Principal Designer Role – What is it and if I take it on can I pass it down the supply chain?

Sheena Sood
30 July 2015

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Health and Safety

Sheena Sood takes a look at the CDM Regulations 2015 and says you’d be very unwise to pass the role on in full.

The CDM Regulations 2015 are the topic of much debate.  One of the key changes was the requirement for a “principal designer” instead of the CDM Co-ordinator. 

The principal designer must be:

• appointed by the client;
• a designer; and
• in control of the pre-construction phase.

The principal designer must have a central role in the design team.  The Regulations do not elaborate on  what is meant by “control” but in our view the principal designer will need the ability to co-ordinate the design team (even if only in relation to health and safety). 

"If you take on the principal designer role you should be prepared to fulfil all the duties of a principal designer.  In our view, having a sub-consultant perform the full role is inconsistent with the regulations" 

The guidance to the regulations issued by the HSE and the CONIAC makes clear that the principal designer must have experience of the design process and of managing health and safety risks in design.  It seems clear that a designer without experience of advising in relation to health and safety risk cannot be a principal designer.  Similarly, a former CDM Co-ordinator, without experience of managing a design team, is unlikely to have sufficient skills and experience to be a principal designer.

Can I just pass the role on to a sub-consultant?

Many principal designers are attempting to pass on the role to a sub-consultant.  There are significant risks associated with this.  Whilst, in the event the sub-consultant causes a breach by the principal designer of its duties, the principal designer may be entitled to pursue the sub-consultant for civil liability, the principal designer retains the statutory role.  This approach places the risk of your company being criminally prosecuted in the hands of the sub-consultant.  

This does not mean that the principal designer should not engage third parties as “advisors”.  However, if you take on the principal designer role you should be prepared to fulfil all the duties of a principal designer.  In our view, having a sub-consultant perform the full role is inconsistent with the regulations (they are not appointed by the client and are unlikely to have control over the pre-construction phase (as the principal designer has control over them)).

The competency requirements under the CDM Regulations 2015 should also be taken into account.  Any principal designer must have the “skills, knowledge and experience and….the organisational capability” to carry out the role.  Is engaging a sub-consultant sufficient to mean that a principal designer complies with these requirements?  This is not clear from the regulations.

As highlighted above, those sub-contracting the principal designer role (or taking on a sub-consultancy appointment from a principal designer) should consider this very carefully and, in our view,  the role should not be passed on in full.

Sheena Sood is a partner at Beale & Company