The Church of England is introducing the Building Management Portal, a new national digital system for managing applications relating to works on churches, their contents, and churchyards, with a planned release date of 6 October 2026.
The new portal has been designed to make the application process easier to follow and to improve consistency in the way casework is managed. It will give users clearer information about application stages, supporting documents and the actions needed as an application progresses.
The portal will replace the Online Faculty System. It will be used for List A, List B, and faculty applications, as well as associated casework, consultation, documents, and decision stages.
The legal process itself is not changing. The Building Management Portal provides a new digital route for managing the existing permission framework. It is intended to make the process clearer, more structured, and easier to follow for applicants, parishes, diocesan teams, archdeacons, registrars, chancellors, and consultees.
Accessing the Building Management Portal
Users will access the Building Management Portal through the CofE Portal. This provides a secure login route and includes two-factor authentication. Some users will also need to complete a one-time registration process so that their role, diocese, and church access can be assigned correctly.
Existing and historic cases
Existing and historic cases from the Online Faculty System will be migrated into the new portal. As part of onboarding, dioceses will be asked to review sample cases, test key workflows, and check imported case information. This will help identify any access, document, workflow, or data issues before the final transition.
Preparing for the national rollout
The portal has already been used by four pilot dioceses. Learning from that pilot has helped strengthen the national rollout approach, particularly around imported case data, registration, role-based access, CMS integration, user guidance, and issue reporting.
Training and support
Training videos, FAQs, and guidance will be made available during rollout. Some current training videos are already available, and further updates may follow, after feedback from parish users has been reviewed.
James Miles, Project Manager for the Building Management Portal, said:
“We appreciate that moving to a new national system will require some adjustment. The pilot phase has helped identify where users need clearer guidance, stronger support routes, and more time to check imported information. The national rollout has been shaped by that learning so that dioceses and users have a more structured transition from the Online Faculty System to the Building Management Portal. Thank you for your support as we prepare for this change.”
If you are involved in a current or future application, a member of the church buildings team will be in contact with more information about what you need to do and when. For support, please contact church.buildings@bristoldiocese.org
For further information, including guidance on how to use the new system and FAQ's, please click the link below.