A new chapter for the Building Safety Regulator

In a significant move to accelerate housebuilding, the UK government has announced a package of potentially significant reforms to the makeup of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). These changes are aimed at addressing growing concerns from industry stakeholders about delays and inefficiencies in the current system, which have impacted and continue to impact project delivery and viability.

The Building Safety Act 2022 was introduced in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017. The Hackitt Review that followed identified serious flaws in the regulatory framework for high-rise residential buildings, including fragmentation, lack of accountability, and poor oversight. The Act sought to address these issues by establishing a new regulatory regime for Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) and creating the BSR within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The Act came into full force in October 2023, and central to the new framework is the Gateway Regime, which applies to HRBs – defined as buildings at least 18 metres tall or with seven or more storeys, containing at least two residential units.

The Gateway Regime introduces three mandatory checkpoints: Gateway One (planning), Gateway Two (Building Control) and Gateway Three (Occupation) throughout a building’s lifecycle and is overseen by the BSR. This regime has represented a major shift from the previous system, aiming to embed safety throughout the design and construction process (and thereafter), but with such change, its implementation has faced challenges.

The most pressing issue has been the pace of approvals at Gateways Two and Three.

The BSR has struggled to keep up with the volume of applications, both for new HRBs and for work on existing ones. This has led to delays, uncertainty, and frustration across the sector, with commentators such as Mark Reynolds, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), stating that “the regulatory framework is not conducive to delivery…”

To address these issues, the government announced a reform package on 30 June 2025, with the goal of supporting the delivery of 1.5 million new homes. Key elements include:

· Fast-Track Process: A new process to speed up approvals for new builds and remediation works, supported by additional inspectors and engineers.

· New Oversight Body: A new arm’s-length body to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will eventually take over BSR functions from the HSE.

· Leadership Changes: Andy Roe, former Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, has been appointed as non-executive chair of the new BSR board. Charlie Pugsley will serve as CEO.

· Increased Staffing: Over 100 new staff will be added to boost the BSR’s operational capacity.

These reforms coincide with an inquiry by the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, which is aimed at assessing whether the BSR and Gateway Regime is up to scratch in its current format.

Further, key industry bodies are also feeding into seeking to improve the system with the CLC recently releasing a series of guidance notes to support developers and contractors with progressing successfully through the Gateway framework accessible here.

Taken together, this shows a Government which is listening to the sector and is wanting to move forwards in the right direction to make things work.

Whilst change cannot come at the expense of safety, it has become readily apparent that the regulatory framework needs to move forward in a way which works effectively and efficiently. This needs to change, and the hope is that these reforms go some way to delivering that.

Indeed, Dame Judith Hackitt, in sharing her views before the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee on the BSR reflected that she had always “anticipated that this would be quite a bumpy ride but there are more things that we can do to smooth that out” where “we are learning as we go”.

Data suggests that there is clearly room for improvement (both at the BSR, and from Developers in terms of the quality of applications submitted) but with the reform package, serious consultation consideration and industry standard guidelines now coming to the fore, there is an increasing confidence emerging that through the adjustments being made and likely to be made, we will have a system that all stakeholders can have confidence in.

The challenge in the short term is to ensure that reforms deliver a regulatory framework that speed up applications, enabling the UK to meet its housing goals without compromising on safety.

Article submitted by Alex Jones, Director, Construction & Engineering at Walker Morris.

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