So the HSE emailed out a BSR governance change article which was nice highlighting the changes at the top, and if you scrolled down the Building Control Management Data which was some spicy reading, I’m all for change and improvement but I do hope it’s not another reset whilst they get their house in order as we have just about got to a stable point with the BSR team where people know whats required.
So The BSR has Published its first comprehensive set of management information data for the building control function for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England, from the the data they have provided I have picked out some of the stats:
October 2023 to March 2025
The number of building control approval applications received
- 4065 in total
- 430 New build
- 529 Remediation
- 1635 Existing Buildings Cat A (major changes)
- 1237 Existing Buildings Cat B (minor changes)
- 234 Uncategorised Buildings (applicant didn’t say what it was!)
And at the end of March 2025 they were dealing with 1019 new applications
(From our group teams call with the BSR in June the number was still about the same)
Determination times
Possibly the most shocking part of the spreadsheets was the Median time taken in weeks for building control approval application decisions in England by quarter, 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2025
- 36 Weeks New build
- 37.3 Weeks Remediation
- 24.9 Weeks Existing Buildings Cat A (major changes)
- 24 Weeks Existing Buildings Cat B (minor changes)
- 25.4 Weeks Uncategorised Buildings (applicant didn’t say what it was!)
Looking at this data is nothing that we didn’t know but is a clear signal to all in the industry that the process is slow and will have a significant impact on any HRB program, so tell your clients additional time required to get through the process, and thats without the additional design time upfront.
Decision outcomes
- 44% Invalid
- 13% Rejected
- 12% Withdrawn
- 31% Approved
Again nothing new here and we have been working with others and using feedback from the BSR to refine submissions, from the learning we have seen it’s submissions that are not clear, What is the building? And what is the work? And where is the data you are providing? these are the things that have been causing the BSR head aches.
The BSR did not provide any guidance about what they expected so obviously they got a mixed bag of whatever people thought was required to start with and they definitely missed a trick by not at the very least providing an overview of the requirements and problems they have encountered in the first 6 months.
This week we have heard that the Construction Leadership Council is going to provide guidance for BSR submissions, hopefully this will help people submit applications in a way that will help the BSR and help the industry.
We have had the benefit of working with a large London Developer and getting a lot of feed back on all there applications and feedback from the BSR, so we are hoping that the new governance change doesn’t mess with the process to much as it’s just got bedded in!
“If you’re working on HRBs, the message is clear: allow more time, make your submissions watertight, and stay close to the evolving guidance, because the BSR isn’t slowing down anytime soon.”