UK orders housebuilders to come up with $5 bln plan to remove cladding

BDEV.L

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Britain has given housebuilders around two months to come up with a fully-funded plan to remove dangerous cladding from residential housing, a project that could cost at least 4 billion pounds $5.4 billion).

A deadly 2017 blaze at Grenfell Tower in London, that killed more than 70 people, revealed the widespread use of flammable cladding on apartment blocks across the country, requiring expensive removal or round-the-clock fire watches.

Minister Michael Gove said in a statement on Monday that the industry had until early March to agree a plan to deal with cladding on buildings that are between 11 and 18 metres high.

($1 = 0.7359 pounds) (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)