CLC Issues New Guidance to Tackle Gateway 2 Delays

Following on swiftly from the recent Fast Track Process announcement, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has released a suite of detailed Guidance Notes which are aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of Gateway 2 applications for Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs). 

This comes amid the growing concerns over prolonged approval times. According to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), the average time to secure Gateway 2 safety sign-off is now nine months - three times longer than the intended 12-week target. This delay has triggered a parliamentary inquiry.

The CLC has stated that the new guidance “provides the baseline principles to guide those involved in submitting and assessing applications for Building Control Approval for Higher-Risk Buildings and includes practical recommendations on the approach and submission of relevant information”.

The new guidance is set out in a single overarching document and is said will facilitate both the submission and assessment of applications. More specifically, the seven new guidance notes (GNs) deal with the following:

• The first guidance note is an interactive summary process map of the building safety regime process for a Building Control Approval Application for a new HRB (GN01)
• The remaining guidance notes deal with how an applicant should approach:
  • (ensuring) a sufficient level of design detail (GN02)
  • (and manage) the use of ‘Approval with Requirements’ (GN03)
  • the submission of baseline design information (GN04)
  • the provision of a clear, concise and informative summary description of the relevant project – the Project Brief (GN05)
  • (and establish its own) best practice for document management and submission to the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR’s) online application portal (GN06)
  • its engagement with BSR and the use of an Application Strategy, for either a single building staged Building Control Approval application or applications for a multi-building development (GN07)
  • in each case, for every new Gateway 2 Building Control Approval application involving an HRB.

CLC’s Press Release provides further insight on this new industry tool, and includes comments from Karl Whiteman, Berkeley Group Divisional Chairman and Industry Sponsor for the CLC’s Building Safety Workstream and Tim Galloway, Deputy Director, Health and Safety Executive, highlighting that:

• the guidance is the result of a significant and collaborative effort on behalf of the BSR, Local Authority Building Control the G15, technical experts and other key industry groups and stakeholders; and that
• the success story will be that we see speedier approvals being made, because it will now be clearer how to prepare, submit and assess robust and compliant applications.

Devonshires is naturally extremely supportive of the introduction of the new guidance and we look forward to engaging with our clients and others in respect of its application to existing and future projects.

The impact of uncertainty in relation to interacting with the Gateway process has brought a number of challenges in the delivery of new schemes and homes.  The provision of such guidance is a welcome step in providing certainty and hopefully unlocking a number of projects as parties become more confident in the delivery of a successful submission to the BSR - Jonathan Corris, Joint Head of Real Estate & Projects     

If would like to discuss these matters further, please get in touch with us.