UK Construction and Law
A 25mm hole for fibre no longer needs a building control application
By Staff Writer | 3 September 2026
Three directions under the Building Act 1984 took effect on 1 September. They lift the application and completion certificate requirements for fibre cabling and rooftop masts, and they replace those requirements with conditions that bite on the same calendar day the hole is drilled.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published its response on 2 September to the consultation on building control and telecommunications work, which closed on 24 March 2026. Alongside the response it published three directions made under section 11(1) of the Building Act 1984, the type relaxation power. All three came into effect on 1 September 2026.
The first concerns existing higher-risk buildings. Where building work consists solely of drilling holes 25mm or less in diameter in internal or external walls, for the installation of only fibre optic cabling, the requirements of regulations 11(1) and 40 of the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 are dispensed with. Those are the building control approval application for work to an existing higher-risk building, and the completion certificate application. The second direction does the same for regulations 11(1) and 40(2)(e) where the work consists solely of installing a mobile communications mast on the rooftop of an existing higher-risk building, together with any ancillary connections or associated works.
The conditions are the regulation now
Nothing is unconditional. For fibre in a higher-risk building there are five conditions, and all of them must be met. Firestopping, weatherproofing and soundproofing must be undertaken, with the firestopping and weatherproofing completed on the same calendar day the hole is made. The installer must be able to demonstrate skills, knowledge and experience through relevant training covering firestopping, weatherproofing and soundproofing, with competence reviewed regularly. The cabling and materials must conform to BS 6701:2016+A1:2017. The relevant person, and each of them where there is more than one, must have granted prior written approval for the work, giving regard to the risk of external fire spread. Finally, whoever carries out the work must notify the Building Safety Regulator as soon as reasonably practicable after completion.
Appropriate fire stopping and weatherproofing is completed on the same calendar day that any hole is made in the higher-risk building.
Keeran Jugdoyal, Deputy Director, New Build Standards and Performance, who signed the direction on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The completion notice to the regulator must carry the client and principal contractor details, a description of the work as completed, the location including the address and the position in the building, the completion date, and a statement that the duties under Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 were fulfilled and that the work fell within the direction and met every condition.
The mast direction carries four conditions rather than five. It repeats the same day firestopping and weatherproofing requirement, adds structural assessments to the training the installer must have had, requires materials and products to conform to relevant product standards, and requires the same prior written approval from the relevant person. It contains no notification requirement.
What breach costs
Section 11(6) of the Building Act 1984 supplies the sanction. A person who contravenes any of the conditions, or permits a condition to be contravened, is liable on summary conviction to a fine, and to a further fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale for each day the offence continues after conviction. That is the trade being offered. The application disappears and the liability moves onto the conditions, where it sits with whoever did the work rather than with a submitted document.
The third direction, and a revocation
The third direction covers fibre optic cabling in existing buildings that are not higher-risk. It dispenses with regulations 12 and 17 of the Building Regulations 2010, the building notice or building control approval application and the completion certificate, for the same 25mm holes, subject to three conditions rather than five. There is no prior written approval requirement and no notification requirement outside the higher-risk regime.
That direction is dated 27 August 2026 and it revokes an earlier direction of 7 July 2026 which had been published on 9 July. Anyone who took a view over the summer on the strength of the July text should read the replacement rather than assume it carried over.
Two of the three directions state a period of three years from the date they came into effect. The rooftop mast direction states no period. None of the three affects the operation of the Act or the regulations in relation to a breach that happened before 1 September 2026, so work already done is judged under the rules that applied when it was done.
The practical effect on a live job is that a fibre pull through a high rise stops being a gateway question and becomes a competence and records question. The person who cannot produce the training record, the written approval and the notification is the person now carrying the risk.