Derbyshire housebuilding giant could be put out of business over cladding measures

Derbyshire housebuilder Avant Homes is one of eleven firms that could ostensibly be shut down by the Government for failing to agree to cladding removal measures, the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Thirty-nine UK companies – including fellow East Midlands housebuilder Barratt Homes – have signed the Government’s developer remediation contract after being asked to do so on 30 January.

The contract requires signatories to rectify “life-critical fire-safety defects” in every building of over 11 metres in height they have constructed. Gove told MPs on Tuesday (14 March) that Avant and ten other firms had failed to sign the contract by the 13 March deadline.

TheBusinessDesk.com understands the firm is in ongoing, constructive discussions with the department and that it is hoping to be able to sign soon.

The measures have been proposed in response to the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster, in which scores of people lost their lives.

Gove has warned the companies in question “they will be out of the housebuilding business in England entirely unless and until they change their course.”

Developers who have been invited to sign the remediation contract “who have not agreed to live up to their responsibilities” will not be able to join the Government’s responsible actors scheme, he added.

“They will not be able to commence new developments in England or receive building control approval for work that is already under way”, Gove said.

He has reportedly given the companies a revised deadline to sign the contract.