The regulator’s accepted backlog for Gateway 2 approval includes around 122 projects. For the first time, the regulator has confirmed to the Enquirer that 31 of these schemes are new-build high-rise projects.
Philip White, director of building safety, said the regulator had now stepped up its procedures and was confident it would clear the bottleneck by the end of the financial year.
His pledge comes as some developers warn some projects have been in the approval pipeline for over 40 weeks. Developers say they are now having to factor in up to 12 months for safety approval on project start timeframes.
White said Gateway 2 approvals of category B projects – considered lower risk – were now down to 10 weeks.
He added that processing time for more complex, higher-risk new building projects had also decreased, bringing the average appraisal time down to an average of 16 weeks.
The regulator blamed the project logjam on a perfect storm of a surge in applications last summer and the collapse of private approved inspector AIS.
He said: “The other challenge was setting up multidisciplinary teams of fire engineers, structural consultants and local authority building control inspectors to assess applications which proved time-consuming.
“We are looking to expedite that by bringing them in-house to considerably reduce timescales.”
He also laid some of the blame for delays on the industry for failing to provide sufficient project detail in their applications demonstrating compliance with the building regulations.
“Some applications we have received have been quite woeful. Around 30% have failed to meet our requirements.”
“We are trying to change the way things are done and the culture that leads to serious problems.
“We can’t do it overnight and can’t do it without disruption.”
He said the regulator was doing more to address industry calls to improve pre-application engagement, but he warned that “our job is to regulate, not tell developers what to put in their designs.”
“I am confident that this time next year the noises we are getting on gateway 2 will have completely disappeared,” said White.
