This monthWelcome back after the Easter break. March closed with a flurry of activity that will shape building safety regulation for years to come. The consultation on the proposed single construction regulator has just shut, the Construction Products Reform White Paper is out for consultation, and a landmark Upper Tribunal judgment has made clear that corporate structures offer far less protection from remediation liability than many developers had hoped. |
Regulatory updateThe MHCLG consultation on the single construction regulator (SCR) closed on 20 March 2026. Published in December 2025 as the first substantive response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s top recommendation, the prospectus sets out plans for an arm’s-length body that would absorb the newly independent BSR and the National Regulator for Construction Products, consolidating 12 regulatory functions. A government response is expected in summer 2026, with legislation anticipated in a future parliamentary session and full implementation not until 2028 to 2029.Separately, MHCLG published its long-awaited Construction Products Reform White Paper on 25 February 2026, alongside a consultation on a new General Safety Requirement for construction products. Both consultations run until 20 May 2026. The White Paper proposes tighter oversight across the product supply chain, enhanced requirements for safety-critical products such as fire doors, and a clear shift of responsibility to principal designers and principal contractors for specifying and installing compliant products. |
Enforcement and decisionsThe Upper Tribunal’s judgment in Edgewater (Stevenage) Limited and Others v Grey GR Limited Partnership [2026] UKUT 18 (LC) is the most significant RCO decision since Triathlon Homes LLP v Stratford Village Development Partnership and Others, and it builds directly on it. In Triathlon, the tribunal established that a thinly capitalised developer alongside a wealthy parent is a classic case for an RCO against both. Edgewater takes that principle into harder territory: where there is no single parent company, a dispersed network of associated entities can collectively fill that role. The Upper Tribunal confirmed that joint and several liability can be imposed across 76 associated companies, that direct participation in or profit from the development is not required, and that any risk of fire spread can constitute a building safety risk. The total RCO against the Vista Tower developer group exceeds £13 million.The BSR also published updated Gateway 2 statistics to 25 February 2026, showing 108 new-build decisions and 82 new applications in the preceding 12-week rolling period, with the regulator describing itself as “cautiously optimistic” about meeting processing milestones. Anecdotally, we are hearing that the processing time varies depending on the nature of the application – with remediation on existing buildings taking longer than new builds. |
In practiceThe Vista Tower judgment is significant news for social housing providers and leaseholders seeking to recover remediation costs from those responsible for defective buildings. The decision makes clear that developers cannot avoid liability simply by routing a project through a thinly capitalised special purpose vehicle: if there is a wider network of associated companies, the tribunal can reach across the whole structure and impose joint and several liability on all of them. For housing associations and local authorities holding buildings with known defects, this strengthens the case for pursuing RCO applications where a developer group remains identifiable, even if the original development company has little or no assets remaining.For leaseholders, the broadening of what counts as a building safety risk, and the confirmation that costs can be recovered even where the associated company had no direct involvement in the defective works, shifts the balance meaningfully in their favour. The message to developer groups is equally clear: opaque corporate structures and incomplete financial disclosure will not help, and may actively count against respondents when the tribunal weighs what is just and equitable. |
One to watchThe Construction Products Reform White Paper consultation closes on 20 May 2026. This is not a peripheral document: it will determine how products are regulated, tested, and certified within the new single regulator framework. Developers, housing associations, and local authorities who specify and procure products at scale have a direct interest in shaping the outcome. If you have not already started reading, now is the time. |
| As ever, if any of this raises questions about how you communicate with stakeholders in your projects or portfolio, please do get in touch. The Keeble Brown team |
