Gateway 3 and the golden thread: what your records need to show

the gateways/

What is Gateway 3?

The Building Safety Act introduced three “gateways” for higher-risk buildings in England: buildings at least 18 metres or seven storeys tall with at least two homes (and, during building work, hospitals and care homes of that height). For these buildings, the Building Safety Regulator is the building control body, and developers can’t choose another.

• Gateway 1 is at the planning stage.
• Gateway 2 is building control approval before work starts. Construction can’t begin without it.
• Gateway 3 is the completion stage. The developer applies for a completion certificate with evidence of the building as built, including as-built drawings and fire and structural safety information. The building can only be registered and occupied once Gateway 3 is passed.

The Regulator became a standalone body, separate from the Health and Safety Executive, in January 2026. You can read its own explanation of Gateway 3, the final safety gate.

the golden thread/

What is the golden thread?

The golden thread is the information about a higher-risk building that people need to keep it safe, kept from design through construction and into occupation. The information that must be kept is set out in the Higher-Risk Buildings (Keeping and Provision of Information etc.) (England) Regulations 2024.

• Kept electronically, though it can span more than one system
• Accurate and up to date
• Secure, with the right people able to see it
• Transferable without being lost or corrupted
• Handed over to the people responsible for the building
• Kept relevant: building safety information, not everything

The government hasn’t chosen any particular software. What matters is that the information is complete, reliable and can be passed on.

delays/

Why Gateway 3 applications get held up

Gateway 3 asks for proof of what was actually built. If that proof is scattered across emails, paper forms and personal drives, someone has to piece it together at the end of the project, when the pressure to hand over is greatest. Gaps and inconsistencies then surface just as the building is ready.

The regulator is making its expectations clear. Engineering firm AtkinsRéalis warns that “poor or incomplete submissions will be rejected” and that expectations will harden. Meanwhile, completed homes can sit empty: the Irwin Mitchell FOI found one application had waited 550 days.

The cheapest time to create the golden thread is while the work is being done. The most expensive is after the scaffolding comes down.

your records/

What your records need to show

On a higher-risk building the golden thread reaches every trade, from cladding and M&E to dry lining and roofing, as PBC Today points out. For each piece of work, a good record shows:

how software helps/

How software helps you build the golden thread as you go

The simplest way to meet these standards is to capture the record at the moment the work is done. A mobile inspection or sign-off form that stamps the time, location and person automatically, with photos attached, creates a record nobody has to rebuild.

That’s how the system we built for MC Plan and Site Services works: every inspection report is geo-located and time-stamped on site, and every document, status change and message is logged against its application in an audit trail that can’t be altered. Subcontractors can be given their own logins, so their records join the same trail.

Software supports your compliance; it doesn’t replace your responsibilities under the Act, so check your obligations with your building control body or adviser. This article is general information, not legal advice.

common questions/

Gateway 3 and the golden thread: frequently asked questions