Construction (design & management) regulations

About CDM regulations

The construction (design & management) regulations (CDM) are the main set of regulations for managing the health, safety and welfare of construction projects. CDM applies to all building and construction work and includes new build, demolition, refurbishment, extensions, conversions, repair and maintenance.

Anyone responsible for appointing designers or contractors to work on a project must ensure that those appointed have the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out the work in a way that secures health and safety. Similarly, any designers or contractors seeking appointment as individuals must ensure they have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience.

Carter Jonas' approach to principal designer appointment

The CDM regulations, which were introduced in 2015, created the role of ‘principal designer’. A principal designer is always required to be appointed under the regulations, their task is to control the pre-construction phase of the project. The pre-construction phase is everything up to work starting on site.

Principal designers have an important role in influencing how risks to health and safety are managed throughout a project. Design decisions made during the pre-construction phase have a significant influence in ensuring the project is delivered in a way that secures the health and safety of everyone affected by the work.

Our professionals are able to offer specialist advice in relation to CDM regulations, including acting as principal designer on construction projects.

Carter Jonas principal designers must:

• Identify and eliminate or control, so far as is reasonably practicable, foreseeable risks to the health or safety of any person.
   - carrying out or liable to be affected by construction work;
   - maintaining or cleaning a structure; or
   - using a structure designed as a workplace.

• Ensure all designers comply with their duties in regulation 9. (Designers must eliminate, reduce or control the risks through design)

• Make sure that all persons working in relation to the pre-construction phase cooperate with the client, the principal designer and each other

• Assist the client in the provision of the pre-construction information

• Provide pre-construction information in a prompt and convenient manner to every designer and contractor appointed or being considered for appointment to the project, so far as it is within the principal designer’s control

• Liaise with the principal contractor for the duration of the principal designer’s appointment and share with the principal contractor information relevant to the planning, management and monitoring of the construction phase and the coordination of health and safety matters during the construction phase

• Assist with the development of the health and safety file

Why choose Carter Jonas to provide you with CDM regulations advice?

Our building consultancy professionals are located in Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds and London. Our designated teams contain highly qualified and experienced chartered building surveyors who consistently provide a professional, effective, and personal service.

Through considerable experience, we can ensure that construction works, and all those on site, are completely compliant with the CDM regulations, resulting in high health and safety standards, which are essential for the successful delivery of a project.