Gateway 2 applications on rise at Building Safety Regulator

Faster decision making on high-risk building schemes has been offset by a rise in cases, according to new data published by the government’s Health and Safety Executive.

The Building Safety Regulator’s “Innovation Unit”, designed to speed up decisions on new Gateway 2 applications for higher risk buildings, saw its case backlog more than double in the three month period up to the end of December last year due to a rise in applications.

However new data published by the government, which includes older “legacy” cases, shows the total number of live applications with the regulator fell from from 1,219 to 1,158 across all categories, with a total of 727 schemes decided in the three month period up to the end of December last year.

According to the statistics, a total of 31 innovation unit schemes were decided in the period, with an average decision time of nine weeks. During that period, 101 new cases landed on desks at the unit, leading to a caseload of 102 when the statistics were calculated in late December.

The West Midlands has 16 live applications in the period, with 19 currently active in the East Midlands.  Of the Midlands total, four cases are being dealt with by the Innovation Unit.

Around 10% of cases received were successfully approved within the 12-week target, with a further 23% of cases sat with account managers pending likely approval on receipt of further information.

A total of 48% of cases reviewed by the unit were deemed invalid, with a further 19% rejected or withdrawn.

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at the construction industry pricing body, BCIS, said the statistics showed “faster decision making” was required.

“The latest data from the BSR is promising and suggests it’s whittling through its backlog more effectively,” he said.

“With the new Innovation Unit in full swing and managing the lion’s share of new build cases, eliminating legacy applications in the coming weeks seems feasible.

“However, the BSR faces a growing volume of new applications across the board. Faster decision-making is still needed and acting on lessons learned over the past 24 months will be key to this.”