<p><span>The industry has reacted to the Budget’s housing measures, with Ed Monaghan, ceo of Mactaggart &amp; Mickel, welcoming some of the announcements.</span></p> <p><span>“We welcome the government’s focus on regional growth, set out in its additional funding support for Scotland,” he said. “The funding for much need affordable housing and assistance in the removal of combustible cladding is also most welcome.”</span></p> <p><span>David Westgate, group ceo of Andrews Property Group, also praised the announcement of a £1 billion Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from all residential buildings above 18 metres, stating the measure would be “<span>welcomed by leaseholders living in high rise blocks around the UK”.</span></span><span> </span></p> <p><span>But he stressed that the new fund should cover rendered insulation as well as combustible cladding. “In our experience, the cladding issues we are seeing around the UK could soon be surpassed by the problem of rendered insulation.”</span></p> <p><span>Meanwhile, Mary-Anne Bowring, group md of Ringley, which has more than </span><span>10,000 leasehold and private rented homes under management, said the ramped-up measure post-Grenfell was not enough: “It is not just about dangerous cladding, it is about retrospectively tracing the physical construction of the building, and testing and how all the components and layers of …