BUILDING FIRM GETS TAXPAYER MILLIONS DESPITE SNUB ON CLADDING
Scrap their deals now, say owners
It’s a kick in the teeth to give firm huge sums after mess it created
NAZ RANJBAR FACING £30K SAFETY REPAIR BILL
A BUILDING giant which has not signed up to the cladding restoration scheme has won public contracts worth a fortune.
Lendlease is working on a huge £1.9billion improvement project in Birmingham, the £330million refurb of Manchester town hall and the £2.5billion Elephant Park regeneration scheme in central London.
But the Aussie-owned multi-national has yet to sign a Government pledge committing it to fixing fire-safety flaws across its property portfolio. It says it is still reviewing whether to do so or not.
Now campaigners have called on Housing Secretary Michael Gove to strip the firm of public contracts.
Stephen Squires, 44, faces paying a £22,000 slice of a £3.1million bill to repair defects in a 165-apartment building in Manchester’s Green Quarter.
Britton House was among seven blocks built by Crosby Homes, later bought by Lendlease. The freehold has since been sold.
Stephen, a facilities manager, said: “We are still stuck almost five years after Grenfell with no end in sight and no remediation taking place or any sign of it starting. Meanwhile, Lendlease continues to be awarded council and government contracts. We call on Michael Gove to hold Lendlease to account and strip them of all taxpayerfunded contracts until they do the right thing and make our homes safe.”
Naz Ranjbar, 40, faces a £30,000 bill to fix his Lendlease-built home in Birmingham’s Liberty Place.
He said: “It’s a kick in the teeth that a company refusing to sign up to clean up the mess it created is receiving whopping sums from the public purse.”
Jim Illingworth, 63, who owns four cladding-hit flats in Birmingham, said: “Despite the Government saying building owners and developers must step up and pay, Lendlease has been determined not to. So why should they be rewarded with eyewatering sums to develop public spaces? They should be stripped of these contracts immediately, otherwise the Government’s pledge to crack down is just weasel words.”
Safety flaws were identified nationwide after 72 died in 2017’s fire at Grenfell Tower, west London. Some 200,000 homes are wrapped in flammable material and 1.3 million flats are unmortgageable after failed inspections.
In January, Mr Gove announced that leaseholders in medium-sized blocks would no longer have to take out loans to pay for cladding repairs.
Developers were instead told to pay £4billion to fix up to 80,000 buildings between 11 and 18 metres high. Thirty-five builders, including Bellway, Taylor Wimpey and Vistry, have signed up to Mr Gove’s pledge to undertake firesafety work.
The Government hopes to persuade Lendlease in its next round of negotiations. A spokesman said: “Developers must take responsibility for buildings they helped to create.
“Over 35 of the largest housebuilders have agreed to do the right thing and play their part in solving this. Our work continues to ensure that those who were not involved in our initial industry negotiations are held to account.”
Annual profit at Lendlease’s European construction arm – headed by CEO Neil Martin – rose from £3.9m to £20m in the last financial year. Turnover was up from £443m to £554m.
A company spokesman said: “We understand the value of people’s homes and sympathise with leaseholders affected. We are reviewing the Building Safety Bill and assessing the portfolio we developed. We are committed to work with industry to establish the full detail of the latest Government proposals.”