Blank paper sheets pinned on a site board beside a building under demolition

What the CDM Regulations mean for Bristol owners

7 min read
Rules and permits
Owners who commission a demolition hold duties under CDM 2015 even when a contractor runs the site. This guide sets out who does what and how domestic clients can pass duties on.

Many owners commissioning demolition in Bristol have never heard of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, usually called CDM. Yet the regulations apply to almost every demolition project, and they give the client, which is the person commissioning the work, specific duties. A business client cannot hand those duties to someone else, whereas a homeowner's client duties pass to the contractor automatically. This guide explains who does what under CDM, what the client must do and how the duties change when the client is a homeowner rather than a business.

What CDM is and why it applies to demolition

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set out the health and safety duties for construction work in Great Britain, and demolition is covered as construction work. The regulations as made on legislation.gov.uk apply to projects of any size, although the detail of what is required depends on how many contractors are involved and how long the work will take.

The Health and Safety Executive publishes practical guidance on CDM 2015 for demolition, and the central idea is simple. The client sets the framework within which the work is carried out, and the people who design and carry out the work must manage the risks they create. The client's role is therefore not a formality. It shapes the information, the time and the money available to the rest of the project.

The client's core duties

The HSE's guidance on demolition makes clear that the client must appoint contractors and designers with relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The client must also provide information that is needed for the work to be planned safely, and the most important item in demolition is a survey of the structure and its materials. The HSE states that as the client you must give your contractor a refurbishment or demolition survey that has been carried out by a competent surveyor, and that you can share the survey with every contractor on the job.

Engineering input is expected at the award stage too, because the client should consult a competent demolition engineer before a contract is let. These are not optional extras, although they rest on different footing. The survey is backed by law, because the asbestos regulations require whoever does the work to identify asbestos before demolition begins, while the engineering advice is HSE guidance rather than a statutory duty in itself. An owner who awards a demolition contract without either has not followed HSE's advice, whatever the size of the building.

Roles of the principal designer and principal contractor

On a project with more than one contractor, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor. The principal designer plans and manages health and safety in the pre-construction phase, which means the period before demolition begins. The principal contractor plans and manages health and safety during the demolition itself. The HSE guidance describes these roles in those terms, and it notes that site managers must ensure that workers are supervised and following safe working practice.

For a small Bristol job that involves one contractor, the roles may be combined in the same firm. The key point is that someone must hold each role and the owner should be able to name them. A quote that does not say who will act as principal contractor is incomplete.

Domestic clients and the duties they can pass on

A homeowner is a domestic client, and the regulations give domestic clients a particular position. The HSE's guidance on principal contractors explains that when working for a domestic client, the principal contractor will normally take on the client duties as well as their own. If a domestic client does not appoint a principal contractor, the role must be carried out by the contractor in control of the construction phase.

The domestic client can also ask the principal designer to take on the client duties, although the guidance says this must be confirmed in a written agreement. For a Bristol homeowner, the practical consequence is that the contract should state, in writing, who holds the client duties. Without that statement, the default arrangements apply, and the owner may not realise which party is responsible for what.

Construction phase plan and welfare

Every project covered by the regulations needs a construction phase plan before the construction phase begins. Where a project involves more than one contractor, the principal contractor prepares it, and where there is only one contractor, that contractor does. The plan sets out how the work will be carried out safely, including the arrangements for exclusion zones, traffic, services and the handling of hazardous materials. The owner does not need to write the plan, but should be able to see that one exists and that it describes the building in front of the contractor.

Welfare provision is the other part of the site arrangements that the principal contractor must address. Workers need toilets, washing facilities, drinking water and somewhere to eat and rest. A demolition site that lacks these arrangements is likely to have wider problems, and an owner should be able to see the welfare plan in the method statement.

Notification and when the rules change

Some demolition projects must be notified to the Health and Safety Executive before work starts. The thresholds depend on the duration of the work and the number of workers, and the notification is made on a form known as the F10. The guide to whether your job needs an F10 explains which projects fall within that duty and why most domestic jobs do not.

What this means for a Bristol owner

For a Bristol owner, CDM comes down to three practical steps. The first is to commission a survey from a competent surveyor and to share it with every firm that quotes. The second is to appoint a contractor with the skills, knowledge and experience the HSE describes, and to ask who will hold each CDM role. The third is to confirm in writing who carries the client duties, particularly if the owner is a householder who wants the contractor to carry them.

Once those steps are in place, the rest of the CDM framework runs largely through the contractor. The owner's role is to make sure the framework was set up properly at the start. Owners who want to know what else a quote should state can read the guide to what a demolition quote should cover, and the commercial demolition service and residential demolition service show the kind of work these duties apply to. Where the building lies in a designated area, the conservation area rules guide is the next thing to read, and quotes can be requested through the quote request page.

A short checklist for the client

A client who wants to meet the duties without becoming an expert can work through a short checklist. Has a competent surveyor produced a demolition or refurbishment survey, and has it been given to each firm? Has the owner asked each firm who will be principal contractor and who will be principal designer? Is there a written statement of who holds the client duties, particularly if the owner is a householder? Has the owner seen the construction phase plan or the method statement that describes the work? Are the welfare arrangements for the workers described in writing?

If the answer to any question is no, the owner should resolve it before the start date. Most of these gaps are simple to close, but they are much harder to close once machines are on site and the programme is moving.

Keeping copies of the answers in one file, alongside the contract and the insurance certificates, gives the owner a single record to show if questions arise later.

Owners who are unsure whether their project falls within the notification rules, or whether the client duties sit with the contractor, should put the question in writing before signing. The answer is part of the contract and should be read alongside the scope note sent with the quote request, so that the arrangements are recorded in one place.