Delayed decisions on higher-risk building applications quadrupled

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), acting as the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), released data on building control approval applications for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England, from October 2023 to March 2025.

Building control approval is a statutory requirement for work on all HRBs and is needed for work to start.

HRBs are those with at least seven storeys; are at least 18 metres high; are a hospital or care home, and/or contain two or more residential units.

The new data shows that delayed decisions on higher-risk building (HRB) applications in England increased by 443% between 1Q2024 and 1Q2025.

The data refers to applications made for building control approval of work on new and existing HRBs.

Building control approval is necessary for HRB projects to pass Gateway 2 – a stop/go point where work on HRBs is assessed against building regulation requirements before it’s allowed to take place.

According to regulation, decisions on building control approval applications for new build HRBs must be made within a 12-week determination period. Decisions for work on existing HRBs must be made in eight.

In the first quarter of 2025, 155 (60.3%) of 257 decisions on applications were delayed. By comparison, 35 (29.9%) of the 117 decisions made in 1Q2024 were delayed.

The jump in delayed decisions appears to have been driven by growth in the BSR’s caseload.

The total caseload in 1Q2025 was more than triple (323%) the caseload in 1Q2024. Meanwhile, the percentage of applications where decisions were made within the determination period, fell from 70% to 33% in the same period.

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: “Delayed decisions on higher-risk building applications have a wide-reaching and detrimental impact on the construction sector. BCIS expert panellists – cost consultants whose experiences help to inform movement in our tender price indices – have reported that approval delays at Gateways 2 and 3 are having a significant impact, pushing back project starts and putting pressure on resource management.

“Looking at the data, the BSR has not performed effectively since 2Q2024. In most cases, making decisions within the determination period is a statutory requirement and with a growing caseload, the need for process reforms is clear.”

The median time taken for decisions where an application was approved rose from 13.7 weeks in 1Q2024 to 25.1 weeks in 1Q2025.

The only decisions consistently made on time in this period were for invalid applications – those that do not pass the validation process or have been marked inactive with no determination made.

Looking at caseload trends, there were over 1,000 applications still awaiting a decision at the end of March 2025. This was a 451% increase on the backlog recorded at the end of March 2024.

Publication of the data followed the announcement of reforms to the BSR that include a new ‘Fast Track Process’ intended to support housebuilding activity.

This will introduce building inspector and engineer capacity to the BSR to improve the processing and review of existing new build cases and remediation decisions.