The Week That Was - 6 February 2026

Welcome to the week that was, a round-up of key events in the construction sector over the last seven days.

VINCI To Construct New Southport Event Centre

Sefton Council has appointed VINCI Building as preferred contractor for the new Marine Lake Events Centre in Southport.

VINCI Building will work with Sefton Council under a Pre-Contract Services Agreement to progress the development, with a view to signing a main contract and commencing main construction works later this year.

Read more in Construction Enquirer here.

Plan For National Wealth Fund To Promote £100BN In Spending For Infrastructure And Supply Chain 

The UK's National Wealth Fund has published a five-year plan for £100bn of investment into UK companies, infrastructure, and supply chains. Government figures indicate the programme is intended to create or support 200,000 jobs and will aim to save 500 million tonnes of CO2e emissions by 2050.  

Ten sectors were identified by the National Wealth Fund as critical investment opportunities.  Critical construction sectors include Steel, Power Grid and Energy Storage. The National Wealth Fund has stated that along with its own investment of £19.4bn in public/private projects, it will work with private enterprise to develop a total investment of £100bn to address market weaknesses and to accelerate high-impact projects. 

Read more at the New Civil Engineer here. 

The Building Safety Regulator and the transition to a single construction regulator

On 27 January 2026, the Building Safety Regulator ("BSR"), formerly part of the Health and Safety Executive, became a standalone executive non departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The BSR was established in 2021, following the Grenfell Tower tragedy and empowered by the Building Safety Act 2022. 

The BSR will focus on putting residents at the centre of building safety, regulating higher risk buildings, improving competence across the built environment, and driving culture change to support the delivery of more, safe homes and the remediation of unsafe ones. The move is underpinned by an “operational reset” in BSR’s building control role for higher risk buildings and the introduction of an Innovation Unit and efficiency measures aimed at improving operational delivery.

This move represents the first major step toward the creation of a single construction regulator, a key recommendation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. 

For further reading, please click here. 

Building Safety Regulator preparing to reject legacy Gateway 2 cases

The Gateway Regime, introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022, refers to a specific set of processes and regulations that apply to Higher Risk Buildings. No construction work can start until Gateway 2 approval is received form the Building Safety Regulator ("BSR").  

The BSR has confirmed that it is now reviewing its final 29 legacy schemes, and is prepared to reject applications that cannot be resolved within the next 2 months. The BSR notes that the gaps on some projects remains too wide to close, meaning developers will be forced to submit fresh applications. While approval rates for legacy matters remains high, at 87%, the BSR noted that dealing with these matters continues to drain disproportionate resources. 

For further reading, please click here. 

High Tech Construction Ltd v WLP Trading and Marketing Ltd [2026] EWHC 152 (TCC)

The case concerns High Tech Construction Ltd’s ("HTC") application to summarily enforce an adjudicator’s decision awarding about £2.14m for works at 162 Willesden Lane, a residential development owned by WLP Trading Marketing Ltd ("WLP"). HTC said there was a JCT Design and Build Sub Contract allegedly signed on 26 January 2023 (the “January JCT Contract”), under which the adjudicator was validly appointed via RICS. WLP denied that any JCT based contract was ever concluded and argued that HTC was relying on a document fraudulently deployed for funding/payment purposes. WLP’s argued that that there were instead (i) an orally/WhatsApp agreed “Enabling Works Contract” for demolition and enabling works, and (ii) a later single lump sum agreement in respect of reinforced concrete frame works. The scope of works to be completed under these arrangements was significantly narrower than the scope included in the January JCT Contract (which was reflected in the reduced contract sum). 

The judge reviewed the competing narratives and material that had not been before the adjudicator. He held there was a “real prospect of success” that WLP would establish at trial that the January JCT Contract did not exist as a binding agreement and that HTC’s reliance on it was fraudulent. The judge found this case fell on the “existential” side of the line: there was a real prospect that the adjudicator had not “sufficiently secured the identification of the contractual terms necessary to the proper performance of his adjudication task”. On that basis HTC’s summary judgment application to enforce the award was refused. 

A copy of the judgment can be accessed here. 

With thanks to Charlie Underwood, Ryan Loney and Zack Gould-Wilson

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  We attempt to ensure that the content is current as at the date of publication, but we do not guarantee that it remains up to date.  You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content.