Policy
Report Calls for BSR Reform to Fight Housing Crisis
The YIMBY Initiative has released a research report making the case for reforming the current Building Safety Regulator( BSR), in order to free up urban development. Safe and Abundant; Reforming The BSR To Resolve The Urban Housing Crisis makes the argument that although the creation of the BSR in the wake of the Grenfell Tragedy was a necessary step, in it’ s current form it is acting as a major barrier to housing development.
The report is backed by and features forewords from a number of MPs across the political spectrum, including Richard Tice MP( Reform UK), Vikki Slade MP( Liberal Democrats), Mike Reader MP( Labour Party) and Gareth Bacon MP( Conservative). The report also features a foreword from Jay Morton, Director at Bell Philips Architects. Despite differing viewpoints, all forewords put their weight behind the report and it’ s recommendations, and agree that the BSR currently is actively holding back development.
The laments the stagnant rate of housebuilding since the introduction of the BSR. Boasting statistics such as London housing starts falling 38 % in Q 2025, tall building permissions falling from 21 to 6 between 2023 and 2024 and approvals“ routinely” taking 25 – 40 weeks against a gateway 2 target of 12 weeks, the report argues that the BSR’ s methods of absolute safety through absolute process have come at the worst time possible for the UK. The cause of the delays is not the BSR’ s pursuit of safety, the report argues, but rather it’ s method of pursuing it.
The report maps a history of building safety through a literature review of past measures, the Grenfell Tragedy and its impact, institutional changes and reform and the BSR’ s role today, before making a number of recommendations.
Context before Grenfell
The report first casts its eye backwards to understand the evolution of building safety in the UK leading up to the Grenfell tragedy. The report carries out a literature review mapping the most significant changes in UK building safety regulation since 2010, with a focus on reforms across all building classes.
The report finds that prior to recent reforms, building safety in England was primarily governed by the Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulations 2010. These regulations set minimum safety standards for the industry and offered updated guidance through approved documents, with standards enforced by building control bodies and fire safety falling under separate regulatory reforms. The pre-Grenfell environment, however, grew to be shaped by a persistent push towards de-regulation. Flexible, industry-led standards eventually led to systemically weak building safety controls, researchers have argued.
The report points out a previous fire that exposed insufficient attention to fire safety. The Lakanal House fire claimed six lives in 2009,
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