6 October 2015 is the end of the transition period under the 2015 CDM Regulations. See our previous post for more information about the changes. The big issue that the experts have been considering since the Regulations came into force in April 2015 is which of the various professionals engaged in health and safety on construction sites can fulfil the role of principal designer under the new Regulations. Sadly the guidance from the HSE has not made that clear.
What makes the appointment of principal designers difficult is the definition of principal designer captures anyone who prepares or instructs design in the course of its business but they have to be "in control" of the pre-construction period. A company cannot act as principal designer where they were not involved in the project design and multiple disciplinary practices cannot be appointed as principal designer unless their design function has been involved within the relevant project. Our construction team have written a more detailed alert on the issue which can be found here.
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