Andrew Parker speaks to Property Week on new safety gateway delays
Since 2022, the new Building Safety Gateways have brought a greater element of safety to high-risk developments. The series of three milestones are a rigorous process, with sign-off before planning, construction, and occupation, and each submission requiring a large amount of information. However, there are significant delays in response times, with the expected 12-week period inflating to 6 months in some cases, partially attributed to under-resourcing of the regulator.
This bottleneck may threaten supply chains and potentially disrupt long-standing procurement methods, affecting viability. As Andrew states, “Developers, for example, may have to allow contractors to add ‘float’ to their programmes to account for the risk of delays, for student accommodation in particular. Even then, the danger is that additional programme [duration] will make some schemes unviable.”
While the gateways ensure safety at key milestones, continual delays will slow the momentum of high-rise developments. A more streamlined approach will be necessary to avoid stalling critical projects and help developers to meet the 1.5 million new homes target set by the Government.
Read the full article in Property Week here.
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