New construction rules 2026 - see what all changes

The new year began again with changes to construction regulations. The Construction Act largely came into force a year ago, and the rest of the “amendment series” to the Construction Act came into force at the turn of the year. Most of the regulations issued under the Construction Act have now been issued. The most significant missing item is the carbon footprint limit regulation, which was not issued until the end of the year.

For those new construction law A climate report and a list of construction products must be prepared for buildings in accordance with Section 38 for which a construction permit is applied for from 1 January 2026. At the permit application stage, it is sufficient that the list contains the construction products known at that time. The list of construction products will be updated to reflect the implementation by the final inspection. The carbon footprint of a new building that falls below the limit value is demonstrated by a climate report during the final inspection stage of the building.

The Government Decree on the carbon footprint limits for new buildings was already in the EU's technical notification, but for some reason the Government did not issue it before the turn of the year. We are currently in a situation where those undertaking a project must ensure that the carbon footprint and handprint are calculated and reported at the final inspection stage, but no limit value has been set for the carbon footprint.

Therefore, if you apply for a building permit before the Government's limit value decree is issued, any limit values that may be set in the future will not apply to your project. The construction project must comply with the legislation in force at the time of the permit application.

The regulation will likely be issued soon and we will inform you about it as soon as the matter becomes clear.

EU's own carbon footprint calculation method published

The Commission published a delegated act on 16 December 2025 About calculating GWP (global warming potential), which is likely to affect the Ministry of the Interior's decree on climate change assessment and the list of construction products. The delegated act has been issued under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and applies to all new buildings over 1 m000 from 2028.²buildings and from 2030 onwards, all new buildings.

The delegated act will modify the climate report, but its effects will only come into effect from 2028. Therefore, the years 2026 and 2027 will proceed with the content of the climate report that is currently in force.

According to the delegated act, Member States have some leeway in their national requirements. However, a “tuning kit” will probably be needed for the Building Act before 2030, as the obligation to calculate the carbon footprint does not apply to all buildings under the current Building Act, and single-family houses are excluded from the obligation to calculate the carbon footprint. The EPBD obliges the calculation of the carbon footprint for all buildings from 2030 onwards.

A building permit must be applied for with a BIM plan.

From the beginning of January, a building permit must be applied for in information model format or otherwise in a machine-readable format. The Ministry of the Environment issued on 22 December 2025 Decree on the content of construction plan models and authority reviews and it entered into force on 1 January 2026. When applying for a building permit in BIM format, the IFC 4.3.2.0 Reference View and the SPF file format must be used.

It is therefore not mandatory to apply for a building permit using the information model, but instead the information in machine-readable format can be entered directly into the permit system used by the municipality, where a separate tab will be created for this purpose.

Processing time guarantee for building permits

The construction permit processing time guarantee has come into force. Starting from 1 January 2026, the construction permit must be processed within three months of the application, including the main drawing-level annexes, being submitted to the building control. The processing time is six months if the project is particularly or exceptionally demanding in terms of the design task or if it concerns a clean transition placement permit.

Prior consultation is recommended, but not mandatory. The level of complexity of the project and the necessary attachments to the permit application are determined during the consultation, which must also include a justified reason. It is also a good idea to draw up a memorandum of the consultations.

A fast lane for clean transition projects

A clean transition investment permit can accelerate the placement of clean energy investments in Finland. The zoning can be bypassed and the project placement can be resolved directly with a clean transition investment permit, if it concerns, for example, a data center, a battery factory, an energy production plant that produces energy with renewable energy except for wind and solar power plants, an industrial project based on renewable energy or electrification that replaces the use of fossil fuels or raw materials, the production and utilization of hydrogen, or the capture, utilization and storage of carbon dioxide.

Coming soon: a series of tweaks on the national application of the EPBD and CPR

The changes to the Construction Act do not end here. In technical notification There is currently a "tuning series" of the Construction Act, which, among other things, implements the Energy Efficiency Directive EPBD and the EU Construction Products Regulation, CPR. After the notification round, sections on short-term rentals may be added to the government proposal in question.

In addition to the series of adjustments, in 2026 the government's proposals for the Land Use Act and the amendment to the Chemical Safety Act, which may be under preparation, will be submitted to Parliament, with the Construction Act as an annex.

In addition to the amendments to the Construction Act, a Government decree on a construction decree has yet to be issued, which would replace the parts of the Land Use and Building Decree concerning construction.

The Government changed on 30 December 2025 Decree on subsidies for abandoning oil heating in single-family homesSupport for switching from oil heating was continued and expanded to also include switching from natural gas.

From 8 January 2026, manufacturers of construction products must comply with the new EU Construction Products Regulation as new harmonised product standards are published under it. They have not yet been published.