The Building Safety Regulator’s latest data for the 12-week rolling period to 5 October 2026 shows overall gateway 2 application approvals rising 87% with 20,471 residential units clearing the gateway.
Existing building remediation approvals climbed to 87% nationally and to 96% in London.
The Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) latest transparency data for the 12-week rolling period to 5 October 2026 shows overall gateway 2 application approvals rising to 87%, up from the previous release (84%), with 20,471 residential units clearing the gateway.
Over the same period, existing building remediation approvals also climbed to 87% nationally (up from 32% 12 months prior) and 96% in London.
Highlights to 5 October 2026 (12 week rolling period):
- Overall decisions: Over the last 12 weeks, BSR made 378 building control decisions across all higher-risk building (HRB) categories, with an overall national approval rate of 87% (330 cases approved). These equate to 20,471 residential units.
- New HRBs and conversions: For new HRBs and conversions, the approval rate (not including invalidations and withdrawals) has risen to 96% (55 approvals out of 57 decisions) with a median approval time of 23 weeks for 11,822 units. In London, approvals stood at 97% with a 22-week median approval time for 6,855 units.
- Existing building remediation: Existing building remediation approvals stood at 87%, significantly exceeding BSR’s annual target of 65% and equating to 8,649 units. In London, approvals stood at 96% (52 approvals and 4,643 units).
- NHS applications: Approvals for NHS applications reached 81% nationally with 21 approvals from 26 decisions.
- National picture: Recent housing supply indicators from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show significant quarterly starts in Q4 2025, as well as Q1 and Q2 of 2026, driven by BSR’s operational reforms.
- Increased applications received: The Building Safety Regulator has activated contingency plans to deal with an expected surge of applications in advance of the introduction of the Building Safety Levy, which came into force on 1 October.
- These contingency plans introduce additional levels of scrutiny prior to rejection, alongside a triage mechanism that will ensure that applications are progressed appropriately.
BSR’s Innovation Unit has accelerated the assessment of applications for new high-rise residential buildings and major conversions.
Over the latest 12-week period, BSR made 57 decisions on new-build projects, approving 96% of applications (55). These approved schemes represent 11,822 new residential units.
For comparison, in August 2025, the median approval time was 43 weeks, and the approval rate was 39%.
Most new-build activity continues to take place in London, which accounted for 37 of the 57 national decisions made. BSR approved 36 of these 37 projects in London, representing an approval rate of 97% in the capital and unlocking 6,855 residential units. The median determination time in the capital was 22 weeks for non-complex cases.
While BSR continues drive internal improvements, BSR is also actively engaged with the wider sector to improve consistency, as well as to improve application quality.
London currently represents 60% of all in-progress new-build applications and 55% of the total residential units under active assessment (111 live applications representing 22,204 units).
Nationally, BSR is managing 186 live new-build and conversion applications, representing 40,644 individual units.
To manage resources efficiently, BSR tracks highly complex designs separately. Nationally, there are 30 live complex cases under active management, with a median determination time of 34 weeks.
London is managing 19 of these complex proposals, with a median determination time of 35 weeks.
