An independent
report into building standards at Persimmon Homes, the UK's second largest
housebuilder, has uncovered an "intolerable fire safety risk" in the
many of the company's homes.
The report was
commissioned by Persimmon's chairman Roger Devlin after complaints emerged
about the quality of its new homes.
The
independent review, which was led by barrister Stephanie Barwise QC of
Atkin Chambers, found that some houses did not have fire-stopping cavity
barriers and in others they had been incorrectly installed.
It said
that this was ‘a systemic nationwide problem’ for the company which was
caused by ‘poor culture coupled with the lack of a group build process’.
The highly critical
report states that there were no agreed procedures to supervise or inspect its
employees or sub-contractors' work and that staff were only given limited
training.
It recommended that
the firm "should take sufficient time to formulate and embed a 'Persimmon
Way' of building". It also said that the company's corporate culture
needed to change.
Mr Devlin
acknowledged that the review had "found that Persimmon had focused on
policies around inspections immediately before and after the sale of a home,
rather than those governing build quality inspections".
"In my view,
this is one of its central findings and I am encouraged that the company is
already embracing the review's recommendations in this area through significant
operational investment and procedural change," he said.
In February, the company announced that
its annual profits had passed £1bn for the first time - up from £966m in
2017.
Persimmon's former
chief executive Jeff Fairburn was forced out last year amid criticism of a pay
deal which awarded him £75m.
The review can be
found on the company's corporate website.
