Principal Designer Support

What Is A Principal Designer?

The CDM coordinator role was removed under CDM 2015, and you no longer need a CDM coordinator on your construction projects. The new role of principal designer has been introduced and some duties have changed. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), which came into force in April 2015. 

As a principal designer, it is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of all work being undertaken both at the pre-construction phase and design phases to facilitate and coordinate a project.

A principal designer must also manage health and safety risks throughout a project and is responsible for design decisions made which have a significant impact on how a project is delivered with the health and safety of everyone affected by the works undertaken.

Client

Anyone who has construction work carried out for them. The main duty for clients is to make sure their project is suitably managed, ensuring the health and safety of all who might be affected by the work, including members of the public. CDM 2015 recognises two types of clients:

Commercial clients
Have construction work carried out as part of their business. This could be an individual, partnership, or company and includes property developers and companies managing domestic properties.

Domestic clients
Have construction work carried out for them but not in connection with any business – usually work done on their own home or the home of a family member. CDM 2015 does not require domestic clients to carry out client duties as these normally pass to other duty holders.

Designer

An organisation or individual whose work involves preparing or modifying designs, drawings, specifications, bills of quantity, or design calculations. Designers can be architects, consulting engineers, quantity surveyors, or anyone who specifies and alters designs as part of their work. They can also include tradespeople if they carry out design work. The principal designer’s main duty is to eliminate, reduce, or control foreseeable risks that may arise during construction work, or in the use and maintenance of the building once built. Designers work under the control of a principal designer on projects with more than one contractor.

Principal Designer

A principal designer/contractor appointed by the client to manage the construction phase on projects with more than one contractor. The principal contractor’s main duty is to plan, manage, monitor, and coordinate health and safety during this phase when all construction work takes place.

Contractor (Sub Contractors)

An individual or business in charge of carrying out construction work (e.g. building, altering, maintaining, or demolishing). Anyone who manages this work or directly employs or engages construction workers is a contractor. Their main duty is to plan, manage, and monitor the work under their control in a way that ensures the health and safety of anyone it might affect (including members of the public). Sub Contractors work under the control of the principal contractor on projects with more than one contractor.

Worker

An individual who actually carries out the work involved in building, altering, maintaining, or demolishing buildings or structures. Workers include:

Their duties include cooperating with their employer and other duty holders and reporting anything they see that might endanger the health and safety of themselves or others. Workers must be consulted on matters affecting their health, safety, and welfare.