CDM Client Responsibilities and Support

Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, a client is an individual or organisation for whom a construction project is carried out. A commercial client is someone commissioning construction work as part of a business. A domestic client has work carried out on their own home, or the home of a family member, where it is not connected with a business. However, different arrangements normally apply to domestic clients.

Clients have an important influence over how a project is managed. They appoint the project team, determine the time and resources available and provide information needed to plan the work safely.

Many clients contact us having never dealt with CDM 2015 before and are unsure which appointments, information or documents their project requires. This is not unusual, and clients are not expected to be construction health and safety experts.

Nautilus provides clear, practical guidance and can act as your CDM Principal Designer, helping you understand your responsibilities and put proportionate arrangements in place from the outset.

Understanding your CDM client responsibilities starts with making suitable arrangements for managing health and safety throughout the project. For commercial clients, these responsibilities include:

• Allowing sufficient time and resources for the work to be planned and carried out safely.
• Appointing designers and contractors with the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability.
• Appointing a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor in writing where more than one contractor is involved, or is reasonably foreseeable.
• Providing relevant pre-construction information to designers and contractors.
• Ensuring that a Construction Phase Plan is prepared before construction begins.
• Ensuring suitable welfare facilities are provided.
• Taking reasonable steps to ensure the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor carry out their duties.
• Maintaining and reviewing the project’s management arrangements.
• Ensuring that a Health and Safety File is prepared, retained and made available for future work.
• Notifying the HSE where the project meets the notification thresholds.

The client retains these legal duties, but can appoint experienced professionals to help establish and maintain suitable arrangements.

CDM 2015 also applies to domestic projects. Where more than one contractor is involved, or is reasonably foreseeable, the project still requires a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor.

On a project involving only one contractor, a domestic client’s duties normally pass by law to that contractor. Where more than one contractor is involved, the duties normally pass to the Principal Contractor instead – unless the domestic client appoints a Principal Designer in writing to undertake those duties.

It is important to establish whether the project is genuinely domestic or commercial. Work undertaken on your own home, or the home of a family member, which is not connected with a business is normally domestic. However, constructing or renovating a property with the intention of selling, letting or otherwise developing it as a business activity is likely to make you a commercial client.

If you are unsure which category applies to your project, we can help you clarify the appropriate CDM arrangements.

When Nautilus is appointed as CDM Principal Designer, practical support with your CDM client responsibilities is included as part of our service. We will:

• Explain your CDM responsibilities in clear, straightforward language.
• Advise which dutyholder appointments are required.
• Assist with appropriate checks on the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability of designers and contractors.
• Help identify, gather and provide relevant pre-construction information.
• Assist with the F10 notification where the project is notifiable.
• Confirm that a Construction Phase Plan is in place before construction begins.
• Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety during the pre-construction phase.
• Liaise with designers and contractors about significant design risks and changes.
• Remain involved during construction, including proportionate site audits where included within our appointment.
• Prepare and coordinate the Health and Safety File for handover at completion.

We provide proportionate, common-sense support tailored to the project. Our role is to identify what needs to be in place, keep responsibilities clear and help resolve CDM issues before they become problems.

You will deal directly with an experienced CDM Principal Designer who remains available throughout the project, providing additional oversight and helping the client, designers and contractors work together effectively.

If you are commissioning construction work and are unsure what CDM 2015 requires, contact us with brief details of your project. We can explain your CDM client responsibilities, identify the appointments and arrangements you need and discuss acting as your CDM Principal Designer.

Nautilus provides CDM Principal Designer services across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Hertfordshire.

Please enquire below for more information and Tim will get back to you shortly.