IN Brief:
- New higher-risk building and conversion applications recorded a 92% approval rate during the latest 12-week period.
- Median approval time for new-build applications remains 22 weeks, compared with 43 weeks a year earlier.
- The live Gateway 2 caseload continues to grow as approved projects generate more change-control and completion work.
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has reported another improvement in Gateway 2 performance for new higher-risk buildings and conversions, with its latest 12-week data showing a 92% approval rate and a median approval time of 22 weeks.
The figures cover the period to 31 August and show 147 new-build and conversion applications in progress, representing 32,691 residential units. BSR made 50 decisions during the period, approving 46 projects and rejecting four, with the approved schemes accounting for 9,362 units.
The latest release extends the improvement visible in the previous May-to-July reporting period, when new-build approvals stood at 91% and the median approval time was also 22 weeks. A year earlier, the corresponding new-build approval rate was 39% and the median approval period was 43 weeks.
External remediation has also accelerated. BSR determined 118 remediation applications during the latest rolling period and approved 105, producing an 89% national approval rate. The regulator had 327 active remediation cases at the end of August, covering 28,274 residential units, while the number of legacy remediation applications dating from 2024 had fallen from 42 at the start of the year to 12.
Older cases still affect the headline determination figures. The rolling median for remediation approvals was 33 weeks, but BSR says applications submitted during 2026 are progressing more quickly as teams deal with the remaining historic cases and use earlier design engagement to resolve problems before formal determination.
Internal refurbishment remains the largest part of the Gateway 2 workload. BSR was overseeing 1,082 active higher-risk building internal-works applications, with the category recording a 78% approval rate and a median determination time of 32 weeks. For internal-work applications submitted during 2026, the median falls to 16 weeks.
NHS internal works are now reported separately. The latest data records an 82% national approval rate for those applications, with 18 approvals from 22 decisions. The distinction gives a clearer view of the different workloads moving through Gateway 2 rather than combining major new buildings, remediation, and smaller internal projects into one headline measure.
Across all categories, the live Gateway 2 caseload continues to grow. BSR was managing 1,654 applications at the end of August, including new-build, remediation, internal refurbishment, NHS, and transitional cases. Sixty-six of those were transitional projects that reverted to BSR after their original private building-control providers ceased trading.
The workload is being supported by 177 internal BSR staff and 508 external technical specialists sourced or seconded from other organisations. The external resource includes registered building inspectors, structural engineers, and fire-service professionals, with 64 people integrated directly into the Innovation Unit and external remediation teams.
BSR has also increased its own regulatory team over recent months and expects further recruitment as demand develops. That capacity is increasingly relevant once projects have moved beyond the initial Gateway 2 decision, because approved schemes continue to generate regulatory work through design changes, inspections, and eventual Gateway 3 applications.
There were 184 live major-change requests at the end of August, including 78 associated with new higher-risk buildings and conversions. BSR closed 123 major-change requests during the 12-week period, while the median closure time for new-build changes was seven weeks — one week longer than the statutory target.
The change-control workload is a direct consequence of the post-Gateway 2 regime. Approved designs cannot be treated as a loose baseline that can be altered freely once construction starts; material changes have to pass through the regulator’s process, adding another programme interface for design teams and contractors where site conditions, procurement changes, or design development require a departure from the approved information.
Gateway 3 is beginning to generate its own volume. No new-build project that has passed through Gateway 2 has yet reached the final occupation-certificate stage, but internal refurbishment, NHS, remediation, and transitional projects are already moving through the process. BSR reported active Gateway 3 cases across those categories and said its inspection programme has identified a small number of new-build examples where work did not conform to agreed designs and remedial work was required.
Application volumes are also being watched ahead of the Building Safety Levy taking effect on 1 October. BSR has linked recent new-build intake to the possibility that some projects are being brought forward before the new charge applies, adding another short-term demand pressure to a system that has already expanded its technical resource.
The regulator is clearing a much higher proportion of new-build applications than it was a year ago, and newer internal-work cases are moving faster, but the number of live applications, major changes, and future Gateway 3 cases is increasing at the same time.
Gateway 2 is consequently in a different position from the acute bottleneck seen during 2025. Determination performance is becoming more predictable, while the test shifts towards whether BSR can maintain that pace as more schemes enter the system and a growing stock of approved projects begins to generate inspection, change-control, and completion work.
