Building Safety Regulator reports record year-end Gateway 2 determinations

Gateway 2 determinations continue to rise, with 347 decisions across all application types in the 12 weeks to 22 December (totalling 727 since 29 September 2025).

The final quarter of 2025 will see the highest number of decisions since the Building Safety Regulator commenced operations, with a likely total of more than 700 by 31 December compared to just over 200 in Q1. That represents a potential 250%-plus increase.

The number of live applications of all categories now shows a downward trend, reducing from 1,219 to 1,158 over the past 12 weeks.

69% of all decisions across all categories during December related to London cases, making it 503 decisions since 29 September in the capital: the highest number of determinations in London since the Building Safety Regulator began operations.

Recently, the Building Safety Regulator also published guidance on staged applications and the criteria for validating, approving or rejecting applications. 

These updates are part of the improvements being made to ensure applications can be processed more efficiently and to support industry in submitting high-quality Building Control applications.

Innovation Unit progress

The Innovation Unit – itself a dedicated team of registered building inspectors, technical engineers and regulatory leads – has made three approvals to date within 12 weeks, with another four approvals expected by 31 December.  

For cases which are over 12 weeks, but are likely to be approved if further information is supplied, the Building Safety Regulator is adopting a pragmatic approach. Account managers have been assigned to liaise closely with the applicants to give these cases the best opportunity to progress.

The Innovation Unit is currently managing 102 live new build applications representing 24,624 units.

Times to validate and reject any incomplete applications are also much quicker than under the previous model, which enables applicants to quickly address issues and resubmit.

Resolving historical cases

54 complex historic applications submitted under the previous model have been closed since 29 September, with 30 of these recent decisions relating to London cases. Another four cases are likely to be decided by 31 December.

The Building Safety Regulator’s operational team’s direct engagement with applicants and regulatory partners, along with addressing individual ‘blockers’. is resulting in these historic complex cases being closed at a significant rate.

Remaining legacy applications are the Building Safety Regulator’s key focus in the New Year with face-to-face meetings continuing with regulatory partners and applicants in January. This is part of a pragmatic approach towards dealing with complex or contested applications rather than these cases being rejected without any intervention.

The Building Safety Regulator is also continuing to implement its batching process launched in September. This new pilot process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised engineering services suppliers for accelerated assessment with a regulatory lead officer providing oversight and remaining the decision-maker.

New remediation cases

Open remediation cases have held steady, with 82 decisions made since 29 September and 83 new cases received. 280 lives cases are now being processed.

The Building Safety Regulator’s focus is on closing older applications, which typically don’t have sufficient detail for a decision and so require significant liaison with applicants to move to a successful conclusion.

In parallel, the Building Safety Regulator is also prioritising higher-risk projects and those with funding constraints. Several remediation cases are now in the batching process and progressing more quickly than with the previous model.

Established momentum

Charlie Pugsley, CEO of the Building Safety Regulator, commented: “The immediate and positive results we saw from our pilot operational changes are now firmly established across the Building Safety Regulator and show a clear path to continued success. We have made the most determinations in our operating history, cleared significant numbers of our complex historic cases by engaging with applicants, as well as publishing guidance on staged applications and continuing to build upon the work of our Innovation Unit.”

Pugsley continued: “Across the Building Safety Regulator, and we believe within the industry, there’s now a confidence we can continue to make more decisions at an increasing pace through our new processes and by engaging appropriately with applicants. Rightly, we continue to remain cautiously optimistic as we know the pace of improvements must continue into 2026 and beyond.”  

In conclusion, Pugsley noted: “We all remain fully committed to supporting the pace of essential construction, while upholding the critical safety standards in place to keep thousands of people safe in both new and existing homes.”

*Building Control Approval Application Data to 22 December 2025