The Building Safety Regulator has reported another improvement in Gateway 2 performance, with the overall approval rate across higher-risk building categories rising to 84% in the 12 weeks to 31 August 2026. BSR made 340 building control decisions and approved 287 applications during the period. Approved new-build and external-remediation cases represented 18,029 residential units, while new higher-risk buildings and conversions reached a 92% national approval rate. The latest figures continue a sustained improvement tracked by the London Construction Magazine Gateway 2 Approval Index, which monitors approval rates, London performance, live case pressure, remediation, Gateway 3 and construction-stage change activity.
Modern high-rise buildings in London, illustrating the scale of development affected by the Building Safety Regulator’s Gateway 2 regime where higher-risk building criteria apply. Original Photo: London Construction Magazine.
New-Build Gateway 2 Approval Rate Reaches 92%
BSR made 50 decisions covering new higher-risk buildings and conversions during the latest rolling period. Forty-six applications were approved and four rejected, producing a 92% approval rate and representing 9,362 residential units. The median determination time for non-complex new-build applications was 22 weeks. That compares with a 39% approval rate and a 43-week median around the point at which BSR's Innovation Unit was established 12 months earlier.
That year-on-year comparison provides some of the clearest evidence yet that the regulator's changes to case management, specialist resourcing and earlier engagement with applicants are producing measurable results. Charlie Pugsley, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Building Safety Regulator, said: “Our latest performance figures show that we are successfully driving momentum in building control assessments and approvals for more than 18,000 residential units.”
London Approves More Projects Despite Lower Percentage
London accounted for 31 of the 50 national new-build decisions. BSR approved 28 projects and rejected three, producing a 90% approval rate and covering 4,477 residential units. The median determination time for non-complex London cases was 23 weeks. The percentage is slightly below the 93% recorded in the previous period, but the underlying throughput has increased. The previous LCM Gateway 2 update recorded 25 London approvals covering 3,841 units. The latest period therefore contains more approved projects and more approved residential units even though the percentage rate is lower.
London remains the centre of the new-build higher-risk building workload. Around 65% of live new-build and conversion applications are in the capital, representing approximately 61% of the residential units currently under assessment. Nationally, BSR is now managing 147 live new-build and conversion applications representing 32,691 units. London accounts for 96 of those applications and 20,046 units.
Remediation Reaches 96% Approval in London
External remediation recorded another significant improvement. Nationally, BSR determined 118 applications and approved 105, producing an 89% approval rate and covering 8,667 residential units. London performed more strongly again. Fifty-five of 57 remediation applications were approved, giving the capital a 96% approval rate and covering 3,936 residential units.
Open London remediation cases have also fallen from 200 to 182 during the reporting period. Nationally, only 12 remediation applications dating from 2024 remain, down from 42 at the start of 2026. The result strengthens the improvement already visible when LCM reported Gateway 2 approvals at 77% and remediation at 85% in July. The subsequent move to 84% overall and 89% remediation shows that the improvement has continued rather than being confined to a single reporting period.
LCM Analysis: Approval Is Not the Same as a Site Start
The stronger figures are a positive construction signal, but Gateway 2 approval and construction commencement remain different stages. Gateway 2 building control approval allows controlled building work on a higher-risk building to proceed. It does not demonstrate that a contractor has mobilised or that main construction has started.
BSR separately reports that 126 new-build projects have now commenced work. That figure is therefore the more relevant indicator when assessing how many approved higher-risk projects have actually moved into construction. The regulator's inspection programme is also beginning to test how approved designs are translated on site. BSR says it has found a small number of cases where completed work did not conform with the design agreed at Gateway 2 and required remedial work.
Live Gateway 2 Workload Still Rising
The improvement in approvals is taking place against a growing workload. BSR now has 1,654 Gateway 2 applications in progress across all categories, more than 100 higher during August. The regulator says the increase could be linked to the Building Safety Levy taking effect on 1 October 2026 and has introduced a mitigation plan while it monitors submission volumes. The data does not establish the levy as the sole cause of the increase.
BSR has continued expanding its technical capacity. The latest dataset records 177 internal staff and 508 people sourced or seconded from external organisations, including Registered Building Inspectors, fire-service professionals, structural engineers and other specialists. Sixty-four external specialists are integrated directly into the Innovation Unit and remediation teams.
Gateway 3 Is the Next Test
Gateway 3 is beginning to emerge more clearly in the regulator's data. BSR has received 346 Gateway 3 applications and determined 16 during the latest rolling period, achieving an 88% approval rate and a 20-week median determination time. However, no standard new-build development that passed through Gateway 2 has yet reached Gateway 3. The current Gateway 3 figures are dominated by internal refurbishment, NHS and transitional work and should not yet be treated as a benchmark for newly completed high-rise residential schemes.
BSR is also processing 184 live major change requests during construction, with a seven-week median closure time for new-build major changes. This reinforces the importance of controlling design changes after Gateway 2 rather than treating approval as the end of the regulatory process.
What Happens Next?
The latest BSR figures give developers and contractors stronger evidence that Gateway 2 performance is moving in the right direction. Approval rates are higher, new-build determination times have fallen substantially from a year earlier and remediation performance has strengthened, particularly in London. The next test will be whether that performance can be maintained as the live application workload grows and the first larger wave of Gateway 2-approved new buildings approaches Gateway 3.
London Construction Magazine will continue tracking the regulator's monthly performance, London case concentration, residential units, remediation, commencement signals, major changes and Gateway 3 through the Gateway 2 Approval Index.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus
Founder, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |
