Approval figures
Gateway 2 decisions covered 20,471 residential units approved during the 12-week rolling period ending on 5 October 2026, according to Roofing Today’s report of Building Safety Regulator (BSR) data. The overall approval rate was three percentage points above the previous period’s 84%.
For existing-building remediation, the national approval rate reached 87%, compared with 32% a year earlier. The corresponding London rate was 96%. These figures concern remediation applications, rather than completed remedial work.
New higher-risk buildings and conversions recorded 55 approvals from 57 decisions, giving an approval rate of 96%. Those approvals covered 11,822 residential units. The median time to approval was 23 weeks.
Within London, the approval rate for new higher-risk buildings and conversions was 97%. Approvals covered 6,855 residential units, with a median approval time of 22 weeks. That was one week shorter than the median for the category as a whole.
Application contingency plans
The Building Safety Levy came into force on 1 October. BSR said its contingency arrangements addressed the anticipated increase in applications received before that date. The measures include a triage process intended to move applications forward through the approval system.
The arrangements also add scrutiny before an application is rejected. BSR said rejection would apply where it could identify no realistic route to approval within a reasonable period. The regulator described the measures as a way to progress applications while retaining that basis for refusal.
Inspections and regulatory response
Alongside its application work, BSR said inspections had identified a small number of cases where construction did not match the agreed designs. Some remedial work was required. The findings concern the delivery of work on site, separately from the assessment of designs submitted for approval.
The regulator said it would continue to monitor those cases and take firm action where appropriate. Its stated aim was to ensure that designs assessed as safe resulted in safe buildings.
Charlie Pugsley, BSR’s acting chief executive, attributed the improvement in performance to changes in the regulator’s operational processes. He said decision times were falling across both new-build and remediation projects, and that BSR would continue working with the sector to improve performance and safety outcomes.
Pugsley also said the approvals included improvements to NHS healthcare facilities. That activity sat alongside the residential units covered by the latest figures.