Countryside, Bellway and Vistry Sign Fire-Safety Pledge

By Joe Hoppe

Countryside Partnerships PLC, Bellway PLC and Vistry Group PLC said Thursday that they have signed up to the U.K. government's fire-safety pledge to make buildings fire-safe, and all expect to make additional provisions.

The house builders said they signed the pledge following industry discussions with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The pledge sets out the industry's commitment to removing cladding and remediating fire-safety issues in buildings higher than 11 meters following investigations into London's 2017 Grenfell Tower fire disaster, which killed 72 people.

Countryside--formerly known as Countryside Properties--said that it expects to make an additional provision of 24 million pounds ($31.4 million) to remediate buildings currently-slated under the Building Safety Fund, and said further liabilities can't currently be accurately quantified, though it will update in May.

Vistry said it expects further remediation costs to be in the range of GBP35 million to GBP50 million, in line with estimates it provided in March. This is in addition to its existing fire safety provision of GBP25.2 million as of the end of 2021, it said.

Bellway said its best estimate of the cost of the pledge will be around GBP300 million, in addition to the GBP186.8 million it has set aside since 2017. The additional cost doesn't take into account any potential cost recoveries, from third parties like contractors, it said.

Write to Joe Hoppe at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 07, 2022 02:52 ET (06:52 GMT)

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