Introduction: Over the past two years, BioFAIR has evolved from an emerging concept into a coordinated, UKRI-funded national programme dedicated to making data and workflows Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) across the UK life sciences. Here, we highlight the programme’s progress and the roadmap for a long-term FAIR ecosystem centered around three interconnected commons: People, Methods and Data. BioFAIR began by investing in people, recognising that cultural change and shared practice are essential for FAIR adoption. The BioFAIR Fellowship Programme is building a distributed cohort of practitioners who surface training needs, highlight gaps in incentives and career pathways, and champion FAIR approaches across the UK. Building on this foundation, BioFAIR is co-developing the Methods and Data commons: a federated framework supporting FAIR data generation, stewardship, and reuse. Central to this effort is a portfolio of Pathfinder Projects (starting in early 2026) that demonstrate how limited FAIR practice constrains scientific research—from genomics and phenotyping to imaging, multi-omics, and environmental science—while prototyping practical, domain-driven solutions. These projects will provide feedback, test emerging infrastructure, and guide priorities for future development.