A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

A new Energy Independence Bill was announced in the King's Speech yesterday. However, the speech (and earlier references to this Bill, for example in the Labour Manifesto) gives us little to go on beyond the words 'energy' and 'independence' – already themselves very much the buzz words of the administration of late, particularly in the wake of recent events in Iran.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is currently consulting on improving the proportionality of the building control process for works to existing higher-risk buildings. The deadline for responses is 28 May 2026 and we would welcome any views before then.  

The EU Commission's simplification drive continues following the finalisation of the Sustainability Omnibus Directive. Attention now turns to the reporting standards themselves, a critical piece of the puzzle for undertakings remaining in scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") to understand what will be required of them from the next financial year (in most cases). The Commission is also looking to finalise revised voluntary reporting standards for companies not in scope of CSRD, which is important not just for those companies that do wish to report voluntarily, but also for those in the value chains of reporters, as explained further below.  

Today's State Opening of Parliament marks the beginning of a new Parliamentary session. In the ceremony, the King formally opened Parliament and, in the King’s Speech, set out the Government’s proposed policies and legislation for that session.  The speech contained four items of interest to the real estate sector:

Travers Smith has advised long-standing client Inflexion on its minority investment in Marktlink Capital, a leading Benelux fund of funds manager providing private investors with access to private markets. The investment is being made by Partnership Capital III, Inflexion's dedicated minority fund.

Businesses facing the onset of high-risk AI system obligations in August 2026 will now have significantly more time to prepare. On 7 May 2026, EU lawmakers reached political agreement on revisions to the AI Act, bringing some much-needed certainty after a fraught end to April, when negotiations on the Digital Omnibus on AI almost broke down.

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The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (the "CPA") received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. Among its wide-ranging provisions, the CPA contains a measure of significant consequence for all businesses with a connection to the UK: the extension of the reformed identification doctrine to all criminal offences.