Can you advise us on our CDM duties?

Yes, from direct experience of the coordination role itself, not just the guidance. We were registered planning supervisors under the original CDM and CDM coordinators under the 2007 regulations, and we advise clients, principal contractors and contractors on the current regime, including how the Building Safety Act changes what is expected of duty holders.

A client needs us CHAS or SSIP accredited before we can start. How fast can it happen?

Tell us the deadline and we will tell you straight whether it can be met. We run the whole process, gap analysis, documentation, submission, and accreditation support is one of the few things we price fixed, so you know the cost before you commit.

Do we need to notify HSE about our construction project?

Yes, if the construction work is expected to last more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers working at the same time, or to exceed 500 person days. The client is responsible for notification, usually using form F10, though another duty holder can submit it on the client's behalf.

What is the difference between a CDM principal designer and a Building Regulations principal designer?

The CDM principal designer manages health and safety risk in the pre-construction phase. The Building Regulations principal designer, introduced from October 2023 following the Building Safety Act, is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring design work so that it complies with building regulations. One organisation can hold both roles, but each has its own duties and competence requirements.

Construction & CDM Health & Safety Consultant

Q: Does CDM apply to domestic projects?

Yes. Domestic clients have duties under CDM 2015, but those duties transfer automatically to the contractor, or to the principal contractor where there is more than one contractor. The domestic client can instead agree in writing for the principal designer to take them on.

We have been in construction long enough to have held the statutory coordination role under every generation of the regulations: registered planning supervisor under the original CDM, then CDM coordinator when the regime changed, and formerly a Registered Member of the Association for Project Safety. The work has run from large domestic builds to commercial projects, major refurbishments and demolition, including multi-storey student accommodation at Bradford University and refinery works, across Bradford, Leeds, York and the wider West Yorkshire region. That history now feeds directly into supporting clients with the Building Safety Act and its requirements.

What a construction health and safety consultant covers

Construction law expects every duty holder to understand their own role and to cooperate with everyone else on the project. In practice most clients do not know what CDM asks of them, and most contractors are juggling site work, paperwork and accreditation renewals at the same time. A construction health and safety consultant fills that gap: someone who knows the regulations from the inside, writes the documents once and properly, and stands behind them when the site is visited.

Who are the five main duty holders under CDM?

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 place duties on the client, the principal designer, the designers, the principal contractor and the contractors, with duties on workers too. Where more than one contractor will work on a project, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing.

Each role has a defined job. The principal designer plans, manages and monitors the pre-construction phase and coordinates health and safety in design. The principal contractor plans, manages and monitors the construction phase and coordinates the contractors. Designers eliminate or reduce foreseeable risk in what they design. Contractors plan and carry out their own work safely. Problems usually start where one duty holder assumes another has it covered.

CDM client duties

The client sets the tone for the whole project. CDM requires the client to make suitable arrangements for managing the project, allow enough time and resources, provide pre-construction information, make sure a construction phase plan is in place before work starts, make sure welfare facilities are provided, and make sure the health and safety file is prepared and kept.

A project must be notified to HSE where construction work will last more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers working at the same time, or will exceed 500 person days. Domestic clients have duties too, but they pass automatically to the contractor, or to the principal contractor where there is more than one. We advise clients on exactly what they must do, and put the arrangements in writing so the project can show it.

Principal designer duties and the Building Safety Act

Since October 2023 there are two principal designer roles. The CDM principal designer manages health and safety in the pre-construction phase. Under the Building Regulations, as amended following the Building Safety Act 2022, there is also a principal designer and principal contractor responsible for compliance with building regulations, with new competence requirements for everyone who carries out design or building work. The same organisation often holds both roles, but they are different duties.

Higher-risk buildings, broadly those at least 18 metres or seven storeys high with at least two residential units, now go through the Building Safety Regulator's gateway process. Having held the statutory coordination role under every generation of CDM, we help duty holders understand where the new regime changes what they must evidence.

Construction phase plans, RAMS and site documents

A construction phase plan should describe how this project will be managed, not reproduce a generic manual. We write plans proportionate to the work, with risk assessments and method statements for the activities that carry real risk, site rules, induction content and the arrangements for welfare that CDM Schedule 2 requires.

The test is simple: could a supervisor pick it up on site and use it? If not, it is paperwork rather than a plan, and it will not help anyone when an inspector or an insurer asks how the work was controlled.

Refurbishment, demolition and asbestos

Refurbishment and demolition carry the sector's highest consequence risks: structural instability, falls through fragile surfaces, temporary works and hidden asbestos. CDM requires demolition and dismantling to be planned and recorded in writing before the work starts, and the asbestos regulations mean the presence of asbestos must be established before refurbishment or demolition disturbs the fabric of a building.

Our experience runs from large domestic builds to major refurbishments, multi-storey student accommodation and industrial and refinery works. That is where generic paperwork fails first, and where planning by someone who has done it pays back.

Work at height, excavations and plant

Falls from height remain the biggest cause of fatal injury in construction. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work at height to be avoided where possible, planned, supervised and carried out with suitable equipment that is inspected. Excavations need to be supported or battered to prevent collapse, and inspected by a competent person, and lifting operations need to be planned under LOLER.

We check that the plan on paper matches the scaffold, the excavation and the plant movements on site, because that gap is where incidents happen.

CHAS, SSIP and Constructionline accreditation

Many clients will not let a contractor start without CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline or another scheme in the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) family. The assessments ask for a policy, risk assessments, training records, accident reporting arrangements and evidence of competent advice.

We run the process from gap analysis to submission, usually against a deadline that is already ticking, and accreditation support is one of the few things we price fixed.

Where we work

Our construction work has covered Bradford, Leeds, York and the wider West Yorkshire region, and we support clients across the UK. You deal with one chartered practitioner, Martin Maran CMIOSH, OSHCR registered, with hands on planning supervisor and CDM coordinator (CDMC) experience across every generation of the CDM regulations.

Health and safety in construction.