Gateway Three: Another, More Worrying, Bottleneck?

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is facing a significant and growing backlog at the final stage of its approval process for high-risk buildings, with dozens of schemes left in limbo for months — raising serious concerns across the construction industry.

Under the post-Grenfell building safety regime, "gateway three" is the final regulatory hurdle that a newly completed higher-risk building (HRB) must clear before it can be occupied. The BSR has a statutory obligation to make a decision on these applications within eight weeks. However, new data obtained through a Freedom of Information request by law firm Irwin Mitchell reveals the regulator is falling well short of that requirement.

As of 21 January, 44 HRB schemes were still awaiting a gateway three decision more than three months after submitting their applications. Looking at the broader picture, out of 158 gateway three applications submitted in 2024, 55 took longer than three months to receive a decision — and in the most extreme case, one application took a staggering 550 days to process.

The BSR has sought to provide context, stating that none of the delayed cases are buildings that went through the new gateway two process. Instead, all are "transitional legacy cases" — older projects caught between the previous and current regulatory regimes. The regulator added that it has identified significant safety issues in some of these buildings and is working proactively with applicants to bring them up to the required standard before occupation is permitted.

However, that explanation has done little to ease concerns within the industry. Vijay Bange, national head of construction at Irwin Mitchell, described the delays as "financially damaging for developers and deeply frustrating for residents waiting to move into safe, modern homes." Allan Binns, national director at building safety consultancy Project Four, echoed those concerns, noting that a project typically carries its highest level of debt at the point of completion — meaning prolonged gateway three delays can threaten the financial viability of schemes entirely. "These delays are challenging feasibility outright," he warned.

Much of the scrutiny around HRB approvals had previously focused on gateway two, which requires projects to demonstrate full compliance with building regulations at the design stage. But attention is now shifting to gateway three as the backlog there becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.

The BSR itself has recently undergone significant structural change. In January it was moved out of the Health and Safety Executive and became an arm's-length body under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. New leadership has also been brought in, including former London Fire Brigade commissioner Andy Roe and his ex-LFB colleague Charlie Pugsley, who is serving as interim chief executive. The pair were brought in to help address problems with the gateway process following an overhaul of the organisation last year.

Roe has publicly acknowledged the anxiety surrounding gateway three, but expressed confidence that the new leadership can turn things around. "I think it's our job to prove them wrong by giving them a system that works," he said. Bange, however, cautioned that good intentions alone will not be enough: "The transition to a standalone regulator provides an opportunity for improvement, but the delays we are seeing now are unsustainable. Greater transparency, clearer communication and better resourcing are essential if gateway three is to operate effectively."

Read James Wilmore’s full article on CN: https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/buildings/building-safety/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026/