New BRE daylight guidance is on the way. BRE Group and RICS have confirmed they are working together on a second edition daylight standard, expected around the end of 2026, which will sit alongside — and update — the framework built on BRE's BR 209 Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight (2022). If you are planning a development, an extension or a planning objection response in the next twelve months, it is worth understanding what is coming and what to do in the meantime.
This post sets out what has been announced, how the current guidance fits together, why an update is happening now, and — importantly — what RICS is telling practitioners to do until the new standard is published.
What is the new BRE daylight guidance coming in 2026?
According to RICS's Daylighting and sunlighting standards page, BRE Group and RICS are jointly preparing a second edition daylight standard, expected around the end of 2026. It will follow on from two documents that currently do most of the work in UK planning:
- BRE BR 209 (2022) — the "BRE guidelines" that nearly every UK council references when judging daylight and sunlight impacts on neighbours, using the VSC, NSL and APSH tests. Our guide to what changed in BR 209 (2022) covers the current edition in detail.
- The RICS professional standard Daylighting and sunlighting — first published in 2012 and reissued in 2023, this guides surveyors on daylight, sunlight and rights-to-light work.
Until the new edition lands, RICS advises members to use BR 209 (2022) alongside the existing edition of its professional standard. In other words: nothing changes for live planning applications today.
How does the current daylight framework fit together?
Three documents currently govern most UK daylight and sunlight work:
- BR 209 (2022) sets the neighbour-impact tests — Vertical Sky Component (VSC), No Sky Line (NSL) and Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) — plus the well-known 0.8-times rule for judging whether a loss of light is noticeable.
- BS EN 17037, the European daylight standard, sets illuminance-based targets for daylight within new homes, and BR 209 (2022) was deliberately aligned with it.
- Local policy — the NPPF in England, the London Plan in the capital, and individual local plans — decides how much weight those technical targets carry, including the flexible urban approach in BR 209 Appendix F.
None of this is statute. BR 209 describes itself as a guide, not a mandatory standard — but in practice it is treated as the benchmark by planning officers, inspectors and the courts, which is exactly why a new edition matters.
Why is the daylight guidance being updated?
Neither BRE nor RICS has published a full scope for the second edition, so any detail should be treated as unconfirmed. But the direction of travel is visible in the issues practitioners have wrestled with since 2022:
- Density pressure. Government reforms have pushed for higher-density urban development, and councils increasingly need clear guidance on when flexible, context-based daylight targets are justified.
- Two standards in one report. Assessors currently juggle BR 209's neighbour tests and BS EN 17037's internal targets. Clearer integration between the two would simplify reports for applicants and officers alike.
- Case law. Recent rights-to-light litigation, including the Cooper v Ludgate House ruling, has sharpened attention on how technical daylight evidence is prepared and presented.
A jointly badged BRE–RICS standard suggests the two organisations want a single, consistent reference point for both planning work and surveying practice — something the industry has asked for since BR 209 (2022) and the RICS standard began to diverge in age.
What should applicants and developers do now?
The practical advice is straightforward:
- Carry on under BR 209 (2022). It remains the current guidance, and RICS explicitly advises using it alongside the existing professional standard. Councils will keep assessing applications against it until a new edition is published and adopted.
- Don't delay a planning application to wait for the new standard. Applications are judged against the guidance in force when they are determined. A scheme that performs well under the 2022 tests is unlikely to be caught out, since the metrics (VSC, NSL, APSH, BS EN 17037 illuminance) are expected to remain the technical foundation.
- Design with headroom. If your scheme only just scrapes past the current targets, it is sensible to build in a margin — good practice under any edition of the guidance. Our guide to passing a BRE daylight assessment first time sets out how.
- Watch for the publication date. When the second edition arrives, there will be a transition period while councils update local guidance. We will cover the changes on this blog as soon as the document is published.
Will existing daylight reports still be valid?
Yes. A daylight and sunlight report prepared under BR 209 (2022) is valid for any application determined while that edition remains current. When the new standard is published, reports for new applications should follow it once councils adopt it — but a determined permission does not need to be re-assessed. If your project timeline straddles the change, ask your consultant to flag any metrics likely to be read differently; in most cases the same model and calculations can simply be re-reported.
Key takeaways
- BRE Group and RICS are jointly preparing a second edition daylight standard, expected around the end of 2026.
- Until it is published, BR 209 (2022) and BS EN 17037 remain the governing guidance — RICS advises members to keep using them.
- The core metrics — VSC, NSL, APSH and internal illuminance — are the established foundation of UK daylight assessment and reports prepared now remain valid.
- Schemes should be designed with a sensible margin above current targets rather than delayed to wait for the new edition.
How Fortress Associates can help
Fortress Associates prepares BRE-compliant daylight and sunlight reports assessed against BR 209 (2022) and BS EN 17037 — the exact framework councils use today, with the new joint BRE–RICS standard tracked as it develops. Reports are delivered in 4–5 days with no advance payment, anywhere in the UK. Get in touch to discuss your scheme, or browse our full range of planning report services.
Sources & further reading
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