Building safety in 2025 – where are we now?

So far, 2025 has been a transformative year in the building safety regime in both England and Scotland and there are no signs of it slowing down as we enter the final quarter of the year. 

Here are some of the recent developments…

Appointment of an Interim Chief Construction Adviser

An Interim Chief Construction Adviser was appointed by The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 30 September 2025. The purpose of this appointment is to provide independent advice to ministers and government on building safety and regulatory reform.
The appointment follows Grenfell Inquiry Recommendation 4, that a Chief Construction Adviser is appointed with sufficient budget and staff to provide advice on all matters affecting the construction industry, including: 

• monitoring work regarding building regulations and statutory guidance;
• providing advice to the Secretary of State on request;
• raising any matters with the Secretary of State affecting building regulations and statutory guidance or the construction industry more generally of which the government should be aware.

Thouria Istephan, who was a member of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry panel, is described as an architect with extensive industry experience and knowledge of building safety standards. She has been appointed for an initial 12-month term, although the government’s intention is to make this a permanent role further to the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 recommendations, noting  that the role would promote a cohesive and joined-up approach to development and promulgation of construction policy and the provision of coherent advice and support to ministers.
 
Her advisory work will inform government policy on building safety reform and the implementation of Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 recommendations, and it is therefore likely that updated guidance will arise from this advisory period.

Watch this space…

Feedback sought on draft Competence Management Guidance

The Industry Competence Committee (ICC) is consulting and seeking feedback on its guidance ‘’Setting Expectations on Competence Management’‘. 

The draft guidance is aimed at organisations who:

• carry out any design or any building work; or
• manage buildings, particularly higher-risk buildings (HRBs), and sets out what they should do to meet the competence management aspects of requirements in Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 and The Higher-Risk Buildings (Management of Safety Risks etc.) (England) Regulations 2023.

The ICC is inviting feedback from the industry on this guidance document and the consultation closes on 6 November 2025. 

Following publication, the ICC will develop case studies and examples to assist industry at a more practical level. It wants to ensure the guidance is easily understandable and will actually assist the industry in development of competence management processes. 

It’s understood that although the guidance previously referred to the competence requirements, the practical means by which a party complies with these requirements is a common cause of confusion and concern. 

We encourage those involved in the industry to provide feedback to make this guidance as helpful as possible and in turn ensure the industry is clear on the expectations and how to meet certain requirements. 

Interested parties can respond here.

Next UK Government Grenfell Inquiry progress report has published

The next UK Government Grenfell Inquiry progress report has been published which sets out the progress made against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 2 recommendations. 

• Recommendation 1 – Work continues towards a single construction regulator, with information to come in a UK Government prospectus this year. Steps include appointing Andy Roe (former Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade) as the non-executive chair of a new Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shadow board, pending establishment of a new body to take on the functions of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) from the Health and Safety Executive. The proposed new regulator will not take on responsibility for testing and certifying construction products, which the UK Government considers would be inappropriate due to conflict of interest within the regulator.
• Recommendation 2 – The UK Government will publish plans for reviewing the definition of a HRB by the end of this year, alongside details of the BSR’s initial review. Comments from Andy Roe at the Building the Future Conference on 2 October suggest that this review is welcome within the BSR as a way to ensure the current regulations are working as effectively as possible. Publication of the plans was delayed from the summer 2025 target, due to the requirement for additional time to fully consider and incorporate concerns raised about the operation of the higher-risk regime.
• Recommendations 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 – The BSR continues to develop the planned consultation on guidance within Approved Document B (the statutory guidance regarding building regulation in England covering fire safety matters within and around buildings), to be launched by the end of this year. The guidance will continue to be updated at regular intervals to ensure it keeps pace with knowledge and research, and new materials and products on the market.
• Recommendations 13, 14 and 24 – A White Paper on construction product reform should be published before spring 2026, taking account of the consultation on the Construction Products Reform Green Paper which closed in May 2025. The Green Paper proposed extensive measures for system-wide reform and stakeholders are expecting the development of a robust approach for assessing the conformity of construction products. 
• Recommendations 15 – 18 - The UK Government is going to legislate to make it a mandatory requirement for fire risk assessors to have their competence independently verified by a UKAS-accredited certification body. Delivery plans and key milestones, along with plans in relation to fire engineers, are expected by the end of this year. This is a positive step towards the recognition of the importance that the principles of fire engineering can have for these professions and others.
• Recommendation 21 – The UK Government is working on the design of an effective licensing scheme for principal contractors working on HRBs. Roundtables with stakeholders will begin this autumn to discuss the objectives of the licensing scheme and how existing initiatives might be used effectively.

Progress reports will be published quarterly until all #recommendations have been implemented.

In other news…

Other notable building safety updates include:

• The publication of the UK Government’s response issued to Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee building safety inquiry dated July 2025. It confirms, among other things, that "prospectus on regulation of the built environment” and the Building Safety Independent Panel report are both expected before the end of this year.
• The appeal decision in Almacantar Centre Point Nominee No.1 Ltd and another company v De Valk and others [2025] UKUT 298 (LC) confirms the scope of the “no service charge is payable for cladding remediation” provision under the Building Safety Act 2022 and emphasises its broad reach. In short, Schedule 8 of the Building Safety Act 2022 sets out the qualifying leaseholder protections in respect of remediation costs. Paragraph 8 of Schedule 8 says no service charge is payable under a qualifying lease in respect of cladding remediation. This decision confirms that Paragraph 8 is not limited by reference to "relevant defect" or the 30-year retrospective timeframe (as some other provisions in Schedule 8 are).
• The progression of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill in Wales which was introduced on 7 July 2025 and is currently at Stage 1 (committee consideration of the general principles – this followed the Welsh Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The main purpose of the Bill is to improve the safety of people living in multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales, and will establish a regime which will require the registration of certain regulated buildings and confer new functions on the “building safety authority” and “fire safety authority” in Wales. This is a significant step towards improving building safety in multi-occupied residential buildings in Wales.

Our Building Safety Group brings together specialists in construction, real estate, health & safety law and dispute resolution to help clients navigate this complex area of law. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raise in this article, please get in touch. 

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