Ben Nother, a Director at Hawkland Group, explains the two different roles of Principal Designer in meeting building regulations and addressing CDM health and safety. He also reflects on how this has been integrated into their processes.
Interview with Ben Nother
Ben Nother comes from a family of builders and bricklayers, and this is exactly where he started, on site as a labourer working on different construction projects during his teenage years. He was then encouraged to go into the professional side of the industry and chose architecture, studying at both the University of the West of England and then the Centre for Alternative Technology. This allowed him to delve into sustainability issues and the challenges of climate change. After 5 years working for different practices, he became freelance to find a better work life balance. Gradually he developed a good working relationship with Hawkland Group, eventually joining their team as a director.
In this conversation Ben is giving us his take on the Principal Designer role. For a more detailed explanation of the Principal Designer duties and responsibilities check out the guidance on Gov.uk.
The role of Principal Designer has evolved
Until recently a Principal Designer was the person who focused on meeting the Construction Design & Management regulations (CDM), from the Health and Safety Executive. Essentially, they would consider everything needed to ensure health and safety on a construction site. A Principal Designer would start with the design risks within a building project to see if they could be eliminated and if not, identify how the risks could be managed. For example, you may not want to design out a rooflight, so identify that there is going to be work at height, which is then a risk to be managed. A list of risks is given to a Principal Contractor who can put in place the relevant health and safety measures, such as scaffolding and the need for harnessing.
CDM Principal Designer and Building Regulations Principal Designer
Following the Grenfell tragedy, the Building Safety Act was revised in 2022, with all the regulations gradually coming into force by 2024. So there are two roles that fall under different legislation frameworks which both use the title Principal Designer.
So, to reiterate, the two areas to be addressed are:
- CDM health and safety.
- Compliance with building regulations.
The Principal Designer now takes on more responsibility and liability
Before these changes, an architect would pull together drawings and information on thermal performance, fire safety, structural engineer’s calculations, everything needed to ensure it would meet the building regulations. These would then go to the local authority or an approved building inspector to be assessed and signed off. The new regulations have changed the responsibility chain, so the Principal Designer is now more liable for those building regulations and is now co-signing them off with approved building inspectors.
As they are the designer of the building, they know what’s going into it, the performance that it should achieve, so have the responsibility that it will meet the building regulations. The Principal Designer will now also be doing site inspections to ensure that the builder has complied with the suggested interventions and will supply evidence for the building inspector. Architectural practices, structural engineers and others can provide this Principal Designer role.
Different people may take on the role of Principal Designer during the project
Today Hawkland Group has two brands: Hawkland Architects and Hawkland Construction. Historically, however, Hawkland was a contracting company. So clients often approach them post planning for input on the construction of a building. The client may have a full package of information that has been taken through to technical design. In which case the architect or the structural engineer working on the project, would be the Principal Designer, with Hawkland Construction, then taking on the Principal Contractor role. In other cases, Hawkland Architects may take on the design work from stage four, post planning, and so would take on the Principal Designer role as well. Under the new Building Safety Act, they would be looking for a comprehensive handover from the previous architectural practice or designer who has put together stage three, with all the identified risks and mitigation measures.
Ben likes their approach at Hawkland Group, where they can take responsibility for a project from concept to completion, because they can put together a robust set of both CDM and building regulations information. Otherwise he’s working from someone else’s information, checking it, trying to fill in gaps for something already part designed. This could well mean a doubling up on time going through someone else’s designs and information.
The Principal Designer role continues in the build phase
The Principal Designer role continues through the build and as the person most familiar with all aspects of the build they will make sure that each company brought in is competent, has the relevant insurances and qualifications and that the design being put forward is compliant and safe.
“…having a Principal Designer all the way through as one person is key, because they know all of the different moving parts on that project.”
The client must understand who the Principal Designer is
Under the CDM regulations, the client is ultimately responsible for health and safety on site, but they can shift those responsibilities to their Principal Contractor. The client protects themselves by bringing in people with the relevant qualifications and right insurances to deliver their project. At Hawkland Group, they may take the project to a weather-tight shell, with the client then overseeing other contractors and perhaps also doing some of the work themselves. In this instance, the client takes on the responsibilities under CDM and now the new Building Safety Act, with Hawkland Group providing the drawings and information up to the technical design stage. They can also sit in the background to provide ongoing support for the client as the project progresses. If a client is going to assume the Principal Designer role it’s really important that they have the skillset and knowledge to do this. There’s more advice at Gov.uk.
For someone doing their own designs and planning to undertake the build themselves they are taking on both the responsibility for health and safety on site and meeting building regulations. They need to know the risks around the building site, be able to induct specialist contractors to the site and be aware of everyone working on site. Ben recommends getting advice on the processes needed on construction projects as well as having an architect sense-check the designs.
There’s more from Hawkland Group in The Hub. David and Chris give us an overview of how to convert a loft.
There are multiple considerations for the materials and products being used
There will be health and safety aspects to consider under CDM alongside performance issues to be met for the building regulations. For example, some modern methods of construction may require that wall panels be lifted with specialist gear under CDM. If a crane is required, that needs to be able to get safely onto the site. The building regulations will consider the performance of those materials from a structural or fire safety perspective. The company producing the materials should be able to provide evidence of how they meet the different regulations. At Hawkland Group, they sometimes use straw direct from farmers, which won’t have those classifications for each bale, but fire tests have been done to show how that material reacts with fire. There is a bank of information for many natural materials now being used in construction.
Manufacturers generally have all the information you need for products
Manufacturers will also have standard build-ups that they know meet the regulations providing you use the materials in the right way with suitable ancillary products. The information is available but needs to be collated for building regulations sign-off. There are also instances of chemicals that need specialist handling and safe storage on site. An architectural practice will go through the specification process early on, so they know what needs to be done on site for health and safety, and what needs to be evidenced with building regulations.
The regulations should be front of mind from the outset
Ben is now considering health and safety issues and building regulations as early as possible. If a client comes to him for example wanting a balcony, he will immediately look at the regulations around this. How high does the balustrading need to be, how high is the balcony off the ground, can it be a fire escape route? It’s important to look at this straight away as it may impact the designs across the rest of the building and it will need to meet building regulations. In the past something may have been designed for planning with no real consideration of how it was going to be built. Ben now has those conversations straight away and will know what products he wants to use from the concept design stage.
The welfare of your build team is important
Hawkland Group takes pride in their sites having good working conditions, being safe and inclusive. For example, the staff toilet could be a portable potty 20 metres away from the building where you have to brave the elements or it could be part of a comfortable staff welfare unit. On smaller jobs this might not be possible because space is tight and in Bristol, where they often work, sometimes their clients offer a room for them to use. Their site team also usually work four slightly longer days each week to give them a three day weekend and a bit of flexibility.
A client can intervene if they are not happy with health and safety measures on site
As a client you have a responsibility to raise concerns if you see that things could go wrong on site. It’s best to raise any issues with the contractor immediately and whilst they are responsible for Health and Safety on site you are well within your rights to challenge their approach and tell them they are not meeting CDM regulations. Hopefully they will be keen to adjust their way of working because there are significant penalties for not working safely. You could also raise it with your Principal Designer, for them to follow up. In a worst case scenario you could even terminate the contract, but this will leave you with some major challenges.
Hawkland Construction and many other contracting companies will have a site manager who is overseeing health and safety during the construction phase. Everyone is responsible for health and safety on site, but the project manager will help with regular inspections to see that everything is working well. It is also good practice to vet different companies beforehand, maybe visit a site they’re working on so you can see how they operate, not just a finished project. Checking they have the correct insurance cover is also important.
There are advantages to having one principal designer for both CDM and building regulations
For Ben it makes sense for one person to be responsible for both CDM and the building regulations. Whilst they cover slightly different aspects of the build they do go hand-in-hand. The Building Safety Act as part of its legislation, says the Principal Designer must be a designer, so ultimately it will an architect, or possibly a structural engineer. Ben explains that all the other designers on a project have to agree that the person appointed as the Principal Designer is competent to do this role. Under CDM, you can still use other companies to provide an independent Principal Designer role, so maybe a specialist health and safety company to support this aspect of the build. For a self-builder this could provide valuable support and technical information that you may not be familiar with.
“The processes for building regulations and CDM are complicated. It’s really hard just to do it by yourself… it’s key in bringing in competent companies and competent individuals to be able to help you deliver your project.”
Using one company for the whole project can simplify things for the client
Whilst Hawkland Group can come in at any stage of the design or build process they also offer a complete service, where they deliver a whole project from start to finish. By overseeing the whole design process and technical phase of the build or retrofit there is then an ease of transition into the construction phase.
Ben feels that this allows for continuity and good communication with the client and with everyone working on the project. The architectural team and construction team work closely together so that when it comes to pricing up for construction everyone is aware of the design and has been considering the type of build and looking at budget feasibility assessments throughout. Being very open with a client allows a better flow of information and can help achieve quicker decisions when things need to change during a build. It also allows for earlier investigative work to understand the type of issues that may come up, so you can be proactive rather than reactive.
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