The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will now allow staged applications for building control approval on all higher-risk buildings in a bid to tackle the gateway 2 logjam.
The regulator, in new guidance, said it is expanding the types of buildings for which staged applications can be accepted.
To date, staged applications – under which work is split into different stages and treated and assessed separately – have only been accepted for complex projects with multiple towers.
They will now also be accepted for single tower projects which have at least seven storeys or are at least 18m high and therefore meet the definition of higher risk building requiring gateway 2 approval.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC), which worked with BSR on the change and has also published its own guidance, said the move would allow firms to separate approval for groundwork and foundations from the subsequent construction of the building.
Concern has grown in the industry over the past year as multiple projects have been put on hold or delayed due to the need to secure approval at the pre-construction gateway 2 stage under the Building Safety Act.
The CLC also published fresh guidance on the key steps firms should take between gateway 2 and gateway 3.
This is part of the BSR and the CLC’s work to review how the building control application process “can adapt to the conditions the construction industry is facing”, the CLC added.
Charlie Pugsley, interim chief executive at the BSR, said: “The guidance on staged applications could prove to be key in terms of speeding up the way building control approval applications are processed and approved, while the new guidance on the key steps between gateway 2 to gateway 3 for building control approval is both important and timely, as we see more buildings progress through gateway 2 approval to the build phase.”
Karl Whiteman, executive director at Berkeley Group and industry sponsor for the CLC’s building safety strategic priority, said: “This guidance is a further demonstration of what we can achieve when we work together to address issues and we need to continue to do this going forward if we are to achieve the outcomes we all want to see.”
In the autumn, BSR chair Andy Roe outlined a series of measures which he said would help to drive down the amount of time it takes to get gateway 2 approval closer to its stated aim of 12 weeks.
More recently, several firms, including high-rise specialist HG Construction, have said the process is gradually beginning to speed up with approvals times now starting to come down.
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