The Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM) (replacing the 2007 regulations) fall under the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places individual legal duties on those involved in activities defined within Part 1 of the regulations, including contractors, designers and clients.

The basic tenets of the regulations is to set standards and influence how the project work is to be carried out without risks to long-term health and safety of personnel working on site along with their working conditions. Failure to do so could lead to prosecution, fines and penalties.

In effect the 2015 CDM regulations aim to ensure that health & safety is an integral part of a construction projects planning and is not an ad-hoc process added on as the project progresses.

A project is notifiable if the construction phase is likely to involve more than 30 working days; or 500 person days of construction work for a client. The interpretation of days is taken to mean any day on which work is to be carried out including holidays and weekends. The regulation 2 defines Construction Work covered under the act and extends to some areas of work to domestic properties.

As you would expect with this kind of government legislation the 2015 CDM regulations are vast and complicated but, with those involved in the project having a legal duty to conform to the regulations, they need to be met and seriously considered when planning any construction project.

Central to the regulations is the appointment of a CDM co-ordinator. The regulations state that, "the client must appoint a competent, adequately resourced CDM co-ordinator as early as possible, and before initial design work or other preparations for construction work have been completed.”

As can be seen from the above the role of CDM co-ordinator is hugely important to ensure that the construction project meets all the requirements of The Construction Design and Management Regulations. In fact the project cannot go forward with a CDM co-ordinator.

Delaney Marling Partnership has extensive experience in the CDM co-ordinator role and use that experience and industry knowledge to ensure that a project meets all the requirements of the legislation.

The Construction Design and Management Regulations are a dense piece of legislation but the expertise of DMP will ensure that they are not a barrier to the successful planning and completion of your construction project.