When are a principal designer and principal contractor appointed under CDM 2015?

Question

Accepted Answer

Where a project involves more than one contractor, or it is reasonably foreseeable that it will, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing. If no appointment is made the duties do not disappear: the client is treated as having taken them on. This is the UK counterpart of the coordinator logic in Türkiye and the EU; what differs is this explicit fallback written so that responsibility never falls into a gap. The rule Where there is more than one contractor — or it is reasonably foreseeable that there will be — the client appoints a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing . What happens without an appointment The duty does not vanish: the client takes on the duties of whoever was not appointed. That is the most instructive feature of the regime — not appointing is not an escape route, it is a way of taking on the duty. Two roles, two periods Role When What they do Principal designer Design phase Plans, manages and monitors health and safety in design; prepares the health and safety file Principal contractor Construction phase Prepares and updates the construction phase plan; coordinates the site Compared with Türkiye and the EU All three regimes share one idea: where several parties are present, someone must coordinate. What differs is the naming and the fallback — in Türkiye a coordinator must be appointed with a narrow exception; in the UK the burden returns to the client if no appointment is made. The practical consequence For an employer working across borders the right question is not "who is the coordinator" but "what happens in this jurisdiction if nobody is appointed" .

Obligation	Legal basis	How the page covers it
Assigning a coordinator is mandatory, with a narrow exception	Regulation on OHS in Construction Work, art. 8(1) — where more than one employer or subcontractor is present on the same site, the employer or the project supervisor shall assign one or more health and safety coordinators; art. 8(3) — apart from work requiring notification and where none of the risks listed in Annex 2 is present, a coordinator need not be assigned.	The "Comparison with Türkiye and the EU" section: in Türkiye assigning a coordinator is mandatory, with a narrow exception.
Appointing a coordinator does not remove the responsibility of the employer or project supervisor	Regulation on OHS in Construction Work, art. 6(2) — assigning one or more health and safety coordinators does not remove the responsibilities of the project supervisor or the employer; art. 6(3) — the appointment of coordinators and their performance of their duties does not affect the responsibility of subcontractors.	The "Practical conclusion" section: the right question is what happens when no appointment is made.

Obligation	Legal basis	How the page covers it
Appointing coordinators does not relieve the client or project supervisor of responsibility	Directive 92/57/EEC, art. 7(1) — where a client or project supervisor has appointed a coordinator to perform the duties in arts. 5 and 6, this does not relieve the client or project supervisor of his responsibilities; art. 7(2) — the implementation of arts. 5, 6 and paragraph 1 shall not affect the principle of employers' responsibility as provided for in Directive 89/391/EEC.	The EU side of the "Comparison with Türkiye and the EU" section.
A coordinator is appointed for every site with more than one contractor	Directive 92/57/EEC, art. 3(1) — the client or project supervisor shall appoint one or more coordinators, as defined in art. 2(e) and (f), for any construction site on which more than one contractor is present; art. 2(e)-(f) — the preparation-stage and execution-stage coordinators are defined separately.	The "Comparison with Türkiye and the EU" section: the same idea is present in all three sets of rules.

Obligation	Legal basis	How the page covers it
Where there is more than one contractor the client appoints both roles in writing	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, reg. 5(1) — where there is more than one contractor, or if it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on a project at any time, the client must appoint in writing a designer with control over the pre-construction phase as principal designer and a contractor as principal contractor; reg. 5(2) — the appointments must be made as soon as is practicable and in any event before the construction phase begins.	The "The rule" section.
If no appointment is made the duties fall back on the client	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, reg. 5(3) — if the client fails to appoint a principal designer, the client must fulfil the duties of the principal designer in regulations 11 and 12; reg. 5(4) — if the client fails to appoint a principal contractor, the client must fulfil the duties of the principal contractor in regulations 12 to 14.	The "What happens if no appointment is made" section.
The principal designer plans, manages and monitors the pre-construction phase	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, reg. 11(1) — the principal designer must plan, manage and monitor the pre-construction phase and coordinate matters relating to health and safety during that phase to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the project is carried out without risks to health or safety; reg. 12(3) — must assist the principal contractor by providing the information it holds for the construction phase plan.	The "Principal designer" row of the "Two roles, two phases" table.
The principal contractor manages the construction phase and keeps the plan updated	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, reg. 13(1) — the principal contractor must plan, manage and monitor the construction phase and coordinate matters relating to health and safety; reg. 12(1) — must draw up the construction phase plan during the pre-construction phase and before setting up the site; reg. 12(4) — must ensure the plan is appropriately reviewed, updated and revised throughout the project.	The "Principal contractor" row of the "Two roles, two phases" table.

When are a principal designer and principal contractor appointed under CDM 2015?

The rule

What happens without an appointment

Two roles, two periods

Compared with Türkiye and the EU

The practical consequence

Legal basis

Legal basis — Türkiye

Legal basis — European Union

Legal basis — United Kingdom

Legal basis — United States

Manage this in Optifora

Role	When	What they do
Principal designer	Design phase	Plans, manages and monitors health and safety in design; prepares the health and safety file
Principal contractor	Construction phase	Prepares and updates the construction phase plan; coordinates the site

When are a principal designer and principal contractor appointed under CDM 2015?

The rule

What happens without an appointment

Two roles, two periods

Compared with Türkiye and the EU

The practical consequence

Related answers

Legal basis

Legal basis — Türkiye

Legal basis — European Union

Legal basis — United Kingdom

Legal basis — United States

Manage this in Optifora