McAleer & Rushe has said that ongoing hold-ups with the gateway 2 approvals process are expected to see turnover fall back below the £600m mark this year after the residential specialist said income hit a record last year.
The Northern Ireland contractor, in results now filed at Companies House, said revenue was up 28% last year to £628m with pre-tax profit up a third to £22m.
But in the accounts, the firm, which completed the latest phases of the Mount Pleasant residential scheme for Taylor Wimpey in Farringdon, London, during the period, said revenue was expected to fall 8% this year.
It added: “A number of schemes have not gone to site or progressed towards approval as targeted in 2025 due to the Gateway approval process introduced by the Building Safety Act.
“This issue will continue to impact turnover until approval periods improve and normalise. As a result, turnover is currently projected to step back slightly to £575m in 2026.”
The firm said it has secured £800m in work this year while a further £600m, currently in PCSA, is scheduled to start on site in 2027.
In the results, which were signed off two weeks ago, the firm said it had booked a £12.5m provision to carry out repairs at completed jobs. “The provision reflects prudent allowance for all associated and potential costs. Works on the various sites will commence later in 2026 subject to gateway 2 approvals.”
Earlier this week, the Building Safety Regulator said it was making inroads into clearing the approvals backlog and the amount of time it takes to green light Gateway 2 applications.
Its acting chief executive Charlie Pugsley said it was seeing “positive results from our Innovation Unit from working closely with applicants to resolve complex technical challenges and then seeing a growing number of decisions and rising approval rates”.
“We are also making important improvements following the recent introduction of our external remediation improvement plan.”