Independent Building Safety Act guidance
The Building Safety Act,
decoded for people who build.
We read the legislation, the guidance and the live regulator data so you do not have to, then tell you what it means on site. Three gateways, a golden thread and one regulator, without the legal fog.
Where the regime stands
BSR building control data, verified 2026-08-12
349
Gateway 2 decisions
12 weeks to 1 August 2026
82%
approval rate
Innovation Unit at 91%
22
week new-build median
vs a 12-week statutory target
319 / 29
Gateway 3 apps / latest decisions
72% approved in latest window
Gateway 2 has clawed its way back from the 2025 crisis, when the new-build median was 43 weeks. The pressure is moving downstream to Gateway 3. Read the numbers.
The regulatory journey
Find your way in
The site follows the journey a building takes: from the Act itself, through the three hard gateways, to occupation.
The next queue
Gateway 2 is recovering. Gateway 3 is where the next queue forms.
BSR had received 319 Gateway 3 applications by 1 August 2026. In the latest 12-week window it made 29 decisions at a 72% approval rate and a 16-week median. No new build that passed through Gateway 2 had yet reached Gateway 3.
Why Gateway 3 applications stallThe Gateway Brief
Gateway 2 approvals: the projects moving in summer 2026
The BSR decided 45 new higher-risk building and conversion applications in the 12 weeks to 1 August 2026, approving 91% and 7,587 residential units. The comparable August 2025 approval rate was 39%; median approval time has fallen from 43 to 22 weeks. At least six newly approved schemes were publicly named.
Read the analysisThe Gateway Brief
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