RJD Associates director Damien Ratcliffe has welcomed the HSE’s commitment to introducing new guidance on the CDM Regulations 2015, particularly around the Principal Designer role, with the Regulator admitting that confusion had arisen about the differing roles of Principal Designer under the CDM Regulations (CDM 2015) and the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA).
In addition to the new guidance, the HSE have also ruled out combining the Principal Designer role specified in CDM 2015 with that detailed in the BSA.
A survey carried out by the HSE found that one in five respondents were not clear about their roles under each of the laws.
Damien said: “The creation of the Building Regulations Principal Designer role has caused confusion within the construction industry over the last few years, with some of our clients and colleagues assuming it automatically sat with the CDM Principal Designer role, so it’s important that the HSE are going to provide new guidance on this.”
Under the CDM Regulations, a Principal Designer is an organisation or individual appointed by the client to take control of the pre-construction phase of projects involving more than one contractor. They are responsible for planning, managing, monitoring and coordinating health and safety matters during the pre-construction phase of projects.
Under the BSA, the Principal Designer is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring design work during the design phase, and coordinating all matters relating to design work to ensure that it will comply with Building Regulations when construction work is carried out.
Damien added: “The best design teams we work with are those where everyone is invested in working collaboratively, and whilst the respective Principal Designer roles are separate, it’s critical for the CDM PD and BR PD to work together to ensure safe and successful delivery of both health and safety management and building regulations compliance due to the pre-construction phase.”
