{"id":145838,"date":"2023-02-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=913173"},"modified":"2023-02-03T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T00:00:00","slug":"flat-owner-losing-sleep-over-smithfield-developers-cladding-issue-leaving-1000-properties-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/02\/03\/flat-owner-losing-sleep-over-smithfield-developers-cladding-issue-leaving-1000-properties-in-limbo\/","title":{"rendered":"Flat owner losing sleep over Smithfield developer\u2019s cladding issue leaving 1,000 properties in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nA Birmingham leaseholder says he is losing sleep over a developer\u2019s refusal to repair hazardous cladding on his city centre apartments. Steve Gregory, 64, is one of many apartment owners left in limbo by property giant Lendlease\u2019s snub of new government building regulations following the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017.
\nThe building safety repairs pledge led by housing secretary Michael Gove seeks to improve fire safety in apartment blocks all over the country post-Grenfell. Lendlease, the international developer behind the \u00a31.9 billion Smithfield project, has not given its signature to the pledge, affecting roughly 1,100 properties in Birmingham.
\nMr Gregory owns two city centre flats in buildings that were originally developed by Crosby Homes, a company purchased by Lendlease in 2005. He says both are now \u2018stuck\u2019 until Lendlease \u2018takes responsibility\u2019 for its older developments in the city.
\nREAD MORE: Leasehold properties and the law explained as Michael Gove says 'feudal' system will be scrapped
\nMeanwhile, Lendlease has said having now sold both Liberty Place and Southside where Mr Gregory\u2019s flats are located, the responsibility does not fall on its shoulders.
\n\u201cIt's very frustrating,\u201d Mr Gregory told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) . \u201cI did nothing wrong - I just invested in some flats, and now two of them are stuck.
\n(Image: Robert Powell \/ Steve Gregory)
\n\u201cThe press were crowing about \u00a31.9 billion investment in Smithfield last week, but Lendlease won't take responsibility for putting right the things they built in the early 2000s.
\n\u201cIt's one of these things that keeps me up at night. How are we going to get out of this?\u201d
\nShortly after the tragic Grenfell fire that claimed the lives of 72 people, problematic cladding was replaced on many buildings over 18 metres, but hundreds of lowrise blocks between 11 and 18 metres were forgotten. Leaseholders were left in the lurch and thousands of flats became unsellable until the work was completed.
\nOn Sunday (January 29), Michael Gove announced a robust new plan that puts pressure on developers to fund repair works in their buildings, or face \u2018significant consequences\u2019. He warned those refusing to comply could be blacklisted from the market.
\nThis could pose major problems for Lendlease, which has just filed one of the biggest planning applications in Birmingham\u2019s history. The Smithfield project is expected to cost almost \u00a32 billion and will bring offices, markets, roof gardens, shops, a pub, and public squares to the plot of land between Digbeth and the Chinese Quarter.
\n(Image: Robert Powell \/ Steve Gregory)
\nMr Gregory says this news was \u2018particularly galling\u2019 as the Smithfield site can be seen from his Southside flat currently locked in purgatory. The former director of housing at Sandwell Council agreed with Mr Gove that developers need to take responsibility for using building materials known to have poor fire safety standards.
\nHe said: \u201cBefore Grenfell, we had remediation works done to lots and lots of high-rise properties. We knew the shoddiness they were built with in the 1960s.
\n\u201cI thought the building industry would have learnt from the problems we experienced\u2026 how wrong I was.\u201d
\nBirmingham City Council has stood by Lendlease and its Smithfield plans for years, having fended off calls to boycott the developer in 2021. The relationship also survived a petition with over 12,000 signatures that urged a ban on developers who had not completed remediation works on their older buildings.
\nMr Gregory said he contacted the leader of the council Cllr Ian Ward (Lab, Shard End) in April 2022 regarding this issue but received a \u2018brush-off\u2019 response. He has since been in touch with his local MP Preet Gill and the chair of Birmingham City Council\u2019s planning committee, Cllr Martin Brooks OBE (Lab, Harborne), who both offered their support.
\nCllr Brooks told the LDRS: \u201cSmithfield is the city\u2019s biggest regeneration project in years and it must not be jeopardised by the failure of a developer to honour commitments to thousands of leaseholders in Birmingham and elsewhere.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s now six years since the Grenfell Tower fire, and further delays in carrying out life-critical fire remediation work to peoples\u2019 homes are beyond unacceptable.\u201d
\nA Birmingham City Council spokesperson said in response to Mr Gregory\u2019s claims: \"We know from Lendlease that they are in conversation with the Government over the remediation contract recently announced by Michael Gove, and are confident that will bring about a positive outcome.\u201d
\nA spokesperson for Lendlease said: \u201cAs a responsible developer and international business we comply with the law within every region in which we operate, and our priority is always to ensure every building we\u2019re responsible for is safe.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re also committed to supporting leaseholders and agree they shouldn\u2019t be held liable for remediation costs. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve been working with the Government over several months to assess any remediation works for which Lendlease is responsible, and have established a dedicated team to work on the remediation of any affected buildings we are responsible for.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to engage with industry colleagues and Government on these issues, and remain dedicated to our pipeline of work in the UK that will deliver more than 30,000 new skilled jobs and nearly 30,000 new homes.\u201d
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