Building control approval application data

Gateway 2 approvals rise to 82%

Gateway 2 building application approvals across all categories rise to 82%, as existing building remediation approvals reach 85% over the last 12 weeks nationally and 92% in London. 

Since BSR’s Innovation Unit was set up in August 2025, the unit has seen its approval rate more than double, from 39% to 91%. Median approval times have also almost halved, from 43 weeks a year ago, to 22 weeks in this latest data. 

The performance of external remediation applications shows similar improvements following the introduction of BSR’s external remediation plan in April 2026. This was introduced alongside process improvements, updated guidance and closer engagement with applicants. 

Highlights to 1 August 2026 (12 week rolling period)

• Over the last 12 weeks, BSR made 349 building control decisions across all higher-risk building (HRB) categories, with an overall national approval rate of 82% (287 cases).
• For new HRBs and conversions the approval rate (not including invalidations and withdrawals) has risen to 91% with a median approval time of 22 weeks. In London, approvals stood at 93% with a 23-week median approval time.
• Existing building remediation approvals stood at 85%, significantly exceeding BSR’s annual target of 65%. In London, approvals stood at 92%.
• Approvals for NHS applications reached 84% nationally, with 16 approvals from 19 decisions. London saw 6 projects approved from 7 determinations (86%).
• In its first year BSR’s Innovation Unit has streamlined new build assessments, determining 102 applications over the past year, of which 76 (75%) were approvals or approvals with requirements. 
• The unit has a current approval rate of 91% and current median determination time of 22 weeks for non-complex cases.

New build and conversion projects

Applications for new higher-risk buildings and conversions continue to progress through BSR’s Innovation Unit. Over the last 12 weeks, BSR made 45 decisions on new build projects, achieving an approval rate of 91%. These approved projects represent 7,587 residential units.

For comparison, in the 12 weeks to August 2025, median approval time stood at 43 weeks with an approval rate of 39%.

Most new build activity took place in London. This accounted for 27 of the 45 national decisions, with 25 of those 27 projects in the capital approved. London’s approval rate of 93% represents 3,841 residential units.

Currently, London represents 65% of all in-progress new build applications and 58% of the total units under assessment. Nationally, BSR is managing 131 live new build and conversion applications, representing 30,421 units.

Existing building remediation

Targeted operational improvements to reduce decision times have driven national remediation approvals up to 85%. This is significantly higher than BSR’s target of 65% for the end of 2026. In London, remediation approval rates reached 92%, exceeding the national average.

BSR determined 110 remediation decisions over the rolling 12-week period, approving 85% of projects that represent 7,433 residential units.

Outstanding legacy applications from 2024 have fallen to 13 (down from 42 at the start of the year) as teams work with applicants to resolve challenging technical issues.

Older cases in the system averaged a median approval time of 34 weeks, which includes clearing older applications from 2024/25.

However, recent data shows applications submitted in 2026 have a median determination time of 21 weeks. This is due to improved application quality and streamlined internal processes.

BSR is currently managing 330 live remediation cases nationally, representing 28,778 units.

NHS applications

NHS applications, covering a range of hospital building work from maintenance to new facilities, are now a separate tracked category.

Approvals for NHS applications stood at 84% nationally with a median approval time of 24 weeks. 

Over the rolling 12-week period, BSR received 29 new NHS applications and made 19 determinations.

Of these decisions, BSR approved 16, with a median determination time of 24 weeks. The median determination time for NHS applications submitted in 2026 is 13 weeks.

BSR’s specialist team has been working closely with the NHS to facilitate the specialist nature of their applications. This has started to show results with some recent approvals coming in at the statutory 8-week timescale.

Currently, BSR is managing 36 active NHS cases nationally to support the delivery of safe, upgraded healthcare facilities.

London achieved an approval rate of 86% over the period, with 6 projects approved and a median determination time of 27 weeks.

Innovation Unit: A year on

During its first year of operation, BSR’s Innovation Unit has fundamentally reset how new build applications are assessed. This was done by bringing multi-disciplinary teams in-house, cutting setup times from months to days. 

This streamlined approach has substantially reduced average determination times. The unit approved 102 applications over the past year, of which 76 (75%) were approvals or approvals with requirements. 

The unit has a current approval rate of 91% and current median determination time of 22 weeks for non-complex cases. Prior to the unit’s set up, new build approval rates stood at 39%, with a median approval time of 43 weeks.

To continuously improve applicant communication and decision consistency, BSR introduced dedicated account managers, an internal consistency panel and new tools to track outstanding issues during the unit’s first year. 

BSR also designated highly intricate applications as ‘complex’ to allocate more targeted resources. This successful blueprint is now being rolled out across other services like the remediation team. 

Over the same period, performance for external remediation applications has also improved significantly, moving from an approval time of 43 weeks and an approval rate of 47%, to 34 weeks and 85% respectively.

Refurbishments and early gateway 3 indicators

The approval rate for internal refurbishment works in category A and B is currently 77% with a median determination time for approvals of 32 weeks.

However, internal refurbishment applications submitted in 2026 have a median determination time of 16 weeks.

HRB internal work determinations over the last 12 weeks account for around 49% of all gateway 2 decisions. These applications include all internal refurbishment works except NHS projects.

BSR is managing 981 active cases for internal works, which achieved an approval rate of 77% with a median determination time of 32 weeks for 166 decisions over the last 12 weeks.

Whilst no new build projects that have passed through gateway 2 have reached gateway 3, a significant number of internal refurbishment projects have already passed through gateway 2.

Of the 319 gateway 3 applications received, 235 are Internal refurbishments with most of the remainder being transitional cases (47) and NHS internal refurbishments (23).

Over the last 12 weeks, 29 gateway 3 applications have been determined with an approval rate of 72% and a median determination time of 16 weeks. The quickest determination was 8 weeks.

This is an important area of focus for BSR, particularly for new build. We expect determination times to reduce as new processes are introduced and more resources added.

Transitional cases in progress

To ensure thorough regulatory coverage, BSR is currently managing 69 transitional building control cases at gateway 2. 

These are legacy projects that have reverted to BSR when the building control body originally overseeing the project ceased trading. 

While often extremely complex due to a lack of standard structural evidence from the previous regime, BSR has received 47 transitional cases at Gateway 3.

Live major change requests

To manage evolving design requirements safely during construction, BSR is actively processing 181 live major change requests with 112 closed. 

The median closure time for new-build projects is currently 7 weeks – just 1 week above the statutory target.

The volume of live major change requests has increased over the last 12 weeks. External remediations represented the only category to show a downward trend.

Scaling regulatory resources

To support this increasing volume of decisions, BSR has significantly expanded its capabilities.

The current combined resourcing profile includes:

• 176 internal BSR staff members
  • 100 regulatory leads
  • 15 principal regulatory leads
  • 56 case officers
  • 5 case officer managers
• 506 external specialists
  • 221 registered building inspectors
  • 111 fire service professionals
  • 135 structural engineers
  • 39 other specialists

Of these external specialists, 36 registered building inspectors, 8 fire service professionals and 20 structural engineers are now fully integrated directly into BSR’s Innovation Unit and external remediation team to accelerate application processing times.

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