Transitional arrangements for the new building control regime starting on 1 July 2026

New building regulations come into force on 1 July 2026 that, amongst other provisions, introduce reform of building control processes particularly for higher-risk building work.

The principal sets of regulations are the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025 and the Building etc. (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2025.

The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025 introduce provisions for higher-risk building work including:

• a requirement for approval before any higher-risk building work can begin (also known as Gateway 2)
• building control approval application process for building work on, or to create, a higher-risk building
• new procedures when carrying out higher-risk building work, such as change control and mandatory reporting of safety issues
• building control approval process for completed higher-risk building work (also known as Gateway 3)
• golden thread of information for higher-risk buildings
• appeal procedures relating to higher-risk building work
• transitional arrangements

The Building etc. (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2025 introduce provisions building work including:

• roles, responsibilities and requirements for dutyholders involved in any controlled building work
• replacing the existing process of depositing plans with applications for building control for non-higher-risk building work
• new provisions relating to the commencement of work, including a definition of commencement. These are in relation to the provisions for the automatic lapse of building control approval after three years.
• new enforcement powers for local authorities: compliance notices and stop notices
• amendments to various pieces of other secondary legislation to be in line with these new provisions, including amendments to the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024.

More information about these regulations can be found in Circular letters and guidance on their provisions.

A higher-risk building is a building that has at least:

• 7 storeys or is at least 18 metres high 
• 1 residential unit or is a hospital, a care home or a children’s home

Some types of buildings are excluded from being a higher-risk building, such as hotels, secure residential institutions and military barracks or other Ministry of Defence accommodation. 

You can read guidance on when buildings are considered to be higher-risk buildings during construction of new buildings and when carrying out building work on existing buildings.

Higher-risk building work is any work that creates, or is carried out on, a higher-risk building, including work that causes a higher-risk building no longer meet the definition above.

Transitional provisions for the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025 are set out in schedule 3 of those regulations.

For higher-risk building work, where full plans have been deposited with a building control authority, or an initial notice given and accepted or deemed accepted, before 1 July 2026, the following is the case:

The requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 and, where applicable, the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024 will continue to apply to that work as they are before 1 July 2026.

This means new provisions such as those for gateways, golden thread and dutyholder roles will not apply to building work that meet the criteria above.

These transitional provisions will cease to apply if at any point:

1. the full plans are rejected by the building control authority, or 
2. where the building work has not started within 3 years, the building control authority cancels the initial notice or issues a notice that deposit of plans has no effect.

At that point, the new regulations will apply to that work should it be continued.

To note, initial notices for new higher-risk building work could only be submitted to local authorities before 6 April 2024 under transitional provisions related to the regulation of the building control profession.

Transitional provisions for the Building etc. (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2025 (“the Amendment Regulations”) are set out in regulations 19-22.

They are principally related to amendments to the Building Regulations 2010 and the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024.

For amendments to the Building Regulations 2010, where before 1 July 2026:

1. building work has started, or 
2. plans for building work have been deposited with a local authority, or
3. a building notice given to a local authority,

the requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 will continue to apply to that work as they are before 1 July 2026.

For amendments to the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024, where an initial notice has been given to a local authority before 1 July 2026, the requirements of Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2024 will continue to apply to that work as they are before 1 July 2026.

In addition, changes to forms made by the Amendment Regulations do not apply to any form submitted in relation to which an initial notice has been given to a local authority before 1 July 2026 that complies with the requirements at the time the initial notice was given.

These mean new provisions such as those related to dutyholders, automatic lapse of building control approval, and changes for work overseen by registered building control approvers will not apply to building work that meets the criteria above.

These transitional provisions will cease to apply if at any point:

1. the full plans are rejected by the local authority, 
2. the initial notice is rejected by the local authority or otherwise ceases to be in force.

At that point, the new regulations will apply to that work should it be continued.