Gateway Two and Three and what they mean for a programme
Gateway Two stops construction starting and Gateway Three stops occupation. Both sit outside planning, and both reshape the programme of a consented higher-risk scheme.
For a higher-risk building, Gateway Two is a hard stop before construction and Gateway Three is a hard stop before occupation. Neither is a planning matter, and both can move a development programme by months if the design is not settled when the application goes in. If you are programming a scheme of at least 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units, treat the gateway two three programme as the critical path and plan the planning work around it.
The regime comes from the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Building Regulations amendments that followed it. The Building Safety Regulator, which sits within the Health and Safety Executive, is the building control authority for these buildings. Local authority building control and approved inspectors have no role on them.
The three gateways and who runs each
Gateway One happens at the planning stage. For relevant buildings, a Fire Statement accompanies the planning application under Article 9A of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015, and the Health and Safety Executive is a statutory consultee on it. The planning authority decides the application.
Gateway Two happens before building work starts. The client applies to the Building Safety Regulator for building control approval, with the full design and the supporting strategies. Work must not begin until the regulator has approved the application.
Gateway Three happens at the end. The client applies for a completion certificate, and the building cannot be occupied until the regulator has issued it and the building is registered. Between Gateways Two and Three sit change control and mandatory occurrence reporting, which are the parts most likely to surprise a team used to the old building control relationship.
What has to be settled before Gateway Two
The Gateway Two application is not a stage one submission with details to follow. The regulator expects a design that could be built, which for most schemes means the fire strategy, structural design and key construction details are fixed before any work starts on site.
The submission package typically includes the design drawings and specifications, the fire and structural strategies, a construction control plan, a change control plan, a mandatory occurrence reporting plan, and the arrangements for the golden thread of information. Dutyholder appointments under the client, principal designer and principal contractor regime have to be in place and recorded.
Two consequences follow for the programme.
- Enabling works, piling and substructure cannot be treated as early starts in the way many schemes assume. Building work on a higher-risk building needs the approval first, so the sequencing habit of starting groundworks while the superstructure design completes does not survive here.
- Design completion moves to the left. A team that would historically have developed the facade specification during the substructure period has to finish it earlier, and the fee profile and design programme need to reflect that.
The regulator has a statutory period to determine the application, and extensions by agreement are common where information is incomplete. Check the current published determination periods and the regulator's guidance when you build the programme, because these have been revised since the regime began, and a programme built on an out of date figure is a programme that slips.
Change control once construction starts
Changes after Gateway Two approval fall into tiers. Major changes have to be approved by the regulator before they are made. Notifiable changes have to be notified before they are made. Everything else is recorded in the change control log and held as part of the golden thread.
The practical effect is that value engineering becomes costly in time rather than a saving in money. A substitution of a facade system, a change to a protected stair, an alteration to compartmentation or a change in the evacuation strategy are the kind of changes that need approval before they happen, and the approval has its own duration.
Teams that handle this well do two things. They front-load the specification so that late substitution is not needed, and they keep a single change register that serves both the regulator and the planning authority, so nobody discovers at practical completion that an approved building control change was never reflected in the planning drawings.
Gateway Three, registration and occupation
The completion certificate application pulls together the as-built information: the final drawings, the completed golden thread, the test and commissioning records, and a declaration that the work complies with the building regulations.
Occupation is the thing to watch commercially. A higher-risk building has to be registered with the Building Safety Regulator before it is occupied, and the completion certificate is a precondition of lawful occupation. Sales completions, tenancy start dates and investor handover dates that assume the old practical completion sequence will not hold. Where a scheme phases occupation, each part needs its own certificate position, and partial occupation arrangements have to be agreed rather than assumed.
The handover information requirement is more than paperwork. The accountable person for the occupied building inherits the golden thread and will need it for the safety case report. A thin handover creates a liability that lands on whoever holds the building.
Where planning conditions collide with the gateways
Most schemes carry pre-commencement planning conditions. Those conditions have to be discharged before development starts, which now means before a start that also requires Gateway Two approval. Running the two processes in sequence rather than in parallel is a common and avoidable loss of six to eight weeks.
The sharper risk is a change that satisfies one regime and breaches the other. A fire engineering change that adds an external stair core, widens a lobby or alters window positions may be a major change for the regulator and a material alteration to the approved planning drawings at the same time. The planning route is then a non-material amendment under section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 if the change is minor on any view, or a section 73 application if it is not, and section 73 brings consultation and a determination period with it.
Where the planning permission was granted with a Fire Safety Strategy or fire statement forming part of the approved documents, check the condition wording. Some authorities condition the development to be carried out in accordance with the submitted fire statement, which converts a building control change into a planning breach unless it is dealt with.
Refurbishment of an existing higher-risk building adds a further layer, because the existing structure constrains what the fire strategy can achieve. A structural appraisal of the building proposed for retention is worth commissioning before the fire strategy is fixed rather than after.
Programme float worth carrying
Three allowances are worth building in from the start.
Allow for a determination period at Gateway Two that may be extended by agreement, and do not programme a site start on the earliest possible date. Allow for at least one round of regulator questions, because a first time approval with no further information requested is not the normal outcome on a complex scheme. Allow a gap between completion and occupation for the certificate and registration, rather than treating handover as the end of the process.
The schemes that run smoothly are the ones where the fire strategy author, the structural engineer and the planning consultant were in the same conversation before the planning application was submitted. Gateway One is where that conversation should start, because a fire statement written to get past validation, rather than to describe the strategy the building will actually be built to, stores up a problem that surfaces at Gateway Two with no time left to solve it.
You can see which reports a higher-risk scheme is likely to need and draft the planning stage documents from your own site details, then have the fire engineering reviewed by a competent professional.
This is general guidance, not legal advice, and the Building Safety Act regime continues to be refined. Check the current position with the Building Safety Regulator or a qualified professional before relying on it. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Which buildings are higher-risk for Gateway Two and Three?
Broadly, buildings of at least 18 metres in height or at least seven storeys that contain at least two residential units, as defined by the regulations made under the Building Safety Act 2022. Hospitals and care homes are treated differently between the design and occupation regimes. Check the current definitions before assuming a scheme is in or out of scope.
Can enabling works start before Gateway Two approval?
Building work on a higher-risk building must not start until the Building Safety Regulator has granted building control approval. That removes the common sequencing habit of starting groundworks while the superstructure design completes. Treat the approval as a precondition of any start on site and programme design completion earlier than you otherwise would.
Who is the building control body for a higher-risk building?
The Building Safety Regulator, which sits within the Health and Safety Executive. Local authority building control bodies and registered building control approvers do not act on higher-risk buildings. That changes the commercial relationship as well as the process, because the regulator is not appointed by the client and does not compete for the work.
What happens if the design changes after Gateway Two?
Changes are tiered. Major changes need the regulator's approval before being made, notifiable changes must be notified in advance, and the rest are logged in the change control record. Late substitution of facade systems, compartmentation or evacuation strategy usually falls into the approval tier, which adds time rather than saving money.
Does a Gateway Two change affect the planning permission?
It can. A change that the regulator approves may still be a material departure from the approved planning drawings, needing a section 96A non-material amendment or a section 73 application. Where a condition requires development in accordance with a submitted fire statement, a building control change can become a planning breach unless it is dealt with.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.