Building Safety: The Scottish Compliance Plan

The Compliance Plan Approach (CPA) is being introduced by the Scottish Government in response to the recommendations of the 2018 Review Panel on Building Standards Compliance and Enforcement.

The panel was convened in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the structural failures in several Edinburgh schools, which exposed critical gaps in the onsite verification of construction quality.

Whilst the Review Panel concluded that Scotland’s building standards system was not fundamentally “broken”, it highlighted a clear need for increased diligence to ensure completed buildings adhere to their approved designs and building safety regulations.

The CPA is intended to address these findings by creating an auditable process whereby a Compliance Plan and a dedicated Compliance Plan Manager ensure safety-critical elements are verified and evidenced throughout the building process. This is with the primary aim of increasing public safety, through stated core objectives:

• Minimising risk: by identifying and addressing potential issues during contracting, the CPA reduces the likelihood of safety critical failures in completed buildings;
• Strengthening oversight: the CPA shifts the approach from reactive to proactive to ensure compliance in real-time;
• Procedural compliance: by reinforcing the legal framework for building warrants and ensuring that Completion Certificates are only accepted where there is certainty that the building is safe for occupation; and
• Accountability: the introduction of a Compliance Plan Manager, aims to create a ‘golden thread’ of evidence – providing a clear and transparent record of the checks throughout the building process.

The CPA is described by the Scottish Government as a “robust compliance quality system in which the actions of parties involved in the design and construction process and verifiers are planned, recorded and reported on”. It stands separately to the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024, which focusses on residential or mixed use buildings 11 metres and higher, built between June 1992 and 2022. Rather the CPA is forward looking approach, which seeks to ensure that the building warrant process and legislation operates so that buildings are constructed in accordance with their approved designs and building safety regulations.

A phased approach

The Compliance Plan guidance will be issued in two phases, as an opportunity for local authority verifiers, designers and contractors to familiarise themselves with proposed procedures, ahead of formal adoption into legislation.

• Phase 1: Local authority verifier guidance for High Risk Buildings (HRBs), as a replacement for the Verification During Construction (VDC) guidance was published on 5 January 2026 (see here). Verifiers are expected to use this guidance from 1 April 2026.
• Phase 2: Full CPA guidance for HRBs was expected by March 2026 (however this is still awaited), for voluntary adoption by industry and to inform future legislative change, but the implementation date is under consideration and subject to wider sector conversations (see below on the Scottish Government’s call for evidence).

What constitutes a HRB in Scotland?

The definitions of HRBs in Scotland (via guidance and future legislation) and England (via the Building Safety Act 2022) will be different. Even the terms themselves are slightly different – “High Risk Building” in Scotland and “Higher-Risk Building” in England.

The approach in Scotland may capture more buildings as HRBs, because it covers buildings which are higher than 11 metres (a lower threshold than 18 metres and higher in England) and a wider range. However, the applicability of the CPA does not depend on height alone, but if “major works” are being carried out and what constitutes “major works” to HRBs will depend on various factors.

HRBs include major works to create or alter a:

• Domestic or residential buildings higher than 11 metres
• Educational, community, sport buildings
• Non-domestic public buildings under local authority control
• Hospitals
• Residential care buildings

Major works must be defined in terms of the impacts on life safety. Factors to be considered include:

• Complexity
• Scale
• Value of works
• Escape routes
• Vulnerable occupants
• Cladding alterations or new installation.

The decision on whether a building warrant proposal is considered major works in terms of the applicability of the CPA, will rest with the relevant local authority building standards verifier (remembering that the Building Safety Regulator does not have jurisdiction in Scotland).

As part of the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2, recommendations the definition of HRBs in Scotland will be considered further and defined before May 2026, in preparation for future legislative change. Verifiers have indicated that there are other project types which would benefit from inclusion, such as stadia and shopping centres.

What will be required under the CPA?

• A Compliance Plan (CP) setting out how compliance will be achieved, inspected, evidenced and controlled.
• A new central role: the Compliance Plan Manager (CPM), to be introduced in legislation, will be responsible for preparing, coordinating and managing the CP. It is anticipated that as a minimum the CPM will be a construction professional and have accreditation from an anticipated industry led CPM competency scheme.
• The CP must be developed and submitted by the CPM to the verifier for provisional agreement pre-warrant, agreed with the verifier, issued with the building warrant and actively maintained through construction to completion.
• CPs will define inspection stages, hold points, evidence requirements, change control and verifier engagement.
• Verifiers will use the CP as the basis for reasonable inquiry, ongoing inspection and completion certification. The CP will need to be fully discharged before the verifier can consider acceptance of a completion certificate.

Legislative change will be required to mandate the pre-warrant application for the CP, the engagement of the CPM and amendments to enforcement and sanctions. Other supporting legislative change is expected and once enacted, a suite of refreshed guidance is to be delivered by Scottish Government.

Fire safety review and compliance – call for evidence

The Scottish Government has also launched a call for evidence which closes on 10 April 2026. This is part of the Scottish Government's March 2025 Response to the Grenfell Inquiry, when it committed to undertaking a fundamental review of Section 2 (Fire) of the Technical Handbooks. The purpose of this call for evidence is to help shape and inform this review in considering changes to the standards and processes set out within The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and other published guidance documents to improve provisions addressing fire safety. The call for evidence focuses on three key areas (1) the Grenfell Phase 2 report recommendations (2) the role of the CPM in legislation and (3) procedural principles of the CPA. The CPM questions focus on:

• whether the role of the duties and corresponding offences of the Compliance Plan Manager should be set out in legislation, and if legislation is required to give full effect to the CPA and the role of the CPM for HRBs;
• what buildings may constitute an HRB, including whether non-domestic buildings above 11 metres, enclosed shopping centres and entertainment venues (such as theatres, concert halls and arenas) should be defined as an HRB; and
• the procedural principles of the Compliance Plan Approach such as whether respondents agree with the proposed minimum 12-week timescale for submission to a verifier of an application for Compliance Plan in principle and if a verifier should only register a building warrant for a HRB after a Compliance Plan in principle has been issued.

The CPA marks a significant step forward in enhancing the safety and quality of building standards in Scotland. By introducing an auditable and managed process, it aims to ensure that safety-critical elements are verified throughout the construction process in Scotland.

The core principles of the CPA demonstrate a commitment to building safety and its introduction allows the industry to adapt gradually, preparing for their eventual integration into legislation.

Although the CPA differs from the approach adopted in England, both frameworks underscore the paramount importance of building safety. Understanding the differences in their approaches is crucial for navigating and complying with the safety requirements specific to each region, to ensure the highest standards are met in both Scotland and England.

Although legislation to make the CPA mandatory in Scotland is some time away, those involved with construction projects and potential HRBs should start preparing now, noting that local authority verifiers are expected to use the recent guidance from 1 April 2026 and voluntary adoption of the CPA will follow shortly.

If you would like to discuss anything raised in this article,  please get in touch with Phoebe Cournane or Emma Kelly, or your usual Burness Paull contact.

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