Of the 91 legacy Gateway 2 applications, all but three should be cleared by the end of 2025, with the remaining three to be handled in January 2026
The 91 Gateway 2 applications cover 21,745 units that were put forward under the old regime of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).
The BSR has undergone an overhaul over the summer, with a new chair and a series of measures being put in place to speed up approval rates.
A total of 152 new applications
In data to 1 October 2025, the 91 legacy Gateway 2 applications are a part of a total 152 applications, covering a total of 33,670 units.
There are also 253 applications for remediation of existing buildings, covering 22,304 units at the Gateway 2 stage.
The BSR is committing to making decisions on 88 schemes by the end of December.
The update said: “This projection is based on experience to date, dependent on continued progress and, in many cases, relevant and timely information being provided by applicants.”
“The total number of identified ‘blockers’ is greater than the number of applications, as many cases face multiple impediments [such as] staff availability, complex decisions, information needs from applicant or BSR.”
Remediation will be a huge part of the workload
In August, figures showed that up to 75% of high-rise buildings do not meet BSR standards, as up to that point, 125 of the 170 reviewed cases failed to meet required safety standards.
Reasons for these failures can include failure to carry out assessment, present a full resident engagement strategy, or a requirement for major remedial works for either compartmentation or structural issues.
At the time, the average wait time for a decision on Gateway approval was at a high of 36 weeks, 24 weeks higher than the standard target of 12 weeks.
Of the high failure rates, then-parent organisation of the BSR, the Health and Safety Executive, said: “We acknowledge there are delays in processing applications and we continue to introduce improvements.
“Recent recruitment activity is having a positive impact on productivity with the number of decisions doubling (month on month) overall since March.
“Significantly, the number of decisions made are now exceeding new applications received.
“Dedicated teams are now in place to process new-build and remediation applications, and we are introducing a new Innovation Unit which will focus on fast-tracking new-build applications through the system.”
It has been a key reason for the major reforms being taken in the organisation. These reforms, as Baroness Taylor of Bolton said, are “crucial if the Government is going to achieve its manifesto target of building 1.5m homes over the next Parliament.”
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