The new government has been in power for a little more than 50 days and it has already shown it is keen to make its mark. There is, however, a lot to do and very little money with which to do it.
We have been tracking developments and keeping our finger on the pulse. In future issues of Building Interest, we will comment on new government policies and initiatives as they take shape. In this article, we look at the last government's legacy in the built environment space and the new government's list of priorities.
Focus: construction
Whilst the number of people employed in the construction industry has dropped since before the pandemic, Construction remains an important sector of the UK economy: according to the ONS, the industry employed 6% of the workforce in March 2024 and generated just over 6% of the country's GDP in the first quarter this year.
Thirty years have passed since Sir Michael Latham's Final Report on the state of the UK construction industry, Constructing the Team, was published. The biggest achievement of the report came in the form of new legislation – The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, commonly referred to as the 'Construction Act', which provided a framework for managing payments in construction contracts and introduced adjudication into the arena of construction dispute resolution procedures. The industry, however, remains beset by many of the fundamental problems that were identified in the Latham Review.
Focus: key legislation affecting the built environment enacted during the last parliamentary term
Dame Judith Hackitt's reports that followed the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 highlighted a litany of issues that concern life-critical building and fire safety and which have plagued the built environment. In terms of legislation, the landmark Building Safety Act will be remembered as the Conservative government's main legacy.
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Legislation |
Objectives |
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Fire Safety Act 2021 (FSA) |
Perhaps one of the shortest statutes on the books (just over three pages long), the FSA amended the Fire Safety Order (FSO) to clarify that it applies to the structure, external walls (including cladding and balconies) and individual flat entrance doors between domestic premises and the common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. |
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The FSO Its full title is The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and it is the main piece of legislation governing fire safety in buildings in England and Wales. It consolidated a long list of historical pieces of legislation. The FSO provides a framework for regulating fire safety in all non-domestic premises, including workplaces, and the parts of multi-occupied residential buildings used in common in England and Wales. |
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Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (FSER) |
The FSER came into force in January 2023. For high-rise residential buildings (multi-occupied buildings of at least 18 metres in height or comprising 7 or more storeys), the responsible person under the FSO is required to:
For multi-occupied residential buildings over 11 metres in height, responsible persons must:
In all multi-occupied residential buildings, responsible persons must:
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Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) |
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Procurement Act 2023 |
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Levelling up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) |
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Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 (SHRA) |
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Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) |
LFRA aims to give leaseholders more rights, powers and protections in relation to their homes including making it easier and cheaper for residential leaseholders to extend their lease or to buy their freehold as well as addressing wider rights regarding service charges. It also introduces notable reforms affecting lease extension and enfranchisement rights. Alongside wider reforms to long leaseholders’ rights, LFRA also some key changes to the BSA, to remediation orders and remediation contribution orders Read our Essential Guide. |
[1] New laws to speed up planning, build homes and level up - GOV UK (www.gov.uk)
The government's agenda for 2024-2029
Within days of coming into power, the government changed the name of The Department of Levelling Up back to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“no more government by gimmick” said the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner).
Sarah Jones is the new construction minister. She is an advocate of building safety, has a record of voting for stronger fire safety measures and used her maiden speech to Parliament to call for tower blocks to be fitted with sprinklers.
The government notes that a fundamental change is needed in the way it views and engages with those operating in the built environment. It has made its key focus areas known. At the top of its list are:
- updating the planning system;
- the delivery of new homes (Read our Essential Guide);
- delivering high quality public estates;
- dealing with the retrofit of existing building stock; and
- new towns in England (Read our Essential Guide).
Green Energy:
In terms of construction and green energy, Labour vows to make Britain an 'energy superpower' and has recently increased the budget for renewable projects to £1.5bn, with £1.1bn of that being allocated to offshore wind projects. Labour wants to quadruple offshore wind capacity, double onshore wind capacity and triple solar power capacity in order to meet its target of cutting emissions from electricity generation to net zero by 2030.
Sustainability:
Labour also plans to develop the country in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way which enables the UK to operate using a circular economy. For example, Westminster Council’s new Labour administration will push for commercial buildings to be regularly upgraded in order to make sure they meet environmental standards. Moreover, Labour will require developers to consider retrofitting fully before the demolition of buildings can take place. It is hoped that by merely converting and upgrading buildings, excessive carbon production and land demolition can be avoided.
Building Homes:
Labour have also pledged to build 1.5m new homes across the country and this policy is further to Labour’s aim to reduce social and fiscal inequality. With 1.5m new homes being constructed, the housing market will become more accessible to the public. The increase on supply of new homes and a potentially reduced demand for affordable housing may result in a drop in house price allowing groups that were previously alienated from the housing market to be included for the very first time. This commitment is a large jump from the previous Conservative policy which outlined 300,000 new homes to be built by 2020.
The prime minister has declared that their 'work is urgent and it begins today' , but following a short honeymoon period, the United Kingdom has yet to experience the 'sunlight of hope' promised by Kier Starmer. In future issues we will look at government policy and how it is translated into government guidance, policies and legislation.
