First developer signs contract for cladding remediation

23 Dec 2025 12:37 PM

Persimmon Homes is the first developer in Scotland to sign an agreement to fund and complete essential cladding work in buildings for which they are responsible.

In October, Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan invited nine developers with an average operating profit of more than £10 million to sign the Scottish Government's Developer Remediation Contract. This aligns with similar obligations on developers elsewhere in the UK and means the process of addressing potentially unsafe cladding will move forward more quickly.

The contract commits developers to:

• Arranging safety assessments for all buildings in scope that need to be checked as quickly as possible and providing this list to Scottish Ministers within 30 days of signing the contract.
• Fixing all life critical safety problems in buildings 11 metres or taller they built or renovated in Scotland over the last 30 years to 1 June 2022
• Keeping residents informed throughout the process.

Welcoming Persimmon's signing of the legally binding contract, Ms McAllan said:

"This is a positive step forward in making relevant buildings safer and giving residents confidence in work carried out and I would like to see the remaining developers follow Persimmon's lead.

"By signing this contract, developers will give reassurance to the people living in these buildings that essential remediation work will progress at pace. 

"Developers who sign the contract will also be required to reimburse taxpayers for funding already spent on remediating buildings they were responsible for."

Persimmon Homes Regional Chair John Roocroft, said:

“Persimmon has consistently taken a proactive, industry-leading approach to building safety, to do the right thing for the residents affected. We are pleased to reaffirm this by becoming the first developer to sign the Scottish Government’s Developer Remediation Contract. We are already making good progress in remediating the buildings requiring works and will continue working constructively with the Scottish Government and residents to complete the works as quickly as possible.”

Background

Scottish Safer Buildings Accord: developer remediation contract - gov.scot

The developer remediation contract was initially shared with nine developers in September 2024, with active negotiations continuing through multiple detailed discussions since November that year.

This followed on from the Developer Commitment Letter (Scottish Safer Buildings Accord) in 2023, committing the nine developers to remediate life-critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres.

Scottish Ministers have powers under section 25 of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 to introduce a Responsible Developers Scheme to ensure those working in the building industry address risks to human life created by external wall cladding systems.