Gateway 2 approvals reached 92% nationally in new Building Safety Regulator figures published on 6 November 2026. Across the 12-week period to 1 November, the regulator made 403 decisions on higher-risk building control applications and approved 370. Those approvals affected 19,409 homes, including both new residential developments and existing buildings undergoing safety remediation.
For new high-rise buildings and conversions in England, the Gateway 2 approvals rate was 95%, covering 40 approvals from 42 decisions and 9,453 residential units. The median approval time for those schemes fell to 20 weeks. This is a significant improvement for housebuilders managing construction programmes, although a high approval percentage is not a guarantee of a quick decision on any particular scheme.
The latest release also reveals a sharp change in demand following the Building Safety Levy’s introduction on 1 October 2026. New applications for higher-risk buildings rose to 64 in September, then dropped to six in October. Developers should read the approval figures alongside this volatility, outstanding cases and the regulator’s continuing emphasis on complete applications.
What the Gateway 2 approvals figures actually measure
Gateway 2 is the building-control approval stage for construction or certain works on higher-risk buildings, rather than a decision on planning permission. Broadly, the regime covers buildings at least 18 metres high or seven storeys, with two or more residential units, as well as certain hospitals and care homes. An approved planning application does not remove the need for the required building-control consent before relevant works start.
The Building Safety Regulator’s official August to October 2026 report, released on 6 November, provides the primary figures. It covers the rolling period ending 1 November, rather than only applications received or determined during October. Gateway 2 approvals must therefore be interpreted as a rolling measure rather than a simple monthly output.
Of the 403 decisions nationally, 42 involved new higher-risk buildings and conversions, 122 involved external remediation, 218 concerned internal refurbishment work and 21 were NHS-related applications. The 370 approvals were spread across those categories. The 19,409 residential units comprise 9,453 linked to new-build approvals and 9,956 linked to external remediation approvals. They are not 19,409 newly approved homes.
New-build decisions improve but the pipeline remains substantial
Gateway 2 approvals for new-build schemes stood at 40 out of 42 decisions, equal to approximately 95%. Two applications were rejected. The regulator also recorded three invalid applications and one withdrawal among the 96 new-build applications received over the latest rolling period. Invalidations and withdrawals are excluded from the approval-rate denominator, which is why the headline rate should not be read as the success rate for every submission.
The median approval time of 20 weeks is lower than the 23 weeks recorded in the preceding reporting period. That is encouraging, but a median is not a guaranteed deadline. The latest data records a median of 35 weeks for complex cases, illustrating how significantly an individual development’s timetable can differ from the headline.
London remained the largest part of the new-build decisions market. The regulator reported 30 decisions there, with 29 approvals covering 6,733 homes. Across England, 183 new-build and conversion applications remained live, representing 39,843 residential units. That outstanding workload matters as much as the Gateway 2 approvals percentage, particularly where construction finance depends on predictable starts.
The levy changed application timing
September brought 64 new higher-risk building applications, compared with 34 in August and 17 in July, before October submissions fell to just six. The regulator attributes that pattern to developers lodging applications ahead of the Building Safety Levy, which came into force on 1 October, followed by a sharp post-levy reduction. This is a real operational change, not a change in the planning-permission system.
In its published report, the regulator says of the October reduction: “We believe this is a dip following the surge.” That is its assessment of application timing, not proof that underlying housing demand has collapsed. Another reporting period will be needed to establish whether submissions return to earlier levels once the pre-commencement rush has worked through.
The regulator describes additional validation and triage arrangements for applications arriving during the surge. For Gateway 2 approvals, submitting early is not necessarily the same as submitting a technically acceptable scheme. Planning Geek’s Building Safety Levy guide explains how the levy is charged and collected, including how higher-risk building applications handled by the Building Safety Regulator are treated.
Remediation and refurbishment remain major workloads
Gateway 2 approvals for external remediation reached 93%, with 113 applications approved out of 122 decisions, covering 9,956 existing homes. The median approval time was 32 weeks, unchanged from the preceding period. In London, 55 of 56 remediation applications were approved, or approximately 98%, covering 4,881 residential units.
The total live external-remediation caseload remained at 292 applications, covering 23,479 homes. The regulator reports that only five remediation applications dating from 2024 remain unresolved, including four associated with a single development. That is progress on long-running safety work, but it does not mean that remediation on the buildings concerned has already finished.
Internal refurbishment work is also a substantial part of the workload. The regulator made 218 decisions in that category, approving 199, with a median approval time of 30 weeks. A further 1,116 internal-refurbishment cases were live. These are not new housing schemes and should not be merged into claims about additions to housing supply.
What the figures mean for developers
The balance of these Gateway 2 approvals results is positive but qualified. Higher approval rates show that more applications reaching decision are being approved, while the 20-week median for new buildings indicates improved progress. Yet the combined live Gateway 2 caseload remained at 1,687 applications, including new builds, refurbishment, remediation, NHS works and transitional cases. Developers still need contingency in their programmes.
The original report notes that better-quality remediation applications can currently be determined in around 15 weeks, even though the median remains much higher because older cases are still being resolved. Complete technical evidence, coherent design and timely responses to information requests can materially affect how quickly an application moves through the system. A planning permission is only one milestone in that process.
For investors, architects and planning professionals, Gateway 2 approvals deserve to be tracked alongside planning permissions, infrastructure agreements and construction starts. The new 6 November evidence is not a fresh planning-policy change, nor does it establish that the 9,453 newly approved residential units have started on site. It does provide a clearer picture of one major regulatory step between an approved high-rise proposal and its actual delivery.
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