Transparency data

Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data February to April 2026

Updated 8 May 2026

Applies to England

All data is correct as of 1 May 2026 and provided by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Gateway 2: Priority headline numbers for new build

Status	Legacy cases	Innovation Unit	Complex cases	Transitional cases	Total
New cases received	0	63	0	0	63
Decisions made	15	34	14	5	68
Live cases as of 1 Oct	91	27	0	34	152
Live cases as of 1 May	0	131	20	43	194

​ Total number of units in new cases received 12,700 ​

​

 ​ Total number of units in decisions made 17,046 ​

​

 ​ Total number of units in live cases as of 1 May 36,984 ​

Commentary

• In the 12-week rolling period to 1 May, 33 new build Innovation Unit (IU) applications have been determined with 63 new applications received. The number of approvals since the data series began has reached 33.
• Of the 33 decisions made in rolling 12 weeks, 24 were approvals and 9 were rejections. This means that the 12-week rolling approval rate now stands at 73%, with a median approval time of 22 weeks.
• We have reduced the number of legacy, long-term cases to 8. These have significant technical challenges, and have been managed as ‘complex cases’ since February. This is where account managers work closely with applicants to try to achieve a successful outcome.
• 12 live IU cases are deemed complex cases, as we continue to work closely with applicants to reduce rejections and reach an approval despite technical challenges.
• Transitional cases have risen to 43, as we are required to accept projects that were previously managed by Assent Building Control which ceased trading in late 2025.
• Over the past 12 weeks new applications for 12,700 residential units have been received. This has been outstripped by decisions, with applications for 17,046 units being determined, of which 12,299, or 72%, were approvals. There are currently 36,984 units in live cases.

Innovation Unit (national)

Innovation Unit: new in versus closed decisions (national)​

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	3	0	125
16 Feb	9	2	132
23 Feb	2	10	124
2 Mar	11	6	129
9 Mar	7	4	132
16 Mar	9	1	140
23 Mar	2	8	134
30 Mar	3	3	134
6 Apr	3	1	136
13 Apr	4	1	139
20 Apr	3	2	140
27 Apr	7	4	143

Innovation Unit: performance totals (national)​

Description	Total
New in	63
Live	143
Units approved	4,831 ​
Units in progress	27,900 ​

Innovation Unit: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)​

In the period, there were:

• 33 decisions made
• 9 invalid or withdrawn applications
• 12 live complex cases with a median approval time of 35 weeks

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median) ​​
Rejections	27%	17
Approval	73%	22

Commentary

• Out of 63 applications received over the past 12 weeks, 5 applications were invalidated and 4 withdrawn.
• Of the 33 decisions made, 24 were approvals and 9 were rejections.
• This means that the 12-week rolling approval rate (not including invalidations and withdrawals) has risen to 73% with the median approval time remaining at 22 weeks.
• IU approvals now stand at 33 in total.
• Complex cases are now tracked separately and, whilst the final decision is included in the rejection or approval totals, their median approval time is now at 35 weeks.
• We continue to work closely with industry on a shared understanding of compliance as we seek to reduce the number of complex cases in the system.
• Total IU cases now stand at 143, which is a small rise over the period.
• Legacy cases have been replaced by to 8 long term complex cases. These are no longer reflected in the IU data as they are being reported on separately.

Remediation (national)

Remediation: new in versus closed decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	8	10	309
16 Feb	14	10	313
23 Feb	7	6	314
2 Mar	16	8	322
9 Mar	12	10	324
16 Mar	4	11	317
23 Mar	15	11	321
30 Mar	19	7	333
6 Apr	5	2	336
13 Apr	7	4	339
20 Apr	14	3	350
27 Apr	0	13	337

Remediation: performance (national)

Description	Total
New in	121
Live	337
Units approved	5,429
Units in progress	30,515

Remediation: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

In the period, there were:

• 81 decisions made
• 14 invalid or withdrawn applications

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Rejections	28%	25
Approval	72%	46

Commentary

• The 12-week approval rate has risen to 72% with median approval time rising to 46 weeks as we successfully make decisions on older applications which have been in the system for some time.
• We have made operational improvements to achieve our BSR remediation improvement plan aim to reduce average decision times. Fewer than 20 legacy applications made in 2024 now remain, and approval rates in 2026 have reached the 65% target. A further 12 applications are on track to be determined by mid-May.
• We also continue to work closely with the sector to help applicants improve the quality of applications and data shows that applications submitted in quarter 4 2025 are progressing through the system faster than earlier applications. However, the average approval time in weeks based on the rolling total includes older 2024 to 2025 applications, hence the high figure.

All categories (national)

All categories new in versus closed decisions (national)

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	59	37	1,269
16 Feb	63	57	1,275
23 Feb	53	45	1,283
2 Mar	82	45	1,320
9 Mar	94	69	1,345
16 Mar	71	60	1,356
23 Mar	63	56	1,363
30 Mar	59	41	1,381
6 Apr	47	44	1,384
13 Apr	50	38	1,396
20 Apr	61	65	1,392
27 Apr	38	63	1,367

All categories: performance (national)

Description	Total
New in	740
Live	1,367

All categories: performance percentages and weeks taken (national)

In the period, there were:

• 323 decisions made
• 298 invalid or withdrawn applications
• 23 live complex cases with a median approval time of 35 weeks

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Rejections	29%	23
Approval	71%	35

Commentary

• The overall approval rate for applications of all categories has risen to 71%.

• The number of live applications of all categories at gateway 2 has risen by 8 over the last month.
• New applications of all types exceeded the number of decisions we made over the past 12 weeks. With a total of 621 closed applications against 740 new applications.
• Category A and B determinations over the past 3 months account for circa 58% of gateway 2 volume of decisions. These applications include all internal refurbishment works as well as NHS applications.

Gateway 2: Regional distribution​

Data as of the 1 May 2026.​

Regional gateway 2 applications (London)​

Region	Innovation Unit	Legacy cases	Remediation	Total
London	82	6	183	271
Rest of country	50	2	154	206

Regional gateway 2 applications (rest of England)​

Region	Innovation Unit	Legacy cases	Remediation	Total
East	0	0	21	21
East Midlands	0	0	10	10
North-east	1	0	9	10
North-west	28	0	47	75
South-east	9	0	27	36
South-west	4	2	13	19
West Midlands	4	0	13	17
Yorkshire and The Humber	4	0	14	18

Innovation Unit (London)

Innovation Unit: new in versus closed decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	0	0	68
16 Feb	4	1	71
23 Feb	1	1	71
2 Mar	6	2	75
9 Mar	3	2	76
16 Mar	2	0	78
23 Mar	1	3	76
30 Mar	2	3	75
6 Apr	3	1	77
13 Apr	3	1	79
20 Apr	2	1	80
27 Apr	4	2	82

Innovation Unit: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	31
Live	82
Units approved	3,012
Units in progress	15,260

Innovation Unit: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

In the period, there were:

• 14 decisions made
• 3 invalid or withdrawn applications
• 6 live complex cases

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Rejections	0%	Not applicable
Approval	100%	22

Commentary

• Around 64% of live IU applications are in London.
• This also represents around 57% of the overall residential units handled by the IU.
• 14 of the 33 decisions that the IU has made in the last 12 weeks are in London.
• London approval rates are 100%, significantly higher than nationally. This high figure reflects significant work to resolve outstanding complex cases.
• Approval time for non-complex cases matches the national average of 22 weeks.

Remediation (London)

Remediation: new in versus closed decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	4	4	167
16 Feb	10	5	172
23 Feb	5	3	174
2 Mar	12	7	179
9 Mar	4	4	179
16 Mar	4	7	176
23 Mar	9	8	177
30 Mar	7	3	181
6 Apr	0	1	180
13 Apr	3	2	181
20 Apr	12	2	191
27 Apr	0	8	183

Remediation: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	70
Live	183
Units approved	1,409
Units in progress	16,131

Remediation: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

In the period, there were:

• 46 decisions made
• 8 invalid or withdrawn applications

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Rejections	37%	25
Approval	63%	51

Commentary

• Open remediation cases in London have decreased slightly over the period from 172 to 164.
• We announced the BSR remediation improvement plan in the past month. We have already made progress with fewer than 20 legacy 2024 applications now remaining and approval rates already approaching the 65% or greater target for 2026.
• London approval rates of 47% are slightly lower than nationally.

All categories (London)

All categories: new in versus closed decisions (London)

Week commencing	New in	Closed decisions	Total live cases
9 Feb	33	17	807
16 Feb	39	33	813
23 Feb	34	21	826
2 Mar	52	29	849
9 Mar	54	43	860
16 Mar	27	41	846
23 Mar	43	35	854
30 Mar	33	31	856
6 Apr	26	32	850
13 Apr	34	24	860
20 Apr	43	35	868
27 Apr	19	38	849

All categories: performance (London)

Description	Total
New in	437
Live	849

All categories: performance percentages and weeks taken (London)

In the period, there were:

• 201 decisions made
• 182 invalid or withdrawn applications
• 12 live complex cases

Description	Percentage	Weeks taken (median)
Rejections	26%	26
Approval	74%	35

Commentary

• The number of live London applications of all categories at gateway 2 has slightly increased over the past month, from 850 to 849.
• A total of 383 applications have been closed, set against 437 new applications received.
• 62% of all decisions across all gateway 2 categories in the past 12 weeks related to London cases.
• Category A and B determinations in London over the past 3 months account for circa 69% of gateway 2 volume of decisions in London. These applications include all internal refurbishment works as well as NHS applications.

Building control: Batching pilot

Batch volumes: cases allocated by batch number

Batch number	New build	Refurbishment	Remediation	Total
1	12	33	10	55
2	0	32	14	46
3	8	20	8	36
4	23	45	18	86
5	5	34	17	56
6	4	46	17	67
7	32	86	42	160
8	15	51	18	84
9	9	21	10	30
10	3	17	19	39
11	0	30	14	44
12	11	20	4	35
13	11	22	26	59
14	6	18	24	49
15	12	29	18	59
16	23	34	19	76
17	0	32	8	40
18	10	10	12	32
19	13	21	25	59
20	4	17	16	37
21	6	15	5	26
22	12	18	23	53
23	7	15	23	0
24	5	4	16	20
25	15	31	21	67

Commentary

• Batching is part of the overall process, not additional. So, the data shown in this and following slides is a subset of the data shown on earlier sides.
• A pilot batching process was launched in September 2025, acknowledging that the original multidisciplinary team (MDT) model was not effective for managing the volume of cases across all categories of application.
• This pilot process scales capacity by bundling applications to specialised engineering services suppliers for accelerated assessment, with BSR maintaining regulatory oversight. The primary goal of batching is to accelerate backlog resolution in new build and remediation applications.
• The first of these mixed-category bundles (26 cases) was sent to suppliers on 30 September 2025. Weekly dispatch of subsequent bundles is based on supplier capacity.
• The model follows a process where batches are issued to suppliers, they then have a limited time to accept or reject the cases in the allocation based on their capacity and any conflicts of interest. Once accepted, suppliers then have a defined period to return their assessments for consideration by BSR’s regulatory leads.

Batching pilot performance: new builds

Issued	Not yet accepted	Accepted	Returned	Decision made
253.75	64.75	189	87	43

​ Median weeks from issued to return 4 ​

​

​ Median weeks from issued to decision 9 ​

​

Batched new build decisions

Decision made	Percentage
Approval	21%
Approval with requirements	35% ​
Rejection	37%
Withdrawn	7%

Commentary

• Batching in new builds is being used to support only some building control applications. Most are considered by our in-house teams.
• The batching approach is being used in some cases to access specialist resource to evaluate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling in support of fire strategies submitted as part of an application.
• Approvals or approvals with requirements for batching assessments relating to new build decisions sit at 56%.

Batching pilot performance: external remediation

Issued	Not yet accepted	Accepted	Returned	Decision made
372	197	175	139	30

​ Median weeks from issued to return 4 ​

​

​ Median weeks from issued to decision 9 ​

​

Batching pilot performance: external remediation

Issued	Not yet accepted	Accepted	Returned	Decision made
408	171	237	140	33

​ Median weeks from issued to return 4 ​

​

​ Median weeks from issued to decision 10 ​

​

Batched remediation decisions

Decision made	Percentage
Approval	24%
Approval with requirements	3%​
Rejection	70%
Withdrawn	3%

Commentary

• External remediation often requires a ‘full’ MDT, made up of the 3 core specialisms: registered building inspector (RBI), fire and structural engineers.
• Batching allows us to allocate remediation applications to one or more suppliers who have these capabilities available (while BSR maintains regulatory oversight) and is distributed across suppliers according to capacity.
• Batching is proving effective in speeding up early assessment and decision, which means rejections are coming through more strongly as approvals typically take longer. The steady-state approval rates in the performance data for all application categories are therefore more representative.

Batching pilot performance: refurbishments

Issued	Not yet accepted	Accepted	Returned	Decision made
758	260	498	321	82

​ Median weeks from issued to return 4 ​

​

​ Median weeks from issued to decision 11 ​

​

Batched refurbishment decisions

Decision made	Percentage
Approval	43% ​
Approval with requirements	1%​
Rejection	50%
Withdrawn	6%

Innovation unit resources

Role	Actual as of 27 April	Forecast May (mid-month)	Forecast June (mid-month)	Forecast July (mid-month)
Registered building inspectors	20.2	23	26.3	31.5
Structural engineers	18	19	21	24
Fire engineers	7.4	8	9.4	14.4

All numbers are full-time equivalent – for example, some people are available to BSR fewer than 5 days per week, so the totals shown are aggregated.

Commentary

• BSR draws building inspector, fire engineer and structural engineer resources from partner organisations across the public and private sector.
• These resources were brought in-house within BSR for the first time as part of the IU and allow BSR to have better control over resource allocation and tasking.
• The provision of sufficient resource of this type is therefore critical to enabling the IU’s work.
• Class 3 RBIs are the scarcest professional resource.
• We are working to grow capacity to meet demand and to support other application categories such as remediation, including additional human resources (HR) resource to support this. Increasing capacity remains both a priority and a challenge for BSR.

Gateway 2: Data tables

National data

	Innovation Unit	Remediation	All categories
Live	143	337	1,367
New in	63	121	740
Decisions made	33	81	323
Invalid and withdrawn	9	14	298
Rejections	8	23	93
Complex rejections	1	0	1
Rejection %	27	28	29
Rejection weeks	17	25	23
Approvals	17	58	216
Complex approvals	7	0	13
Approval %	73	72	71
Approval weeks	22	46	35
Complex approval weeks	35	Not applicable	35
Live units	27,900	30,515
Approved units	4,831	5,429

London data

	Innovation Unit	Remediation	All categories
Live	82	183	849
New in	31	70	437
Decisions made	14	46	201
Invalid and withdrawn	3	8	182
Rejections	0	17	52
Complex rejections	0	0	0
Rejection %	0	37	26
Rejection weeks	Not applicable	0	26
Approvals	11	29	145
Complex approvals	3	0	4
Approval %	100	63	74
Approval weeks	22	51	35
Complex approval weeks	35	Not applicable	35
Live units	15,260	16,131
Approved units	3,012	1,409