Backlog shapes building safety agenda in 2026

Important steps towards implementation of the Grenfell inquiry recommendations are expected – with the government having set out a timeline for certain milestones on the journey towards a single construction regulator last month.

This year will also be the year that updates to the building safety regime in Wales take effect, with the reforms closely reflecting those introduced in England under the Building Safety Act 2022.

We expect 2026 will also be the year where industry steps up to produce practical guidance that supports compliance with complex new legal requirements. There are recent signs that government reforms to the way the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) operates are already starting to have a positive impact on building control backlogs that not only delay important projects but impact on financing too.

Busting the backlogs

The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced strict building control requirements for ‘higher-risk’ residential buildings, overseen by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Uncertainty over the precise requirements that must be met for clearing building control, and lack of resource, have led to a backlog of applications building up at the BSR.

For developers behind in-scope new-build projects, the backlog is in tension with the government’s housebuilding drive, while it also threatens the timely remediation of problems with existing properties – including the commitments many developers and landlords have made to government to address unsafe cladding.

To address the backlog, the government moved last summer to reform how the BSR operates. It announced that the BSR would be moved from within the Health and Safety Executive to within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and given increased staffing. Legislation has been prepared to provide for that structural change, but it is not yet in effect; shadow operations are already in place to enable a seamless transition.

Andy Roe, former commissioner of the London fire brigade, is leading the transition of the BSR’s operations out of the HSE – and statistics published just before Christmas (16-page / 523KB PDF) suggest his efficiency drive is having an impact, at least in terms of clearing the backlog on new-build building control approval applications, with the number of ‘legacy’ cases having dropped from 94 at the end of September to just 40 by 22 December 2025.

So far, there has been little progress on the backlog of applications for work to existing buildings. The BSR said the number of “open remediation cases” before it has “held steady over the period at just over 280”. This is holding back progress on changing out combustible cladding and on addressing issues with fire doors and compartmentation. This backlog was a major factor in the government's decision not to put specific cladding remediation requirements on a statutory footing. An announcement is expected imminently from the government on proposals to address the application backlog for existing buildings.

One factor in the backlog has been applications containing errors or omissions. While the BSR itself has said it has a focus on “closing out older applications … which typically do not contain sufficient detail for a decision and so require significant effort to move through to a successful conclusion”, industry itself has also moved to address the problem through the development of new guidance.

The move to a single construction regulator

Separate to the BSR being split off from the HSE, the government is pursuing the establishment of a single construction regulator – a central recommendation from the final report from the Grenfell inquiry made to address problems with the fragmented approach to regulation that has operated to-date.

Last year, the government confirmed it would act on that recommendation with a view to establishing a single regulator to take on functions currently exercised by a variety of bodies, including the BSR, Office for Product Safety and Standards, and local authorities. 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.

The government laid out more details on how it intends to move that aspect of reform forward in a prospectus (55-page / 1.4MB PDF) published last month.

That document, which is open to consultation until 20 March 2026, confirmed that there will be important milestones on the journey to a single regulator this year.

For example, a report on the future of building control in England, to be produced by the Building Control Independent Panel, an advisory body to the government, will be published – together with the government’s response to that report – in “early 2026”. This will clarify the future of private building control bodies in England.

In spring, the construction products reform white paper is also expected. A stringent new system of conformity assessment and certification of construction products was a core recommendation out of the Grenfell inquiry. The new single regulator will be responsible for enforcing regulations for all construction products, not just those used in the built environment.

Also in spring, the government has confirmed it will hold a call for evidence on targeted proposals for reform of the built environment professions, with a view to implementing Grenfell inquiry recommendations that envisage new standards around skills and qualifications and, ultimately, accountability. Publication of an overarching strategy for regulation and competence of built environment professions is then expected in spring 2027.

These are ambitious proposals for further reform which will have significant consequences across the built environment in the coming years.

A new regime in Wales

On 1 July 2026, the higher risk building (HRB) control system in Wales will take effect. That system will operate in largely the same way as the procedures in place in England, but with some important differences – including to the way HRBs are defined and without a BSR equivalent; the regime will be overseen by local authority building control instead.

The new regime, provided for under the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025 and the underlying Building Safety Act 2022, is relevant to the design, construction and completion of HRBs in Wales.