<p><span>The housing secretary Robert Jenrick has launched the government’s £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from tall residential buildings of 18 metres and more, with Jenrick stating that he would “not accept any excuses from building owners who have yet to take action”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Following a Budget pledge, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said that the fund, which will meet the capital costs of removing and replacing dangerous non-ACM cladding, would primarily be for private sector leaseholders “facing significant bills”. </span></p><p><span>But it would also provide funding for high rise social housing buildings “to meet the provider’s costs which would otherwise have been borne by leaseholders”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>MHCLG stressed that building owners already remediating their buildings should continue to do so and only turn to the Building Safety Fund if all other funding opportunities had been exhausted.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>The fund’s application process, MHCLG added, would allow remediation to “proceed at pace”. It therefore urged building owners, freeholders or “others responsible for the building” to register for the fund “as applications can be progressed alongside the development of the remediation project”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>The government has also published an amendment to the statutory guidance for Building Regulations Part B – …