Building Safety Regulator Gateway 2 approvals rise to 75%

For new-build projects, the (now established) Innovation Unit witnessed a 90% approval rate during this 12-week rolling period, with decisions overtaking the number of new cases received during the last 12 weeks.

Highlights to 30 May

*Across all categories, 358 Gateway 2 decisions were made by the Building Safety Regulator in the 12 weeks to 30 May, with a 75% approval rate. 65% of all decisions across all categories related to London cases

*Applications representing 14,928 units were determined, of which 9,499 (ie 64%) were approvals. There are currently 38,775 in progress live case units. New applications for 13,964 residential units were received in the rolling 12 weeks to 30 May

*90% of decisions (28 out of 31) made by the Innovation Unit in the last 12 weeks were approvals. London witnessed a 100% approval rate for its 19 case decisions. This reflects the additional work and engagement with applicants to enable the delivery of safe homes

*Operational improvements to achieve the Building Safety Regulator’s External Remediation Improvement Plan’s aim of reducing average decision times have seen approval rates in this rolling 12-week period rise to 79%. This is considerably higher than 2026’s end of year minimum 65% target

*Following the introduction of the External Remediation Improvement Plan in April, 16 legacy remediation applications from 2024 now remain. A further ten applications are on track to be determined in June. This is down from 42 that were outstanding at the beginning of 2026

Accelerated assessments

Under the Building Safety Regulator’s batching process, the median time from a case being issued to a supplier to a decision is 12-to-14 weeks depending on the type of application.

This pilot process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised engineering services suppliers for accelerated assessment, with the Building Safety Regulator maintaining regulatory oversight.

The primary goal of batching is to accelerate backlog resolution in new build and remediation applications.

Positive improvements

Charlie Pugsley, acting CEO of the Building Safety Regulator, stated: “We continue to see positive improvements in numbers of approvals for both new-build and existing building remediation cases, as well as significantly faster decision times. This includes continued positive results from our Innovation Unit by virtue of working closely with applicants to safely resolve complex technical challenges. This positive engagement has energised a growing number of decisions and rising approval rates.”

Pugsley continued: “We are also making important improvements following the recent introduction of our External Remediation Improvement Plan, with existing building approval rates of 79% over the last 12 weeks already above our minimum 65% target for the year.”

Continuing this theme, Pugsley observed: “We recognise that people living in other unremediated buildings still want them to be fixed safely and at pace. We continue to work to accelerate our assessments, decisions and approvals and also to improve consistency, ensuring that industry can build new and make existing buildings safe. As such, thousands of residents then see the essential safety improvements they deserve.”

In conclusion, Pugsley commented: “We remain steadfastly committed to continuous improvement, ensuring that accelerated decision-making for any high-risk building, either for new-build or for existing buildings, must never come at the cost of building safety.”

*Transparency Data: Building Safety Regulator Building Control Approval Application Data – March to May 2026