The government has demonstrated it is committed to increase housing supply, but the regulator it has inherited from the Tories is actively preventing that from happening.
Chris Worrall is a housing columnist for LFF. He is on the Executive Committee of the Labour Housing Group, Co-Host of the Priced Out Podcast, and Chair of the Local Government and Housing Member Policy Group of the Fabian Society.
For decades, the UK construction industry has evolved to become more efficient, innovative, and capable of delivering safe, high-quality buildings at speed. The design and build (D&B) procurement model, developed in response to government reviews, improved cost certainty, reduced delays, and delivered better-built environments. But thanks to the overly bureaucratic and inefficient Gateway approval process imposed by Michael Gove via the Building Safety Act 2022, that progress is being reversed.
Not only are construction costs soaring and projects facing crippling delays—now the entire land market is being hamstrung. Developers are struggling to secure funding for projects, liquidity is being sucked out of the market, and new development has slowed to a crawl. The knock-on effect? Fewer homes, rising costs, and a housing sector in crisis.
How Did We Get Here?
The Latham Report (1994) and the Egan Report (1998) identified inefficiencies in traditional construction methods and championed D&B as a way to streamline processes, integrate design and construction, and reduce waste. The industry adapted accordingly, with D&B procurement now used in nearly 60% of UK contracts.
The Grenfell tragedy rightly prompted a review of building safety, culminating in the Building Safety Act. However, rather than delivering clarity and practical reforms, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has introduced a regulatory framework so rigid, so unclear, and so slow-moving that it has thrown the entire development process into disarray. The requirement for full design approval before construction begins (Gateway 2) and strict control of changes during construction (Gateway 3) have created a logjam of bureaucracy. The result? Developments stuck in limbo, rising costs, and now, a freeze in the land market.
The Land Market is Seizing Up
For development to happen, land must be bought, financed, and prepared for construction. But with the BSR’s overbearing regulations making project timelines uncertain and funding unpredictable, the land market is grinding to a halt. And here is why:
1. Lenders Won’t Back Uncertain Projects – With BSR approval times stretching up to 18 months, financiers are reluctant to provide funding for developments that may never break ground. Banks and institutional investors need predictable timelines and clear risk assessments—neither of which the current system provides.
2. Liquidity is Being Sucked Out of the Market – Developers who already own land are struggling to progress projects, tying up capital that could be reinvested in new acquisitions. Meanwhile, would-be buyers are hesitant to commit to consented land purchases when it’s unclear whether their projects will ever receive regulatory approval. The result? A stagnant market where transactions slow to a trickle, leaving landowners with untradable assets and developers without the land pipeline they need.
3. Build Costs Have Risen by up to 2%, Making Margins Unworkable – The excessive upfront design work required for Gateway 2 is inflating costs before a single brick is laid. Developers must hire larger teams of architects and consultants just to get a project approved, adding at least 1-2% to total build costs. With such thin margins, many projects are simply becoming even more unviable.
4. Regulatory Uncertainty is Driving Investors Away – Overseas and institutional investors who previously backed UK development are now looking elsewhere. When projects face unpredictable delays and unworkable restrictions, capital seeks safer, more predictable returns—often outside the UK.
An Inept Regulator Making Matters Worse
The BSR’s failures don’t end at excessive regulation. The agency itself is riddled with inexperience and dysfunction. Developers are receiving conflicting advice from BSR officials, many of whom lack real-world construction knowledge. Projects are delayed, not because they fail to meet safety standards, but because regulators provide no clarity, demand unnecessary resubmissions, and fail to process approvals in a timely manner.
Instead of facilitating a safer, more efficient building process, the BSR has become an unpredictable bottleneck, leaving developers in limbo, lenders on the sidelines, and the housing market in a deeper crisis.
The Death of Design and Build
One of the most damaging consequences of the BSR’s rigid approach is its effective dismantling of the D&B model. Under D&B, design work progresses alongside construction, allowing for flexibility, cost control, and innovation. The new regulations, however, require all designs to be fully completed before construction begins—an approach that is not only inefficient but impractical.
This is a massive step backward. The UK has spent decades refining D&B as a method to deliver projects more efficiently. Now, a single regulator is undoing years of progress with heavy-handed, ill-conceived bureaucracy.
The Regulator Needs an Overhaul—Now
The housing crisis is already severe. The last thing Britain needs is a regulator that actively makes things worse. We need a system that ensures safety without suffocating development. This is what we can do to fix it:
1. Streamline Gateway Approvals – The BSR must provide clear, standardised requirements that developers can follow without endless resubmissions on set timeframes.
2. Introduce Provisional Approvals – Allowing conditional approvals would enable construction to begin while final design tweaks are made, reducing delays and financial strain.
3. Ensure the Regulator is Competent – The government must ensure BSR officials are experienced professionals with real-world construction knowledge, not bureaucrats learning on the job.
4. Protect Design and Build – Policymakers must recognize that forcing projects into a rigid, fully-designed model before breaking ground is counterproductive and unnecessary.
5. Unlock the Land Market – By addressing regulatory delays, providing clear timelines, and restoring investor confidence, liquidity can return to the land market, allowing development to move forward.
Time to Choose: Homes or Red Tape?
Britain needs more homes. The government has demonstrated it is committed to increase housing supply, but the regulator it has inherited from the Tories is actively preventing that from happening. The BSR’s approach is not just killing individual projects—it is strangling the entire development ecosystem, from land transactions to construction financing.
The longer the government allows this dysfunction to continue, the worse the housing crisis will become. If ministers are serious about fixing the problem, they must act now to overhaul the regulator before it causes irreparable damage.
The housing market doesn’t need more bureaucracy—it needs action. The choice is simple: fix the regulator, or accept that Britain’s housing crisis will only get worse.
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