Cladding and fire safety remediation cases have taken one step forward and potentially two steps back with the developer remediation contract (DRC). It held great potential to clarify obligations involved in addressing the building safety crisis, but has instead fallen short, bringing further confusion and uncertainty to an already cloudy situation.

Forty-nine developers pledged last year to commit to remediate life-critical fire safety works in buildings over 11m high on which they had played a role in developing or refurbishing over the last 30 years in England. Last summer the government produced a draft DRC for the developers to sign, committing themselves to the government scheme. This DRC has now been heavily negotiated and as of 2 May 2023 47 developers have signed up to it.

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