Gateway 2 is a hard stop. Construction on a higher-risk building cannot begin until the Building Safety Regulator has approved the application. Not "should not". Cannot.
The fire strategy is the document that most often determines whether that approval comes in twelve weeks or forty. This explains what is required and why applications fail.
Which buildings are caught
A higher-risk building in England is defined by section 65 of the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023: a building with at least two residential units which is at least 18 metres in height or has at least seven storeys.
Certain buildings are excluded from the definition even where they exceed the threshold, including care homes, hospitals, military and secure residential institutions and hotels. Note that the exclusions apply to the higher-risk building regime for design and construction, care homes and hospitals are separately in scope for the occupation phase of the regime.
Where building work is higher-risk building work, the Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority. Local authority building control and registered building control approvers have no role.
The three Gateways
Gateway 1, at planning stage. A fire statement is required with the planning application and the Building Safety Regulator is a statutory consultee.
Gateway 2, before building work starts. An application for building control approval is made to the Regulator, which must be satisfied that the design will comply with the Building Regulations. Work cannot commence without approval.
Gateway 3, at completion. A completion certificate application, which the Regulator must grant before occupation. Partial completion certificates are possible where part of a building is to be occupied.
Running through all three is the golden thread: building information created, stored and updated throughout the lifecycle.
What must be submitted at Gateway 2
Alongside the information required for any building control approval application with full plans, a Gateway 2 application must contain prescribed documents. The set commonly required is:
A competence declaration, confirming that the Principal Designer, Principal Contractor and other appointed duty holders have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for their roles. Competence is evidenced by reference to the built environment competence framework, with BSI Flex 8670 for individuals and PAS 8672 for organisations undertaking the principal contractor role, alongside the related PAS documents for principal designers and building safety managers.
A Building Regulations compliance statement, setting out how each applicable requirement will be met.
The fire safety strategy, addressing means of escape, fire detection and alarm, suppression, firefighter access, smoke control and compartmentation, fully coordinated with the architectural and MEP design.
A structural strategy, addressing the primary structural system, disproportionate collapse and robustness categorisation.
A construction control plan, explaining how the construction process will be managed and monitored to ensure compliance, how the competence of contractors and professionals will be established, how quality will be assured and how the installation of safety-critical elements such as cavity barriers and fire stopping will be inspected and recorded.
A change control plan, setting out how design changes will be identified, categorised and, where necessary, notified to or approved by the Regulator.
A mandatory occurrence reporting plan, describing how reportable safety occurrences will be identified and reported to the Regulator during design and construction.
A fire and emergency file, explaining how fire safety risks will be managed once the building is occupied, including the assumptions the design relies on and covering fire prevention, detection, suppression and evacuation. This is the bridge between the design phase and the occupation phase.
A partial completion strategy, where part of the building may be occupied before the whole is complete.
Drawings, specifications and schedules at a level of detail sufficient to demonstrate compliance, typically equivalent to a construction-ready design package at around RIBA Stage 4.
What the Regulator expects of the fire strategy specifically
Five things, consistently.
1. It must be coordinated with the design. A strategy that says one thing and drawings that show another is the fastest route to rejection. The document, the architectural drawings, the MEP design and the specifications must all describe the same building.
2. Evidence must match the actual build-up. Reviewers report that generic manufacturer brochures and mismatched test data are frequently rejected. Fire classifications, test reports including BS 8414 where relevant and technical assessments must align precisely with the construction detail shown on the drawings and must be clearly signposted so the compliance narrative is followable.
3. Departures must be justified, not asserted. Where the design departs from Approved Document B or relies on BS 9991:2024 or fire engineering under BS 7974, the analysis must be present and the compensatory features identified.
4. Assumptions must be stated. What the design assumes about occupancy, management, maintenance and resident behaviour. These flow into the fire and emergency file.
5. It must be complete before submission. A significant proportion of rejections are attributed to applications submitted prematurely, at a design stage that cannot yet demonstrate compliance.
Why applications get rejected
The Regulator's position, expressed publicly through its operational policy leads, is that delays are not a matter of regulatory intransigence but a direct result of applications failing to meet legal requirements.
Historically the rejection rates bore that out. Figures published to March 2025 indicated roughly 50% of applications for existing higher-risk buildings and 45% for new higher-risk buildings were rejected, mainly for failure to meet legal and regulatory requirements.
Recurring causes:
- Incomplete or premature submission
- Fire strategy not coordinated with drawings
- Product evidence that does not correspond to the specified build-up
- Marketing or cosmetic material included instead of compliance evidence
- Construction control plan generic rather than project-specific
- Competence declarations without supporting evidence
- Change control and mandatory occurrence reporting plans treated as boilerplate
Timescales and the current picture
The statutory periods were originally set at 12 weeks for a new higher-risk building and 8 weeks for work to an existing higher-risk building. Those periods include a mandatory three-week consultation with the fire and rescue service so the Regulator's own assessment window is effectively nine weeks or five for refurbishment.
In practice, Gateway 2 approvals through 2024 and much of 2025 took considerably longer, with reported averages of 25 to 40 weeks and some cases far beyond that. Gateway 3 has had its own backlog, with completed units standing empty awaiting certificates.
Several things have changed:
- An Innovation Unit began accepting new higher-risk building applications from August 2025, reportedly bringing new-case approval times down towards 12 weeks against 37 weeks for older cases
- The Construction Leadership Council published guidance on building control approval applications for a new higher-risk building in July 2025, updated in December 2025
- The Regulator now accepts staged applications so that construction on an approved stage can begin without full-design approval for the entire project. Work on any stage still cannot commence until that stage is approved
- In January 2026 the Building Safety Regulator transitioned out of the Health and Safety Executive to become a standalone arm's-length body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, with changes taking effect on 27 January 2026
- Over 100 additional staff have been recruited and new leadership appointed
Reported performance data for the 12 weeks to 28 June 2026 indicated 368 decisions made, 1,505 live applications in the system, an approval rate across all categories improved to around 77% and 277 Gateway 3 applications received. The Regulator's stated aim is to respond to non-complex Gateway 2 applications within 18 weeks by the end of March 2027.
These figures move. Check the current position before relying on any of them for programme planning.
What happens if you get it wrong
You cannot start. There is no informal route around Gateway 2. Starting higher-risk building work without approval is unlawful.
Enforcement. The building control authority can issue a compliance notice requiring specified steps within a specified period and contravening one without reasonable excuse is an offence carrying, on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for up to two years, a fine or both. It can also issue a stop notice prohibiting specified work, where work would contravene prescribed provisions, where a compliance notice has been contravened or where the work contravenes building regulations and use of the building without remedy would be likely to present a risk of serious harm. Contravening a stop notice is likewise an offence.
Appeals against compliance and stop notices go to the First-tier Tribunal, generally within 21 relevant days. Note the asymmetry: a compliance notice is of no effect pending appeal, whereas a stop notice continues to have effect unless the tribunal directs otherwise.
Programme and cash flow. This is the real cost. Every week of Gateway delay is a week of preliminaries, finance and prelims on a project that cannot generate revenue.
Practical advice
- Appoint the fire engineer early, at concept, not at Stage 4. Retrofitting a strategy onto a completed design is where departures and coordination failures originate
- Do not submit early. A premature application is a rejected application plus a resubmission
- Coordinate before you submit. Have someone check that the strategy, the drawings, the specification and the product evidence all describe the same building
- Assemble product evidence against the actual specification and signpost it
- Write the fire and emergency file properly. It is not an afterthought, it is the document the building's future accountable person will rely on
- Consider staged submission where the programme suits it
- Follow the CLC guidance. It exists because the Regulator and industry agreed what a good application looks like
- Build float into the programme. Even improving, this is not a two-week process
Related changes to watch
Two further items affect higher-risk and tall residential buildings and are worth tracking alongside Gateway planning:
- The requirement for a second staircase in new residential buildings over 18 metres in England, taking effect on 30 September 2026
- The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025, in force from 6 April 2026, mandating residential personal emergency evacuation plans for residents with disabilities or impairments in buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises that are over 11 metres in height and have a simultaneous evacuation strategy
Both should be confirmed against current published sources before being relied upon for programme.
Frequently asked questions
What is a higher-risk building? In England, a building with at least two residential units that is at least 18 metres in height or has at least seven storeys, subject to exclusions including care homes, hospitals, military and secure residential institutions and hotels.
Can I start on site before Gateway 2 approval? No. Gateway 2 is a hard stop. Where staged applications are used, work on a stage cannot begin until that stage is approved.
How long does Gateway 2 take? The statutory periods are 12 weeks for new higher-risk buildings and 8 weeks for work to existing ones, including three weeks of fire and rescue service consultation. Actual times have been considerably longer, though improving. Check current published data before planning around any figure.
Who prepares the Gateway 2 fire strategy? A fire engineer, working with the design team and the Principal Designer. For anything relying on performance-based analysis, a chartered fire engineer.
What is the fire and emergency file? A prescribed document explaining how fire safety risks will be managed once the building is occupied, including the assumptions the design relies on, covering fire prevention, detection, suppression and evacuation.
Does the strategy need updating during construction? Yes, through the change control plan. Meaningful changes to the approved design require the Regulator's approval and the golden thread must be kept current.
