Construction Products Regulations – what’s on the horizon?

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry identified various systemic safety failures in the construction sector and over the intervening years there has been vast legislative reform, but one area which is still awaiting change is the regulation of construction products.

However, the government has embarked on this process, holding a consultation in 2025 and publishing a series of documents in the early part of 2026 which include its proposals for reform. We outline the key takeaways from this below.

All construction products will be subject to regulation

The current regulatory regime is estimated to cover less than 40% of all construction products on the UK market so bringing all products within the scope of regulation will represent a major shift:

• The current regulatory regime which, for applicable products, imposes designated standards or requires technical assessments will continue to apply to those products.
• For all other products not caught by the current regime, there will be a new General Safety Requirement (or GSR).
• For products considered critical to safety, there will be an enhanced standard.

The GSR will mean that manufacturers will have to safety assess their products before putting them on the market, i.e. they will need to consider the safety of their products when used in the way intended and in reasonably foreseeable conditions and take appropriate action to mitigate those risks. The products will also need to be properly labelled with clear and accurate safety information.

The government also plans to have a central information system which those planning to specify or use particular construction products can access to find out product safety information about them.

Who will be affected by the changes?

As well as manufacturers of construction products, importers and distributors of construction products in the UK will have to comply with the new rules.

Those involved in construction projects will also be affected:

• Employers using construction products will be responsible for ensuring those they engage to design and build their projects are suitably competent and ensure that the project complies with the relevant legislation.
• Designers’ duties in relation to the selection of products will be impacted by the requirements of the new regulations as they will need to ensure that the products they specify meet the new standards.
• Contractors will need to make sure that only safe products are used and are correctly installed, which will include oversight of their subcontractors.
• Building owners will need to ensure that they maintain their buildings in accordance with the legislation, particularly when it comes to making repairs and replacing items.

Ensuring compliance

As well as spreading responsibility across the supply chain (above), the proposed reforms include various measures designed to help ensure compliance with the new rules:

• The testing and certification sector will be improved by a new licensing regime which will require all conformity assessment bodies to be licensed by a national construction regulator.
• There will be greater powers for the authorities to investigate and intervene in cases of non-compliance.
• Penalties for non-compliance will include unlimited fines and imprisonment. There may also be sanctions against directors of companies which fail to comply, possibly directors’ disqualification orders and a right to recover the proceeds of crime.

Timescales

In brief, the new GSR is expected to be introduced later this year (2026), to commence in late 2027, and the new Construction Products Regulations are expected to be in force by 2028.

Although this may seem some way off, those who will be impacted by the changes will likely need to start thinking about how they will adapt, in particular to reduce the risk of disruption which may initially follow the introduction of the changes.

If you have any questions arising from this article, please contact the team at constructiongroup@fsp-law.com