Building Safety Regulator reports overall Gateway 2 approval rate rise to 67%

Highlights to 29 March 2026

Across all categories, 284 Gateway 2 decisions were made by the Building Safety Regulator in the 12 weeks to 29 March, with a 67% approval rate.

New applications representing 12,975 residential units were received and applications representing 16,721 units have been determined, of which 10,165 (ie 61%) were approvals.

61% of decisions (19 out of 31) made by the Innovation Unit in the last 12 weeks were approvals. This means the 12-week rolling approval rate (less invalidations and withdrawals) is significantly up from last month, with a median approval time of 22 weeks.

62% of all decisions across all Gateway 2 categories related to London cases. 372 applications have been closed in the capital over the past 12 weeks.

In the last 12 weeks, 92 remediation decisions were made (49 of them in London) with an overall approval rate of 61%. This compares to only 228 decisions made throughout 2025.

Legacy cases have reduced to two, with 13 long-term cases with significant technical challenges now transferred to a complex case category.

Significant processing improvements

Initial data shows that processing times under the batching model are significantly quicker than the previous MDT model. The process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised external suppliers for accelerated assessment, with the Building Safety Regulator maintaining full regulatory oversight.

Across all three major categories – new build, remediation and refurbishment – the median time from a case being issued to a supplier to them returning a full assessment is just four weeks.

242 new-build cases have been issued through batching, with 39 decisions (of 83 returned to date) reached at a median time of nine weeks from issue to the supplier to a decision, which includes the time for the Building Safety Regulator to consider the supplier’s assessment and make a decision.

372 remediation cases with 30 decisions (of 139 returned) have been reached at a median time of ten weeks, which again includes the time for the Building Safety Regulator to consider the supplier’s assessment and make a decision.

In terms of refurbishment, 681 cases have been issued to the batching process so far. 49 decisions (of 317 returned) have also been reached at a median time of ten weeks.

Focus on existing high-rise buildings

97 new cases were received, with 299 live cases now being processed and representing 25,921 units.

To put a clearer focus on the existing high-rise buildings, the Remediation Improvement Plan sets out how the Building Safety Regulator intends to increase resources, improve processes and continue to work with applicants to improve application quality.

As part of the Remediation Improvement Plan, initial guidance will be published in early April alongside improved feedback and support provided to applicants.

London applications

London cases continue to be a key area of focus, with London decisions being the majority of all closed cases. Over the past 12 weeks, and as stated, 62% of all decisions across all Gateway 2 categories were for projects located in the capital.

During this period, 372 applications were closed in the capital, with 470 new applications received. The total number of live London applications across all categories is now 845.

This regional concentration is particularly evident in the work of the Innovation Unit. Currently, 65% of all live Innovation Unit applications are based in London, representing more than half (54%) of the overall residential units the unit is handling.

Open remediation cases in London have seen a slight decrease over the 12-week period, dropping from 172 down to 164.

The update comes after the recent Government and Mayor of London announcement referencing emergency measures designed to unblock dozens of stalled sites and build thousands more affordable homes for Londoners currently priced out of the housing market.

Under new leadership, the Building Safety Regulator is driving stronger operational performance, with clearance of almost all legacy Gateway 2 cases and 3,800 new homes approved across the capital.

The backlog of legacy new-build cases has almost been cleared. The number of active legacy cases is now down to two regular cases.

There’s a small cohort of 13 technically complex applications. These are now being dealt with via the aforementioned complex case process.

Increasing availability

Charlie Pugsley, acting CEO of the Building Safety Regulator, said: “We continue to see improvements to the numbers of approvals for new-build and remediation cases and the time taken to reach a decision. The data we’ve published reinforces the significant improvements we’ve seen when you look at where we were in July 2025, with median decision times of 51.5 weeks.”

Pugsley continued: “A big part of our work to drive improvements is now focused on improving technical consistency in the sector and ensuring that learning from challenging designs or applications is shared. We have less complex cases to work through, which then further reducing decision times. This is directly increasing the availability of thousands of safe new and existing homes across England.”

Further, Pugsley noted: “To manage applications – particularly so the intense demand we are seeing in London, which accounts for six in every ten of our Gateway 2 decisions – our batching pilot is proving highly effective. By collaborating with specialised external engineering suppliers, we’re significantly accelerating processing times, while maintaining our rigorous regulatory oversight.”

In conclusion, Pugsley said: “We recognise the need to push further on existing buildings. That’s why our Remediation Improvement Plan provides targeted measures to bolster our resources and support industry in submitting higher-quality applications. Speed can never come at the cost of safety. Our goal continues to be to ensure that industry can construct safe buildings and that residents see the essential safety improvements they deserve.”