When is a Principal Designer required?

October 2015 saw the CDM2015 transition period expire, along with the legal duties of the CDM Coordinator. Regulations are now captured under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Principal Designer duties now apply to all projects where there is more than one contractor.

Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 the Principal Designer role is to focus on the health and safety element of the project. (The HSE states that the Principal Designer does not need to carry out design on the project as their CDM duties are confined to health and safety management).

However the Regulations demand that the Principal Designer must possess the knowledge, skills, experience and ability to organise and coordinate health and safety in construction.

The Role of the Principal Designer is to plan, manage and monitor the pre-construction phase, coordinating matters relating to health and safety during the pre-construction phase to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the project is carried out without risks to health and safety.