Following recent operational changes, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has seen a record number of Gateway 2 determinations up to November 2025, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced
New building control application data up to 24 November 2025 shows that 272 decisions were made by the BSR across all application types, bringing the total made to 578 since 31 August 2025. HSE added that 73% of these represented approvals, with many applicants utilising the ‘approval with requirements’ route.
Comparing the figures to its previous data release for up to October 2025, HSE said that overall, Gateway 2 new build cases had held steady, with “decisions roughly keeping pace with new applications”. The cohort for legacy decisions had also reduced, with 40 out of 103 historic new build applications submitted under the previous mode having now been resolved. At least nine cases are being assessed as ready for ‘approval with requirements’, with the remaining 54 applications a “key focus” for the BSR through to the end of the year. These latest statistics demonstrated a “continued positive momentum and consistency across application processes for new high-rise residential buildings,” HSE added.
The newly established Innovation Unit (IU), made up of registered building inspectors and technical engineers, was currently managing 73 live new building applications, with the HSE adding that the team was showing progress in its processing times with “rapid validation and rejection of incomplete applications, which enables applicants to quickly address issues and resubmit”.
“The early cohort of applications are now being expedited to resolve outstanding technical issues with first approvals expected during December,” HSE reported.
In comparison, open remediation cases saw an increase from 262 to 283. HSE added that with the BSR having initially focused on addressing the new build backlog, the regulator was in the process of “developing a focused plan to extend the lessons learned to remediation cases”.
Commenting on the progress of building control application decisions, Chief Executive Officer of the BSR, Charlie Pugsley, said:
“The immediate, positive results we saw from our pilot operational changes have established a strong foundation for continued success.
“We are on track to continue to clear the majority of historic cases by the end of December by engaging with applicants and our regulatory partners, seeing the benefits of our new batching system, and building upon the initial hard work of the Innovation Unit.
“Across BSR, there is a confidence that projected milestones remain achievable, but rightly we remain cautiously optimistic.
“We are fully committed to supporting the pace of essential construction while upholding the essential safety standards that keep people safe in new and also existing homes.”
You can access the latest transparency data for building control applications here.