‘Name and shame’ call to Welsh Government for developers not fixing unsafe buildings

Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Government to publicly name and shame property developers that are refusing sort out buildings affected by the cladding and building safety crisis in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.

Five years on from Grenfell there are still buildings throughout Wales, mainly concentrated in Cardiff and Swansea, that are considered unsafe due to ill-suited building materials or techniques.

Earlier this month, a series of small fires in the Victoria Wharf development in Cardiff Bay triggered fears another disaster could happen if action isn’t taken soon.

“It has been five years since Grenfell now,” Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said. 

“We cannot carry on with this situation where homeowners are left in unsafe homes, paying out huge amounts of money towards remediation work, court bills or waking watches.

“This has a huge impact on not only their finances but also their mental health.

“Some of these buildings are only metres away from the Welsh Parliament, we cannot have any more excuses.

“We need to see the extension of the Building Safety Act, in full, to Wales immediately and it is high time those property developers refusing to engage with the Welsh Government are publicly named and shamed and legislated against.”

Uncertainty

Although the Welsh Government has committed to rolling out the Building Safety Act and is negotiating a Developer Agreement to get developers to sign up to cover remediation costs, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and building safety campaigners have stated that the process is not transparent and full of uncertainty and a lack of clarity.

Of significant note, the Welsh Government has not committed to a timeline for enacting the Building Safety Act which is already in place in England.

A Welsh Government spokesperson previously said: “We have been clear that leaseholders should not have to pay to rectify fire safety issues that are not of their making. We are investing £375m over the next three years to improve building safety.

“We have asked developers to sign a commitment to making good fire safety issues in buildings they developed in Wales over the last 30 years, which are 11m and over in height.

“Five developers have yet to engage with us on this very important matter. We are prepared to use all levers at our disposal, including legislation, to ensure they step up to their responsibilities.”