Li Yen Lim, managing associate in construction & engineering at Freeths, gives PBC Today an update on the BSR and the Gateway 2 backlog
The building safety landscape enters 2026 with a significantly different tone to the previous two years. Gateway 2 – once the most heavily criticised inflection point in the regulatory regime for Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs) – is now showing progress. Approval times, which previously extended to an extraordinary 48 weeks in London and 43 weeks nationally, have been driven down to 13–14 weeks, with some applications now achieving the statutory 12 week decision period. This turnaround follows the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) transition into a standalone body under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the introduction of a suite of operational reforms centred on efficiency, early engagement, and accountability.
Applicants now receive validation feedback within a week, ending the long silences which once preceded rejections for missing information. Initiatives such as batching applications, appointing account managers for major developers, and streamlining internal IT systems have created a more predictable regulatory experience. While 29 legacy Gateway 2 cases remain from the original backlog, the most significant remaining challenge lies within the remediation caseload, where approximately 280 schemes continue to face processing times of around 34 weeks. A new plan is expected to reduce remediation approvals closer to the statutory eight week target.
As approvals accelerate, the conversation is shifting from “fixing the system” to asking whether the system itself is optimally designed for the long term.
A more proportionate regime on the horizon
The Government’s forthcoming 2026 consultation on procedural reform for existing HRBs represents a pivotal moment. Its purpose is to simplify requirements for lower risk work and enable the BSR to focus its oversight on interventions where safety risks are greatest. This dovetails with the ongoing consultation on easing controls for low risk works such as fibre optic cabling and telecoms installations, currently due to close in March. Together, these reforms signal a meaningful shift toward a proportionate, risk tiered regulatory environment – one in which oversight aligns more closely with the complexity and consequences of failure.
The House of Lords’ recommendations
In December 2025, the House of Lords Industry & Regulators Committee published the most comprehensive review of the BSR to date. While acknowledging the improvements delivered by the regulator, the report highlighted that performance gaps remain substantial and identified reforms necessary to future proof the system. Key recommendations include:
- An annual, cross sector BSR report identifying the most significant safety risks across all buildings, not only HRBs, supplemented by best practice guidance.
- Pre application sessions, improved engagement, and published examples of successful submissions.
- A proportionate route for minor works to HRBs, ensuring that lower risk interventions do not consume scarce multidisciplinary expertise.
- Swift introduction of a generalised safety requirement for construction products, following the Government’s White Paper.
The Government’s formal response is expected by 11 February, followed by its Annual Progress Report to Parliament later this month.
Parallel changes in planning and housing delivery
Alongside building safety reform, the Government has proposed changes to planning policy intended to stimulate homebuilding. A new “medium site” category for developments of 10–49 homes is under consideration, with proportionate compliance costs for SME developers and potential exemptions from the Building Safety Levy. The timing for implementation is uncertain, but the impact could be material particularly as a quarter of England’s housing supply is expected to be HRBs.
Will the BSR learn faster than the risks it governs?
As Gateway 2 performance improves and procedural reforms gathers pace, the sector faces a deeper challenge: are we moving towards a building safety system capable not only of responding to known risks, but of learning fast enough to anticipate emerging ones – or are current reforms merely alleviating operational strain without addressing deeper structural vulnerabilities?
If the regime remains predominantly reactive, the next generation of risks will again outpace regulatory capacity. A truly resilient system demands more than faster approvals. It demands:
- A regulator equipped to forecast risk and engage early with industry.
- Deeper technical capability and consistent standards across all building types.
- Proportionate oversight that frees capacity for the most complex risks.
Only then can the country deliver both safer buildings and the housing growth it urgently needs.
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