Student accommodation provider Unite Students has reached an agreement with a contractor to recover 75% of cladding remediation costs from five of its buildings.
The company said in its latest trading update that it completed building safety remediation works on 16 of its 162 buildings in 2023.
It added that remediation work for the second half of 2023 is expected to reach £69m. “We ultimately expect to recover 50-75% of total cladding remediation costs through claims from contractors, although the settlement and recognition of these claims is likely to lag costs incurred to remediate buildings. This will result in a greater level of net spend in the earlier years of the programme.”
In its 2021 financial results, Unite said it had reviewed the use of high-pressure laminate (HPL) cladding on its estate. The developer spent £38m on remedial works on 12 buildings and set aside £107m for further remediation works for the following 12-36 months.
Unite said at the time that it sought to recover the costs of cladding replacement through claims from contractors under build contracts. It said: “To date, we have recovered £10m from completed claims, representing 70% of the costs of remediation on those buildings. We expect to recover 50-75% of total replacement costs
over time, but this is not reflected in our balance sheet.”
