CDM 2007: What Clients of Building Work Had to Do

by | Apr 6, 2007 | Contract Administration and Major Works, Regulation and Compliance

For anyone commissioning building work as a business, a landlord, or a residents’ management company, April 2007 brought new legal duties. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 came into force on 6 April 2007, replacing the 1994 Regulations. The aim was to make health and safety part of how projects are planned and run, rather than paperwork added at the end.

Duties for every client

Domestic clients, having work done to their own home, are outside the client duties. For everyone else, on every project:

  • check that the designers and contractors you appoint are competent for the work
  • make sure suitable management arrangements are in place, including enough time and resources
  • provide the information you hold about the building, such as existing drawings, surveys and asbestos records
  • make sure welfare facilities are available on site

Notifiable projects

A project is notifiable if construction is likely to last more than 30 days or involve more than 500 person days of work. On those projects the client must also:

  1. appoint a CDM coordinator early, once initial design work begins. This new role replaced the planning supervisor.
  2. appoint a principal contractor.
  3. not allow construction to start until the principal contractor has prepared a suitable construction phase plan.
  4. keep the health and safety file at the end of the project and make it available for future work.

The client’s responsibility for these arrangements cannot be passed to an agent. An adviser can do much of the work, but the client remains accountable.

What this means in practice

For a landlord replacing a roof or a management company planning external redecoration of a block, CDM 2007 means thinking earlier. Pre construction information needs to be gathered before tendering, competence needs to be checked as part of contractor selection, and realistic programme time must be allowed. Projects that start in a rush are the ones where these duties are most often missed.

How we help

We set projects up properly from the start: surveys, specifications, information for tenderers, contractor selection and administration of the contract on site. See our Contract Administration and Major Works services, and how we took 26 apartments from tender to final account.