One of the country largest building control firms Assent has ceased trading sending shockwaves through the industry.

The building compliance firm was a key player in the Building Safety Regulator Gateway approval process for many projects.

Its collapse could cause fresh turmoil and set back efforts to clear Gateway 2 project backlogs.

Industry experts fear that in some cases clients could be forced to start the whole approval process again.

Projects advancing under more complicated “in flight” procedures started before the April 2024 compliance deadline may face an entire rethink and yet more delays.

It is understood Assent was facing several damages claims from both clients and contractors.

These stemmed from previous project approval delays caused by an earlier failure of the parent company to register as approved inspector with the Building Safety Regulator.

While this was later cleared up, it caused project delays that triggered claims from the industry.

In a statement the building compliance specialist said: “Assent has ceased trading and is in the process of entering insolvency. Details of the appointed insolvency practitioners will be published on our website in due course.”

The BSR has still to clarify the impact on projects using Assent inspectors and schemes where it was the notified building compliance firm.

A BSR calls handler said schemes would be looked at on a case by case basis.

One project lead told the Enquirer. “It’s possible projects may have to go back to square one. And that would mean more up-to-date British Standards like those impacting staircase design would have to be used in the new Gateway applications.

“That would cause serious problems and force a complete design rethink.

“Nobody knows how many projects will be impacted and what will need to be done.”

A spokesperson for the Building Safety Regulator said: “Assent Building Compliance Ltd has made BSR aware of issues affecting their future operations, which includes two Registered Building Control Approvers, Oculus Building Consultancy Ltd and LB Building Control Ltd.

“We are in active discussions on the impact on their ongoing registered building control service provision as well as the Registered Building Inspector resource provided to BSR through our supplier framework.”