A Single Construction Regulator: The Blueprint That Will Reshape UK Building Control

This is not just another government consultation.

What has been published is, in effect, a proposed wiring diagram for how buildings, construction products and professionals, including architects, will be regulated across the UK for decades to come.

We briefly touched on this direction of travel in Episode 177, when discussing the government’s intention to reform Gateway 2 applications and change who regulates them under the Building Safety Act. That conversation focused on process. This new consultation goes much further. It proposes a wholesale redesign of the entire regulatory system, centred around the creation of a single, integrated construction regulator.

The Starting Point: Grenfell

As ever, the starting point is Grenfell.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry exposed a regulatory system that had become fragmented, inconsistent and riddled with conflicts of interest. Responsibility for building regulations, construction products and fire safety sat across different departments. Building control was split between local authorities and approved inspectors. Testing and certification were largely left to commercial bodies.

The Inquiry’s Phase 2 report could not have been clearer. This fragmentation was described as “a recipe for inefficiency and an obstacle to effective regulation”. Its first and primary recommendation was to bring these functions together under a single independent construction regulator, accountable to the Secretary of State.

In February 2025, the government formally accepted all of the Inquiry’s findings and committed to delivering this reform.

What Is the Prospectus?

The document now out for consultation, the Single Construction Regulator Prospectus, published in December 2025 and presented to Parliament, sets out the government’s vision for how that recommendation should be delivered.

At its core is the proposal to integrate three previously separate regulatory domains:

• Regulation of buildings

• Regulation of construction products

• Regulation of building professions

The new regulator is framed as an evolution and consolidation of existing bodies, particularly the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and the National Regulator for Construction Products (NRCP). It is explicitly intended to implement the Grenfell Inquiry’s first recommendation and to underpin wider reforms across the built environment.

The consultation runs until 20 March 2026. A government response is expected in summer 2026, with legislation to follow after that.

A Shift to Outcome-Based Regulation

One of the most significant aspects of the Prospectus is the move towards outcome-based regulation.

Rather than treating buildings, products and professions as isolated silos, the government proposes four overarching outcomes for the entire “building system”.

1. Safe, High-Performing Buildings and Places

Buildings should protect occupants from both catastrophic risks, such as fire or structural collapse, and chronic harms including overheating, poor air quality and damp. They should also perform well across their full lifecycle, delivering social, economic, cultural and environmental value not just for current users, but for future generations, including at end-of-life, reuse and disposal.

2. Responsible Companies and Individuals Are Enabled to Thrive

Those who act competently, ethically and in the interests of building users should be supported and rewarded. Those who cut corners or act dishonestly should face proportionate sanctions and should not gain a commercial advantage from non-compliance. This outcome explicitly extends beyond designers and contractors to product manufacturers, building managers, insurers and funders.

3. Construction Products Are Fit for Purpose

Products must perform as claimed and be supported by accurate, reliable information on testing, composition and performance. A full lifecycle approach is proposed, including duties to preserve information needed for future removal, reuse, recycling or safe disposal.

4. A System That Is Trusted

Residents, clients and the public must be confident that the system prioritises safety and that poor behaviour will be identified and addressed. Trust is explicitly linked to transparency, access to information, visible enforcement and the ability to respond quickly when things go wrong.

These outcomes will underpin the statutory objectives, duties and functions of the new regulator. Safety and building standards are positioned as the primary objective, with growth, innovation and trust as secondary objectives, but only where they do not undermine safety.

Integrating the Three Pillars of Regulation

The Prospectus then turns to how integration will work in practice. This is where the day-to-day impact on practitioners begins to emerge.

1. Regulation of Buildings

The Prospectus builds directly on the Building Safety Act 2022 and the creation of the Building Safety Regulator, recognising the significant reforms already introduced.

The government reiterates its commitment to strengthening fire and structural safety across both new and existing buildings, including:

• The combustible materials ban on external walls, introduced in 2018 and expanded in 2022.

• Lowering sprinkler thresholds in residential buildings and mandating sprinklers in all new care homes from March 2025.

• Statutory guidance on second staircases for residential buildings over 18 metres from September 2026.

• Continuous updates to Approved Document B and alignment with European fire classification standards.

• The introduction of Part 2A competence and dutyholder regimes, including Principal Designer and Principal Contractor roles.

• New Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan requirements from April 2026.

Crucially, the Prospectus confirms that the future regulator will inherit a duty to oversee the safety and standard of all buildings, not just higher-risk ones. It also confirms that the Building Safety Regulator will move out of the Health and Safety Executive into a new standalone body, reporting directly to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This body will become the organisational “home” of the integrated regulator.

An independent statutory review of the building safety regime will be commissioned ahead of April 2027 and will feed into the final design of the regulator.

2. Regulation of Construction Products

The Grenfell Inquiry devoted significant attention to failures in the construction products regime and recommended that responsibility for this area should also sit with the single regulator.

The Prospectus notes that:

• The National Regulator for Construction Products already exists within the Office for Product Safety and Standards and has begun removing non-compliant products from the market.

• A Construction Products Reform Green Paper, published in February 2025, identified systemic weaknesses, including a lack of enforcement and widespread ignorance of regulatory obligations among manufacturers.

The government plans to publish a White Paper by spring 2026, setting out proposals for system-wide reform and new regulatory powers.

All new construction product regulatory functions are intended to sit within the future single regulator, covering products regardless of end use, buildings, infrastructure or the wider built environment.

3. Regulation of Building Professions

The third pillar is perhaps the most consequential for architects and other professionals.

The Inquiry called for stronger oversight of safety-critical roles such as fire engineering and building control. The Prospectus goes further, signalling a move toward a coherent regulatory strategy for built environment professions, including:

• Statutory professions such as architects and building control

• Other high-risk roles involved in design, construction and building management

The current system is acknowledged to lack consistent definitions of competence, meaningful enforcement and clear public accountability.

The government describes this as a generational opportunity to rationalise and strengthen professional regulation by building on existing structures rather than layering new requirements onto a fragmented system.

Work already under way includes:

• A Fire Engineers Advisory Panel established in April 2025

• Stakeholder roundtables exploring licensing for principal contractors

• A wider review of the dutyholder regime, reporting in autumn 2026

• A call for evidence on professional regulation in spring 2026

• An overarching built environment professions strategy due in spring 2027

For architecture specifically, both ARB and RIBA have welcomed the Prospectus, highlighting opportunities to clarify regulation of the title “architect”, explore regulated activities, and reduce fragmentation while raising standards.

For trainees and practitioners, this points toward a future where competence, CPD and potentially specific regulated roles in higher-risk work are subject to clearer, outcomes-focused oversight.

Residents at the Centre of the System

A recurring theme throughout the Prospectus is the centrality of residents.

The document explicitly recognises that disabled and vulnerable residents have borne the brunt of regulatory failure, facing issues such as damp, mould, unsafe cladding and overheating with limited routes to redress.

The new regulator is expected to:

• Build on the BSR’s Residents’ Panel and public campaigns to ensure resident voices shape priorities

• Monitor residents’ lived experience, potentially using indicators such as health outcomes and life expectancy

• Provide accessible information at key moments, such as moving into a building or during major works

For practitioners, engagement with residents is positioned not as optional good practice, but as a core component of competence and ethical compliance.

Roles, Responsibilities and Culture Change

The Prospectus also sets out how responsibility will be shared across the system.

MHCLG is positioned as the steward of the building ecosystem, responsible for sponsoring the regulator, appointing its board and setting strategic priorities.

The regulator itself will:

• Lead on accountability and enforcement using proportionate, risk-based approaches

• Coordinate with local authorities, fire services and ombudsmen

• Engage openly with SMEs, residents and the wider industry

Industry, however, is also expected to “step up”.

The Prospectus is explicit that some actors exploited fragmentation to prioritise profit over safety. That behaviour is no longer acceptable.

For architects, this reinforces obligations to challenge unsafe briefs, resist inappropriate value engineering, insist on robust information and collaborate to manage risk across project teams.

What Happens Next?

Key milestones include:

• An annual progress report on Grenfell Inquiry recommendations in February 2026

• Consultation closing in March 2026

• Government response in summer 2026

• An independent statutory review of the building safety regime by April 2027

Primary legislation will be required to formally establish the new regulator and transfer functions from existing bodies.

Final Thoughts

The Single Construction Regulator Prospectus is not a niche policy paper.

It is a blueprint for reshaping how the UK regulates buildings, construction products and the professions that design, deliver and manage them.

If implemented, it will mark a generational shift away from fragmentation and opacity, and toward a system built around safety, accountability, competence and trust.

The consultation is open until March 2026. How this system is shaped now will define the future of the built environment for decades to come.