For architects, designers and engineers
Keep the design. Hand us the CDM principal designer role.
ClearCDM takes the statutory CDM 2015 principal designer appointment as a standalone service, appointed directly by your client. You keep the design appointment and the client relationship. Your involvement is one short form per project.
Why this page exists
Because on a domestic project, excluding the principal designer role from a fee proposal does not put it anywhere else. Regulation 7(2) of CDM 2015 says that where a domestic client fails to make the appointments required by regulation 5, the designer in control of the pre-construction phase is the principal designer. Not the designer who agreed to be. The one in control of the phase.
The position, stated carefully
Regulation 7(2): if a domestic client fails to make the appointments required by regulation 5, the designer in control of the pre-construction phase of the project is the principal designer, and the contractor in control of the construction phase of the project is the principal contractor.
HSE says the same thing in ordinary words on its principal designers page: on a domestic client project where the client does not appoint a principal designer, the role must be carried out by the designer in control of the pre-construction phase.
A contractual exclusion between you and your client is worth having. It is honest, it makes the fee proposal accurate, and it records that you did not agree to do the work for a fee. What it does not do is change how regulation 7(2) allocates the role, because that regulation allocates by reference to control of the pre-construction phase rather than by reference to a private contract. The thing that actually moves the role is the client appointing somebody else.
This is a general explanation of how the regulations are structured, not legal advice about your appointment or your terms. How we write this.
What we take on, and what stays with you
| Task | ClearCDM | You |
|---|---|---|
| Designing out risk in your own design | No | Yes, regulation 9(2) |
| Telling somebody the risks you could not design out | We collect them | Yes, regulation 9(3) |
| Coordinating between designers | Yes, regulation 11(4) and 11(5) | Cooperate |
| Assembling and issuing the pre-construction information | Yes, regulation 11(6) | Contribute your part |
| Chasing the client for surveys and records | Yes | No |
| Liaising with the principal contractor | Yes, regulation 11(7) | No |
| The health and safety file | Yes, regulation 12(5) | Provide information for it |
| The Building Regulations principal designer role | No, we do not provide it | Usually sits with whoever leads the design |
To be explicit about the first row: appointing us does not reduce your own designer duties and is not meant to. Why regulation 9 does not transfer.
Why practices place the role externally
- The practice has no internal system for collecting and holding design risk information across a project, and building one is a bigger job than it looks.
- The insurance position treats it as a distinct service rather than as part of design.
- The practice would rather not add scope to an appointment it has already priced.
- The administration is the real cost: chasing surveys, holding a register, issuing a pack, and carrying a health and safety file to the end of a job.
- An independent specialist coordinating the design risks is a cleaner position than the lead designer marking their own work.
- Simple workload.
None of those are about avoiding designer duties, and we would not frame it that way. They are about where a coordination role and its administration sit best.
How to place a project with us
- Build the quote for your client, in two minutes
Open the quote tool, choose the architect, engineer or designer route, answer the project questions, and it produces a quote link you send to your client. It carries your name, practice and email through to us as the person who prepared it, so we know where it came from and you stay in the loop.
- Your client checks it and sends it
The appointment is theirs to make, because regulation 5 puts it there. They review the answers and send the quote to us.
- We confirm and appoint
Normally within one working day. The appointment pack and the terms of appointment go to your client, accepted by a short signed online form.
- You do one form
Around ten minutes, telling us what your design leaves behind, with your existing drawings and risk register attached as they are.
A link for your practice
If you would rather send clients a page written for them than explain the regulation yourself, this builds one. It lands them on the client page with your practice code attached, so we can see which practice sent them.
The code is stored in the visitor's own browser, first party, no cookies, and it is disclosed in the privacy notice. Carrying it automatically into the quote itself is in development; today the reliable route is building the client's quote in the tool, which already carries your details through as the person who prepared it.
The guide, yours to keep
A short guide to appointing an external CDM principal designer: when the appointment is required, what happens on a domestic project if nobody is appointed, the designer duties that stay with you whatever happens, what we take on, what we ask you for, and how the fees work. It is written to be useful inside a practice rather than as a brochure.
Make ClearCDM your default
Most of the value here is repetition. Once a practice has placed two or three projects, the pattern is set and the administration disappears. If you want to set that up rather than do it project by project, tell us a little about the practice and we will come back to you.
This opens an email in your own mail app with the answers filled in. Nothing is sent from this page and nothing is stored on our side until you press send in your own client.
Common questions from practices
Does appointing ClearCDM remove our designer duties?
No, and it should not. Your regulation 9 duties belong to anyone who prepares or modifies a design and do not transfer. What moves is the coordination role in regulations 11 and 12: gathering the information, chasing the gaps, issuing the pack and carrying the health and safety file.
How much of our time does it take per project?
One short designer form, around ten minutes, asking what your design leaves behind. You attach whatever you already hold rather than retyping it into our template.
Do you provide the Building Regulations principal designer role?
No. ClearCDM provides the CDM 2015 role only, and says so on every quote. The Building Regulations role is a separate appointment under Part 2A and usually sits naturally with whoever leads the design.
Will you go direct to our client afterwards?
The appointment is with the client, because regulation 5 requires the client to make it. We do CDM. We do not design, we do not compete with you, and we would rather have your next project than your current one's client.
Is there a referral fee or commission?
No. There is no commission and no discount scheme. The reason practices use this is that it takes the role and the administration off their desk in about two minutes.
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 5 legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 7 legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 9 legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 11 legislation.gov.uk
- HSE: principal designers, roles and responsibilities hse.gov.uk
- HSE: designers, roles and responsibilities hse.gov.uk
Two minutes and it is off your desk
Build your client's quote in the tool and send them the link. The appointment is theirs, the administration is ours, and you keep the design.
Build your client's quote →Not sure yet? read the guide first.