The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has published its response to the Single Construction Regulator Prospectus consultation, confirming the direction of travel for construction sector regulation — but with implementation not expected before 2028.

On 9 July 2026, MHCLG published its response to the December 2025–March 2026 consultation on establishing a Single Construction Regulator (SCR).

As noted in our earlier article examining the main implications of the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report (the Phase 2 Report) for the industry, the SCR was the first and one of the most notable recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's Phase 2 report. The recommendation for a single, independent "construction regulator," accountable to the Secretary of State, is aimed at reducing regulatory fragmentation across buildings, construction products and professions.

While the government has confirmed its commitment to legislate for the SCR "as soon as parliamentary time allows," implementation is not expected to begin before 2028.

What is changing

Regulatory structure

Government will act as system "steward," and the SCR will be the independent operational and enforcement body. This will bring "building, product and professional regulation into one coherent system that addresses institutional fragmentation."

The SCR will be built on the existing Building Safety Regulator, which was moved into a standalone arm's-length body of MHCLG in January 2026. Enforcement will follow a risk-based, proportionate model, with meaningful sanctions and effective enforcement against those who do not meet the expected regulatory standards.

Construction products

The SCR is confirmed as the intended future regulator of construction products, building on the Office for Product Safety and Standards' (OPSS's) current role.

This was heralded in the February 2026 Construction Products Reform White Paper and the parallel consultation on a General Safety Requirement to bring currently unregulated products into scope, largely via secondary legislation, which we reported on in our earlier article - Construction Products Reform White Paper published: key headlines.

The SCR consultation response confirms that Government continues to work closely with OPSS on the operational details of these reforms and further detail will be provided in due course.

New-build warranties

Government is "carefully considering" commencing the powers set out in sections 144 and 145 of the Building Safety Act 2022, which would require all new-build homes to be sold with a new build warranty meeting minimum standards, including insurer backing, enforceable redress timelines, plain-English terms, and transferability to future buyers.

A further consumer protection consultation is also planned.

Building control reform

Government is also considering how the building control regime fits within the wider regulatory system, including how it interacts with the SCR.

A report published by the Building Control Independent Panel on 20 May 2026 report recommends establishing a "single, independent statutory building control system" for all building work. This would involve the creation of larger consolidated Building Control Bodies (BCBs) to take on statutory functions from Local Authority building control, and would remove client choice of regulator and move to an independent allocation model based on risk, competence and capacity. The SCR consultation response indicates that the Government agrees with the Panel's principles and will develop policy further.

Digital and data standards

Government intends to mandate findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) information across the whole building lifecycle, building on the "golden thread" principles in the Building Safety Act, with a Digital Building Control Roadmap expected shortly.

The intent is to leverage AI and automation to support prioritisation of applications and efficiencies, whilst doing so ethically and in line with guidance and best practice on the use of AI in government.

Professional competence

An overarching strategy for built environment professions is due to be published in spring 2027.

This will focus, holistically, on regulation, skills and culture across all those working in the built environment and will include regulatory as well as non-regulatory changes to drive stronger service standards.

It follows on from the Government's call for evidence to inform this framework in May and an expert working group has been commissioned to develop this. Nearer term, targeted reform continues for the fire engineering profession, including a formal response on mandatory fire risk assessor certification expected in autumn 2026. This will build on similar steps taken over recent months including, on the subject of competency, the Industry Competence Committee (ICC) recently publishing 15 principles for managing competency in the built environment, alongside a guidance note in May 2026. We will be getting into the detail of that shortly with a webinar on that subject.

Proportionality of the higher-risk building control regime

A separate review of the higher-risk building control regime is underway, with responses to consultations on (i) proposals to dispense with procedural requirements of the higher-risk building control regime for high-volume, routine building work undertaken by the telecommunications industry, and (ii) proposals to refine the application of the regime for high volume, low complexity work and to ensure that the system operates in a proportionate manner, having recently been published.

Why it matters

No immediate legislative change results from this response, and the SCR itself remains several years away. However, the construction products reforms, potential mandatory warranty requirements, and professional competence measures are moving faster and could affect risk allocation, appointment terms and transaction due diligence well before the SCR is operational.

We continue to keep these workstreams under active review as they progress toward consultation responses and secondary legislation over the coming year.

If you have any questions about the issues raised in this article, please get in touch with Jessica Tresham, Danielle Klepping or Natalie Barton-Howes.