Part 3 With Me Episode 4:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast, The show that helps part 3 students jump start into their careers as qualified architects. I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week we will be talking about our duties and must knows as architects when it comes to Construction, Design & Management Regulations, otherwise known as CDM.

Given the extensive information available on the subject I will be splitting it into two episodes, this episode will cover what CDM is, what are the duties for each party involved and the key documents and information needed to fulfil those duties.

Let's start with some background, If you are doing or having construction and building work carried out, you will have health and safety responsibilities to consider before starting work.
• Clients, designers, contractors and others involved with construction work all have duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015)
• Under CDM 2015, certain construction work must be notified to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Under he current CDM Regulations, apply to all construction projects in Great Britain but through the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, it also applies to construction work carried out in:
• The territorial sea (which is the belt of waters extending from the coast of Great Britain up to 12 nautical miles)
• In connection with construction of any renewable energy structure in the renewable energy zone These regulations were updated in 2015, as defined on the HSE - Health and Safety Execute website, CDM aims to improve health and safety in the construction industry by helping the designer, client, contractor and so on:
• Sensibly plan the required work so any risks acknowledged before the start of work on site are well managed from start to finish
• Use the right people for the right job at the right time
• Cooperate and coordinate the works with all involved to help keep risks managed at all times
• Have the right information about the risks and how they are being managed
• Communicate this information to the people that need to know and who are carrying out the relevant job
• Consult and engage with workers about the risks and how these are being managed

As mentioned previously, a number of people involved within a construction project/works are expected to adhere to the CDM Regulations and have certain duties under them.

 Lets start with the clients duties: A client is usually commercial or domestic and is defined as anyone for whom a construction project is carried out for. The difference between a commercial and domestic client is that a domestic client has a construction project carried out and that project is not done in connection with a business, so works carried out on their own home or home of a family member. The regulations apply in full to commercial clients, whereas for domestic clients, their duties are passed on to other duty holders, such as the principal designer and principal contractor, which I will talk more about later on, and their duties fall to the designer and contractor in control of the pre-construction and construction phases and they are not required to carry out the duties placed on commercial clients. A commercial client is defined as an organisation(s) or individual(s) for whom a construction project is carried out in connection with a business, whether this business operates for profit or not - this also include oversees clients wishing to carry out construction project in Great Britain. If there is more than one commercial client involved they must agree between them who will be responsible for carrying out the CDM requirements. The people, however, that are not the identified client for the CDM requirements still have duties of providing any information in their possession that may be relevant to help pull together pre-construction information and cooperate with anyone involved in the project. The client is a key individual for the efficient and timely management of the CDM requirements as they have say over the way a project is procured and managed. They have contractual control, appoint the designers and contractors and determine the money, time and other resources available.

So what does the client actually have to do under CDM: CDM makes the client accountable for the impact their decisions and approach have on health, safety and welfare on the project.
Their key duties are as follows:
• Make suitable arrangements for managing the project so that health, safety and welfare is secured. To be suitable the arrangements should focus on the particular projects requirements, its size and risk involved with that specific work.
• Other duty holders are appointed as appropriate
• Sufficient time and resources are allocated
• Make sure the principal designer and principal contractor carry out their duties
• They provide welfare facilities for the worker for the duration of the construction works When it comes to appointing a principal designer and a principal contractor: • A principal designer should be appointed as early as possible in the design process to assist the client with gathering the pre-construction information.
• And the principal contractor should be appointed early enough in the pre-construction phase to assist the client with meeting their duty to ensure a construction phase plan is drawn up before construction starts. If for any reason the client fails to appoint a principal designer or contractor they must carry out their duties.

Now let’s define who the principal designer is and what their duties are under CDM: A principal designer is a designer appointed by the client in projects involving more than one contractor. They can be an organisation or an individual with sufficient knowledge, experience and ability to carry out the role. They have the important role in influencing how the risks to health and safety should be managed and incorporated into the wider management of the project. A principal designer must be able to demonstrate they have the health and safety skills, knowledge and experience to carry out the work they are being appointed for. The level of their knowledge should be proportionate to the complexity of the project and the range and nature of the risks involved.

Therefore, they should have:
• The technical knowledge of the construction industry relevant to the project
• The ability to understand, manage and coordinate the pre-construction phase and any design work carried out after construction begins The principal designers main duties are to:
• Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase of a project which includes identifying, eliminating or controlling foreseeable risks and ensuring other designers carry out their duties.
• Principal designer must also prepare and provide relevant information to other duty holders
• And liaise with the principal contractor to help in the planning management, monitoring and coordination of the construction phase. On a domestic project, where the client doesn’t appoint a principal designer, the role must be carried out by the designer in control of the pre-construction phase. As mentioned before, this is usually the case with domestic clients where their duties are taken on by another duty holder.
The principal designer can enter into a written agreement with the domestic client to take on the clients duties in addition to their own.

Moving onto the principal contractor and their duties under CDM: A principal contractor is a contractor appointed by the client to coordinate the construction phase of a project where it involves more than one contractor. A principal contractor must be able to demonstrate that they have the skills, knowledge, experience and where and organisation, the organisational capability to carry out the work they are being appointed for. Their level of knowledge should be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project and the nature of risks to health and safety. There may be occasions where two or more projects are taking place at the same site at the same time but run independently of one another - in such circumstances it is essential that there is clarity over who is in control during the construction phase in any part of the sire at any given time. If its impossible to have one principal contractor to have general overview, those involved must cooperate with one another, coordinate their work and take into account any shared interfaces between each project. Principal contractors have a key role in managing the risks of the construction work and providing strong leadership to ensure standards are understood and followed.

Their main duties are to:
• Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the construction phase of a project which includes liaising with the client and principal designer, preparing the construction phase plan and organising cooperation between contractors and coordinating their work.
• Whilst also making sure suitable site inductions are provided
• Reasonable steps are taken to prevent unauthorised access
• Works are consulted and engaged in securing their health and safety
• And welfare facilities are provided. On a domestic project, the principal contractor will normally take on the client duties in addition to their own duties unless the client has an agreement with the principal designer to do so as previously mentioned. If the domestic client doesn’t appoint a principal contractor, the role must be carried out by the contractor in control of the construction phase. Other duty holders under the CDM Regulations are Designers, contractors and workers.

Starting with designers: These can be organisations or individuals who as part of a business, prepare or modify designs for a building, product or systems relating to construction work. Designer include architects, architectural technologists, consulting engineers, quantity surveyors, interior designers, temporary work engineers, chartered surveyors, technicians or anyone who specifies or alters a design. A designer has strong influence during the concept and feasibility stage of a project, early design decisions can significantly affect the health and safety of those who will construct, maintain, repair, clean, refurbish and demolish and potentially inhabit the building. Decisions such as selecting light materials or windows that can be cleaned from the inside can significantly reduce the risks involved in constructing and maintaining the building. Designers duties apply as soon as the designs have started, including concept design, competitions, bids for grants, and modification of existing design.
Their duties involve:
• Making the client aware of their duties under CDM, unless the project involves more than one contractor where the duty lies with the principal designer
• Design prepared for places of work should also comply with the Workplace (Health, safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• When preparing or modifying designs, eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may arise during construction and the maintenance and use of a building once built.
• Designers must also provide information to other members of the project team to help fulfil their duties. Under these definitions, we as architects can be either classified as either the principal designer or as designer. Either way we have duties to uphold under both roles.

Moving onto the contractors: These can be a company or individuals that carry out the actual construction work. Contractors include sub-contractors, any individual, sole trader, self-employer worker, or business that’s carries out, manages or controls construction work as part of their business. Where contractors are involved in design work, including temporary works, they also have to comply with the designer duties. Under their duties, they must:
• Making client aware of their duties under CDM
• Plan, manage and monitor construction work under their control so its carried out without risks to health and safety.
• Ensure appropriate supervision is provided for workers under their control.
• For projects involving more than one contractor, their activities must be coordinated with the others in the project teams and comply with directions given to them by the principal designer or principal contractor.
• Under single contractor projects, the contractor must prepare a construction phase plan.

And finally moving to workers: These are the individuals working for or under the control of the contractors on a construction site. Their duties involve:
• That they must be consulted about matters which affect their health, safety and welfare
• Take care of their own health and safety and other who might be affected by their actions
• Must report anything they see which is likely to endanger either their own or others health and safety
• And must cooperate with their employer, fellow workers, contractors and other duty holders. Now lets look more closely into a few key pieces of information I previously brushed upon which includes the pre-construction phase plan, the construction phase plan and health and safety file.

What is a pre-construction phase information: It is information already in the clients possession (such as an existing health and safety file, asbestos survey, structural drawings, and so on) or information he can reasonably obtain which is relevant to the project, have an appropriate level of detail and outlines the nature of the risks. The client is the main duty holder of the pre-construction information and must provide it as soon as practicable to each designer and contractor. For project with more than one contractor, the principal designer helps the client bring the pre-construction information together and provide it to the designers and contractors involved. The level of information in pre-construction information should be sufficient to ensure that significant risks can be anticipated, focussing on the risks that could not reasonably be anticipated.

So, the key information to be included within the pre-construction information is:
• The project - including client brief and key dates of construction
• Planning and management of the projects such as resources and time allocated to each stage and arrangements to ensure cooperation between duty holders
• Health and safety hazards of the site
• Any relevant information in an existing health and safety file

Moving onto the construction phase plan The client must ensure the construction phase plan is prepared before the construction phase begins. The plan outlines the health and safety arrangements, site rules and specific measures concerning any work involving the particular risks identified. The principal designer must assist the principal contractor in preparing the construction phase plan by providing him with the all relevant information including pre-construction information obtained from the client and any information obtained from the designers. Throughout the project the principal contractor must ensure the construction phase plan is consistently reviewed, updated and revised to ensure construction work is carried out without risks to health or safety. For single contractor projects, the contractor must ensure the plan is prepared. For projects involving more than one contractor, it is the principal contractors duty.

And finally, the Health and Safety File: The health and safety file is only required for project with more than one contractor and it is a very important document that forms part of the contract documents between the client and contractor. The client must ensure that the principal designer prepares a health and safety file and its purpose is to ensure that at the end of the project, the client has the required information for anyone in the future carrying out subsequent construction work on the building will need to know about in order to be able to plan and carry out the work safely and without risks to health.

To ensure that an appropriate health and safety file is produced at the end of the project the client must:
• Provide the principal designer with and existing file produced as part of an earlier project so the information contained can be used to plan the pre-construction phase of the current project
 • Ensure the principal designer prepares a new file
• Ensure the principal designer reviews and refuses the file regularly and passes the completed file back at the end of the project
• Ensure the file is handed to the principal contractor if the principal designers appointment finishes before the end of the project
• Ensure the file is kept available for anyone who needs to comply with relevant legal requirements
• Pass the file to whoever take over the building and takes on the client duties if the client decides to dispose of their interest in it Additionally, the principal contractor must provide the principal designer with any information in his/hers possession relevant to the health and safety file for inclusion.

Health and safety files typical consists of:
• Brief description of the work carried out
• Any hazards not eliminated through the design and construction processes, and how they have been addressed (e.g through surveys concerting asbestos or contaminated land)
• Key structural principles (e.g bracing, tensions members, etc.) and safety working loads for floors and roofs
• Hazardous materials used
• Information regarding removal or dismantling of installed plant and equipment
• Health and Safety information about equipment provided for cleaning or painting the structure
• Nature, location and markings of significant services (e.g underground cables, gas supply, fire-fighting services, etc.)
• Information and as-built drawings of the building, its plant and equipment (e.g means of safe access, etc.) So to briefly summarise what I just went through, CDM is a legal requirements for any construction or building work being carried out. There are a number of duties holders that need to follow the requirements by CDM which include the client, being the key individual, the principal designer, the principal contractor, designers, contractors and workers. Clients can be either commercial or domestic. Domestic clients usually have their duties carried out by other duty holders.

The pre-construction information is the clients duty but can have assistance from the principal designer if the project has more than one contractor. The construction phase plan has to be carried out by the principal contractor before any works begin and the client has to make sure this has been carried out. On a domestic project the contractor carries out the construction phase plan. And the health and safety file is compiled by the principal designer with input from the client and contractor and has to be handed over to however will be using the building at the end of construction for their records in terms of the logistics of the building.

If you would like to get in contact with me please feel free to email me on the address provided in the show notes. Thank you for listening, this is an educational show aimed at supporting the future generation of architects. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. Please join me next week, for some more Part 3 with me time.