A New Building Safety Regulator?

So the Government has announced that it recognises the current process for Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 approvals is not working very well.  No flies on them.  While the number of applications / approvals is constantly evolving, what anecdotal evidence there is suggests the number of applications being approved is around 20% and the typical time period to obtain Gateway 2 approval is around 6 months.

There is also a suggestion in the market, that the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is stalling the start of any consideration of a Gateway 2 application and only counting the weeks after it starts formally looking at the application, rather than the time period it has had the application.  Whatever is going on, the system is not working well enough to enable new houses to be built at anywhere near the Government’s 300,000 houses per year over the next 5 years.

So let’s be grateful that the Government have recognised the issue and began to deal with it, even if it has taken some time.  Assuming there is no U-turn on this (a current theme of the Government – and the previous Government to ensure impartiality!), what do we know?

Well not much yet.  It is perhaps slightly disconcerting that on the GOV.UK website, above the brief explanation of the proposals is a picture of two storey new build houses on a green field site – housing that is not subject to the Gateway approval process! Maybe it was the only stock image they had…

So what do we know?

• We know that the function of the BSR is to be moved from the HSE to a new “construction regulator” effectively being overseen by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – albeit referred to as an arms-length organisation.  How will this work?  What happens with existing applications when this takes place, how the new regulator operates in practice, and how many people will be part of the new regulator is all unclear.  There is reference to 100 new members of staff – are they trained building inspectors / qualified engineers?
• There is a suggestion that new build applications will be treated with priority over remediation scheme applications.  This may help speed up new build schemes, but in an ideal world there would just be a system that works, then each application can be dealt with equally.
• There will be fresh investment to ensure the roles of BSR works more effectively – how much, from where and when has not been stated.

So, some nice words and recognition of the problem, but no detail.  What the Government has to recognise is that if they want to get even close to building the numbers of houses they are aiming for, having a new regulatory body may help, but what the market needs is certainty. Having a guaranteed 18 week time period is better than a promised 12 week period that never materialises. Funders don’t like uncertainty.

I can remember giving presentations on the Building Safety Act when it was first coming into force, saying the Gateway 2 and 3 process will be bit of a mess for 18 months, but after that it will work quite smoothly.  Well I was sort of right (at least with the first part), but when it is operating effectively and with certainty appears to be some time away.