The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has praised the new team running the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) for speeding up the planning process for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) while urging greater focus on remediation work.
Recently appointed BSR chair Andy Roe has pledged to tackle the backlog at Gateway 2, which had delayed new housing developments, without weakening safety standards established under the Building Safety Act.
He has introduced an ‘Innovation Unit’ of planning specialists and a batching system to prioritise major schemes – covering almost 34,000 homes – with more than 150 HRB projects expected to clear the system by year-end.
Obsolete IT systems and shortages of specialists, including those in computational fluid dynamics, have hampered progress, but Roe’s team is addressing these issues and introducing ‘account managers’ to support developers.
“The renewed sense of urgency at the BSR is palpable,” said Rachel Davidson, BESA’s director of specialist knowledge (pictured). “Clearing the backlog will restore confidence and get investment flowing back into construction.”
However, Davidson warned that remediation projects, addressing safety issues in existing occupied buildings, remain too slow. More than 250 remediation applications, covering 22,000 homes, are still at Gateway 2. To address this, the BSR plans to establish a centralised Remediation Unit, modelled on its Innovation Unit, to accelerate assessments.
BSR CEO Charlie Pugsley said the regulator had learned from the past two years, responding to industry feedback with operational reforms showing ‘immediate, positive results’. He acknowledged continued challenges, including skills shortages, and committed to ‘agile problem-solving’ with industry partners.
Meanwhile, BESA launched its Member Pledge campaign to embed competence and compliance across building engineering supply chains.
“Delivering Gateway 2 projects requires a wide range of capable, accountable professionals,” said Davidson. “Our Pledge reinforces shared responsibility for competence, compliance, and safety throughout the sector.”
