Principal Designer and CDM

Under the CDM 2015 (Construction Design and Management) Regulations a construction project is notifiable to the Health and Safety Executive if the construction work is expected to: last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point on the project or exceed 500 person days.

The Client has a duty to appoint a Principal Designer for projects and we are able to provide Principal Designer services to Schools and Clients to facilitate this requirement on projects. Our work will typically include designing out risks and making risk assessments throughout the course of a project including at the early design stages.  We can also advise on Contractor Appointment and their Health and Safety duties through the early and latter stages of a project. 

The HSE states that Principal designers must:

• plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase. In doing so they must take account of relevant information (such as an existing health and safety file) that might affect design work carried out both before and after the construction phase has started
• help and advise the client in bringing together pre-construction information, and provide the information designers and contractors need to carry out their duties
• work with any other designers on the project to eliminate foreseeable health and safety risks to anyone affected by the work and, where that is not possible, take steps to reduce or control those risks
• ensure that everyone involved in the pre-construction phase communicates and cooperates, coordinating their work wherever required
• liaise with the principal contractor, keeping them informed of any risks that need to be controlled during the construction phase

If you would like to arrange a free Consultation to discuss your potential projects please contact us at our Oxford office 01865 955519 or our Cambridge office 01223 855906

Email: studio@graylingthomas.com