Floodgates Open As Gateway 2 Backlog Recedes
According to the Building Safety Regulator, it has made progress in beating the Gateway 2 backlog and is now approving more new homes than are being applied for.
Between 7 March and 30 May, the BSR made determinations covering applications for 14,928 new homes. In the same period, new application totalled 13,964 new homes. That represent a difference of nearly a thousand (-964).
The Regulator had targeted eliminating the backlog by January this year. In the course of 2025, the backlog grew to 152 applications, representing 33,670 new homes.
Remediation cases, often involving cladding, have dropped as well from a high of 300 high-risk buildings to 91 in the course of 2025. These include 18 legacy cases that are proving very difficult and technical complicated to resolve.
Category improvement
Gateway 2 is split into three categories; new build, refurbishment and remediation. In that 12-week period from March to May, BSR confirmed 268 out of 358 decisions.
The Innovation Unit, which specialises in high-rise projects, confirmed 28 of 31 applications between March and May. It has approved 43 applications since it was launched in August 2025. It has 131 live applications (30,000 new homes).
Positive improvements
The Acting CEO of the BSR, Charlie Pugsley, said: “We continue to see positive improvements in numbers of approvals for both new build and existing building remediation cases, as well as significantly faster decision times.
“We are also making important improvements following the recent introduction of our external remediation improvement plan, with existing building approval rates of 79% over the last 12 weeks is already above our minimum 65% target for the year.”
Picture: The backlog of Gateway 2 approvals for remediation refurbishment and new build has come down and the application and approval process is moving much quicker according to the Building Safety Regulator, signalling a boost for new homes…and new windows and doors.
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/building-safety-regulator
