Jim Slater
Construction Design & Risk Management
Construction (Design & Management) Regulations (CDM 2015)
CDM 2015 applies to all construction work including residential projects. As a residential client your duties under CDM 2015 are passed on to others who are carrying out the construction work on your behalf. Those carrying out the work also have duties of their own. CDM Regulations 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.
CDM Regulations governs the way construction projects of all sizes and types are planned aiming to improve overall health, safety and welfare of those working in the construction sector. The regulations offer a broad definition of what construction works are, but whatever your role in construction is, CDM aims to improve health & safety in the industry.
CDM Principal Designer
A principal designer is a designer who is an organisation or individual (on smaller projects) appointed by the client to take control of the pre-construction phase of any project involving more than one contractor. Principal designers are appointed to undertake the planning and management of health & safety throughout the period of their appointment. Main duties of the role are to plan, manage and monitor the pre-construction phase, to co-ordinate health and safety.
F10 Notification
A project is notifiable to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) if construction work onsite is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days AND have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point in the project; or exceed 500-person days. Requirements of CDM 2015 apply whether or not the project is notifiable.
Building Safety Act 2022
The new Building Safety Act 2022 aims to reform building safety legislation with new duties for the management of fire and building safety. Importantly, the Act will help people be safer in their homes and will change the way buildings are designed, constructed and managed.
The primary focus of the Building Safety Act 2022 is on:
“Higher risk buildings that are at least 18m or seven storeys high; however, certain provisions relating to the remediation of relevant defects focus on self-contained buildings that contain at least two dwellings and are at least 11m or have at least five storeys.”
Currently, there are no plans to extend the Building Safety Act 2022 to cover all buildings; however, the legislation has the flexibility for more buildings to be brought into scope over time.
Designer’s must:
“Reduce safety risks related to fire spread and structural failure through greater planning scrutiny, increased regulation of professional competence and the creation of new statutory roles during the design and construction of higher risk buildings.”
The most significant feature is the expansion of the CDM principal designer role to include oversight of safety not just for higher risk buildings but for all building projects. As well as construction site safety duties, CDM principal designers are expected to plan, manage and monitor design work to ensure compliance with building regulations; and maintain data on design decisions for fire and structural safety.