Since October 2023, the BSR has acted as building control for ‘higher-risk’ buildings, which include residential buildings and hospitals taller than 18m.
Although the body aims to process Gateway 2 applications within 12 weeks, it took almost triple that time (an average of 36 weeks) in the period up until March 2o25, according to official data.
Now, new Freedom of Information (FOI) data exclusively obtained by the AJ shows there are 72 Gateway 2 applications – covering a combined 18,436 homes – still waiting to be approved more than 12 weeks after being submitted (see full list below).
It is further understood that around 30,000 homes are at some point on their journey through the BSR process.
Cartwright Pickard is the practice linked to the largest number of outstanding Gateway 2 applications. The BSR has yet to rule on six applications for blocks at Aire Park in Leeds, a 9.7ha mixed-use regeneration it has designed for the former Tetley brewery site.
The applications on behalf of developer Vastint cover a total of 401 homes, although the principal designer that submitted the Gateway 2 applications is consultant Safer Sphere, rather than Cartwright Pickard.
Elsewhere, Wilmore Iles Architects is the architect and principal designer behind four under-consideration Gateway 2 applications covering 144 homes. Each application relates to blocks at West Park, a student housing scheme for the University of Exeter.
dMFK is linked to three outstanding Gateway 2 applications – part of Barratt London’s Bell Green Homes scheme in Lewisham – while EPR is linked to three separate high-risk schemes awaiting sign-off – in Blackfriars, Fulham and the Isle of Dogs.
Leeds City Council is the local authority with the most delayed applications. It has eight schemes held up at Gateway 2 – twice the number of any other council. Four councils, including three in London, are waiting for four applications to be signed off.
Of the 72 applications, 37 are for sites in London. More than half (18) of London’s boroughs have a site with a delayed Gateway 2 application, while outside the capital, the areas with the most applications are Leeds, Exeter, Manchester, Reading and Bristol.
At the end of June, the government acknowledged that the BSR was holding up housebuilding and unveiled ‘a new package of reforms’ to the regulator ‘to unblock delays and boost sector confidence’. An additional £2.1 million has been promised to improve the regulator’s services.
The government said the BSR would no longer be overseen by the Health and Safety Executive, new investment would support the recruitment of 100 new staff ,and a ‘new fast track process’ would ‘enhance the view of new build applications’.
In its FOI response, the BSR accepted that the enforcement of building control standards had delayed some higher-risk building approvals.
But it said that ‘not enforcing the law risks the safety of residents in high-rise buildings’ and that the purpose of the Building Safety Act 2022 was ‘to prevent the failures that led to the Grenfell tragedy ever happening again’.
The regulator added that a ‘backlog of complex in-flight higher risk projects’ had come to the BSR after the collapse of a private registered building control approver, AIS Surveyors. This, it said, had initially driven up processing times.
The BSR claimed there had also been a ‘handful of very complex cases that have taken 11 months’, but that 90 per cent of these had now been cleared. It said a significant factor in the hold-ups had been the quality of information supplied, prompting repeated information requests.
The regulator said that the biggest cause of delays remained the quality of the applications made by developers.
It claimed that around 70 per cent of applications failed to comply with building regulations and ‘are therefore rejected’.
It said a new internal innovation unit would focus on fast-tracking new-build applications through the system. This would ‘streamline and speed up’ the process for new homes in high-rise buildings by introducing a new operating model with in-house multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs).
A new Remediation Enforcement Unit (REU) is being established by the end of 2025 with the specific purpose of quickly assessing cladding risks for registered higher-risk buildings.
Architect’s view: Q&A with SimpsonHaugh
Have Gateway 2 delays impacted project delivery timelines?
Yes, we have found that clients want to first wait for clarity on the process and try to avoid any initial potential hiccups before submitting the application.
We submitted [for Heron’s Yard in Newcastle] after the BSR Gateway 2 scheme had been running for over six months. Initially, we had no correspondence, but after around 25 weeks post submission, in the last couple of weeks, we have had correspondence from the BSR case officer seeking clarifications and asking questions. This is a positive sign. We don’t have any idea how much longer the process will require before a determination will be made.
Do the BSR Gateway 2 delays make managing peaks and troughs of workloads more difficult?
Significantly. Projects have been delayed more than once as clients seek to navigate a route forward. Changes to guidance documents have also impacted the programmes. Different projects are affected in different ways. A residential scheme may be delayed by six months, which is frustrating. However, a student accommodation project delayed by six months means, in reality, it’s likely to be pushed back 12 months to tie in with the academic year.
Is there anything you can do to speed the process up, or are you just in the hands of the BSR or the principal designer?
Collectively, we have tried to be as proactive as possible in the way the information is presented and communicated. The BSR principal designer [Project Four Safety Solutions] has tried to chase and push the regulator to communicate and act. We can see nothing that we could do to speed the process up.
Are you in limbo, or do you have a timeline for when the applications might be processed?
There is no real understanding of how long applications will take. If we submitted a scheme tomorrow, I don’t think we could, with any confidence, tell a client when it might be determined. Also, one of the biggest concerns is lack of consistency. We are seeing different responses to the same design proposals on different applications. On large and complex projects, there are always different ways to achieve a safe and effective design. We need engagement to help this process, and it does feel like this is now beginning to happen.
Local authority view: statement from Ealing Council
Ealing Council is aware of delays in the Building Safety Regulator’s Gateway 2 approvals and shares concerns about the impact this is having on housing delivery
While we support the principles of the Building Safety Act and the need for strong oversight, the current pace of approvals is slowing down development, including affordable housing, at a time when delivery is urgently needed.
We will continue to support applicants where we can, and are working with partners to minimise disruption to local development programmes.
In the meantime, we welcome the government’s recent announcement of additional funding for the Building Safety Regulator to help increase capacity and speed up approvals. Ealing Council has been lobbying for this support, and we are pleased to see progress being made.