UK government sets out further sweeping reforms to toughen construction safety rules

Single construction regulator

The government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report means that a new single construction regulator will be established to take on functions that are currently exercised by a variety of bodies, such as the Building Safety Regulator, Office for Product Safety and Standards, and local authorities. The aim is to improve standards in the industry and ensure those responsible for building safety are held to account.

The single regulator will be responsible for the regulation of construction products, the regulation and oversight of building control, and the licensing of contractors to work on higher-risk buildings. But the testing and certification of construction products and issuing certificates of compliance of these products will continue to be carried out by Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs).

A Regulatory Reform Prospectus consulting on the design of the single regulator will be published in autumn 2025.

The government also plans to strengthen the regulator’s investigatory powers, so that serious building safety incidents can be investigated more quickly and transparently. The options being considered include a standalone organisation to provide an additional point of insight, evidence and challenge.

Building on the announcement last week to move responsibility for fire safety from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), a chief construction adviser will be appointed to advise the Secretary of State on all matters affecting the construction industry. The newly created role will also be responsible for monitoring the department’s work relating to the Building Regulations, statutory guidance and the construction industry more generally, and bringing industry together and holding it to account to deliver the reforms. The chief construction adviser will provide direct input and convene industry engagement into the design and implementation of the single regulator. 

Construction products safety reforms

A construction products green paper has been published along with the response to the Grenfell Inquiry, proposing a series of “ambitious and far-reaching” changes to the regulation of construction products.

The proposals include changes to the licensing of CABs; requirements for mandatory data reporting by the CABs to the national regulator; reforms to create clearer accountability for manufacturers and distributors; establishing a ‘construction library’ for clear accessible information on product performance and safety; and expanding the national regulator’s surveillance and enforcement powers.

The government will require manufacturers to maintain and provide full test data of their products for the national regulator to enable it to assure compliance with all new requirements. To further enhance transparency and traceability, the government will introduce a digital ‘product passport’ system to allow stakeholders to instantly verify critical product details, track the product along its supply chain, and ensure compliance with safety standards.

A key proposal is the introduction of a proportionate, risk-based general safety requirement for all construction products, to address the two-third of products on the market which currently sit outside the construction products regulatory regime. The government will mandate that all manufacturers assess the safety risks associated with their products before they are marketed. Additional measures will apply to products critical to safe construction.

Strengthening accountability is also a priority. The proposals include an accountability framework to clarify the responsibilities of everyone involved in construction, from manufacturers and suppliers to builders, contractors and installation teams. For example, contractors will be obligated to ensure that the products used in construction are installed correctly and safely.

Katherine Metcalfe of Pinsent Masons, who specialises in building safety regulation, said that the green paper suggests a “dutyholder” approach to the regulation of different participants in the construction product sector, backed by civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.

“The green paper invites industry to suggest how best to take this forward, however it does hint that we could see a construction product safety dutyholder regime, mirroring the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations and the new building regulations dutyholder roles,” she said. “That could involve the appointment of competent organisations with systems in place to ensure that product safety is appropriately managed during the design and construction phases, and designated individuals tasked with making it happen.”

The consultation on proposals for the reform of the construction products regime is being conducted by the MHCLG, and will end on 21 May.

Higher-risk buildings

For developers and contractors working on higher-risk buildings (HRBs), the government’s response confirmed that the definition of HRB for the purposes of the Building Safety Act (BSA) will be reviewed in summer 2025.

The HRB regime is an important aspect of the BSA, introducing a more stringent regulatory framework for the design and construction of HRBs. For example, the new regime requires the developer of the project to obtain “building control approval” from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) prior to commencing development work. The so-called ‘Gateway 2’ approval is to ensure that the building’s design is safe before building work starts.

Metcalfe said that the proposals to review and potentially expand the definition of higher-risk building may concern those already experiencing delays in dealing with the BSR. “It is crucial to be realistic about the BSR’s capacity to deal with any further expansion of buildings regulated via the Gateway system in the short to medium term,” she said.

The BSR will also launch a consultation on further changes to the statutory guidance accompanying the fire safety aspects of the Building Regulations - ‘Approved Document B’ - in autumn 2025.

Greater regulation of professionals and dutyholders

Several changes the government is adopting relate to greater regulation of professionals involved in the design and construction process, such as fire engineers, architects, principal designers, and principal contractors.

For example, a panel of experts and academics will be assembled to consider how to best to regulate the fire engineering profession. A plan to achieve this will be finalised by autumn 2025.

There will be a system of mandatory accreditation to certify the competence of fire risk assessors, overseen by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS).

Principal designers will face new requirements too. The requirement that an application for building control approval must be supported by a statement confirming that the principal designers have complied with their safety duties will be extended to all buildings.

The government will also work with the sector to consider how a licensing scheme for principal contractors on higher-risk buildings can best work, with criteria likely to be aligned with the dutyholder requirements. The review of the new dutyholder regime’s impact will be carried out from October 2025 with findings published by autumn 2026.

Implementation timeline

The government will publish quarterly updates on its progress towards implementing the recommendations made by the Grenfell Inquiry from mid-2025. It will also provide an annual update to Parliament to ensure wider scrutiny of the pace and direction of work.

Given the scale of changes required, including legislative, the government will deliver the reforms using a three-phased approach. The first phase, between now and 2026, will focus on delivering its current programme of regulatory reform and change, such as the construction products reform and the review of the building control regime and the Approved Document B. During the second phase, 2026-28, it will develop proposals to deliver the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations and other wider reforms, including bringing forward legislation for reforms such as reforming the construction products sector and creating the single construction regulator. From 2028, the government will focus its efforts on implementing the reforms it has introduced.

The three phases envisaged by the government will run in parallel with the timescales envisaged in the Remediation Acceleration Plan (the Plan) published in December 2024. Neal Anderson of Pinsent Masons said: “In their own rights, each of the Plan and the reforms now proposed by government would be ambitious undertakings. Progressing them simultaneously underlines the importance of the building safety to the government but it remains to be seen whether there is capacity both in government and the wider industry to meet the challenges that they each pose.”