First approvals under new model expected ‘shortly’ but won’t immediately meet 12-week target
Nearly half of the live caseload for gateway two new build is being handled under the Building Safety Regulator’s new model for deciding cases.
The regulator (BSR) introduced a new case-handling procedure, which it named its innovation unit, after the previous multi-disciplinary team model was blamed for long delays in building approvals.
Under a timetable set out by the BSR’s chair, Andy Roe, last month at the Building the Future conference, the regulator aims to phase out the legacy model by the end of January.
Out of 152 cases live as of 1 October, the innovation unit was handling 27 (18%), compared to 91 being dealt with under the legacy model and 34 under transitional arrangements.
But new figures, accurate as of 24 November, show that the innovation unit is now handling 73 of 167 live cases (44%), while the number of legacy cases has dropped to 63. Transitional cases also fell slightly to 31.
The regulator said that a further nine legacy cases were now assessed as ready for ‘approval with requirements’, subject to final checks and agreement from the applicants, which would take the figure down to around 54.
Of the legacy cases determined since August, a relatively high 73% were approved (with a median approval time of 37 weeks). The regulator said many of these had utilised the “recently enhanced” approval with requirements route.
The innovation unit has yet to approve any cases, although the regulator said it expected to see the first approvals come through the system “shortly”.
It said these initial cases would fall foul of the 12 weeks target for coming to a decision on applications, but that they would be “significantly quicker than the 38-plus weeks in the legacy model”.
A number of cases have already been rejected by the innovation unit, however, with the regulator reporting that decisions in these cases had reached a median decision time of 11 weeks, compared with 32 weeks in the legacy model.
“The immediate, positive results we saw from our pilot operational changes have established a strong foundation for continued success,” said Charlie Pugsley, BSR chief executive.
“We are on track to continue to clear the majority of historic cases by the end of December by engaging with applicants and our regulatory partners, seeing the benefits of our new batching system, and building upon the initial hard work of the Innovation Unit.
“Across BSR there is a confidence that projected milestones remain achievable, but rightly we remain cautiously optimistic.
“We are fully committed to supporting the pace of essential construction while upholding the essential safety standards that keep people safe in new and also existing homes.”
While decision making times appear to be coming down, the number of new build decisions made by the regulator is slightly below the number of new applications.
Between August and 24 November, the regulator received 67 fresh new build cases and came to 58 determinations.
As of 24 November, the regulator had 1,133 live cases across all categories, including remediation. The figure had hit a high of 1,201 at 20 October, before declining to 1,107 at 10 November, due to a record month of determinations, with 272 determinations made across all categories in October.
Having initially focused on addressing the new build backlog, the BSR said it was now “developing a focused plan to extend the lessons learned to remediation cases”.
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