CDM Advisor & Principal Designer

The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 came into force on 6 April 2015 and apply to all building and construction projects, regardless of size, duration, and nature of work.

Under the new regulations Clients must ensure that a construction project is set up so that risks to health and safety are adequately controlled from start to finish.  Clients will have overall responsibility for health and safety, with Principal Designers and Principal Contractors providing support in different phases of development and construction.

Clients have a duty to provide pre-construction information at the earliest opportunity to Principal Designers and / or Principal Contractors.  Hills can assist Clients, Principal Designers and / or Principal Contractors in this duty by preparing the pre-construction information in the capacity of CDM Advisor.

Hills can also assist Clients in checking that the Principal Designer is making appropriate arrangements for managing health and safety during the pre-construction phase and ensuring that the Principal Contractor produces a construction phase health and safety plan which is adequate for the works and appropriate for the risks, and which sets out how they will manage health and safety during the construction phase.

At the end of a project the Client will need to check the arrangements for completing and maintaining the health and safety file. Again Hills can assist Clients in this duty.

Contractors who take over the role of Principal Contractor under design and build projects may also find that they have the role of Principal Designer to discharge.  Hills can also assist Principal Contractors with their duties under CDM 2015.

Generally the lead designer will be appointed as Principal Designer with all the additional responsibilities for CDM compliance under CDM 2015.  Clients will need to appoint a Principal Designer in writing and include the duties arising under CDM 2015. Clients can appoint Hills as CDM Advisor to assist the Principal Designer in discharging their duties under the new regulations.

The definition of Clients is enlarged under CDM 2015 to include domestic projects where individuals commission construction work on their own property.  In these situations Clients duties must be carried out by the Principal Contractor.

Clients will be responsible for notifying all applicable projects to the HSE and Hills can assist in determining which projects are notifiable under CDM 2015 and arrange for the notifications to be submitted.