How long does Gateway 2 approval take in 2026?

The statutory target is 12 weeks for a new build and 8 weeks for work to an existing building. In the 12 weeks to 30 May 2026, batched applications ran at a median of 12 to 14 weeks, and some approvals landed inside the statutory 12. This is a dramatic improvement on the 43-week national average recorded in October 2025.

Why was Gateway 2 so slow in 2024 and 2025?

The Building Safety Regulator was new, under-resourced and facing a design-quality problem: many early applications were not resolved enough to approve, which generated rounds of queries. Approval times climbed to an average of 43 weeks nationally by October 2025 before the regulator was reorganised and given more staff and new processes.

What is the BSR Innovation Unit?

The Innovation Unit is a dedicated route the BSR introduced for new-build applications, with specialist resource and a faster process. In the data to 30 May 2026 it was approving around 90% of the cases it handled, well above the overall 75% approval rate, which reflects both the process and the quality of the schemes routed through it.

Batching is the practice of bundling applications to external specialist assessors under BSR oversight, introduced as a pilot in late 2025 to clear the backlog. It drove decision volumes from roughly 200 in the first quarter of 2025 to more than 700 in the final quarter, and batched applications now run at a median of 12 to 14 weeks.

Gateway 2 timescales in 2026: the real numbers

What are Gateway 2 decision times in 2026?

Faster than at any point since the regime began, and finally within sight of the statutory target. The charts above are drawn from the Building Safety Regulator's published building control data. The headline is that the system that was averaging 43 weeks in October 2025 was, by the spring of 2026, issuing hundreds of decisions at a median close to the 12-week legal clock.

According to BSR data covering the 12 weeks to 30 May 2026, the regulator issued 358 Gateway 2 decisions with a 75% approval rate, batched applications ran at a median of 12 to 14 weeks, and the Innovation Unit approved around 90% of its cases.

Source: BSR building control data, gov.uk. Verified 14 July 2026.

How bad did it get, and how did it turn around?

The regime's first two years were a bottleneck. From the switch-on in October 2023, Gateway 2 approval times climbed steadily, and by October 2025 the BSR's own chair confirmed averages of 43 weeks nationally and 48 weeks in London, against a 12-week statutory target. Schemes stalled. Some developers redesigned below 18 metres to escape the regime, and contractors reported real turnover damage.

The turnaround came from a set of deliberate interventions through 2025 and into 2026: the regulator was pulled out of the HSE in June 2025, given new leadership and more than 100 extra staff, and handed new tools. A Fast Track Process and an Innovation Unit for new-build applications were introduced. A batching pilot bundled applications to external specialist assessors under BSR oversight. Staged applications were extended to single towers in December 2025. The effect on volume was immediate.

Milestone	What the data showed
Q1 2025	Roughly 200 decisions, pre-reform baseline
October 2025	Peak averages of 43 weeks nationally, 48 weeks in London
Q4 2025	More than 700 decisions as batching took hold
12 weeks to 30 May 2026	358 decisions, 75% approved, batching median 12 to 14 weeks
Target by March 2027	Non-complex decisions in 18 weeks or less

Is the recovery evenly spread?

No, and that is worth planning around. Around 65% of decisions are London, which reflects where the higher-risk pipeline is concentrated but also means regional schemes are a smaller share of the regulator's throughput. Roughly 38,775 residential units remained in live cases at the point of the latest data, so the pipeline is still substantial even though the legacy backlog of new-build cases had been cut to low single figures by spring 2026.

The approval rate matters as much as the speed. A 75% approval rate means one application in four is not getting through first time, and the gap between the overall rate and the Innovation Unit's 90% is largely a story about submission quality. Faster decisions have not lowered the bar; they have rewarded the applicants who clear it cleanly.

What should you actually put in a programme?

Plan for the statutory period as a floor, not a promise, and plan for your own submission quality to decide where you land above it. The realistic planning assumptions in mid 2026 are a determination in the low teens of weeks for a well-prepared, batched new-build application, longer if the scheme is complex or the submission generates queries, and a real risk of a full resubmission cycle if the design is not resolved. Build the regulatory period into the funding model and the contract, not just the construction programme, and treat the 8-plus week Gateway 3 period at the far end as a separate line item.

Methodology and sources

The figures on this page come from the Building Safety Regulator's published building control approval application data on gov.uk, together with the regulator's own statements on peak approval times. "Decisions" means Gateway 2 determinations issued in the stated period, covering approvals, approvals with requirements and rejections. Approval rate is the share of those decisions that were approvals. Timescale figures are the regulator's reported averages and medians for the periods shown. All figures on this page were verified against the primary source on 14 July 2026, and this page carries that verified date because the underlying data is updated with each BSR release. Where a figure is a range, such as the 12 to 14 week batching median, we report the range the regulator reported rather than a single point.

This page is information, not legal advice. It is written and maintained by a practitioner, verified against primary sources on the date shown above, and corrected fast when the regime moves. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.