Building Safety in Scotland – what to expect in 2026

It’s been a busy year for building safety in Scotland, with more to come.

Here’s a run down of the key developments to watch out for in 2026. 

Development, but not implementation, of the Scottish Building Safety Levy

There has been much discussion about the form and impact of the Scottish Building Safety levy (“SBSL”), since the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill was introduced in June 2025. The SBSL aims to raise £30 million per year to fund improvements to building safety in Scotland.

There was already provision for a levy in England under section 58 of the Building Safety Act (“BSA”). The UK Government used this to pass The Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025, which will bring a levy into force for certain residential buildings in England on 1 October 2026. However section 58 of the BSA does not apply in Scotland, so separate legislation is required for a Scottish levy. Cue the 2025 bill. The bill operates by creating the SBSL, a tax on the construction of residential property development in Scotland. Whilst articulated differently, it echoes many of the principles of the English levy. This includes that the operational detail of the SBSL will be set out in separate regulations, which are yet to be seen. (You can read more about the key points and differences between the SBSL and English levy in our Summer Edition of Construction Matters here.)

It was anticipated that a Scottish Government paper setting out likely SBSL rates would be published in Autumn 2025. However this did not appear and the Scottish Public Finance Minister announced in November that the planned implementation date for the SBSL was being pushed back from April 2027 to April 2028. This followed evidence given to the Finance and Public Administration Committee of the Scottish Parliament and concerns raised by the industry elsewhere about a lack of clarity on the SBSL introduction, its exemptions and adding pressure to already tight margins and the need for a sufficient lead-in time. A report followed on 11 December, stating that the Committee “believes that the introduction of the [SBSL] carries significant risk. We have concerns regarding the potential impact of the levy on the housing market…The Committee is unconvinced that the Scottish Government has fully considered the implications of its self-declared housing emergency when designing the policy approach for this levy. We also believe that the policy design has been focussed on the arbitrary figure that the levy could raise and not sufficiently on developing a good, well-structured levy that is sustainable”. Unusually therefore, the committee has made no recommendation on the general principles of the bill, ahead of the stage one debate set for January 2026.

This will add to the many details to be ironed out in 2026 around the operation of the SBSL. And given the longer lead-in time there will no longer be a transitional period, meaning the SBSL will apply to all relevant completion certificates accepted on or after 1 April 2028. In particular the SBSL’s scope, exemptions and applicable rates will all be of interest, along with other details yet to be seen in regulations.

Progression of the Scottish Government’s Cladding Remediation Programme

The Scottish Government’s Cladding Remediation Programme has developed over recent years, covering a range of initiatives aimed at resolving unsafe cladding and focussing on residential Scottish buildings. In March 2025 the “Single Open Call” was launched as part of the Programme. Under that, owners of residential properties in Scotland are able to notify the Scottish Government about cladding concerns and apply for funding to have their properties assessed using a Single Building Assessment (“SBA”), subject to them being “in scope”. That scope is the same as set out for SBAs under the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024. I.e. properties which stand 11 metres or more above the ground, contain at least one flat used or intended to be used as a dwelling, with an external wall cladding system and which was constructed or underwent development anytime between 1 June 1992 and 1 June 2022.

The latest Programme statistics published here, show that 16 SBAs have now been completed; there have been over 1,250 expressions of interest (“EoIs”) under the Single Open Call; the biggest proportion of EoIs was submitted by factors or property managers; 475 initial grant / funding offers for SBAs have been made; and the Programme’s total expenditure from financial year 2021/22 to 30 November 2025 was £14.5 million.

In 2026 we therefore expect to see the number of SBAs carried out increase significantly, given the volume of EoIs received by the Scottish Government, leading to further interim measures and remedial works on residential properties with unsafe cladding. Meantime the list of authorised SBA providers is growing and can be found here. 

Publication of the Cladding Assurance Register?    

Whilst SBAs are up and running at pace, the Cladding Assurance Register (“CAR”) where details of SBAs are to be recorded, is as yet unpublished.

The CAR forms a key part of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024. It is a formally maintained register of residential buildings in Scotland, where external wall cladding has been assessed under an SBA. Once an SBA is completed, that building must be entered in the CAR. The CAR records when the SBA was carried out and what work (if any) it identified as necessary to eliminate or mitigate risks to human life created or exacerbated by the cladding. If an additional work assessment (“AWA”) is later carried out e.g. because of changed circumstances or newly discovered risks, the CAR must be amended to reflect when the AWA took place and what additional work was identified as being needed. The CAR will also be amended with the date on which the Scottish Ministers are satisfied any identified works are completed. The Scottish Ministers are responsible for maintaining the CAR and may amend it, if they consider any information contained in it to be inaccurate. It is also an offence for someone to supply false or misleading information to the Scottish Ministers or those carrying out SBAs.

Given the CAR will make important information available to conveyancers, insurers and mortgage lenders, it is expected to mitigate uncertainty in the industry and become a standard part of conveyancing transactions when dealing in scope buildings. The CAR went live on 6 January 2025. However to date there has been no public access to it. The Scottish Government says because the CAR contains potentially sensitive building specific information gathered during the SBA process, the finalisation of access arrangements is still under discussion and further details will be announced in due course. Given the importance of the CAR, we expect its publication will be pressed for in 2026.

Significant steps in the Compliance Plan

2025 has seen continued work on the Compliance Plan Approach (“CPA”) in Scotland, with an early adopters’ phase and working groups developing the operational details. As explained in this Building Standards update, the CPA is about delivering compliant buildings in Scotland, aiming to make compliance with building standards and the responsibilities for it, more transparent and documented. The CPA will involve introduction of the Compliance Plan (“CP”), Compliance Plan Manager (“CPM”) and changes to enforcement and sanctions for offences under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. It will aim to support a building owner (or relevant person), to fulfil their duty to evidence and deliver a building compliant with the building regulations, especially high risk buildings. The CP will be created and managed by the CPM and approved by the local authority building standards verifier, as part of the building warrant application process, before works starts on a site. 

Legislation is required to create the CPA. However, there is an intention first to publish guidance in 2026, for the construction industry to adopt voluntarily. This will involve revised guidance on verification during construction, applying the CPA principles and documentation to any new qualifying building project which requires a building warrant. The intention is this will allow a move from early adopters to an “early majority”, along with feedback to review and refine the CPA, so that is becomes an established and fine-tuned practice before legislation is put in place. 

These will be major stepping stones in Scotland’s building safety regime. Whilst much work has been done on identifying and remediating historical cladding issues, Scotland lacks its own holistic regime as England and Wales has under the BSA. The development of the CPA will move this forward significantly.

If you would like to discuss anything raised in this article, please get in touch with our Building Safety Group or your usual Burness Paull contact. 

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