The chief executive of Willmott Dixon has warned that the schemes may be canceled due to “considerable uncertainty” over regulatory requirements around second stairs in high-rise blocks.
Rick Willmott issued the warning as the industry waits to see whether the government’s soon-to-be-updated fire safety rules on second ladders go beyond its current proposals.
He said: “The implications of the Building Safety Act continue to be interpreted and there is considerable uncertainty about the evolution of the government’s regulatory position on high-rise residential construction, which will only lead to postponement or cancellation lation of developments while the industry waits for clarity and unequivocal regulation”.
The government’s current proposal, which went out for consultation last December, is to make residential buildings over 30 meters tall have a second staircase.
However, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), councils, architects and disability campaigners are among those calling for this threshold to be lowered to 18 metres.
Last month, it emerged that a £1.5bn Wates job in east London had been put on hold, blamed on the government’s failure to make a decision on second-tier cases.
It comes as developers and contractors grapple with the new Building Safety Act regime, which became law last year but has an 18-month enactment period for all requirements to come into force.
Willmott also revealed his company’s bottom line was hit by building security provisions of £61.8m over the past year.
The provisions, lower than last year’s restated figure of £68.2m, were made to bring back properties originally signed off as compliant by local authority building control, but “where that compliance has reinterpreted under the post-Grenfell security regime,” according to Willmott.
He warned that Willmott Dixon will seek to recover these costs from consultants and subcontractors.
“Naturally, we expect to recover a substantial portion of this from the designers, fire engineers, supply chain and insurers who, to date, have not met their responsibilities or obligations in scope projects,” he said.
It is understood that the provisions relate to less than 10 buildings.
Willmott Dixon is already taking legal action against consultancy Aecom, envelope specialist Prater and architect Sheppard Robson over faulty cladding at a residential building in Woolwich. The defendants deny responsibility.
Another housing project built by Willmott Dixon in south London has been empty for four years awaiting repairs to its external wall system after the building was deemed unsafe.
Willmott said 2022 had been a “complicated and difficult year” due to the lingering effects of Brexit and Covid along with the impact of the war in Ukraine.
“With all these features compounded by the economic fallout from Prime Minister Truss’s September Budget and the inevitable rise in interest rates, our industry is in the midst of a volatile inflationary market and an uncertain political environment,” he added .
Willmott Dixon has not disclosed its full financial results for the year to the end of December 2022.
