{"id":538198,"date":"2026-02-13T13:02:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=538198"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:09:10","slug":"gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new figures show.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the data, revealed in a freedom of information (FOI) request from law firm Irwin Mitchell, 44 HRB schemes are still awaiting a decision, more than three months after submitting an application to the regulator.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gateway three stage of the regulatory process requires the BSR to approve newly built buildings before they can be occupied.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BSR has a statutory requirement to make a decision on gateway three applications within eight weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement to <\/span>Construction News<\/span><\/i>, the regulator said: \u201cNo new-build HRB that has gone through the gateway two process has yet applied for gateway three approval.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It added that the only new-build properties that have reached gateway three are \u201ctransitional legacy cases\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In some of these instances, the regulator said it found \u201csignificant safety issues in some of these older projects and continue to work proactively with applicants to get the buildings to a state where they can be occupied\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the post-Grenfell building safety regime, gateway three is the final approval required before a completed HRB \u2013 either 18 metres-plus or at least seven storeys tall \u2013 can be occupied.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FOI data, which is accurate to 21 January, also shows that out of 158 gateway three applications submitted last year, 55 took more than three months to receive a decision \u2013 with one application taking 550 days to process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vijay Bange,<\/span> national head of construction at Irwin Mitchell, said the delays are\u00a0<\/span>\u201cfinancially damaging for developers and deeply frustrating for residents waiting to move into safe, modern homes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the focus on HRB delays has been on gateway two<\/span><\/a>, which demands that projects demonstrate full compliance with building regulations at the design stage \u2013 but concerns are now mounting over gateway three.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BSR was moved out of the Health and Safety Executive in January, and it has become an arm\u2019s-length body under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.<\/span><\/p>\n

CN <\/span><\/i>also reported last week that the<\/span> BSR<\/span><\/a> is set to operate as the shadow<\/span> Single Construction Regulator<\/span><\/a> before the latter begins formal operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bange said: \u201cThe transition to a standalone regulator provides an opportunity for improvement, but the delays we are seeing now are unsustainable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGreater transparency, clearer communication and better resourcing are essential if gateway three is to operate effectively.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Allan Binns, national director at building safety consultancy Project Four, said he had noticed problems at gateway three.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our clients have been in touch to express their concerns,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA project is at peak debt at the point of completion. These delays are challenging feasibility outright.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

An overhaul at the BSR last year saw former London Fire Brigade (LFB) commissioner Andy Roe<\/span> brought in to help fix issues with the gateway process<\/span><\/a>. Alongside him is his former LFB colleague, Charlie Pugsley, as the<\/span> BSR\u2019s interim chief executive<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the media last month, Roe said he understood why people might be \u201canxious\u201d over the situation with gateway three.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he added: \u201cI think it’s our job to prove them wrong by giving them a system that works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new figures show. According to the data, revealed in a freedom of information (FOI) request from law firm Irwin Mitchell, 44 HRB schemes are still awaiting a decision, more than three months …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29901,"featured_media":480458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79552,565],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building-safety","category-government"],"yoast_head":"\nGateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Wilmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Wilmore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\"},\"headline\":\"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Building safety\",\"Government\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\",\"name\":\"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\"},\"description\":\"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Construction News\",\"description\":\"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9\",\"name\":\"James Wilmore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/7c8a1cb46bd799dd6e046ff4f5f46a30\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc73b8134540c7b619001344b687215527ea2b6dadf79972234eaa04c15e4c35?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc73b8134540c7b619001344b687215527ea2b6dadf79972234eaa04c15e4c35?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Wilmore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/james-wilmore-4\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck | Construction News","description":"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck","og_description":"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new","og_url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/","og_site_name":"Construction News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community","article_published_time":"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg","width":620,"height":414,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Wilmore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CNplus","twitter_site":"@CNplus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Wilmore","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"James Wilmore","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9"},"headline":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck","datePublished":"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/"},"wordCount":537,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg","articleSection":["Building safety","Government"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/","name":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck | Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-13T13:02:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-13T13:09:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9"},"description":"Dozens of higher-risk building (HRB) schemes have been stuck for months at the gateway three approval stage with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), new","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/06\/tower-blocks_generic.jpg","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/building-safety\/gateway-three-delays-trigger-fears-of-bottleneck-13-02-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gateway three delays trigger fears of bottleneck"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/","name":"Construction News","description":"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d1ebbf20319c2e51d2e12ee4ed317bb9","name":"James Wilmore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/7c8a1cb46bd799dd6e046ff4f5f46a30","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc73b8134540c7b619001344b687215527ea2b6dadf79972234eaa04c15e4c35?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc73b8134540c7b619001344b687215527ea2b6dadf79972234eaa04c15e4c35?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Wilmore"},"url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/james-wilmore-4\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538198"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538223,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538198\/revisions\/538223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}