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.
The portal will replace the Online Faculty System. It will be used for List A, List B, and faculty applications, and will provide a clearer and more structured way for applicants, parishes, DAC teams, archdeacons, registrars, chancellors, and consultees to work through the application process.
The new portal is set to go live on 6 October. The Online Faculty System will be closed on 30 September to allow time for a final export of data to the new portal before it goes live.
The legal process itself is not changing. The Building Management Portal provides a new digital route for managing the same permission framework, with clearer workflow stages, improved case visibility, and role-based access.
Users will access the system through the CofE Portal. This provides a secure login route and includes two-factor authentication. Some users may need to complete a one-time registration process so that their role, diocese, and church access can be assigned correctly.
Existing and historic cases from the Online Faculty System will be migrated into the Building Management Portal. As part of onboarding, dioceses will be asked to review imported information and test representative cases so that any data or access issues can be identified before the final transition.
Training material, FAQs, and guidance will be made available during rollout. Current video guidance is available, and further updates may follow once feedback from parish users has been reviewed.
If you have questions about a current or future application, please contact the Diocesan Church Buildings Team. Further national information is available on the Church of England website: www.churchofengland.org/BuildingManagementPortal
FAQs
The Building Management Portal is the Church of England’s national digital system for managing applications relating to works on churches, their contents, and churchyards.
No. The faculty, List A, and List B processes remain in place. The Building Management Portal provides a new digital route for managing those processes.
The Building Management Portal is replacing the Online Faculty System. Existing and historic case information will be migrated into the new portal.
Users will access the Building Management Portal through the CofE Portal. If you do not already have a CofE Portal account, you may need to create one.
Yes. CofE Portal access includes two-factor authentication. This helps protect user accounts, case records, and personal data.
Some users will need to complete a one-time registration process. This helps the system link the user to the correct role, church, and diocese.
This may mean your account has not yet been linked to the correct role, church, or diocese, or that your access is still awaiting approval. Contact your DAC Secretary or diocesan BMP contact with your email address, church, expected role, and details of what you can or cannot see.
This may mean your role has been assigned too broadly. Contact your DAC Secretary or diocesan BMP contact and explain which churches you can see and which church or churches you expected to access.
Existing and historic cases from the Online Faculty System will be migrated into the Building Management Portal. Dioceses will be asked to help check imported information during onboarding and testing.
No. Where CMS integration is used, it can help automate access based on role and church information. However, some users may be managed manually in BMP, including agents, consultants, and users whose access does not fit the standard CMS model.
BMP can operate with manual access management where CMS integration is not ready or not appropriate. CMS integration should only be used where local role and place data is reliable enough to support access.
Most parish users should contact their DAC Secretary or diocesan BMP contact in the first instance. Formal issues will be managed through the agreed diocesan or national support route.
Yes. Video guidance is available, and further material will be developed as rollout progresses. Some updates may follow after parish user feedback has been reviewed.
Please provide your name, email address, role, diocese, church, case reference if relevant, what you expected to happen, what actually happened, and screenshots where useful.