What the Contract Includes
The scope of the Developer Remediation Contract is mind-boggling, but it’s not unlimited. There are several stipulations that set out which work must be included and which is excluded.
The primary focus of the contract is safety, so the focus is on life-critical fire safety issues. In other words, where highly flammable materials have been used, they will be replaced. However, the contract does not include other sub-standard materials or even those that might be failing for other reasons.
Developers who are party to the contract must obtain PAS 9980 assessments for external walls, with a focus on fire safety.
Buildings are to be inspected and assessed internally, using a variety of current standards and regulations to identify fire safety hazards that should be addressed.
As part of the developer remediation contract, developers will cover the direct costs of remediation where deemed necessary, but not indirect costs like security and alarm upgrades.
Once completed, buildings will be inspected again, and fire safety will be assessed once more.
As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking that will take several years to complete. Every remediation project must be extensively documented and audited to ensure full compliance, and since the parameters for the contract are still somewhat fluid, it’s expected that there will be more negotiations along the way.
At the end of this process, however, residents of these buildings and the public will be safer when they are at home or at work, and that’s always worth the time and effort.