Topic: CDM

CDM client brief: what should it include?

A client brief is a practical way for a construction client to set out what the project needs to achieve, how it is expected to be managed and the standards the project team is expected to work to. CDM 2015 does not prescribe a separate document called a ‘client brief’. However, HSE guidance says clients could prepare a clear client’s brief as a way of communicating their management arrangements to other duty holders.

Published 18 September 2026
9 min read

What is a CDM client brief?

A CDM client brief is an early project document or set of information prepared by or on behalf of the client to explain what the client needs from the project and how the project should be managed.

HSE’s L153 guidance says the brief normally sets out the main function and operational requirements of the finished project, outlines how the project is expected to be managed including its health and safety risks, sets a realistic timeframe and budget, and covers other relevant matters such as design direction and a single point of contact in the client’s organisation. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction: paragraphs 31 to 34 set out suitable client arrangements and explain that clients could prepare a clear client’s brief as a way of setting them out, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Is a client brief legally required under CDM 2015?

CDM 2015 does not contain a requirement to produce a document with the title ‘client brief’.

The legal duty is for the client to make suitable arrangements for managing the project, including allocating sufficient time and other resources, and to maintain and review those arrangements throughout the project. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects: making suitable arrangements for managing a project including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources, ensuring those arrangements are maintained and reviewed throughout the project, and providing pre-construction information as soon as is practicable to every designer and contractor appointed or being considered for appointment (opens in a new tab)

HSE guidance presents the client brief as one practical way for the client to communicate those arrangements clearly to the project team. HSE client-role training guidance: CDM: the role of the client — the health and safety considerations, expectations and management arrangements a client has to make for a project, and how these can be communicated through things like a client’s brief (opens in a new tab)

When should the client brief be prepared?

The brief should be developed as early as possible, ideally while the project is still being defined and before key appointments and design decisions are fixed. HSE client guidance, INDG411: Need building work done? A short guide for clients: putting together a client brief at the earliest stages, including as much information as the client has about the project along with the timescales and budget and how the project is expected to be managed, PDF (opens in a new tab)

An early brief gives designers, the Principal Designer and contractors a clearer basis for planning, budgeting and identifying missing information. It can then be reviewed and updated as the project develops.

Who should prepare the client brief?

The client owns the project requirements and management arrangements, so the brief should remain a client document even where others help prepare it. HSE commercial client guidance: commercial clients: roles and responsibilities, including making suitable arrangements for managing the project and maintaining and reviewing those arrangements for its duration (opens in a new tab)

HSE guidance notes that the Principal Designer should be in a position to help the client make suitable arrangements where support is needed. A client may also use competent health and safety or project advisers, but that support does not transfer the client’s duties. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction: paragraphs 31 to 34 set out suitable client arrangements and explain that clients could prepare a clear client’s brief as a way of setting them out, PDF (opens in a new tab)

What should a CDM client brief include?

The level of detail should be proportionate to the size, complexity and risk of the project. A useful brief will usually cover the following.

1. Project purpose and operational requirements

What is being built, altered, maintained or demolished.
Why the project is being undertaken.
The intended use of the finished asset.
Key operational or business requirements.
Any requirements that affect future maintenance, access or use.

2. Scope and project boundaries

The overall scope of work.
What is included and excluded.
Interfaces with existing operations, tenants, public areas or other projects.
Known constraints that may affect design or construction.

3. Programme and key dates

Target design and construction dates.
Any fixed operational or commercial deadlines.
Phasing or sectional completion requirements.
Time needed for surveys, design development, approvals, mobilisation and handover.

4. Budget and resources

The project budget or relevant cost constraints.
Any allowances needed for surveys, temporary works, access, welfare, design development or specialist input.
The client’s expectations around adequate time and resources for managing health and safety.

5. Project-management arrangements

How decisions will be made and approved.
Who represents the client and who the single point of contact is.
How changes will be controlled.
How project meetings, reporting and escalation will work.
How the client expects duty holders to cooperate and coordinate.

6. Health and safety expectations

The client’s expected standards of health and safety performance.
Any project-specific rules, constraints or organisational requirements.
How significant health and safety issues should be escalated.
How recurring concerns or corrective actions will be followed up.
How the client will obtain proportionate assurance that project arrangements are working.

7. Design direction and foreseeable risks

The client’s priorities for design, operation, maintenance and buildability.
Known operational constraints that designers need to consider.
Expectations for eliminating or reducing foreseeable risks through design.
Requirements for communicating significant residual risks and design decisions.

8. Project information and surveys

What information the client already holds.
Existing health and safety file information where relevant.
Known asbestos, services, structure, access or site constraints.
Surveys already completed and surveys still required.
How missing information will be obtained and shared.

9. Appointments and project-team expectations

Which roles will be appointed and by when.
The expected scope of the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor appointments.
Any project-specific capability or resource expectations.
How responsibilities and interfaces will be communicated.

10. Handover and completion requirements

Commissioning and handover expectations.
Health and safety file requirements.
Operating and maintenance information.
Training or familiarisation needed for the end user.
How outstanding actions and information will be closed before completion.

Client brief vs pre-construction information

The client brief and pre-construction information are related, but they are not the same thing.

The client brief explains what the client wants from the project and how the project is expected to be managed. Pre-construction information provides the health and safety information needed by designers and contractors to carry out their duties.

HSE guidance specifically identifies the client brief as one type of project information that can form part of the wider pre-construction information package. HSE L153 guidance, Appendix 2: pre-construction information: complete pre-construction information must include proportionate information about the project, such as the client brief and key dates of the construction phase, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Client brief vs construction phase plan

The client brief is prepared from the client’s perspective and begins at the front end of the project.

The construction phase plan is prepared for the construction phase by the Principal Contractor, or by the contractor on a single-contractor project. It sets out the health and safety arrangements, site rules and specific measures needed to manage construction work.

The two should align: the construction phase plan should reflect relevant client requirements and project information, but it is not simply a copy of the client brief.

Client brief vs project brief

Different organisations use terms such as project brief, employer’s requirements, scope document and client brief in different ways.

The title matters less than the content. If an existing project brief already sets out the project’s operational requirements, programme, budget, management arrangements and health and safety expectations clearly, there may be no benefit in creating a duplicate document purely to call it a ‘CDM client brief’.

How detailed should the brief be?

The brief should be proportionate.

A small, straightforward project may only need a concise document or clearly structured set of information. A complex programme with multiple design disciplines, operational interfaces and significant hazards may need a much more detailed brief. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction: paragraphs 31 to 34 set out suitable client arrangements and explain that clients could prepare a clear client’s brief as a way of setting them out, PDF (opens in a new tab)

More pages do not automatically mean better arrangements. The brief should be clear enough for the project team to understand the client’s requirements and act on them.

Should the Principal Designer review the client brief?

Yes, in practice the Principal Designer should understand the client’s requirements because those requirements influence design management and pre-construction coordination.

HSE guidance also says the Principal Designer should be in a position to help the client make suitable project arrangements where support is needed. That does not make the Principal Designer the owner of the client brief. HSE L153 guidance: Managing health and safety in construction: paragraphs 31 to 34 set out suitable client arrangements and explain that clients could prepare a clear client’s brief as a way of setting them out, PDF (opens in a new tab)

Should the client brief be updated?

Yes, where material project requirements or management arrangements change.

The client has to maintain and review the arrangements for managing the project. If programme, scope, budget, operational constraints, project team or risk profile changes materially, the brief and related project information should be reviewed so the project team is working from current information. Read Regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk: client duties in relation to managing projects: making suitable arrangements for managing a project including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources, ensuring those arrangements are maintained and reviewed throughout the project, and providing pre-construction information as soon as is practicable to every designer and contractor appointed or being considered for appointment (opens in a new tab)

What makes a poor client brief?

A design wish list with no management expectations

The brief describes the finished asset but says nothing about programme, resources, responsibilities or health and safety arrangements.

Unrealistic programme assumptions

The project is given dates that leave insufficient time for surveys, design development, coordination or mobilisation.

Generic health and safety wording

Statements such as ‘comply with all legislation’ add little unless project-specific expectations and constraints are also explained.

No clear client representative

The project team does not know who can make decisions or resolve conflicting client requirements.

Known information is missing

Existing surveys, health and safety file information or known constraints are not made available early enough.

The brief is never revisited

Significant project changes occur but the client requirements and management arrangements are not updated.

Duplicating other documents

A second document is created purely for CDM even though the required information already exists clearly elsewhere.

CDM client brief checklist

Project purpose and finished-asset requirements are clear.
Scope and boundaries are defined.
Key programme dates are realistic.
Sufficient time and resources are considered.
Client decision-makers and points of contact are named.
Project-management, reporting and escalation arrangements are clear.
Health and safety expectations are proportionate and project-specific.
Known site, asset and operational constraints are identified.
Existing information and outstanding survey needs are identified.
PD / PC appointment expectations and timing are clear where applicable.
Design, construction, operation and maintenance considerations are connected.
Handover and health and safety file expectations are clear.
The brief can be updated if material project arrangements change.

Example client brief structure

Example client brief structure, showing each section, what to include in it and an example prompt the client can answer
Section	What to include	Example prompt
Project overview	Purpose, scope, operational requirements	What must the finished project enable the client to do?
Programme	Key dates, phasing, approvals, handover	Are the proposed dates realistic for design, surveys and mobilisation?
Budget / resources	Relevant cost constraints and resource assumptions	Has adequate allowance been made for health and safety-critical activities?
Management	Client contact, governance, decision-making and escalation	Who can make decisions and how quickly can issues be escalated?
Health and safety	Project standards, known risks and assurance expectations	What project-specific standards or constraints must the team understand?
Information	Existing surveys, files, records and gaps	What does the client already know and what still needs to be obtained?
Design	Design direction, maintenance, buildability and residual-risk expectations	What should designers prioritise when resolving foreseeable risks?
Completion	Commissioning, H&S file, O&M information and outstanding actions	What information must be complete before handover?

Frequently asked questions

Is a CDM client brief mandatory?
CDM 2015 does not prescribe a document called a client brief. HSE guidance recommends it as a practical way for clients to communicate their project-management arrangements and expectations.
Who writes the client brief?
The client should own it. The Principal Designer or another competent adviser may help develop it, but that support does not transfer the client’s duties.
What should a client brief contain?
It should normally explain the project’s purpose and operational requirements, programme, budget, management arrangements, design direction, health and safety expectations, key information and relevant client contacts.
Is the client brief part of pre-construction information?
It can form part of the wider pre-construction information package. HSE guidance identifies the client brief as one type of project information relevant to PCI.
Is a client brief the same as a construction phase plan?
No. The client brief sets the client’s project requirements and management expectations; the construction phase plan sets the arrangements for managing the construction phase.
Do I need a separate CDM client brief if I already have a project brief?
Not necessarily. If the existing project brief already contains the relevant information clearly and is communicated to the duty holders who need it, duplicating it purely for CDM may add little value.
Should a client brief be updated during the project?
Yes, where material changes affect the client’s requirements or the arrangements for managing the project.
Can the Principal Designer prepare the client brief for the client?
The Principal Designer can help the client develop suitable arrangements and may support preparation of the brief, but the client remains responsible for its own duties and project requirements.

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