Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): pledge to ensure necessary building safety improvements can continue

Updated 6 May 2020

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This page has been withdrawn because it’s no longer current. Check up-to-date coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance and information.

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-pledge-to-ensure-necessary-building-safety-improvements-can-continue/coronavirus-covid-19-pledge-to-ensure-necessary-building-safety-improvements-can-continue

Saving lives is our number one priority, which is why we have told people they must stay at home and help protect the NHS.

We know that for some residents, ongoing work to your buildings may feel like an unwelcome imposition at this difficult time.

But with more people staying at home than before, efforts to improve residents’ safety are as important as they have ever been.

That is why it is vital that buildings are made safe as quickly as possible. All residents deserve to be, and feel, safe in their own homes.

Making buildings safe, including remediating high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding, is a priority for all of us.

We are clear that building safety work should continue where it is safe to do so, in accordance with public health guidance and procedures put in place by the construction industry to protect the workforce and minimise the risk of spreading infection.

Workers safety and wellbeing must be taken seriously. They deserve our appreciation for continuing to support this essential work at this difficult time. Employers should ensure their workers on-site are able to follow this advice, and they should consider responsible arrangements for ensuring their workers can travel safely, such as through staggering site hours to reduce public transport use during peak periods.

Recent weeks have seen some employers leading the way in adapting their procedures to ensure this important work continues, such as by allocating decontamination areas on site and by providing additional washing facilities to reduce the number of workers gathering together.

We hope those leading the remediation work can continue where it is safe to do so and that residents feel able to co-operate with any reasonable conditions that may be required for them to be safe.

We will continue to do all we can to support this important work and to support affected residents.

This pledge has been agreed by the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government) and the following local leaders:

  • Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater Manchester)
  • Kate Henderson (Chief Executive, National Housing Federation)
  • Dan Jarvis (Mayor of the Sheffield City Region)
  • Peter John (Chair of London Councils and Leader of Southwark Council)
  • Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London)
  • Steve Rotheram (Mayor of the Liverpool City Region)

  • Andy Street (Mayor of the West Midlands)

  • Cllr Daniel Thomas (Leader, Barnet Council)
  • Cllr Muhammed Butt (Leader, Brent Council)
  • Cllr Colin Smith (Leader, Bromley Council)
  • Cllr Georgia Gould (Leader, Camden Council)
  • Cllr Tony Newman (Leader, Croydon Council)
  • Cllr Julian Bell (Leader, Ealing Council)
  • Cllr Danny Thorpe (Leader, Greenwich Council)
  • Philip Glanville (Mayor of Hackney)
  • Cllr Joseph Ejofor (Leader, Haringey Council)
  • Cllr Damian White (Leader, Havering Council)
  • Cllr Ray Puddifoot MBE (Leader, Hillingdon Council)
  • Cllr Richard Watts (Leader, Islington Council)
  • Cllr Elizabeth Campbell (Leader, Kensington and Chelsea Council)
  • Cllr Jack Hopkins (Leader, Lambeth Council)
  • Cllr Debra Coupar (Deputy Leader, Leeds City Council)
  • Joe Anderson (Mayor, Liverpool City Council)
  • Sir Richard Leese (Leader, Manchester City Council)
  • Rokhsana Fiaz (Mayor of Newham)
  • Paul Dennett (Mayor, Salford City Council)
  • Cllr Julie Dore (Leader, Sheffield City Council)
  • Cllr James Swindlehurst (Leader, Slough Council)
  • John Biggs (Mayor, Tower Hamlets)
  • Cllr Andrew Western (Leader, Trafford Council)
  • Cllr Ravi Govindia (Leader, Wandsworth Council)
  • Cllr Rachael Robathan (Leader, Westminster Council)
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