
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has published a new guide to help the industry with Gateway 2 applications.
The 34-page document is structured around seven guidance notes and provides the baseline principles to help those involved in submitting and assessing applications for building control approval of higher-risk buildings.
It also includes practical recommendations on the approach and submission of relevant information.
Gateway 2 approvals, which should be taking 12 weeks for new builds and eight weeks for refurbishments, are taking double that time, sometimes up to 40 to 48 weeks.
During the current House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee inquiry into how the Building Safety Regulator is dealing with those delays, Dame Judith Hackitt told peers that some applications are being rejected because of their poor quality.
“Whilst I acknowledge that there is more that we can do in terms of guidance, some of the things that [the BSR] are not seeing at that stage and why they are rejecting those applications are pretty basic stuff that I think any one of us would expect the people who are submitting those applications to be able to provide,” Hackitt said last week.
‘Guidance that speaks industry’s language’
The CLC guide has been produced with the BSR and industry.
It includes contributions from members of the Local Authority Building Control, the Construction Industry Council, Build UK, the G15 (a membership group of London’s biggest housing associations), the Construction Products Association, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Architectural Technical Leads Group and the Home Builders Federation
Karl Whiteman, Berkeley Group divisional chairman and industry sponsor for the CLC’s building safety workstream, said: “The CLC has worked closely with the BSR and a broad range of leading technical experts from across the sector to develop robust and practical guidance for Gateway 2 applications.
“This will help to improve the quality of submissions, ensure the regulator can approve them swiftly and consistently, and enable the sector to increase the delivery of safe and high-quality homes.”
Tim Galloway, deputy director of the Health and Safety Executive, said:
“We’ve supported construction industry leaders to write guidance that speaks industry’s language, to help improve the quality of the applications that are being submitted.
“The guidance will help applicants demonstrate to themselves and BSR that their designs and plans will result in the safe, quality homes we all want. Applications that clearly demonstrate compliance are approved faster, and everyone in BSR wants those designs and plans off the page and onto site as quickly as possible.”
The guide can be accessed for free here.