Design Health & Safety

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM Regulations) are intended to ensure that health and safety issues are properly considered during a project’s development so that the risk of harm to those who have to build, use and maintain structures is reduced.

The current CDM Regulations requires the role of a Principal Designer (PD) to be appointed in virtually all construction projects. The Principal Designer has responsibility for the co-ordination of health and safety during the pre-construction phase. 

The role of Principal Designer can be an organisation or an individual with sufficient knowledge, experience and ability to carry out the role. This may be combined with other roles on the project, such as Project Manager or lead designer.

With our background in building surveying, our principal designers understand the conflict that can often present itself between innovative and bold design, and ensuring compliance with health and safety criteria. This can be particularly true in relation to the maintenance and use of a building in the future. In these circumstances, we use our experience, knowledge and expertise to help develop practical solutions to complex health and safety problems at the design stage. 

This pragmatic approach means bold architectural designs can still flourish, but safe in the knowledge that we will have design health and safety issues covered.