CDM Principal Designer
CDM Regulation 5(1) requires the Client to appoint a Designer with control over the pre-construction phase as Principal Designer, who has the overarching duty to plan, manage, monitor and co-ordinate health and safety matters during the pre-construction phase.
The pre-construction phase is defined to include not only the work before construction starts but any design work carried out during the construction phase, and on most projects this will overlap with the construction phase, in some cases to the later stages of the project. The control referred to in Regulation 5(1) relates to health and safety matters only, as CDM 2015 applies to the management of health, safety and welfare when undertaking construction projects, and not the running of the project generally, or for any other purpose.