Key Policy Updates
The Building Safety Regime
The Building Safety Regulator is responsible for improving safety and standards in the built environment. This week, the BSR became a standalone public body, formally moving out of the Health and Safety Executive. According to the government, this transition strengthens its independence and reinforces its mission to put residents at the centre of building safety regulation.
This change also supports the wider move towards establishing a Single Construction Regulator (SCR) – a more joined‑up system that brings together oversight of buildings, construction products, and professional standards. The establishment of a single regulator was a key recommendation from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The government has set out its proposals in a Single Construction Regulator Prospectus that includes consultation questions that we’ll be responding to, so please let me know if you have any views on it.
The Warm Homes Plan and related government documents
There continues to be much discussion about the Warm Homes Plan – the government’s £15bn home retrofit funding plan launched last week. The government has also published some related government documents:
- An updated Fuel Poverty Strategy. Underpinned by data that we prepare for government, this strategy sets out the ambition to bring a million homes out of fuel poverty by 2030 (worth noting that the 2021 strategy aimed to eliminate the problem as far as practicable).
- Plans for Energy Performance Certificates – a government decision document affirms that EPCs for homes will be redesigned and have new metrics reporting fabric performance, smart energy performance, heating system efficiency, as well as maintaining existing metrics of energy cost and carbon emissions.
- A parallel publication sets out how EPCs will be used to set a minimum standard for private rented homes: EPC C (with the C rating calculated using the new metrics) by 2030.
- A further document consults on how the Home Energy Model (originally developed for government by BRE) will be used to generate the new EPCs for homes.
DSIT publishes a progress update on establishing a National Data Library
The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has published its latest update on the formation of the National Data Library. It summarises the project’s discovery phase, including insights from public and stakeholder engagement and the creation of the National Data Library Expert Advisory Group.
DEFRA publishes assessment on global biodiversity loss
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published a strategic assessment exploring how global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse could affect UK national security. The assessment shows how environmental degradation can disrupt food, water, health and supply chains and trigger wider geopolitical instability.
Government sets out 2035 timeline for the new Decent Homes Standard
MHCLG has published its response to the Decent Homes Standard consultation, with the new standard applying to both the social and private rented sectors from 2035. It states that a home must be free of dangerous hazards, in a reasonable state of repair, provide core facilities and services, thermal comfort and be free of damp and mould. See how the Housing and Insights team contributed to this work. The Guardian reports that the campaign group, Generation Rent, has called the 2035 timeline absurd and had pushed for a deadline of 2030 for implementation of the new standard.
National Wealth Fund publishes five-year strategic plan
The National Wealth Fund has published its five-year strategic plan, which outlines plans to unlock £100bn of clean energy investment. The plan identifies ten sectors: power grid; nuclear; carbon capture, utilisation and storage; energy storage; ports; battery manufacturing and supply chains. With £27.8bn of capital investment, investments are expected to create and support more than 200,000 jobs and contribute to savings of around 500 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
From our members and stakeholders
The standards set to shape the built environment in 2026
It’s not just the review of Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the 19650 standard you need to look out for this year. Here, Dan Rossiter at BSI highlights the other standards that will impact the built environment in 2026. The standards set to shape the built environment in 2026 – Digital Construction Plus
Conflict Avoidance Coalition Newsletter: Newsletter #4 – January 23, 2026 | Conflict Avoidance Coalition
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