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Welcome to our Building Safety newsletter - designed to keep you regularly informed on the progress of the Building Safety Programme and fire safety matters affecting the people of Wales.
Following last month’s Senedd election Siân Gwenllian MS has been appointed Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning. Setting out her priorities to the Senedd, the Cabinet Minister confirmed she was committed to maintaining the pace and ambition that saw the Building Safety (Wales) Act pass through the sixth Senedd with unanimous support. As she marked the ninth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Cabinet Minister said she was committed to working in partnership to embrace the transformative opportunities provided by the legislation.
The First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth was questioned about the Building Safety Remediation Programme during his second First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd. He told MSs there had been “too much dragging of feet” and that his Government was working quickly to introduce regulations as part of the new Act, to provide leaseholders in Wales with protections which had only previously been available in England.
Data
The progress made in delivering fire safety remediation across Wales is reported in the Building Safety Remediation Dashboard. The dashboard brings together information on all buildings in the Welsh Building Safety Remediation Programme, tracking progress from identification through to completion.
As an overview, the dashboard captures:
The total number of residential buildings of 11 metres and over identified as needing fire safety work inside apartments and communal areas, to the external wall system or both.
The information can be filtered to give insight on a particular aspect:
- By building height
- By responsibility (e.g. developer or social landlord)
- By the stage of progress
Each building has a progress status defined as follows:
- Still being assessed or surveyed
- In planning or design
- Work has started
- Work has been completed
The dashboard is updated monthly, helping track not only the progress, but also where targeted intervention by the Building Safety team may be necessary.
The team is committed to continuing to improve the dashboard, with the latest release including new information for ‘orphan’ or ‘smaller developer’ buildings. Fire safety works on these buildings will be funded wholly, or in part, by the Welsh Building Safety Fund.
Your feedback on the dashboard is welcome. Please email comments and suggestions to: BuildingSafety@gov.wales
Expression of Interest
The Welsh Building Safety Fund (WBSF) continues to support the identification and remediation of life-critical fire safety issues in multi‑occupied residential buildings across Wales. It aims to support buildings which are 11 metres and above with known or suspected fire safety risks, such as unsafe cladding or compartmentation defects.
Responsible persons (freeholders, managing agents, and other accountable persons across both the private and public sectors) are strongly encouraged to engage with the programme.
An Expression of Interest (EoI) can be submitted using the links below; it takes only a few minutes to complete. Applicants will be asked to provide information about the building, including its location, height, number of residential units, construction type, ownership and management arrangements, and details of any known or suspected fire safety issues. The application will then be assessed and may be approved for funding support where criteria are met. Further information:
Please also share this information with your networks to help reach all those who may benefit.
The Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 (the Act) received Royal Assent on 27 April 2026 and can be found here.
Some additional detail required to bring the new regime to life will be set out in Regulations. Work has begun to develop the Regulations, and we will be carrying out a number of consultations in the coming months. To support with this work, we have established an external Advisory Group which is providing oversight and direction on implementation of the Act.
The first consultation invites views on the Welsh Government’s proposals for regulations about the remediation of certain historical in-built building safety defects and the categorisation of buildings regulated by the Act. In particular, it proposes how regulation-making powers set out in that Act will be used to:
- create a system for the making of remediation orders and remediation contribution orders by the residential property tribunal,
- limit the liability of leaseholders for the cost of remediation and related provisions, and
- provide a method for calculating the height and number of storeys of a regulated building.
We encourage you to respond to the consultation which is available here:
https://www.gov.wales/implementing-building-safety-wales-act-2026
The 14 June marked the ninth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The Welsh Government continues to work to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The most recent progress report was published on the dashboard in March and demonstrates the breadth of work underway to strengthen building safety and resilience in Wales.
The measures already taken and those underway demonstrate the Welsh Government’s commitment to learning the lessons of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and to delivering lasting building safety improvements for residents, while ensuring a positive and lasting legacy here in Wales for those who lost their lives.
New regulations for the design and construction of higher-risk buildings and regulations affecting all building work
Regulations that strengthen the building control system for higher-risk buildings in Wales, alongside broader updates to existing building regulations take effect from 1 July 2026 and include the following key updates:
- Clear responsibilities and competence standards for those involved in building work (dutyholders).
- Compliance and Stop Notices that give new enforcement powers for local authority building control.
- The introduction of Gateways for higher-risk building projects that create hard-stops where building work cannot start without approval.
- Golden Thread of building information for higher-risk buildings, ensuring vital safety information from the design and construction phase is maintained and readily accessible.
- Mandatory reporting of any significant safety occurrences during work on higher-risk buildings.
- Building control approval will now lapse automatically if work does not commence within three years.
These changes are part of our ongoing commitment to improving building safety for everyone across Wales. Guidance on the regulations can be found here: Building regulation | Sub-topic | GOV.WALES
Part L (Conservation of fuel and power and the minimisation of greenhouse gases) review
The 2025 review on changes to Parts L, F and O of the Building Regulations for dwellings and non-domestic buildings closed on 17 November 2025. A Government response for the changes to Parts L and F has been published: Building Regulations Part L: 2025-review
The Government response for the Part O proposals, is estimated to be published later this year.
The energy efficiency amendment regulations come into force on 4 March 2027: The Building etc. (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (WGC 003/2026) [HTML] | GOV.WALES
Please see circular for the new Approved Documents: Publication of Approved Document L (2026) Volumes 1 and 2, and Approved Document F, Ventilation, Volume 1 (WGC 006/2026) [HTML] | GOV.WALES
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