The 27-storey Solar scheme takes the total number of homes delivered across the £3bn north London estate to 6,000 and is being hailed as a landmark for the new Building Safety Regulator regime.

The clearance is significant because many in the industry had feared Gateway 3 sign-off for occupation could prove even more protracted than the delays seen with Gateway 2 approvals needed to start work.

The watershed comes just a week after Andy Roe, the new chair of the Building Safety Regulator, told the London Real Estate Forum he was determined to speed up the approvals process.

Roe said he had “given himself until Christmas to turn it around” and was confident of “making significant headway”.

Quintain said the 487-home Solar tower also set a new sustainability benchmark for the wider estate, cutting embodied carbon to 473kgCO₂ₑ/m² – a saving of more than 16,500 tCO₂ compared with previous schemes. Offsite manufacture was used throughout construction to reduce waste, noise and vehicle movements.

James Saunders, chief executive of Quintain, described Solar as a milestone for the developer and its long-term delivery partners.

The professional team included Haworth Tompkins (architect), Elliott Wood (structural engineer), Griffiths Evans (MEP consultant), Jensen Hughes (fire consultant), Cumming Group (project and cost manager), Carney Sweeney (planning consultant) and Buro Happold (infrastructure and sustainability).