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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.
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The Cabinet Minister for Local Government Housing and Planning, Siân Gwenllian has announced the creation of a Wales Interim Measures Alarm Grant as part of the Welsh Building Safety Remediation Programme.
This will come as welcome news to residents and leaseholders of buildings in the programme who often shoulder the costs of expensive interim measures while work to repair fire safety defects is undertaken.
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The Cabinet Minister, Siân Gwenllian told the Senedd:
“I have been moved by the experiences of leaseholders who find themselves paying expensive waking watch and alarm costs, to enable them to stay in their homes while fire safety remediation work takes place. I’m announcing the creation of a Wales Interim Measures Alarm Grant, to provide leaseholders with a route out of the spiralling costs that often come with a long-term waking watch, and the worry and stress endured as a result.”
While the new grant will not pay waking watch costs it is hoped that by ensuring leaseholders can install an appropriate alarm system it will significantly reduce the need for them.
Further information on eligibility and how to apply can be found here. Applications to the grant fund can be made from 1 October.
Data
Fire safety remediation progress for 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.
The team are currently working on a number of updates to the functionality and data presentation views of the dashboard. These will be introduced in the coming months, but in summary will include:
- A visual of progress made over the preceding 12-month period
- The ability to view data on a map of Wales for all categories of buildings
- Further detail on the types of internal and external fire safety works identified.
Your feedback on the dashboard is welcome. Please email comments and suggestions to: BuildingSafety@gov.wales
Work is being finalised on guidance to support responsible entities in Wales to negotiate remediation works contracts. This guidance will be published this autumn.
The Guidance will help parties understand the purpose of a works contract, the issues that commonly arise in negotiations, and the principles that should inform a reasonable and balanced agreement. It will provide ‘boiler plate’ clauses for standard areas of inclusion. However, it is not intended to replace the bespoke legal and professional advice required in negotiating and agreeing specific works contracts which the Developers are obliged to fund under the developer contract.
On 10 August, we launched a consultation on proposed regulations to designate local authorities as Building Safety Authorities under the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026.
Under Section 122 of the Act, Welsh Ministers must designate one local authority within each fire and rescue authority area to serve as the building safety authority for that region
The consultation invites views on the Welsh Government’s proposals for regulations designating the local authorities that will be building safety authorities for the purposes of the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026. The consultation also asks whether any further provision should be included in the regulations about the exercise of functions by a building safety authority.
You can respond by submitting your comments by 16 October in any of the following ways:
- complete our online form
- download, complete our response form and email: buildingsafety@gov.wales (please include the reference WG54868 in the subject of your email)
- download and complete our response form and post to (please include the reference WG54868):
Building Safety Reform Team
Housing and Regeneration Directorate
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ
New regulations
Regulations that strengthen the building control system for higher-risk buildings in Wales, alongside broader updates to existing building regulations took effect on 1 July 2026 and include the following key updates:
- Clear responsibilities and competence standards for those involved in building work (duty-holder roles for Clients, Designers and Contractors).
- 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
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