At a Glance
🏛️ Government has brought the Building Safety Levy into force alongside a Remediation Acceleration Plan, reshaping the economics and timelines for residential schemes. (Source: Gov.uk)
🏛️ New public procurement rules now restrict award procedures and impose tougher payment reporting on contracts over £5m, raising compliance demands on major frameworks. (Source: Pinsent Masons)
🚆 A £2.9bn long-term infrastructure partnership at Sellafield and major regional highways frameworks signal deep pipelines for civils contractors into the 2030s. (Source: NIA UK; Find a Tender)
🌱 The Building Safety Regulator has recorded its busiest month yet at Gateway 2, stepping up scrutiny of high-rise residential work in London. (Source: Construction Management)
💰 Forecasts show private housing growth slowing while energy and data centre projects remain resilient, as major refurbishments like Manchester Town Hall face rising cost pressures. (Source: UKConstructionNews; Building)
Today’s update: sweeping building safety and procurement reforms are landing just as long-duration infrastructure contracts and frameworks are being inked across rail, nuclear and highways. At the same time, inflation and supply-chain failures are forcing painful budget resets, even as selected sub-sectors like energy and data centres stay buoyant. Here’s what you need to know to stay ahead today.
Ongoing Stories
🏛️ Following earlier coverage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and post‑Grenfell reforms, today’s government updates confirm the Building Safety Levy and a Remediation Acceleration Plan, hardening both the cost burden and deadlines for residential developers. (Source: Gov.uk)
🏛️ Building on recent legal briefings about a more complex regulatory landscape, new procurement rules now fix public awards to a narrower set of procedures with enhanced payment reporting over £5m, tightening oversight across major programmes. (Source: Pinsent Masons; InfraSpec)
🌱 Returning today, the Building Safety Regulator’s Gateway 2 regime shows its highest-ever monthly determinations, indicating that the push to accelerate high‑risk project approvals is now feeding through into case volumes. (Source: Construction Management)
⚙️ Cost and delivery risk, highlighted recently in insolvency data, are echoed in Manchester Town Hall’s additional £95m budget requirement after contractor failures and supply issues, underlining fragility on complex refurbishments. (Source: Building)
Top 5 Headlines
🏛️ Government activates Building Safety Levy and sets 2029 remediation deadline
The Building Safety Levy has come into force on new residential buildings requiring building control, with proceeds directed to remediation of unsafe stock. A Remediation Acceleration Plan sets an ambition to complete works on buildings over 18m by 2029 and introduces penalties for buildings over 11m that fail to comply. Multi‑phase reforms to implement Grenfell Inquiry recommendations also tighten oversight of high‑risk buildings and construction professionals. This materially changes the risk, cost and programme assumptions for residential developers and their supply chains. (Source: Gov.uk)
🏛️ New procurement regime reshapes public sector contracting over £5m
Updated procurement rules now confine public sector award procedures to direct awards, competitive tenders or existing frameworks, removing more ad hoc routes to market. For contracts above £5m, stronger payment reporting obligations are introduced, increasing transparency around supply‑chain flows. These changes will influence bid strategies, framework usage and cashflow risk management on large public projects. (Source: Pinsent Masons; InfraSpec)
🚆 £2.9bn Sellafield infrastructure partnership lets long‑run civils opportunity
Sellafield Ltd has confirmed a £2.9bn infrastructure delivery partnership for non‑nuclear works, split between Morgan Sindall, Costain and HOCHTIEF. The agreement runs to 2040 and will cover a wide range of infrastructure on the Cumbrian site. The deal provides rare multi‑decade visibility for tier‑one contractors and their supply chains in a highly specialised environment. (Source: NIA UK)
🚆 GWR and Northern Ireland launch major construction and surfacing frameworks
Great Western Railway is procuring a three‑year framework for construction and infrastructure works across its property and depot estate, with bids due by 5 December 2025. Separately, Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure has issued a TRAM surfacing framework tender worth around £181.5m, closing on 18 December 2025. These frameworks will set the competitive landscape and workbank access for regional contractors across rail‑adjacent and highways surfacing schemes. (Source: Find a Tender; Infrastructure NI)
🌱 Building Safety Regulator logs record Gateway 2 determinations
The Building Safety Regulator reported its highest monthly volume of Gateway 2 determinations in October 2025, with a concentration on high‑rise residential and remediation cases in London. This suggests both an increased pipeline of higher‑risk schemes and a regulator actively progressing assessments. Developers and principal contractors should expect more intensive front‑end engagement and programme implications on complex residential projects. (Source: Construction Management)
🏗️ Manchester Town Hall revamp hit by extra £95m cost
The refurbishment of Manchester Town Hall has required a further £95m, driven by contractor failures and material supply problems. The escalation reflects ongoing inflationary and supply‑chain pressures in large‑scale heritage and refurbishment work. Sponsors of similar projects may need to revisit contingency assumptions and contractor due‑diligence approaches. (Source: Building)
Also in the news
🏗️ Plans to redevelop a historic east London cinema have been refused, highlighting continued planning sensitivity around heritage assets and local character. (Source: Building)
🏗️ RSHP reports UK construction workloads are holding up with an improved outlook for 2025 despite a previous profit plunge, suggesting design pipelines remain resilient in key sectors. (Source: Building)
💰 Sector forecasts show private housing growth in 2025 cut from 4% to 2%, while energy infrastructure and data centre construction remain comparatively robust amid inflation and labour shortages. (Source: UKConstructionNews; Deloitte)
🚆 Hethel Technology Park has let a £3.9m (excl. VAT) contract for road and roundabout works running for nearly 12 months from mid‑December 2025, adding to regional civils workloads. (Source: Find a Tender)
The Daily Build is written for people shaping the UK’s construction and infrastructure pipeline, from boardrooms to site offices. If this briefing is useful, consider sharing it with colleagues who are planning bids or programmes into 2025.