Transparency data

Building control approval application data August to November 2025

Updated 28 November 2025

Applies to England

All data is correct as of 24 November 2025 and provided by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Gateway 2: Priority headline numbers for new build

Status	Legacy cases	Innovation Unit (UI)	Legacy transitional cases	Total
New cases received	0	67	0	67
Decisions made	40	11	7	58
Live cases as of 1 Oct	91	27	34	152
Live cases as of 24 Nov	63	73	31	167

Gateway 2: headline numbers for residential units

Total number of units in new cases received 16,313

Total number of units in decisions made 16,933

Total number of units in live cases as of 24 Nov 36,023

Commentary

• Up to 24 November, overall gateway 2 new build cases have held steady with decisions roughly keeping pace with new applications (58 to 67).
• The majority of decisions (40 out of 58) have been made on legacy cases and that cohort has now reduced to 63. At least another 9 cases are now assessed as ready for ‘approval with requirements’ subject to final checks and agreement with applicants. This will take the legacy cases down to around 54.
• Innovation Unit (IU) decisions are made up of early-stage rejections with the first approvals expected shortly, outside service level agreement (SLA) but significantly quicker than the legacy multi-disciplinary team (MDT) model.
• New applications continue to be received and BSR has been engaging proactively with developers on future pipelines. Up to 24 November new applications representing 16,313 residential units have been received, and approvals representing 11,138 (9,854 legacy and 1,284 transitional legacy) units have been issued. There are currently 36,023 units in live cases.

Gateway 2: Innovation Unit (national)

Innovation Unit: new in versus decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	3	0	20
8 Sep	3	2	21
15 Sep	7	0	28
22 Sep	5	1	32
29 Sep	4	1	35
6 Oct	7	1	41
13 Oct	4	1	44
20 Oct	8	0	52
27 Oct	3	0	55
3 Nov	2	0	57
10 Nov	14	3	68
17 Nov	7	2	73

Innovation Unit: performance totals (national)

Description	Total
New in	67
Live	73
Units approved	0
Units in progress	17,076

Innovation Unit: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

There were a total of 11 decisions made, taking a median time of 4 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	55%	1
Rejections	45%	11
Withdrawn	0%	n/a
Approval	0%	n/a

Commentary

• The IU started accepting applications in August 2025​.
• The new model has quickly progressed applications with rapid validation and a median rejection time of 11 weeks compared to 32 weeks in the legacy model.​
• Cases now exceeding SLA are being expedited with case reviews looking at whether they are suitable for ‘approval with requirements’ or need escalation for independent technical review.
• We expect to see the first approvals come through the system shortly. These initial pathfinding cases will be outside SLA but significantly quicker than the 38 or more weeks in the legacy model.

Gateway 2: Legacy cases (national)

Legacy cases: new in versus decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
01 Sep	0	1	102
8 Sep	0	5	97
15 Sep	0	1	96
22 Sep	0	2	94
29 Sep	0	2	92
6 Oct	0	0	92
13 Oct	0	4	88
20 Oct	0	4	84
27 Oct	0	5	79
3 Nov	0	6	73
10 Nov	0	2	71
17 Nov	0	8	63

Legacy cases: performance (national)

Description	Total
New in	0
Live	63
Units approved	9,854
Units in progress	13,999

Legacy cases: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

There were a total of 40 decisions made, taking a median time of 37 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	0%	n/a
Rejections	23%	32
Withdrawn	5%	30
Approval	73%	37

Commentary

• Legacy cases have reduced significantly over the period as BSR focuses on trying to close out these older applications.​
• From 103 at the beginning of August, as of 24 November 40 decisions have reduced the legacy cohort to 63. At least another 9 cases are now assessed as ready for ‘approval with requirements’ subject to final checks and agreement from the applicants. This will take the legacy cases down to around 54.​
• Of note is the relatively high approval rate of 73% with many of these utilising the recently enhanced ‘approval with requirements’ route.

Gateway 2: Remediation (national)

Remediation: new in versus decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	7	1	268
8 Sep	8	2	274
15 Sep	9	4	279
22 Sep	5	9	275
29 Sep	17	10	282
6 Oct	7	4	285
13 Oct	4	2	287
20 Oct	6	8	285
27 Oct	6	15	276
3 Nov	5	3	278
10 Nov	5	4	279
17 Nov	8	4	283

Remediation: performance (national)

Description	Total
New in	87
Live	283
Units approved	2,330
Units in progress	25,339

Remediation: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

There were a total of 66 decisions made, taking a median time of 30 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	18%	1
Rejections	44%	25
Withdrawn	6%	41
Approval	32%	44

Commentary

• Open remediation cases have climbed slightly over the period from 262 to 283.
• Having focused on addressing the new build backlog initially, BSR is now developing a focused plan to extend the lessons learned to remediation cases.

Gateway 2: All categories

All categories: new in versus decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	37	21	1,128
8 Sep	46	41	1,133
15 Sep	58	33	1,158
22 Sep	37	44	1,151
29 Sep	67	38	1,180
6 Oct	60	50	1,190
13 Oct	46	35	1,201
20 Oct	52	120	1,133
27 Oct	50	49	1,134
3 Nov	29	56	1,107
10 Nov	56	40	1,123
17 Nov	61	51	1,133

All categories: performance (national)

Description	Total
New in	599
Live	1,133

All categories: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

There were a total of 578 decisions made, taking a median time of 18 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	36%	1
Rejections	19%	22
Withdrawn	14%	49
Approval	31%	30

Commentary

• Overall, the number of cases of all categories at gateway 2 remained consistent.
• October was a record month with 272 determinations across all categories.
• Of note is that, whilst the invalidation rate is high, the invalidation median time is one week which enables applicants to quickly reassess their applications in preparation for resubmission.
• Category A, B and ‘other’ accounts for circa 81%+ of gateway 2 volume of decisions.

Gateway 2: Regional distribution

Regional gateway 2 applications (London)

Region	Innovation Unit (IU)	Legacy cases	Remediation	Total
London	30	35	145	210
Rest of country	43	28	138	209

Regional gateway 2 applications (excluding London)

Region	Innovation Unit (IU)	Legacy cases	Remediation	Total
East	0	1	15	16
East Midlands	1	2	15	18
North-east	1	2	4	7
North-west	20	7	38	65
South-east	1	4	21	26
South-west	2	9	12	23
West Midlands	4	2	14	20
Yorkshire and The Humber	14	1	19	34
No region	0	0	0	0
Rest of country	43	28	138	209

Gateway 2: Innovation Unit (London)

Innovation Unit: new in versus decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	2	0	12
8 Sep	2	1	13
15 Sep	5	0	18
22 Sep	1	0	19
29 Sep	2	0	21
6 Oct	2	1	22
13 Oct	3	1	24
20 Oct	4	0	28
27 Oct	1	0	29
3 Nov	0	0	29
10 Nov	4	3	30
17 Nov	2	2	30

Innovation Unit: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	28
Live	30
Units approved	0
Units in progress	6,138

Innovation Unit: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

There were a total of 8 decisions made, taking a median time of 5 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	50%	1
Rejections	50%	13
Withdrawn	0%	n/a
Approval	0%	n/a

Gateway 2: Legacy cases (London)

Legacy cases: new in versus decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	0	0	55
8 Sep	0	2	53
15 Sep	0	0	53
22 Sep	0	0	53
29 Sep	0	1	52
6 Oct	0	0	52
13 Oct	0	2	50
20 Oct	0	2	48
27 Oct	0	3	45
3 Nov	0	5	40
10 Nov	0	1	39
17 Nov	0	4	35

Legacy cases: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	0
Live	35
Units approved	4,943
Units in progress	8,145

Legacy cases: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

There were a total of 20 decisions made, taking a median time of 37 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	0%	n/a
Rejections	10%	51
Withdrawn	5%	18
Approval	85%	37

Commentary

• Legacy cases have reduced significantly over the period as BSR focuses on trying to close out older applications.​
• From 55 in September, 20 decisions have reduced the London legacy cohort to 35, with 4,943 residential units approved.​
• Of note is the high approval rate of 85%, with many of these utilising the ‘approval with requirements’ route.

Gateway 2: Remediation (London)

Remediation: new in versus decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	4	0	141
8 Sep	5	2	144
15 Sep	5	1	148
22 Sep	2	6	144
29 Sep	12	8	148
6 Oct	4	2	150
13 Oct	1	2	149
20 Oct	4	7	146
27 Oct	2	2	146
3 Nov	2	1	147
10 Nov	0	1	146
17 Nov	3	4	145

Remediation: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	44
Live	145
Units approved	590
Units in progress	12,270

Remediation: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

There were a total of 36 decisions made, taking a median time of 32 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	22%	1
Rejections	56%	35
Withdrawn	6%	57
Approval	17%	42

Commentary

• Open remediation cases have climbed slightly over the period from 137 to 145.​
• Having focused on addressing the new build backlog initially, BSR is now developing a focused plan to extend the lessons learned to remediation cases.

Gateway 2: All categories (London)

All categories: new in versus decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Decisions	Total live cases
1 Sep	24	10	755
8 Sep	32	29	758
15 Sep	41	20	779
22 Sep	24	29	774
29 Sep	46	25	795
6 Oct	44	36	803
13 Oct	28	23	808
20 Oct	29	109	728
27 Oct	27	25	730
3 Nov	17	39	708
10 Nov	26	25	709
17 Nov	36	39	706

All categories: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	374
Live	706

All categories: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

There were a total of 409 decisions made, taking a median time of 18 weeks.

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Invalid	36%	1
Rejections	18%	28
Withdrawn	16%	52
Approval	31%	29

Commentary

• Overall, the number of cases of all categories at gateway 2 has reduced (741 to 706).​
• October was a record month with 206 determinations across all categories (making 409 since August).​
• 76% of all decisions across all gateway 2 categories during October related to London cases.​
• Of note is that, whilst the invalidation rate is high, the invalidation median time is one week which enables applicants to quickly reassess their applications in preparation for resubmission.

Building control: Batching

All batches	Cases (status)
New build	48 (all accepted)
Remediation	65 (all accepted)
Category A: refurbishments	104 (all accepted)

Commentary

• Due to demand across all application types (remediation, new build, refurbishment), a new batching process was launched during September, acknowledging that the original MDT model was not effective for managing the volume of cases.​
• This new pilot process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised engineering services suppliers for accelerated assessment. ​
• The primary goal of batching is to accelerate backlog resolution in new build and remediation applications, thereby creating sustainable future capacity. ​
• The first of these mixed-category bundles (26 cases) was sent to engineering services suppliers on 30 September; the second followed the week of 6 October.​
• Weekly dispatch of subsequent bundles have been and continue to be based on verified supplier capacity. ​
• Future reports will track the progress of all applications processed through this new system.