Excessive-rise approval delays threaten UK constructing targets

The UK Labour authorities’s pledge to construct 1.5mn houses in England by 2029 is underneath severe risk until “drastic” reforms are made to the nation’s approval course of, business leaders have warned.

Official constructing management information exhibits simply 28,180 houses have been began within the first quarter of the yr, which is lower than 10 per cent of the annual 300,000 goal.

Actual property agency Savills forecasts that solely 840,000 houses shall be accomplished by 2028/29, falling 42 per cent wanting the objective.

“Failing to deal with these delays will considerably hinder the federal government’s housebuilding targets and the infrastructure wanted to help them,” warns Gary Robust, world constructing requirements director on the Royal Establishment of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

A significant bottleneck is the brand new constructing security regime, launched in response to the 2017 Grenfell Tower hearth in London, which claimed 72 lives. The tragedy uncovered failures within the regulation of high-rise residential buildings, resulting in a brand new security framework and the creation of the Constructing Security Regulator in 2022.

Underneath this regime, the BSR requires high-rise developments to go a three-stage “gateway” approval course of protecting planning, development, and completion.

Excessive-rise buildings are essential for assembly housing targets, particularly in city areas, as a result of they supply high-density housing.

Considerably, purposes submitted at Gateway 2 have to be totally accomplished development proposals, with no alternative to submit plans on a stage-by-stage foundation.

Whereas the constructing and property business broadly helps the framework, delays on the crucial Gateway 2 stage have hit supply of recent initiatives.

Between January and March 2025, solely 257 choices have been made at Gateway 2, out of a backlog of 1,276 purposes in response to the newest information from the BSR. Approval instances for high-rise buildings now common 36 weeks — 3 times the federal government’s goal.

The delays are worse within the nation’s capital, in response to Savills, the place lower than half of the two,148 houses began in London within the first half of this yr have been on blocks over 18m, versus 71 per cent for a similar interval in 2019 earlier than the brand new laws have been launched.

Builders have criticised the BSR for ambiguous and inconsistent submission necessities, a scarcity of pre-submission help and heavy reliance on outsourced groups to evaluate purposes attributable to a scarcity of in-house technical workers. 

“The regulatory framework will not be conducive to supply,” stated Mark Reynolds, govt chair of Mace Group, a world consulting and development group, at a parliamentary inquiry in July.

Reynolds cited the requirement for totally designed plans at Gateway 2 as a selected problem for the sector.

“The extent of element that was being requested, notably at Gateway 2, was, fairly frankly, past the aptitude of the system the business works in,” stated Reynolds.

“The business is saying that this can be a disaster as we speak. We have to make the system work.”

Confronted with mounting business frustration with the backlog, the federal government in June introduced a spread of reforms to ease backlogs on the BSR together with management adjustments, additional funding, extra staffing, and a fast-track course of to “improve the assessment of recent construct purposes”.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities runs the BSR. In a remark to the FT, it stated the regulator performed a “essential position in making buildings safer however to assist us ship 1.5mn houses we’re taking decisive motion to create a stronger system that works for the sector, and retains residents secure”.

“That’s why we’ve introduced a bundle of reforms to the Regulator to scale back delays and construct the houses this nation desperately wants — delivering on our Plan for Change.”

However builders say that the adjustments have to go additional.

Everybody helps safer buildings, however a drastic overhaul of the system is required

“Everybody helps safer buildings, however a drastic overhaul of the system is required,” says Rebecca Taylor, managing director of multi-family enterprise at Lengthy Harbour, an actual property funding supervisor and constructing developer.

“A extra staged approval course of is required to permit spades to get into the bottom earlier. Delays at Gateway 2 influence planning approvals, and that’s hitting investor confidence.”

Martin Samworth, Rics board chair, can also be calling for a extra phased strategy: “You used to get planning consent, then take care of particulars as you progressed. Now, Gateway 1 and Gateway 2 require the next degree of specification and price — earlier than exterior funding [from investors] is even in place.”

Reynolds, of the Mace Group, is looking for purposes to be thought-about on an organisational foundation, moderately than particular person.

“In the mean time, there’s a restricted variety of purposes going by the method however, subsequent yr, there shall be a number of purposes from single organisations going by,” Reynolds advised the Business and Regulators Committee.

“So, the place one organisation is placing in 5 or 6 purposes now, will probably be wanting to place in 40 on the again finish of this yr and subsequent yr,” he stated, pointing to a possible surge in purposes if the federal government’s goal is to be met. “This goes again as to if we’re going to construct houses at capability. Except we’ve an ‘account administration by organisation’ strategy, we will be unable to ship the capability.”

Builders and buyers say restoring confidence is important.

“The federal government and the regulator want to offer readability and certainty — each on utility necessities and processing instances,” says one senior govt at one main housebuilder. “Proper now, initiatives are being paused. Buyers are holding off.”