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Last edited 05 Mar 2024

Meeting the requirements for design and building work in 2024

1 Introduction
2 Client duties
3 Duties for multiple clients
4 Duties for domestic clients
- 4.1 Managing the project
- 4.2 Appointing designers and contractors
5 Designer duties
6 Principal designer duties
- 6.1 Higher-risk building work: principal designer duties
7 Contractor duties
8 Principal contractor duties
- 8.1 Higher-risk building work: principal contractor duties
9 Competence requirements
10 Principal designers: competence requirements
11 Principal contractors: competence requirements
12 Demonstrating and assessing competence
- 12.1 Competence standards and benchmarking
13 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
14 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Introduction

In February 2024 the UK government published a guide to the building regulations and duties now required for design and building work. The guide helps explain duties and competence requirements for design and building work under The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, it does not cover all duties just those relevant to recent amendments including the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023.

The Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures come in to play with:

the construction of a new higher-risk building.
work on an existing higher-risk building, including work that causes the building to stop being a higher-risk building.
work on an existing building that will make it a higher-risk building.

Higher-risk buildings have at least 7 storeys or are at least 18 metres high or 2 residential units or are a hospital or a care home. Higher-risk buildings with at least 2 residential units must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) as a high-rise residential building before occupation.

Under the changes there are a number of duties placed upon clients, designers and contractors, as well as being able to demonstrate assessed competency. These items are outlined in brief here, for full details and information visit 'design and building work: meeting building requirements' guidance.

[edit] Client duties

A client can be an organisation or an individual having building and design work carried out on their behalf. The client, is responsible to make suitable arrangements for planning, managing, and monitoring a project so it complies with all relevant requirements on completion, which includes:

allocating sufficient time and resources for the building work to comply with building regulations
establish, review, and maintain systems and arrangements to meet building regulations
co-operate with others working on the project so they can comply with their duties
enable co-operation between designers and contractors

The client must provide building information to every designer and contractor working on the project. Building information relates to:

the building work or design work
the planning and management of the project
any issues involving compliance with relevant requirements and how they have been addressed

[edit] Appointment of designers and contractors

All reasonable steps must be taken to appoint designers and contractors with the necessary competence or organisational capability to carry out their roles. If there is only one designer, they are the principal designer, if there is only one contractor, they are the principal contractor. If more than one designer or contractor are working on the project, a principal designer (in control of design work) and a (principal contractor in control of the building work) must be appointed in writing.

An organisation can be appointed as the principal designer or principal contractor. That organisation must designate a competent individual to carry out the functions of the role, the legal responsibilities will remain with the organisation.

[edit] Higher-risk building works

If the project involves higher-risk building work the client must manage the application for building control approval. This includes providing certain documents and information to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), such as: drawings and plans, a competence declaration, a construction control plan, a change control plan, a mandatory occurrence reporting plan. Visit the guide managing building control approval for higher-risk buildings for further guidance on information to be provided.

In addition the client must:

ensure the principal designer and principal contractor have a mandatory occurrence reporting system in place
allow for a periodic review of the building and design work to identify whether it is higher-risk building work
provide information to designers and contractors to make them aware to the higher-risk building work
put in place a record of information about the building (also known as the golden thread) providing information to relevant individuals and organisations, such as accountable persons.

When the client, principal designer or principal contractor appoint an individual or organisation to carry out work, a written record of the steps taken to make sure those appointed meet the competence requirements to carry out their duties must be kept. It must provide details of the competence of those appointed in the competence declaration and the construction control plan when managing building control applications.

[edit] Higher-risk building work: individuals or organisations with serious sanctions

The client must tell BSR if an individual or organisation is appointed that has been issued with a serious sanction in the last 5 years. This also covers appointments made by the client, the principal designer or the principal contractor. Further information and definition of the term can be found on the page serious sanction.

Consideration must be paid as to how any serious sanction and any resulting action by the individual or organisation affects their judgement or their capability to do the work. Information in the competence declaration and construction control plans supplied to BSR must be provided about:

why the individual or organisation is considered competent to carry out the duties, despite having a serious sanction issued against them.
how risks of appointing the individual or organisation with a serious sanction, will be mitigated such as checking work more frequently.

[edit] Duties for multiple clients

When there is more than one client for a project, the clients can nominate a lead client. All clients must confirm this in writing. When there is a lead client, they must carry out all the clients’ duties for the project. The other clients, who are not the lead client, must:

provide building information to every designer and contractor working on the project
co-operate with others working on the project to enable them to comply with their duties
allow for a periodic review of the building and design work to identify whether it is higher-risk building work
provide information to designers and contractors so they are aware the project involves higher-risk building work

[edit] Duties for domestic clients

A domestic client is any individual who has building work carried out on their home, or the home of a family member. The building work is done for domestic purposes, not for business purposes.

[edit] Managing the project

A domestic client is in control of the project, which means they must:

allocate enough time and resource for the building work to comply with building regulations
appoint designers and contractors
co-operate with anyone working on, or in relation to the project, so everyone involved can comply with their duties and functions

They must provide building information available, or would be reasonable to have, to designers and contractors working on the project. This includes information about:

known work that has been carried out
surveys carried out and kept from a mortgage application, or prior to any building work

[edit] Appointing designers and contractors

When there are multiple designers and contractors working on the project, the domestic client can appoint a:

principal designer to be in control of design work
principal contractor to be in control of the building work

If not then the designer in control of the design phase of the project is the principal designer and contractor in control of the construction phase of the project is the principal contractor.

[edit] Designer duties

A designer must:

not start any design work unless you are satisfied the client is aware of what their legal duties are
take all reasonable steps to make sure the design work carried out by you, or other designers you manage, is planned, managed and monitored
provide sufficient information about the design, construction and maintenance of the building to the client and other designers and contractors
provide advice, when requested, to the principal designer or client on whether any design work you are doing relates to higher-risk building work

During the design phase, the designer must be satisfied that a design, if built, complies with all relevant requirements. This means they must:

check that all reasonable steps have been made to make sure a design, if built, complies with all relevant requirements
co-operate with the client, other designers, contractors, the principal designer, and principal contractor

If carrying out only part of the project’s design work, consider how this work interacts with other design work and tell the principal designer any concerns that may make any design work non-compliant. Ensure that all designers working on the project have the required competence to carry out the work.

[edit] Principal designer duties

Principal designers must have the necessary competence requirements to carry out the duties the role as well designers’ duties. It is important that principal designers are part of the design team and not a third party without any influence over design decisions. They must plan, manage, monitor and co-ordinate matters related to the design work, meaning:

take reasonable steps to make sure all designers comply with their duties under building regulations
assess design work to make sure all designers produce designs that comply with relevant building regulations
work with the principal contractor and share information about planning, managing, monitoring and co-ordinating the design and building work
assist the client in providing information to others, if requested

They must take reasonable steps to make sure anyone working on the design co-operates, communicates and co-ordinates their work with:

If there is a principal contractor working on the project, the principal designer must consider any comments made in relation to compliance with building regulations. Certain functions can be delegated to others, but the legal responsibilities remain with the principal designer. If a principal designer, ceases the role they must give the client a document that explains the arrangements put in place to fulfil their duties. This must be done no later than 28 days after the appointment of the principal designer ends. If a replacement principal designer is appointed they must review any arrangements put in place to meet their legal duties.

[edit] Higher-risk building work: principal designer duties

There are additional duties if the project involves higher-risk building work and as such the principal designer must:

establish and operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system
submit mandatory occurrence notices and reports to BSR
store the required information about the building, also known as the golden thread, and provide it to the client and the principal contractor as necessary
keep and share with the client the steps you have taken to make sure those you appoint to do design work meet the competence requirements

[edit] Contractor duties

A contractor must:

not start any building work unless you are satisfied the client understands what their legal duties are
take all reasonable steps to make sure the building work carried out by you, or other contractors you manage, is planned, managed and monitored
co-operate with the client, designers and contractors (including the principal designer and principal contractor) to make sure the building work complies with all relevant requirements.
make sure building work that you and others you manage carry out complies with all relevant requirements
provide each worker you are responsible for with appropriate supervision, instructions and information
provide sufficient information about the building work to assist the client, other contractors and designers to comply with relevant requirements
provide advice, when requested, to the principal contractor or client on whether any work is higher-risk building work

If carrying out only part of the project’s building work, a contractor must consider how their building work interacts with other building work and tell the principal contractor any concerned that might make:

their building work that makes other building work non-compliant
the building work of others that makes their building work non-compliant

If other contractors are appointed the contractor must make sure they have required competences to carry out the work.

[edit] Principal contractor duties

A principal contractor must carry out contractors’ duties and the duties for principal contractors and have the necessary competence requirements to work as a principal contractor. A principal contractor must plan, manage, monitor and co-ordinate matters related to the building work. Which means they must:

make sure building work done by all contractors is co-ordinated so that it complies with all relevant requirements
assess building work to make sure it complies with relevant building regulations
never accept non-compliant building work
work with the principal designer and share information about planning, managing, monitoring and co-ordinating the design and building work
assist the client in providing information to others, if requested

Reasonable steps must be taken to make sure anyone working on the building work co-operates, communicates and co-ordinates their work with:

If a principal designer is working on the project, consideration must be given to any comments in relation to compliance with building regulations. The principal contractor can delegate certain functions to others, but legal responsibilities remain with principal contractor.

If a principal contractor ceases the role they must give the client a document that explains the arrangements put in place to fulfil their duties. This must be done no later than 28 days after the appointment of the principal designer ends. If a replacement principal designer is appointed they must review any arrangements put in place to meet their legal duties.

[edit] Higher-risk building work: principal contractor duties

If the project involves higher-risk building work, principal contractor must:

establish and operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system
submit mandatory occurrence notices and reports to BSR
store the required information about the building (also known as the golden thread) and provide it to the client and the principal designer as necessary
keep and share with the client the steps you have taken to make sure those you appoint to do design work meet the competence requirements

[edit] Competence requirements

Any individual or organisation that carries out work beyond their competence level or organisational capability can face enforcement action.

[edit] Individual competence

Individuals must be able to demonstrate they are competent to carry out their duties and undertake the work. This means having the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours. They must be able to:

co-operate with others working on the project
refuse to carry out work that is beyond their competence
make sure their work complies with relevant requirements, and refuse to carry out non-compliant work
ask for assistance from others when necessary

[edit] Organisational capability

Organisations must be able to demonstrate they have the organisational capability to carry out their duties and undertake the work. This means having policies, procedures, systems and resources in place to make sure those employed by the organisation comply with all relevant regulations. The procedures and policies that organisations put in place should:

actively monitor and supervise their people
provide sufficient time and resources to do the job

[edit] Trainee competence

A trainee without the necessary competence cannot carry out design work or building work unsupervised. Whoever appoints the trainee must make sure the trainee has adequate supervision to carry out the work.

An individual training to be a principal designer or principal contractor must not be appointed as the project’s principal designer or principal contractor.

[edit] Change in competence

Individuals and organisations must be honest about their competence and capabilities. They should notify whoever appointed them when:

they are no longer competent, or no longer have the organisational capability to carry out their duties
they have been issued with a serious sanction if they are working on a project that involves higher-risk building work

[edit] Principal designers: competence requirements

The principal designer should be able to co-ordinate the design team. A principal designer is not expected to be an expert in every design specialism. However, they are expected to know enough about building regulations to assess whether a building design will comply with all relevant regulations.

Principal designers should support others. For example, being able to pass on necessary information to contractors and explain to them how to demonstrate that elements are built properly.

The British Standards Institute’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 8671 sets out the recommended competence requirements of principal designers. Using PAS 8671 can help demonstrate and assess competence.

[edit] Principal contractors: competence requirements

The principal contractor is expected to take responsibility for their site and manage the flow of information, making sure it gets to those who need it.

A principal contractor should have arrangements to monitor and keep records of building work to make sure it complies with the law. They should be able to communicate and work with the principal designer to agree any changes.

The British Standards Institute’s PAS 8672 sets out the recommended competence requirements of principal contractors. Using PAS 8672 can help demonstrate and assess competence.

[edit] Demonstrating and assessing competence

Individuals must be able to demonstrate the full range of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for the role they have been appointed to. Examples of how competence can be demonstrated include:

completing formal training
providing a portfolio of work detailing relevant experience and knowledge

Trade associations, professional bodies, sector training providers and awarding bodies may be able to support the improvement, demonstration, and validation of competence.

[edit] Competence standards and benchmarking

The British Standards Institute’s PAS 8671 and PAS 8672 sets out the recommended competence requirements for principal designers and principal contractors.

Compliance with The British Standards Institute’s PAS standards, or any other standard, does not guarantee meeting all legal obligations.

The PAS competencies can, however, be used to benchmark and assess the competence of individuals if credible evidence is also provided

[edit] Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

The function of the roles of client, principal designer, and principal contractor under:

Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM) is to manage the health and safety of workers and anyone around the site during building work
building regulations is to make sure design and building work complies with building regulations

There are different competence requirements for the principal contractor and principal designer under CDM and under building regulations. The client must appoint individuals or organisations to these roles.

The principal designer and principal contractor for CDM can also carry out these same roles for building regulations. If they are the same, the client must confirm this in writing to those they appoint to the roles.

When the individuals or organisations in these roles are different under CDM and building regulations, they need to work together and share relevant information.

This article is based on the information given in the government guidance 'Design and building work: meeting building requirements' published on February 27, 2023.