U.K. Developers Told to Pay $5.4B to Remove Cladding From Buildings After Deadly Fire

On Monday, the British government ordered property developers to pay an estimated cost of $5.4 billion to fix the dangerous cladding used in apartment buildings that leaves them at risk of quick-spreading fire.

The deadly fire that swept the London high-rise Grenfell Tower in June 2017 highlighted the risks of certain types of aluminum composite cladding. The fire started in an apartment kitchen, but investigators determined that the flammable cladding helped it spread out of control across the building.

The Grenfell Fire killed 72 people and was Britain's deadliest blaze since World War II. Now, thousands of apartment-dwellers are facing similar risks and would potentially have to pay steep bills in order to ensure their homes are safe from the same fate.

Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove said that the developers will have to come up with a plan to pay for the cladding's removal from low-rise buildings by early March, or potentially face legal action and a possible new tax meant to raise the money.

Kingspan, the manufacturer of the K15 insulation board used in Grenfell Tower's cladding, has stated that they had no role in the refurbishment of the high-rise and the product was "misused in this unsafe and non-compliant system."

"We did not supply or recommend K15 to Grenfell Tower. K15 made up approximately 5 percent of the insulation layer of the façade system. It was substituted without our knowledge," the company said in a statement.

Still, Kingspan has faced considerable backlash since reports of its product's role in the fire emerged. Last month, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One racing team officially ended its sponsorship deal with Kingspan after families of some of the fire's victims protested the partnership.

Kingspan said in a statement that it was "deeply aware of the sensitivities" stemming from the arrangement and agreed with the team that "it's not appropriate to move forward at the current point in time."

Safety regulations brought in since then require similar dangerous cladding to be removed, but the work hasn't been carried out on some apartment buildings because of wrangling over who should pay.

While high-rise buildings have been able to get government funding to remove the cladding, low-rise dwellings haven't.

Gove said the government would "use legal means and ultimately, if necessary, the tax system in order to ensure that those who have deep pockets, those who are responsible for the upkeep of these buildings, pay, rather than the leaseholders, the individuals, who in the past were being asked to pay with money they didn't have for a problem that they did not cause."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.