At the end of June 2025, the government announced a significant package of reforms to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). The announcement follows extensive criticism of the BSR’s performance from across the industry. The delays faced at gateway 2 have put higher-risk buildings (HRBs) into deep freeze, which is not what the government wants to see. 

Under the relevant building control regulations, the BSR’s timeframe for responding to a gateway 2 building control application for works to an existing HRB is eight weeks. For a new-build HRB the period is extended to 12 weeks. However, applicants have reported waiting far in excess of those timeframes, with some applications taking months longer than the statutory periods.

Data from the BSR shows that only a small percentage of gateway 2 applications made to date have been approved. As it is an offence to start works to an HRB without building control approval from the BSR, numerous developers have been left unable to progress works on high-rise residential schemes. These delays are challenging for all parties entering into contracts for HRB works – uncertainty over when works will realistically be able to start on site leads to difficulties in procurement, programming, and costing. This threatens project appraisals and can undermine viability.

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