Advice to Clients

This information sheet is intended as an aide-memoir to Clients when considering undertaking a construction project; it is not intended to be a substitute for seeking competent professional advice and /or referring to the Regulations and the Approved Code of Practice and other guidance. You may wish to keep this sheet to the front of your project file as a check list; on the reverse is advice to designers which includes advice on the general duties of all to co-operate and co-ordinate.

What happens if I ignore the CDM Regulation 2007? Breach of the Regulations is a criminal offence and can result in fines and prison sentences and a criminal record, if the offence is serious and indictable it can result in an unlimited fine and up to two years in jail & the possibility of civil action. Designers & contractors have a duty to ensure you are aware of your duties when they are appointed.

Who is a Client? – anyone who wishes to undertake construction work in the furtherance of a business whether for profit or not. (Reg 2 ACoP 28). Clients can intentionally or unwittingly take on additional responsibilities becoming designers if they specify materials or methods of working or become contractors if they directly manage or carry out construction work. (ACoP 27)

Domestic Clients are clients arranging for construction works to be undertaken to their own or a family members home that does not relate to a business whether it is for profit or not. It is the type of client that matters not the property. (Reg 2 ACoP 29 to 32). Domestic Clients do not have any duties under the Regulations unless they control the way in which construction work is carried out, then they will have duties under Part 4 of the CDM Regs 25 to 44 which relate to Health and Safety on Construction Sites. (ACoP 31)

Construction Work – generally all you would associate with building works including site preparation, site assembly, demolition or dismantling, installation of Mechanical and Electrical and similar services (Refer Reg 2 and ACOP 13 and 14)

Projects – a project which includes or intends to include construction work including all planning, design and management or other work involved through to the end of the construction phase. Projects are either Non-notifiable or Notifiable: if projects last for more than 30 working days or more than 500 man days they are Notifiable and must be notified to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by the CDMC using an F10 form.(Reg 21 ACoP 15-19)

CDM Co-ordinator (CDMC) – must be appointed in writing on all notifiable projects, The CDMC is the client’s key project advisor in respect of construction Health and Safety risk management matters. The CDMC advises on matters of competency, management, co-ordination of H&S matters and facilitates good co-operation and communication. The CDMC prepares the Health& Safety File.

H&S File holds information on the project which will likely be needed in further construction works to safeguard the H&S of any person

When to appoint a CDMC – the project should not have progressed past initial design stage i.e. past RIBA/RICS Stage 2 prior to appointing a CDMC, you should only undertake enough work to establish project viability. (Reg 14(1) ACoP 64 to 68)

Designer - a person who in the furtherance of a business prepares or modifies a design or arranges for someone under his control to do so. (Reg 2 and 11 ACoP 115 to 118. Regulation 12 deals with designs prepared or modified outside Great Britain.

Principal Contractor – must be appointed in writing on all notifiable projects, The Principal Contractor is usually the main or managing contractor who arranges the management of H&S to be incorporated into the wider management of project delivery.

N.B. There must be a CDMC and Principal Contractor until the end of the Construction Phase, if these appointments are not in place then the client is deemed to have been appointed and must be competent to undertake the imposed duties. (Reg 4 and 14).

sbp surveyors ltd    Chartered Building Surveyors and CDMC Co-ordinators

Regulated by the RICS

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

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T: 0800 195 3018  E: surv@sbpsurveyors.co.uk  W: www.sbpsurveyors.co.uk     Merseyside and the North West