[News] Building Assessment Certificate Outcomes: What Early BSR Data Is Now Telling Us

Early decisions from the Building Safety Regulator on Building Assessment Certificate (BAC) applications are beginning to provide clearer insight into how the new regime is operating for existing high-risk residential buildings. Data drawn from the first tranche of applications indicates that progress through the system remains constrained, with a substantial volume of buildings yet to receive a determination.

Key early indicators include:

• Of 1,679 validated BAC applications, only 567 have reached a completed outcome to date
• More than 1,100 high-risk residential buildings therefore remain in the system without a final determination
• Where decisions have been issued, refusal accounts for 73% of completed assessments
• 59.3% of refused applications have already resulted in enforcement action, indicating that refusal frequently escalates into regulatory intervention

Decision timelines are also significant

The average time from submission to determination now stands at 335 days, reflecting a process characterised by extended clarification, repeated information requests and iterative review, rather than a single, discrete assessment stage.

Early evidence suggests that these outcomes are being driven less by regulatory capacity alone and more by the quality of initial submissions. In particular, shortcomings in how building safety risks are identified, structured and evidenced are contributing to delay, refusal and escalation.

Taken together, the data points to Building Assessment Certificates operating as a substantive test of building safety competence, rather than a procedural formality. Reactive compliance approaches are increasingly associated with longer timelines, higher cost and greater regulatory exposure.

Our full report provides a detailed analysis of the early BAC data, including enforcement trends, cost implications, recurring submission gaps and what Principal Accountable Persons should be doing now to better navigate the regime.

Download our BSR Assessments Outcome Report

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