21 legacy cases have prevented the Building Safety Regulator(BSR) from meeting the January backlog deadline it set in October last year
Barely a month after its separation from the wider Health and Safety Executive, the BSR has failed to meet its own deadline to clear the extensive legacy applications backlog.
The body stated in October that the remaining 91 applications for new high-risk schemes (totalling 22,000 homes) that were originally submitted under the previous delegated and outsourced system would be cleared by the end of January 2026.
However, the latest figures from the BSR show that 21 legacy cases are still unapproved, 18 of which are described as “long-term” and “complex”- requiring more dedicated consideration. The other 3 “regular” applications are projected to be processed by the end of March.
Account managers will work with applicants to clear the “complex” legacy cases
The BSR stated that account managers will work closely with applicants on ‘particularly challenging technical issues…to try and reach successful outcomes and support the delivery of safe homes.”
The 18 outstanding cases cover over four thousand homes in total- 2,648 in London and 1,193 in the rest of England.
Legacy cases will no longer be reported on separately by the BSR, being instead folded into Gateway 2 tracking.
The BSR’s in-house innovation unit is handling new applications
The innovation unit currently numbers 35 people (21 registered building inspectors, 18 structural engineers and the part-time hours equivalent of 6.6 fire engineers) and is hoping to gain 5 more inspectors and 2 more fire engineers by May.
The median approval time for schemes submitted to the innovation unit has risen to 18 weeks from 13 weeks at the end of January, but the BSR added that this was an anticipated rise and was working to drive down application times through measures such as:
- Enhanced consistency conventions to address areas of technical dispute between experts
- Exploring third-party independent validation of key design elements
- Accelerating the onboarding of specialists when needed (for example, geo-spatial engineers or computer modelling specialists)
Of the current 1,212 cases currently being assessed by the innovation units, 7% face similar complex legacy issues to the 18 cases mentioned above and have been given to an account manager to resolve.
Cladding remediation applications have seen a slight decrease in approval times, dropping from 34 to 31 weeks.
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