Fewer high-rise buildings moving into cladding remediation

Despite more high-rise buildings being monitored for cladding, few are entering remediation.

Property Inspect is now urging the government to do more and is calling for a national remediation tracker to show live updates for each building.

The news comes as the government have announced targets to fix all unsafe cladding by 2029. 

Momentum on remediation appears to be weakening

According to government figures, a total of 5,570 residential buildings over 11 metres tall are being monitored through the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) building safety remediation programme.

This represents a 15.2% annual increase, driven primarily by a sharp rise in the monitoring of buildings between 11-18 metres, which has increased by 23.5% year-on-year. The number of higher-rise buildings over 18 metres has increased by 9.5%.

However, momentum on remediation appears to be weakening. The total number of buildings actively progressing through remediation (underway on site) fell by -22.8% between October 2024 and October 2025.

Sián Hemming-Metcalfe, operations director at Property Inspect, said: “More buildings than ever are entering monitoring, yet fewer are moving into the remediation pipeline. This doesn’t point to a simple construction capacity issue, but instead an ingrained workflow inefficiency.

“The system still relies too heavily on fragmented documentation processes, inconsistent evidence standards, and slow, manual review procedures that delay sign-off even when physical work is complete.

“We have been beating the drum for years on this issue, trying to increase awareness around the flawed procedures around unsafe cladding remediation and the impact it is having on the property industry.”

Major reforms to improve the remediation system

Property Inspect is calling for major reforms to improve the remediation system.

The organisation wants all remediation projects to be supported by standardised, digitised evidence packs, using a universal submission template that includes structured photographic evidence, contractor certifications, inspection reports, and metadata to verify authenticity and chronology.

The firm is also proposing a national remediation tracker, a publicly accessible digital dashboard that would show live status updates for each building. The tool would allow multiple stakeholders to monitor progress, reduce duplication, increase accountability, and eliminate information gaps.

Ms Hemming-Metcalfe adds: “We’re not going to stop banging this drum because it’s not just the industry that is being negatively impacted. At the heart of the matter, this is a human story. Every building that has been identified for remediation but hasn’t received any remediation represents dozens if not hundreds of people and families whose lives are at risk.

“If we didn’t learn our lesson from Grenfell, we only have to look at the more recent tragedy in Hong Kong to know that fire safety measures on high-rise buildings are literally a matter of life or death that we cannot afford to get wrong.”