This week MSPs voted unanimously to pass the Housing Cladding Remediation Bill which aims to tackle unsafe cladding on buildings by giving Ministers power to assess and carry out remediation on certain types of affected buildings.
The purpose of the Bill is to reduce the risk to life from unsafe cladding on people’s homes and help with the problems people encounter when trying to buy or sell homes where cladding is present.
A Ministerial Working Group was established by Scottish Ministers in 2020, three years after the fatal fire at Grenfell Tower in England, and a Cladding Remediation Programme was announced in 2022. The Housing Cladding Remediation Bill, which also involved the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, was finally passed on 14th May 2024 and, in practical terms, enables Scottish Ministers to carry out assessments to find out if the cladding on buildings is safe or not. Ministers can arrange for the necessary repairs, recording the assessments and remediation works in an official register and are also able to create a Responsible Developers Scheme to support engagement with developers and encourage them to pay for or carry out remediation work.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said:
“This is a landmark moment in our efforts to make buildings safer and to safeguard homeowners and residents in buildings identified through the remediation programme as having unsafe cladding.
The unanimous passing of this legislation will allow us to accelerate our work by addressing barriers to assessment and remediation and give homeowners and residents confidence in work carried out.”
The full Bill can be accessed here
