Building Standards Futures Board minutes: August 2025

Attendees and apologies

Ken Gourlay (KG) Chair, Chief Executive, Fife Council

John-Paul Breslin (JPB), LABSS

Zoe Black (ZB), RIAS

Colin Proctor (CP), Scottish Futures Trust (SFT)

Robert Toomey (RT), RICS

Gavin Johnston (GJ), BE-ST

Jocelyne Fleming (JF), CIOB

Gordon Nelson (GN), FMB

Robert Nicol (RN), COSLA

Neil Mitchell (NM), Scottish Government

Stephen Garvin (SGa), Scottish Government

Colette Templeton (CT), Scottish Government

Fiona Sinclair (FS), Scottish Government

Cameron Murdoch (CM), Scottish Government

Ken Craig (KC), Scottish Government

Frank Doherty (FD), Scottish Government

Andrew Gayler (AG), Scottish Government

Apologies

Robert Storey (RS), SER

Mark Lawler (ML), SER, Certification Scheme Providers

Steve Fawcett (SF), Homes for Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and Apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the second meeting of 2025 and noted apologies.

The meeting will focus on progress across the Certification Strategy, Delivery Model and Compliance workstreams.

Today the Board are being asked to sign off the Certification Strategy which has been reviewed and updated to support the Scottish Government’s response to the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 report.

There will be updates from the Delivery Model workstream on building warrant fees and the review of the fee model. The Board will also be given an update on the Investment and Resource exercise which is being used to support verifiers with letters issued recently to Building Standards Managers and Chief Executives ahead of the year 2 exercise. 

Finally, on the Compliance workstream updates will include work being taken forward to develop guidance for verifiers to support the introduction of the new compliance plan approach, delivering on recommendations from the Grenfell report as well as other work and business change requirements.

Meeting Business

Note of meeting 21 – 29 April 2025

The note of the previous meeting was approved by the Board.

Action Points – Paper 108 (12/08/2025)

The actions from the previous meeting were discussed, further updates will be provided throughout the meeting. All actions have been closed.

Collaborative Working

SGa provided an update on:

Construction Leadership Forum (CLF)

The last meeting took place on 1 May 2025 where an update was provided by Elaine Ellis (CITB). Construction industry recruitment challenges continue across professions. It was estimated that circa 64,000 new recruits will be needed in the sector over the next 10 years. There is strong demand for modern and graduate apprenticeships, however many businesses are faced with barriers in recruitment, retention and funding.  The Workforce Strategy under the Futures Board has supported change but further change is required to support demand. The next meeting of the CLF is scheduled for later in August.

Building Standards

The Board were made aware that the former Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan, has resigned. Responsibility now sits with Mairi McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Housing.  Over the last few weeks officials have met with the Cabinet Secretary and a number of briefings have been provided. There may be the potential in the future for Ms McAllan to attend a meeting of the Board.

The Passivhaus equivalent review is ongoing. SGa provided a summary of the background to this work including the 2024 Phase 1 public consultation. The Passivhaus Scheme is based on compliance which is a significant requirement when building to this standard both on domestic and non-domestic projects. The Dunfermline Learning Campus is an example of this.

The Stage 2 consultation is being prepared with stakeholder engagement.  It is expected that this will go live in Autumn 2025, following sign off from the Cabinet Secretary.

A public consultation on Section 3.3 Flooding and Groundwater is currently live until 3 October 2025. The consultation sets out updates to the guidance in the Technical Handbooks with a particular focus on property flood resilience for new buildings and new building work that is being undertaken in areas identified as being at risk of flooding. Any change will be in terms of guidance with no proposals to change the wording of the standard.

The Chair encouraged members to complete the consultation and share with their relevant stakeholders. The consultation link was distributed to members throughout the meeting.

Fire Safety

A review of fire safety guidance has been undertaken in response to the Cameron House Hotel fatal accident inquiry. The consultation responses have now been analysed Building regulations - proposed review of fire safety topics: analysis of responses. Two recommendations in relation to building standards have been agreed with the Cabinet Secretary and changes to regulations will be laid October 2025, coming into effect from May 2026.

Grenfell

The Board was reminded that SG published a response to the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report on 25 March 2025. The Ministerial Working Group (MWG) which oversaw this work has now been wound up, with responsibility reverting to the MWG on Building and Fire Safety. Delivering the recommendations will require changes to primary legislation and work is being taken forward to seek support for a ‘Grenfell’ Bill.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)

Initially set up to co-ordinate the response to RAAC in public sector non-domestic buildings, work has focused on schools and hospitals. Over the last 15 – 18 months the focus has moved to RAAC in homes with an estimated 3000 homes affected. The use of structural guidance by the Institution of Structural Engineering is still recommended by the Scottish Government, with further guidance for housing being developed for publication later in 2025.

Building Safety Forum

The next meeting for the Building Safety Forum will take place on 11 September.  The topic for discussion will be large panel systems.

Licensing of Contractors Scheme

GN provided an update on the FMB campaign for a licensing of contractor’s scheme and the work being undertaken to raise awareness.

A recent survey by the HomeOwners Alliance showed that 45% of homeowners in the UK believe that house builders are licensed contractors. With 2/3rds of respondents believing that insurance cover is in place for accidental damage.

The FMB have been engaging with the UK Government and members were reminded that Consumer Protection is reserved to the UK. A number of promotion opportunities are being pursued to raise awareness and gather support.  The retrofit Advisory Panel is considering the licensing of contractors with 6 weekly meetings in place. A further update will be provided at the Boards December meeting. Members were also updated on the work at the UK level on flood prevention measures in relation to the competency of those undertaking the work.

The Group discussed the potential impact in Scotland and the wider UK, of the actions being taken forward by the UK Government. GN advised that he felt Scotland was in a good position with the SG response to the Grenfell Phase 2 report, showing collaborative working with stakeholders on several issues as well as between other UK nations on licensing schemes. However, it is expected that more work will be forthcoming.

CP asked if the intention was to achieve a change that will require the licensing of contractor to operate, or accreditation of members, or if the ambition was to go beyond this? GN advised that the focus was on the introduction of a scheme to stop unlicensed work. Further work will be required to identify the stage at which this enters the system. However, it was recognised that customer behaviour needs to change with a system that prevents them seeking unlicensed contractors. While the focus is currently on domestic building contractors, there are examples where this has been extended to the non-domestic sector.

The Chair thanked SGa and GN for their comprehensive updates.

Certification Strategy Workstream

Update across workstream and Strategy – Paper 109 (12/08/2025)

AG provided an update on the Certification workstream and revised Strategy – Paper 109. 

Work is being supported through SFT to undertake research on a fundamental review of Certification. The contractor is finalising the report which the team will use to support development of the next stage of this work. The next Certification Working Group is scheduled for November 2025.

A project to consider Certification fees is also ongoing. The effectiveness of the current Certification fees model is being reviewed with consideration on future funding options being undertaken. 

Certification Scheme Providers (SPs) are required to be audited against the schemes Operating Framework to ensure they are meeting requirements. An invitation to tender to develop and undertake the audits has been issued. 

SPs were appointed in 2020 for a period of six years. Work will commence at the end of 2025 on the re-appointment process. Applications will need to be submitted by SPs and these will then be considered by an internal certification panel.

Future planned work was highlighted including work on Certification statistics, Passivhaus equivalent, and a review of documents which support certification, such as the Certification handbook.  

The relocation of the Certification register to a cloud platform is continuing with colleagues from the wider SG.

Certification Strategy – Paper 109 (12/08/2025)

Following the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Report, the Certification Strategy has been reviewed and updated. The changes made have been highlighted in the document and the Board approved the updated version of the Strategy.

Delivery Model Workstream

Update across workstream

CM presented an update on the work being taken forward under the Delivery Model workstream.  

Research: Proposed Year 3 building warrant fees – Paper 110 (12/08/2025)

Research has been carried out by an external contractor to validate the year 3 building warrant fee levels. Discussions will take place shortly in BSD to identify the preferred level. However, the Board was asked to support the proposed year 3 increase with the caveat that a decision on any change in fees will be made by the Cabinet Secretary. It is expected that a request for a decision will be made before the end of 2025. Legislation needs to be amended to enable any fee changes and CM advised that the legislative slot has been secured for 2026.

Work is also being progressed internally on the future funding model for the Scottish Building Standards Hub (SBSH). 

Investment and Reporting of verifiers

CM advised members that letters had recently been issued to Building Standards Managers and Chief Executives in relation to the Resource and Investment exercise undertaken in 2024.  A similar exercise will be undertaken again this year (autumn 2025). Information from this exercise will be used to advise the Cabinet Secretary on fee increases. 

Research to consider and review the impact of increases to building warrant fees

Research has been commissioned to review the impact of the current fees model on verifiers.

CM presented fees data to the meeting, which shows that while building warrant fee income has increased there has been a significant decline in the number of warrants.  

The Board were happy to endorse, in principle, the revised building warrant fees for April 2026. It was highlighted that members should contact CM if they have any questions regarding fees.

Action: Members to contact CM regarding any building warrant fee regulation queries.

Compliance Plan Workstream

Update across workstream

FD presented an update on the work of the Compliance Plan workstream.

A project on low-rise house building has been undertaken. This work has looked at the compliance measures and fee levels, particularly around if sampling to check compliance was removed and the impact this would have on verifiers.

A draft competency specification has been created for the CPM and role requirements. Work continues with the Compliance Plan Working Group and the professional bodies on this group.

FD provided an update on the Early Adopters Scheme that is underway to support the introduction of the Compliance Plan. Four LA based projects are ongoing. The findings and output from these projects are being used to inform the guidance that is being drafted initially for verifiers by December, and for voluntary adoption by Industry by March 2026.  

There was a discussion surrounding low-rise volume housing, the question was raised if this would be added to the list of high risk buildings that may require a CPM. FD advised that low-rise volume housebuilding was included in the definition of High Risk Building in the public consultation. While the other building types received a high level of agreement, low-rise volume housebuilding received a mixed response. The Compliance Plan Working Group have agreed that while low-rise volume housebuilding should continue to be classified as High Risk Buildings, the full Compliance Plan Approach should not be applied. It was added that a pre-warrant stage and Compliance Plan Manager was not appropriate and that an alternative approach should be developed. This category will have its own requirements which will be based on the findings of the research and response from industry, that there are performance and compliance checks being undertaken. Work isn’t underway for this as yet, however will be picked up after guidance has been implemented in 2026.

Other work being taken forward will include a review of the definition of high risk and the review of the requirements to measure the quality of compliance actions.

Futures Board Risk Reporting

Risk Register – Paper 111 (12/08/2025)

CT provided an update advising that there has been no change in terms of scoring to programme risks. Where there are red highlighted risks, these are being managed within each individual workstream. Each of the risks ranked as red were discussed at the meeting.

On the Digital workstream the position has not changed in relation to staffing support. However, adhoc support is continuing for eDevelopment and through the SBSH.

The Board were made aware that 2026 is a Scottish Parliament election year which could impact the decision on year 3 fees.

CP raised concern around the wording of Risk 13. CT agreed to review and update accordingly.

Action: CT to review Risk 13.

AOCB

Board membership

The Board was encouraged to consider the Board memberships to ensure their own and other professional bodies were represented.

Date of next meeting

• 03 December 2025

Actions

1. CT to review Risk 13. 
2. Members to contact CM regarding any building warrant fee regulation queries.