Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon Homes, Redrow & Bellway Homes

14. Of those developers that the Minster has met with please provide the names and roles of the company representatives.

I have decided to withhold some of the information related to this question, my reasoning for this is provided in Annex A.

• Liz Reynolds - Managing Director for South Wales, Taylor Wimpey
• Ben Thomas - Job role information not held, Taylor Wimpey
• Tim Stone - Job role information not held, Redrow
• Nigel Palmer - Job role information not held, Redrow
• Andy Edwards - MD for South Wales, Persimmon Homes
• Andy Fuller – Job role information not held, Persimmon Homes
• Martin Edgley – Job role information not held, Persimmon Homes
• Martin J Smith – Job role information not held, Persimmon Homes
• Daryl Jones, Job role information not held, Persimmon Homes
• Andy Backhouse – MD of Wales Division, Bellway Homes
• (Redacted information) - Group Special Projects Director, Bellway Homes
• Paul Lawler - Group Head of Communications, Bellway Homes

15. Of those developers that the Minister has met with what ‘legally binding’ commitments have been asked of the developers?

The Minister met the developers to discuss building safety issues relating to high and medium-rise buildings and their remediation. This included developers’ work to make good identified defects and their engagement with residents. The Minister raised the costs of remediation; developers’ contribution and that residents and leaseholders should not have to shoulder this burden. A copy of these minutes is attached at annexes B to D.

16. Of those developers that the Minister has met with what commitments have been asked of the developers?

The Minister met the developers to discuss building safety issues relating to high and medium-rise buildings and their remediation. This included developers’ work to make good identified defects and their engagement with residents. The Minister raised the costs of remediation; developers’ contribution and that residents and leaseholders should not have to shoulder this burden. A copy of these minutes is attached at annexes B to D.

17. Please provide the exact date/s that the Minister has met with the developers?

Please see the response to question 11.

18. Please provide the duration of all meetings?

Please see the response to question 12.

19. Please provide the minutes from the meetings attended with the developers?

Please see Annexes B, C & D

20. How many meetings with the developers were ‘without prejudice’?

No meetings held were held ‘without prejudice’.

21. What are the names of the developers that have agreed to set aside funds for remediation?

Taylor Wimpey & Persimmon Homes have publically announced that funds have been set aside for remediation. Please see the links below.

Taylor Wimpey sets aside £125m for cladding and fire safety repairs - BBC News

Inside Housing - News - Persimmon sets aside £75m for cladding remediation on its buildings

22. Of those developers that have agreed to set aside funds for remediation please provide the amount of money agreed for each developer?

Please see response to question 21.

23. Did a Welsh Government spokesperson speak to a Wales Online journalist about a decision that leaseholders who live in their own flats will not face any costs to fix dangerous cladding following Michael Gove’s (Secretary of State of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) statement on 10th January 2022.

Yes a Welsh Government spokesperson did speak to a Wales Online journalist.

The engagement between a Welsh Government spokesperson and Wales Online journalist Zara Antonio Pereira focussed on the approach Welsh Government are taking with regard to building safety issues, it did not relate to a decision as no such decision had been made.

The following points were shared with Wales Online Journalist Zara Antonio Pereira:

• “We strongly believe that people living in affected buildings should not be left to pay to put right safety standards, nor breaches of building regulations.”

Welsh Government subsequently  clarified that the line provided should have stated  ‘leaseholders’ in affected buildings, not ‘people living in’.

• “We are adopting an holistic approach to building safety which goes beyond cladding to include compartmentation, fire alert, evacuation and suppression systems in buildings of 11 metres and above.”

• “We welcome the UK Government announcements this week, some of which will support our work here. We will continue to engage with developers and press them to take responsibility and action. We commend those developers which have already set aside funds for remediation in Wales – they have set an example for others to follow.”

• “The Minister’s statement in December set out the significant progress being made on the building safety agenda, including a commitment of £375m in the draft Budget over the next three years.”

A further question from Zara Antonio Pereira asked:

“Am I right in believing this plan only includes people living in the property, not those who have rented their property out?”

The following information was shared by Welsh Government:

• “If by ‘this plan’ you mean the leaseholder support scheme that the minister announced in December then yes it is focussed on owner occupiers.”

The Annexes referred to above are attached in the email with which this response has been sent.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response.  Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at:

Information Rights Unit, 
Welsh Government,
Cathays Park, 
Cardiff, 
CF10 3NQ 

or Email: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.   

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House, 
Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, 
Cheshire, 
SK9 5AF.

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely