Building Safety Programme

Lessons from the Grenfell Tower tragedy highlighted the need for clear accountability in relation to those who own and manage relevant buildings. The Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 (the Act) introduces a new building safety regime in Wales for multi-occupied residential buildings. A multi-occupied residential building is a building of any size containing two or more residential units. The Act establishes a robust and coherent regulatory system, creating clear lines of accountability, imposing a range of statutory duties on relevant “duty-holders” in respect of the relevant parts of a multi-occupied residential building. 

The Act creates three categories of multi-occupied residential buildings, determined by a building’s height and the number of storeys it contains with different levels of regulation depending on the building’s category. The tallest buildings are subject to the strictest regulation.

• Category 1 buildings, which are at least 18 metres in height or at least 7 storeys
• Category 2 buildings, which are less than 18 metres in height but at least 11 metres in height, with fewer than 7 storeys but at least 5 storeys
• Category 3 buildings, which are less than 11 metres in height and fewer than 5 storeys 

The fire safety provisions in the Act also apply to houses in multiple occupation that are not let under a single joint tenancy.

The Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 forms part of a wider programme of reforms aimed at improving safety in multi-occupied residential buildings. This includes:

• A remediation programme which is addressing fire safety issues in multi-occupied residential buildings of 11m and above
• Significant reforms to the design and construction phase of buildings, including reforms to building control, new regulations for high-risk buildings, clearer responsibilities for duty holders and mandatory registration and regulation of building control professionals
• Operating a Joint Inspection Team that supports local authorities and fire services enforce building safety standards in high-rise and multi-occupied residential buildings