Building Safety Regulator accelerates Gateway 2 sign-offs

An additional 253 live remediation applications are also being processed, covering an estimated 22,304 housing units.

This news comes amidst a “steady rising pace” in relation to decisions, with determinations reaching an all-time high of 209 across all application types during the month of August.

Innovation Unit progress

The newly established Innovation Unit (IU), itself a dedicated centralised resource, is now managing 27 new build applications (6,192 housing units). The Innovation Unit is already demonstrating progress, with the majority of applications currently meeting or exceeding the 12-week Service Level Agreement for processing applications.

Average working days for key milestones are also currently performing better than targets.

A new batching process was launched during September, acknowledging that the original Multi-Disciplinary Team model wasn’t effective for managing the volume of cases. This new pilot process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised engineering services suppliers for accelerated assessment. The first mixed-category bundle of 26 cases was dispatched on 30 September.

Aside from recent changes, the Building Safety Regulator’s priority over the remainder of the year is resolving 91 historic new build applications (which contain around 22,000 new housing units) submitted under the previous model.

The Building Safety Regulator’s team is applying a bespoke plan to address individual ‘blockers’ within these cases, projecting the majority of historic cases will be closed by 31 December, with the final three expected to close in January next year.

Regulator acting decisively

Charlie Pugsley, the new CEO of the Building Safety Regulator, said: “The Building Safety Regulator has been learning from the last two years. The operation has listened to industry feedback and acted decisively through these substantial operational changes we are now piloting, which have shown immediate and positive results.”

Pugsley continued: “We’ve already seen early success with our Innovation Unit and we’re now deploying strategic capacity scaling, including the new batching system. However, we recognise there are ongoing challenges including national skills shortages. We’re firmly committed to using agile problem-solving in working constructively with the wider sector and industry applicants.”

In conclusion, Pugsley noted: “Our focus on further improvements will support the pace of essential construction without compromising the key safety standards required under the Building Safety Act 2022 in order to keep people safe in their homes.”