Updated Gateway 2 Guidance

The BSR has updated its higher-risk building approval guidance in relation to:

1. Staged applications - A new section headed ‘Staged Applications' has been added that clarifies that applicants can progress projects (including single tower projects) in stages. This allows for detailed information and plans to be submitted ahead of commencement of that stage, rather than all at once before initial Gateway 2 approval. Previously the guidance noted that construction in stages was for ‘complex projects that involve buildings with multiple connected parts'; however, single tower projects can also benefit from the system.
2. Meaning of ‘commencement’ - The guidance indicates that applicants will be able to apply for a staged application where the first stage would met the definition of ‘commencement’ - i.e., for a complex building, the completion of foundations supporting the building and the structure of the lowest floor of that building (but any other buildings or structures to be supported by the foundations) or, for any other building, what would amount to 15% of the proposed work. The guidance notes that, on single tower projects, the first stage will need to include the foundations, any basement level and the structure of the ground floor level. The BSR intends to review each stage application within the statutory 12 week period.
3. Approval with requirements - Applicants must submit an application to the BSR for building work to HRBs in all but very limited circumstances. The BSR may accept or reject the application, or they may approve it subject to certain requirements once building work has started. This type of approval will require applicants to provide additional information before they are able to continue past a particular stage of work. It is clarified that this will only be appropriate for applications with ‘substantive compliance’ and where, taking into the complexity of the application, any design non-compliance, presentation quality and the response by the applicant to BSR requests for information, the missing information is:
   1. minor;
   2. clearly defined; and
   3. does not compromise life safety.

This update appears to be yet another branch of the steps to reduce the Gateway 2 delays by reducing the size of applications that need to be reviewed within the statutory 12 week period (by providing further 12 weeks for each additional stage). 

It should also act as a buffer for applicants, who have complained about the lack of clarity regarding the level of information needed at Gateway 2 to obtain approval. Applicants that submit compliant designs in a clear, digestible manner and that actively engage with the Gateway process are now not likely to be delayed further by missing minor information.

We will need to wait and see how these measures fit in with the other planned steps in the hope of reducing wait times down to prescribed, manageable levels.

If you have any queries about the higher-risk building safety regime, do not hesitate to contact our construction team.