Principal Designer

The principal designer is the CDM 2015 duty holder who plans, manages and monitors health and safety in the pre-construction phase, coordinating design decisions so risks are designed out where practicable.

Where it sits: CDM 2015, reg.4 and Schedule 2 set the duties; the appointment is mandatory on projects involving more than one contractor.

The role is coordination, not omniscience: the principal designer does not design the building, but shapes how everyone else\'s design deals with risk. On design-and-build projects the role commonly migrates to the contractor at handover of pre-construction information — and the fee and liability follow it, or should.

Commercial teams meet the principal designer at the interfaces: planning conditions, the fire safety gateway trail and the health and safety file all carry cost consequences that someone must own in the contract, not in goodwill.