Free Principal Designer Duties Checklist

Principal Designer Duties Checklist FAQs

• Is this Principal Designer Duties Checklist free?

  Yes. It is free to download, with no sign-up and no email address needed. Select Download the Word checklist and the file downloads straight away.

• What format is the checklist?

  A Microsoft Word document (.docx) of 10 A4 pages, with no macros. It has project details on the first page, a project and role set-up page, eleven numbered duty sections, a practical final review, an outstanding Principal Designer actions table and a completed / reviewed record. Each prompt is a Word content control, and each check has tick boxes for Done (or Reviewed / current) and N/A with space for the evidence, reference or action. The document is not locked, so it can be adapted, printed, or saved as a PDF once completed.

• What are the Principal Designer’s main duties under CDM 2015?

  To plan, manage and monitor the pre-construction phase and coordinate health and safety matters during it (regulation 11 (opens in a new tab)). That includes identifying and eliminating or controlling foreseeable risks, ensuring designers comply with their duties, ensuring cooperation, assisting the client with Pre-Construction Information and liaising with the Principal Contractor, as well as providing information for the Construction Phase Plan and preparing the Health and Safety File (regulation 12 (opens in a new tab)).

• When is a Principal Designer required?

  Where more than one contractor will work on the project, or it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will work on it (regulation 5 (opens in a new tab)). Where only one contractor is involved, Regulation 5 does not require a Principal Designer appointment for that reason; designers still have their own duties under Regulation 9.

• Who appoints the Principal Designer?

  The client, in writing, as soon as practicable and before the construction phase begins (regulation 5 (opens in a new tab)). If a client required to appoint a Principal Designer does not do so, the client must fulfil the Principal Designer’s duties itself. If a domestic client does not make the appointment, the designer in control of the pre-construction phase is the Principal Designer (regulation 7(2) (opens in a new tab)). The Principal Designer Appointment Letter can be used to record the appointment.

• Who can act as Principal Designer?

  A designer with control over the pre-construction phase, which can be an organisation or, on smaller projects, an individual. It does not automatically have to be the architect or the designer producing the most drawings, and it must have the skills, knowledge, experience and, for an organisation, the organisational capability for the role (regulation 8 (opens in a new tab)). See who can be a Principal Designer.

• Does the Principal Designer have to approve every design?

  No. CDM 2015 does not create a universal requirement for the Principal Designer to technically approve or sign off every design or check every designer’s calculations. The Principal Designer must ensure designers comply with their CDM duties and coordinate health and safety during the pre-construction phase. Projects may use technical design reviews or approvals for separate contractual or professional reasons.

• Is a Design Risk Register legally required?

  No particular Design Risk Register format is prescribed by CDM 2015, and neither is a particular design risk assessment form or risk matrix. A register can still be a useful project tool where it supports proportionate design-risk management, coordination and communication: see the Design Risk Register Template.

• What does the Principal Designer do with Pre-Construction Information?

  The client is responsible for providing it. The Principal Designer must assist the client and, so far as it is within its control, provide Pre-Construction Information promptly and in a convenient form to every designer and contractor appointed, or being considered for appointment (regulation 11(6) (opens in a new tab)). The Pre-Construction Information Template gives a structure for it.

• What information does the Principal Designer provide for the Construction Phase Plan?

  All the information it holds that is relevant to the plan, including Pre-Construction Information obtained from the client and information obtained from designers about risks they could not eliminate (regulation 12(3) (opens in a new tab)). The Principal Contractor draws up the plan, or arranges for it to be drawn up.

• Who prepares the Health and Safety File?

  On a project with a Principal Designer, the Principal Designer prepares it during the pre-construction phase and keeps it reviewed, updated and revised (regulation 12(5) and (6) (opens in a new tab)). The Principal Contractor provides relevant information for it. At the end of the project, the Principal Designer passes the file to the client.

• What happens if the Principal Designer’s appointment ends before the project is complete?

  The Principal Designer must pass the Health and Safety File to the Principal Contractor, which must then keep it reviewed, updated and revised and pass it to the client at the end of the project (regulation 12(8)⁠–⁠(10) (opens in a new tab)).

• Can the Principal Designer also carry out design work?

  Yes. The Principal Designer is a designer. Where it prepares or modifies designs, its own duties under regulation 9 (opens in a new tab) apply in addition to its Principal Designer duties. Section 9 of the checklist is a short reminder of them.

• Is the CDM Principal Designer the same as the Building Regulations Principal Designer?

  No. In England, the Principal Designer under the Building Regulations (regulation 11D (opens in a new tab)) is a legally distinct role with separate duties, even where the same organisation holds both appointments. This checklist covers the CDM 2015 role only.