The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has issued its latest Building Control Gateway 2 update, highlighting steady progress and sustained momentum in the application process for new high-rise residential developments. A record 272 decisions across all application types were made between 31 August and 24 November, bringing the total to 578 during this period.

Notably, London accounted for 76% of all decisions in October, contributing to 409 decisions in the capital since August.

In addition, 40 historic applications submitted under the previous framework were formally closed in the same period, with 20 of these relating to London-based projects.

A minimum of nine further applications have been assessed as ready to proceed through the recently enhanced ‘approval with requirements’ pathway, pending final applicant verification. The majority of the remaining 54 previous model applications are expected to reach completion by the New Year.

Direct Engagement and Operational Improvements

The BSR’s operational team continues to work directly with applicants and regulatory partners, proactively addressing individual blockers and closing cases at pace.

The Regulator is also building on the batching process introduced in September; a pilot designed to increase capacity by grouping applications and allocating them to specialist engineering services for faster assessment.

To date, mixed-category bundles covering 217 new build and remediation cases have been issued, with further batches released weekly in line with supplier capacity.

Looking ahead, the BSR is preparing to apply insights from recent process improvements to remediation cases in the New Year.

Innovation Unit Progress

The newly established Innovation Unit comprised of registered building inspectors and technical engineers is currently managing 73 live new-build applications. The Unit is already delivering improved turnaround times, rapidly validating submissions and promptly rejecting incomplete applications, enabling applicants to resolve issues and re-submit without delay.

Charlie Pugsley, CEO of the Building Safety Regulator, explained: “The immediate and positive results we saw from our pilot operational changes have established a strong foundation for continued success. We are on track to continue to clear the majority of historic cases by the end of December by engaging with applicants and our regulatory partners, seeing the benefits of our new batching system, and building upon the initial hard work of the Innovation Unit.”

Pugsley continued: “Across the Building Safety Regulator, there is a confidence that projected milestones remain achievable, but rightly we remain cautiously optimistic. We are fully committed to supporting the pace of essential construction, while upholding the essential safety standards that keep people safe in new and also existing homes.”

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