This year, UK homebuilders are doubling down on growth while entering a new era of accountability. With PWC forecasting residential market growth from 5.2% (2026) to 6% (2027), many businesses are preparing to increase output, accelerate delivery, and scale operations.
The problem? Growth exposes weakness.
The Building Safety Act has changed the rules. What once passed as 'good enough' is now subject to scrutiny, audit, and legal accountability. The real question for 2026 is not whether you understand the regulation, but whether your business could evidence compliance tomorrow, at pace, and under pressure.
This blog explores what the Building Safety Act means for homebuilders in 2026, the growing impact of the Golden Thread, and why many businesses are rethinking how they manage safety-critical information as they prepare to scale.
Does your project fall under the Building Safety Act?
The Building Safety Act applies to higher-risk residential buildings in England, placing clear legal duties on those who design, build, and manage them.
You are likely in scope if you are a homebuilder or developer working on buildings that:
- Are 18 metres or more in height
- Are 7 storeys or more
- Contain two or more residential units
For homebuilders, this brings new responsibilities around gateway approvals, information control, and long-term data retention. However, the impact extends beyond higher-risk buildings alone.
Many organizations are now applying elements of the Building Safety Act standard across their entire portfolio. Why? Because running two different compliance models, one for higher-risk buildings and one for everything else, creates inconsistency, operational risk, and exposure when regulation inevitably expands.
A new baseline, not a new policy
Introduced in 2022, the Building Safety Act marks a fundamental shift in accountability. It is not enough to say the right processes exist; homebuilders must prove they were followed.
The consequences of non-compliance can result in:
- Project delays at gateway points
- Financial penalties and reputational damage
- Criminal prosecution in serious cases, including potential imprisonment for responsible individuals
- Buildings being prevented from progressing or being occupied
This has elevated building safety from an operational concern to a board-level risk. Accountability sits with named duty holders, and regulators expect evidence that decisions were controlled, documented, and traceable.
Why 'business as usual' no longer works for the Building Safety Act
Despite this shift, many homebuilders still rely on familiar tools such as basic shared drives, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems to manage project information. While this may work at a single-project level, it introduces significant risk when organizations scale.
Common challenges include:
- Inconsistent document control across sites and regions
- Limited visibility for project and regional leadership
- Weak audit trails when approvals and changes are questioned
At a small scale, manual processes may appear adequate, but at volume, they fail. This is not because teams don’t care, but because the systems were never designed to support regulatory scrutiny at scale.
The Golden Thread: still the biggest compliance challenge in the Building Safety Act
At the heart of the Building Safety Act is the Golden Thread of information. This requires a complete, accurate, and accessible record of safety-critical information that follows the building from design through construction and into occupation.
On paper, most organizations believe they have this covered. In reality, the Golden Thread is often:
- Split across multiple platforms
- Dependent on individuals rather than systems
- Difficult to validate under audit
Fragmented information erodes confidence in reporting. And without confidence, gateway reviews slow down, audits become painful, and accountability becomes blurred.
Scaling delivery in line with the Building Safety Act, without scaling risk
With market growth expected throughout 2026 and 2027, many homebuilders are preparing to increase output. But scaling output without fixing information management only magnifies exposure.
As organizations scale:
- Information volumes multiply
- Supply chains become more complex
- Regulatory scrutiny intensifies
The organizations that struggle are not those that lack intent; they are those that rely on effort rather than repeatable processes.
The role of digital information management in Golden Thread reporting
To meet the demands of the Building Safety Act, leading homebuilders use structured information management platforms to embed compliance directly into day-to-day delivery.
The right platform enables businesses to:
- Maintain a structured, compliant Common Data Environment
- Create audit trails automatically, not retrospectively
- Standardize processes across projects and regions
- Give leadership real-time visibility of compliance status
The goal is simple: compliance that works by default, even as the business scales.
Demonstrating the Building Safety Act in 2026 and beyond
As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, homebuilders that succeed will be those who move beyond minimum compliance and invest in robust, scalable systems that support safety, quality, and growth.
This year, the question every homebuilder must be asking themselves is simple:
Can my business evidence compliance clearly, consistently, and at scale?
If the answer is anything less than yes, now is the time to rethink how safety-critical information is managed across your organisation.
Download the guide ‘Demonstrating Quality and Compliance for Homebuilders in 2026’
