Barratt legacy building costs jump an extra £180m

10/8/23

Volume house builder Barratt has today revealed a further £180m will be needed on top of previous estimates to cope with fire safety and legacy building costs.

Citiscape building in Croydon where concrete defects were first uncovered

The firm, which in 2022 set aside £412m to cover remediation costs, has now upped the estimates after completing its review of reinforced concrete frame buildings and finalising the extent of fire safety and external wall system repairs.

The review was conducted following the discovery of concrete design defects at Barratt's Cityscape project in Croydon, south London.

The firm said it had provided an extra £60m for concrete frame issues after finalising plans for the one remaining development in the review where work was required across five buildings.

A further £5m has also been spent on two other previously unidentified schemes where extra remediation works may eventually be needed.

Barratt said the number of projects requiring fire safety and external wall works had also jumped by 55 to 278 buildings, following the signing of the Government's Self-Remediation Terms and Contract last March contributing an extra £115m of costs.

In a trading statement this morning Barratt, warned: "While the charges in respect of legacy properties reflect our current best estimates of the extent and future costs of work required, as assessments and work progresses, estimates may have to be updated."

The house builder said it remained in talks with the Scottish Government following the signing of the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord at the end of May around the extent of remediation required in Scotland.

In the trading update covering the 2023 financial year to June, Barratt forecast that total housing completions for the year ahead would be down by up to 23% on the past year's level of 17,206.

Already slower construction activity due to slower sales saw weekly average output last year fall around 9% to 322 homes.

Reflecting the slowdown in the market, Barratt said it expected total build cost inflation to abate, falling from 9% last year to around 5% in the year ahead.

Source; Construction Enquirer 

 
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