The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been awarded £2m of additional funding by the government, to speed up the vetting of planning applications for new-build high-rise buildings.
In a written statement published on 13 February, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the funding was designed to address industry concerns about ‘pinch points’ in the construction process by ensuring ‘greater timeliness and efficiency’ by the regulator when signing off new tall buildings.
The government’s move follows a call by the British Property Federation (BPF) for the Treasury to provide the BSR with additional resource to reduce delays and enable projects to move forward.
In its response to the Treasury’s upcoming comprehensive Spending Review, the BPF cites ‘extreme frustration’ among its members about the backlogs involved with applications going through the BSR.
