Gateway 2 Approvals Are Rising. Here's What's Actually Driving It.

For the first time since the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) took on its Gateway 2 role, the numbers are moving decisively in the right direction. In the 12 weeks to 1 August 2026, the BSR approved 82% of Gateway 2 submissions. New build and conversion applications achieved a 91% approval rate nationally (93% in London), with median determination times falling to 22 weeks from 43 weeks a year earlier.

For an industry that spent the best part of three years describing Gateway 2 as a bottleneck, that's a significant shift. But look past the headline figures and the more interesting story is where that improvement is concentrated, and what it tells specifiers, contractors and building owners about how to get through the gateway first time.

Remediation is moving faster than anything else

External remediation approvals are running at 85% nationally and 92% in London, comfortably ahead of the BSR's own 65% target. There are currently 330 live remediation cases in the system, covering 28,778 units, compared with 131 live new build cases covering 30,421 units. In other words, remediation now accounts for most live Gateway 2 activity, and it is clearing the system faster than new build.

Set against that is a quieter, less encouraging statistic. Internal refurbishment cases, work that changes a building's internal arrangement rather than its external envelope, are still approved at only 77%, with a 32-week median determination period and 981 live cases. That's the slowest-moving Gateway 2 category and, at around 49% of all decisions, also the largest by volume.

The gap between the fastest and slowest categories is now wider than the gap between approved and not approved applications used to be.

The market underneath is contracting, not growing

These figures should also be viewed against a slowing construction market. While Gateway 2 approvals are improving, new work and project pipelines have weakened. As a result, remediation and recladding activity are likely to account for an increasingly large share of façade specification activity in the near term.

Why the gap between categories exists

The BSR does not publish a detailed breakdown of why some categories move faster than others, but the pattern is consistent with what specifiers and approving officers have been saying since Gateway 2 launched: applications succeed first time when the supporting evidence is complete, current and easy to verify.

A submission built around a façade system with up-to-date fire classification reports, a current Declaration of Performance, third-party certification and clear installation guidance is less likely to require multiple rounds of clarification. One built around incomplete or outdated documentation is far more likely to encounter delays.

That's a specification decision as much as a regulatory one. Products supported by robust fire testing, third-party certification and clear installation guidance give project teams a stronger starting point. Increasingly, the difference between a smooth approval and a delayed one comes down to the quality and accessibility of the evidence behind the specification.

As product information assurance schemes gain traction across the industry, the direction of travel is clear. Specifiers, principal designers and building owners are being asked to evidence their decisions in greater depth, more frequently and earlier in the process.

The Real Bottleneck

Talk to anyone involved in compiling a Gateway 2 submission and the challenge is rarely the availability of compliant products. More often, it's the availability of the evidence behind them.

Test reports stored in one location, certification documents in another, installation guidance buried within historical literature and project-specific details requiring multiple stakeholder reviews. For façade packages, teams can spend significant time assembling fire classification reports, third-party certification, environmental declarations, structural calculations and installation guidance before a submission is even ready for review.

As Gateway 2 processes mature, the question is becoming less about whether evidence exists and more about how quickly it can be accessed, verified and presented. The projects progressing most efficiently are often those where documentation has been considered as part of the specification process from the outset, rather than gathered retrospectively.

Product information requirements are increasing across the industry, competency expectations are rising and project teams are increasingly expected to demonstrate an auditable trail behind every major specification decision.

For manufacturers, that places greater responsibility on the quality, accessibility and ongoing management of product information. For project teams, it reinforces the importance of selecting systems supported by comprehensive, current and easy-to-access technical documentation.

The latest Gateway 2 figures suggest approvals are improving not because standards are being lowered, but because submissions are becoming better prepared. In today's regulatory environment, accessible, accurate and up-to-date product information is no longer a supporting detail. It's a critical part of achieving approval.

Supporting Gateway 2 Submissions

Valcan's technical library brings together fire classification reports, BBA certification, BIM files, typical details and installation guidance in a single location, helping project teams access the information they need quickly and efficiently.

To learn more about Valcan's A1 and A2-rated façade systems, or to arrange a technical CPD, speak to our technical team.