Building Management Portal

The Church of England is introducing the Building Management Portal (BMP), a new national digital system for managing applications relating to works on churches, their contents, and churchyards. The new portal will replace the Online Faculty System (OFS).

The OFS was closed to making or editing applications at 5.00 pm on 28 September 2026. The BMP is set to launch nationally on 6 October 2026.

Existing applications will be moved from the OFS to the BMP automatically.

The BMP will provide a more structured and guided way to manage the List A, List B and faculty application processes. The new portal has been designed to be more user-friendly and easier to follow. The legal framework itself (faculty rules) has not changed.

This page will be updated with information about the launch, where to make applications during the transition, when and how to register for the BMP, and what support and training will be available.

Transition from the OFS to the BMP

The following timeline details the key dates during the migration from the Online Faculty System to the Building Management Portal. It explains when you will have access to each system, and where you should make applications during the transition:

• Up to 28 September (5.00 pm): The OFS remained open and could be used to access and work on your existing applications and any new applications you were ready to submit
  • At 5.00 pm on 28 September, the Online Faculty System was moved to read-only access. From this point, users are still able to sign in, view cases, and refer to existing information, but they are not able to create, edit, submit, or progress applications
• 29 September: The first full day of read-only access on the OFS, to enable the migration of data to the BMP
  • The OFS will remain available in read-only mode until that site is closed permanently later in 2026
• 29 September–5 October: Period during which both the OFS and the BMP will be unavailable for making applications
  • You will not be able to start any new applications or edit existing applications during this time
• 6 October: The new BMP will be available to use

Please note: Throughout this period you will still be able to seek emergency permission for very urgent works under the existing interim faculty (emergency works) procedure, via the Diocesan Registry rather than the DAC Office (this process does not use the OFS or BMP)

When and how to register for the BMP

We need people to register for the BMP gradually after 6 October, rather than all at once.

Please only register for the BMP once you need to start an application for your church, or when you next need to access or edit an active application which is in progress.

When you are ready to register:

Access to the BMP is through the CofE Portal (which you might already use for things like Parish Returns and Parish Buying). The CofE Portal provides a secure login route and includes two-factor authentication (account protection).

• If you already have a CofE Portal account, click the 'Log in with CofE Portal' button on the Building Management Portal
• If you do not yet have a CofE Portal account, you will need to create one before you can use the BMP. You can do this by clicking the 'Sign up via CofE Portal' button on the Building Management Portal

There is a video with step-by-step instructions on the registration process, available in the 'Support and training' section below.

Please also be aware that even if you register in advance, the DAC Officers will only be able to see and begin approving your registration requests after we gain access to the BMP at its launch on 6 October, at the same time as parish users.

Support and training

National training videos

The new launch will be accompanied by training videos that will show you step-by-step instructions on how to register for the BMP and complete applications online. We recommend that you watch the 'Introduction' and 'Registration' videos (below) in advance, and access the others if you need them when you start working on an application.

The videos are available via the following links:

Introduction:

• Building Management Portal (3-minute video):

Registration:

• Registration and account management
• Add more churches to your profile

Applications:

• List A works
• List B works
• Starting a faculty application
• Standard Information form
• Petition part 1
• Statements of Significance and Needs
• Formal consultation

Diocesan drop-in sessions

The DAC Officers will also deliver some live online drop-in sessions following the launch, on these dates/times:

• Friday 9 October: 1.30–2.00 pm [book now]
• Friday 16 October: 1.30–2.00 pm [book now]
• Wednesday 21 October: 5.30–6.00 pm [book now]
• Friday 23 October: 1.30–2.00 pm [book now]

These drop-in sessions are an opportunity for attendees to ask specific questions about the new digital system, including how to register and how to progress a case if you are registered.

It is important that these sessions are focussed on using the new software itself, rather than on other matters (e.g. proposals for new projects, the process for applying for a grant/faculty).

Booking for these sessions is now open on the diocesan Training Programme web page. You are encouraged to watch the videos (linked to above) before joining one of the drop-in sessions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Further national information and FAQs are available now on the Church of England website.

Contacting the DAC Officers

The DAC Officers are Giles Standing (DAC Secretary) and Felicity McWilliams (DAC Casework Officer). Our contact details can be found in the diocesan staff directory.

Please note that we are likely to be very busy during the run-up to and launch of the new system and it may take us longer than usual to respond to enquiries. Thank you in advance for your patience and support.

One way you can help is by consulting the training videos and FAQs before getting in touch, to see if an answer to your question is already available. There may also be technical people within your parish who can offer you general IT support with registration and accessing the new system.