Lords urge staged Gateway 2 approval to unlock design and build delivery

A report from a House of Lords committee has called on ministers and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to reform the current Gateway 2 approval process by introducing staged sign-offs that better align with design and build procurement, industry workflows and construction sequencing.

The report, published last month, argues that the existing Gateway 2 regime — part of the post-Grenfell Building Safety Act framework — has created a bottleneck in higher-risk building delivery by requiring full design resolution before construction can start, a requirement that sits uncomfortably with modern design-and-build contracts where detailed packages mature during construction.

Peers propose a staged approval model — potentially dubbed Gateway 1.5 or 2.5 — allowing developers and contractors to secure early sign-off on critical safety-related elements such as structural and fire-safety design, while permitting non-safety-critical secondary components to proceed in parallel as design develops.

Under the Lords’ recommendations:

• safety-critical elements (eg fire strategy, structural systems) must be locked down and approved pre-construction
• secondary, non-critical elements could be submitted and assessed in later stages as part of a staged application process
• the BSR would issue clearer guidance delineating what must be approved at each stage, giving developers more certainty and reducing unnecessary redesigns; and
• low-risk refurbishment work in high-rise buildings — such as internal bathroom or kitchen upgrades — should be reclassified and returned to local authority building control, freeing scarce BSR specialist resource for genuinely high-risk applications.

The Lords’ intervention reflects frustration within the construction sector over prolonged Gateway 2 timescales and the strain these delays are placing on investment, programming and housing delivery. Industry data shows that the majority of higher-risk building applications submitted under the current regime have struggled to clear the Gateway 2 hurdle within statutory timeframes, with some projects awaiting decisions well beyond the 12-week target.

This log-jam has also fuelled calls for reform from across the industry, including legal and construction professional bodies seeking more collaborative approaches between applicants and the BSR to streamline submissions and approvals.

Dame Judith Hackitt, architect of the original Building Safety Act reforms and a witness to the Lords inquiry, signalled support for a more staged approval process, noting that rigid sequencing — with full design required before start on site — is at odds with the way design and build contracts evolve.

While safety remains paramount — the primary objective of the Building Safety Act — the Lords’ report emphasises that prolonged bottlenecks do not inherently improve safety and can, in practice, deter delivery of much-needed housing and regeneration projects.

The committee has urged the government and the BSR to respond formally to its recommendations in early 2026, alongside publishing clearer, more detailed guidance on staged Gateway 2 submissions.