Legislation Changes and Industry Updates to Watch in 2026

As we approach 2026, the industry is sitting at the intersection of four major policy drivers:

• Accelerating housing delivery

• Tightening safety regulation

• Decarbonising new homes

• Sharpening sustainability expectations

For architects, this means that design decisions being made now on 2025–2027 projects will land directly in the path of new rules on planning routes, housing standards, building safety levies, and carbon and biodiversity reporting.

In this blog, I’ll break down six key themes shaping 2026 and what they mean for practice:

1. Planning and the Planning and Infrastructure Act

2. Housing and the Future Homes Standard timeline

3. Building Safety Regulator reforms and the Building Safety Levy

4. Embodied and whole-life carbon

5. Environmental regulation, Biodiversity Net Gain and sustainability

6. Professional competence and standards

1. Planning and the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has now received Royal Assent and became law in December 2025, officially titled the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025.

What is the Act trying to achieve?

The government positions this Act as central to its “Plan for Change” and ambition to “get Britain building again”. Its three headline aims are to:

• Support the delivery of 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England during this Parliament

• Fast-track 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects

• Help deliver the Clean Power 2030 target by speeding up key clean-energy schemes

At its core, the Act is about removing blockages and delays, particularly around infrastructure, land assembly and strategic housing.

What will change in practice during 2026?

Most changes will arrive through secondary legislation and guidance rolling out across 2026. Likely impacts include:

• Streamlined Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) decisions, reducing consultation duplication and procedural delays

• Stronger and more flexible Development Corporations, making it easier to deliver large new settlements and regeneration schemes

• Reforms to compulsory purchase, including faster vesting of land, simplified notices, and greater use of electronic service

What this means for architects

• Expect more development-corporation-led and development-zone approaches

• Clients may push harder on programme, assuming planning routes will be faster

• Increased interaction between local plans, strategic infrastructure corridors and large housing numbers

2. Housing and the Future Homes Standard Timeline

The Future Homes Standard was first introduced in 2019 as a commitment to ensure new homes are low-carbon and energy-efficient. While it was originally framed as a 2025 standard, implementation has been delayed. The government has now clarified the timeline.

The current expected timetable

Industry guidance and government-linked sources indicate:

• Final Future Homes Standard regulations expected in autumn 2025

• Legislation laid so the regulations become law in December 2026

• A 12-month transitional period running until December 2027

• From 2028, essentially all new homes will need to meet Future Homes Standard performance levels, including low-carbon heat

A crucial point is transitional arrangements:

• Sites registered before December 2026 may continue under Part L 2021, provided they start within the defined window

• Sites or plots registered after December 2026 must comply with the Future Homes Standard

Implications for practice

This creates a clear design and programme tension:

• Clients may attempt to fast-track schemes to secure Part L 2021 registration

• Practices should anticipate workload spikes and compressed programmes through 2025–2026

3. Building Safety Regulator Reforms and the Building Safety Levy

While the Building Safety Act has already reshaped dutyholder roles and gateways, 2026 introduces further structural and financial changes.

Building Safety Regulator reform

Currently, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) sits within the Health and Safety Executive. The government now plans to establish a new standalone corporate body to carry out BSR functions.

Draft documentation suggests regulations will take effect in early 2026, with commencement dates around late January.

The aims are to:

• Create a more clearly independent regulator

• Clarify accountability between the BSR, government and local regulators

• Enable tailored recruitment, digital systems and fee-setting

The hope is that this will speed up Gateway 2 approvals and reduce existing backlogs.

The Building Safety Levy

Draft regulations were published in June 2025, and the government has confirmed the Levy will apply from 1 October 2026.

Key points include:

• A tax on new residential developments (including conversions) requiring building control approval

• Applies to schemes of more than 10 dwellings, including purpose-built student accommodation

• Local authorities collect the Levy, with funds returned to central government for remediation of unsafe buildings

• Developers must submit information at application stage and works commencement

• Levy paid as a single payment before completion certificate (no staged payments currently provided)

Exemptions exist (for example, some affordable housing and NHS accommodation), but these must be assessed scheme by scheme.

What this means for architects

Although practices don’t pay the Levy directly, it will influence:

• Site viability, density and unit-mix discussions

• Client decisions on when to submit building control applications

• Pressure to manage costs elsewhere to offset Levy exposure

4. Embodied and Whole-Life Carbon

While there is still no formal regulation in force, momentum is clearly building towards mandatory whole-life carbon assessment. Although Part Z is not yet an official document, its principles are increasingly referenced by government and industry as a model for future regulation.

What’s anticipated?

Specialist guidance points to 2026 as a key target year for introducing requirements such as:

• Mandatory whole-life carbon assessments for larger developments

• Reporting of upfront, operational, maintenance and end-of-life carbon

• Embodied-carbon intensity caps by building type, tightening over time

• Submission of carbon calculations alongside planning or building control applications

Practical advice for practices

• Treat whole-life carbon assessment as standard practice on significant schemes

• Align methods with recognised frameworks such as RICS, LETI, IStructE and UKGBC

• Expect clients, funders and planning authorities to request carbon metrics ahead of regulation

5. Environment, Biodiversity Net Gain and Sustainability Regulation

Environmental regulation continues to tighten around construction in 2026.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

BNG remains in force for most major developments in England. Recent government messaging suggests:

• BNG will continue for larger schemes

• Very small sites (under 0.2 hectares) may remain outside mandatory BNG

• Greater use of strategic nature recovery and mitigation schemes

For everyday practice:

• BNG remains central to most housing and mixed-use schemes

• Do not assume exemptions—always check site size and local policy

Wider sustainability regulation

Alongside planning reform, government is pursuing a “common-sense” approach to environmental regulation aimed at reducing delays while maintaining protections.

Beyond planning, 2026 is also a busy year for UK and EU-linked sustainability rules, affecting:

• Product labelling and green claims

• Corporate sustainability reporting

• Supply-chain transparency

For architects, this often translates into:

• Greater demand for robust Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)

• Clients asking how design supports their ESG and reporting obligations

6. Professional Competence and Standards

In 2025, the Construction Industry Council approved a new British Standard on sustainability competence for the built environment.

This standard:

• Defines core sustainability knowledge, skills and behaviours

• Aligns with existing professional competence frameworks and building safety requirements

From 2026 onward, expect:

• Greater emphasis on sustainability competence in recruitment and appraisals

• Professional bodies such as ARB and RIBA referencing this standard within CPD and competence expectations

Conclusion: Why 2026 Matters

2026 is not a single “big bang” moment, but a convergence of regulatory change:

• Planning reform focused on speed and certainty

• Housing standards shifting decisively toward the Future Homes Standard

• Building safety evolving into a new institutional and financial model

• Carbon, biodiversity and sustainability becoming core regulatory expectations

• Professional competence tying all of these strands together

The key takeaway is that legislation is becoming increasingly integrated:

• Housing delivery links to planning reform

• Planning reform links to environmental frameworks

• Building regulations link to net-zero and safety

• Professional competence underpins all of it

The architects who will thrive are those who can see across these silos—linking planning strategy to Future Homes Standard design decisions, to Levy exposure, to whole-life carbon and BNG, and to the competence of their teams.