Autumn 2025 Frankham Market Update

With the latest Budget due on 26th November, the industry braces itself for further challenge. The S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 44.1 in October, down from 46.2 in September. The October 2025 construction PMI marks the 10th consecutive month of decline, and the longest period of decline since 2008-09. October also saw the fastest fall of overall activity since May 2020.

The headline figures do not make pretty reading for the Labour Government; 0.1% GDP is flat, inflation at 3.8% is still sustained, unemployment now at 5.0%, – the highest level since 2021 and increasing. The UK continues to have an inflationary issue not caused by elevated demand, and a growth problem which fiscal policy isn’t fixing.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has already called for bold reform in the Budget to unlock sustainable growth. In a statement earlier this month, RICS urged the UK Government to use this Budget as a pivotal opportunity to modernise the economic and regulatory framework supporting sustainable growth, fairness, and resilience across the built environment.

They’ve identified four key areas to strengthen investment, productivity, and regional regeneration while advancing the UK’s net zero ambitions:

• Transforming Business Rates
• Supporting High Streets and Local Economies
• Unlocking a Green Economy
• Planning Reform to Generate Growth

But with confidence continuing to falter, and rumours of increases to Income Tax and National Insurance against manifesto pledges (albeit now replaced by rumours of stealth taxes and adjustments to salary sacrifices schemes rather than numerical increase), the industry is bracing itself for what is to come on the 26^th November.

Proposed reforms to property tax resulting in a reprofiling of Council Tax could further stagnate rather than stimulate the property market. Any changes to higher-end Council Tax bands will further unsettle a fragile housing recovery, at a point when the government needs stability to have any hope in getting near the 1.5m new homes target by 2029; hitting the target is simply unachievable.

October saw Awaab’s law come into effect, mandating that social landlords must investigate and act promptly on health and safety hazards, including damp and mould, reported in their properties.

The law ensures that emergency hazards are investigated and addressed within 24 hours. Any significant hazards must be investigated within 10 working days, with a written summary for the tenant to be provided within three days, and any works undertaken within five days of the conclusion of an investigation.

The legislation is certainly welcomed and is a key step in ensuring residents can live in safe and healthy homes, but it will undoubtedly put further strain on a service which is already inundated with building safety issues. Frankham Group continues to be best placed to respond, report upon and rectify these issues, and our integrated multidisciplinary approach ensures we are ready to support social housing providers in meeting their obligations.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) announced four key reforms in June this year:

• Fast-track process
• New Leadership
• More capacity (100+ new inspections)
• Promise to clear backlog

The BSR update in October identified 152 new build schemes, covering nearly 34,000 homes, were under review. From this reform, the Innovation Unit (IU) has been set up; the dedicated centralised resource is now managing 27 new build applications (6,192 housing units).

According to the BSR, the IU is already demonstrating progress, with the majority of applications currently meeting or exceeding the 12-week service level agreement (SLA) for processing applications. Average working days for key milestones are also currently performing better than targets.

There are also 253 remediation projects under review and planning has begun for a centralised Remediation Unit (similar to the Innovation Unit). The primary challenge is the national lack of qualified expertise, compounded by recent heavy BSR recruitment for the new build central team.

BSR senior leadership is urgently exploring better process alignment and/or integration with Homes England to improve remediation efficiency and enhance the experience for residents and leaseholders

Whilst there is a commitment from the BSR to clear the backlog by January next year, this isn’t getting the projects moving. The rejection rate still stands between 50% and 70%; projects are simply seeing programme slippage and cost escalation. We’re continuing to see inconsistency in BSR requirements, a further area requiring reform, but the industry also needs improved clarity and the ability to track progress in applications, allowing the programming of works with certainty.

The liquidation of Assent Building Control Compliance Limited will put added pressures on the BSR and future building control applications. Assent handled over 30,000 projects a year and the HSE confirmed at least 10 high-risk building projects were now on hold following the collapse.

In line with Assent’s duties under section 52(1)(a) of the Building Act 1984, cancellation notices have been issued for all live projects, resulting in:

• The stoppage of work: “do not carry out any further building work described in the initial notice until you get a notice of valid application from BSR”
• A required application to BSR for building control approval to restart the work

All non-higher-risk building projects will revert to the relevant local authority, unless the project owner chooses to find an alternative registered building control approver.

As is the case at this time every year, rumours relating to the budget and economic uncertainty cause stagnation and delay in decision making in the industry, but this year feels as a pessimistic as any. Whilst the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) announced in July (to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding across the country) should soon start seeing benefits, real and tangible policy change is needed to truly kick-start the industry alongside a plan for wider growth. Whilst the rumours provide no grounds for any real optimism, we will wait and see.

For any enquiries, please contact:

Robert Ray
Senior Associate Quantity Surveyor
robert.ray@frankham.com
T: 020 8309 2721
M: 07595 069 806