New Building Management Portal to Replace Online Faculty System

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 6th 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. Information about how to do this will be circulated in due course.

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 have been asked to review sample cases, test key workflows, and check imported case information. This has helped to 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.

Training and support
Training videos, FAQs, and guidance are being developed and will be made available during rollout.

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.”

Further national information about the Building Management Portal is available on the Church of England website: churchofengland.org/BuildingManagementPortal

Information about local support arrangements, contacts, onboarding, and any action needed for current or future applications will be provided by the diocese soon. Please note that you do not need to do anything yet.