Construction Design and Management (CDM) Services
Understand your duties and coordinate health and safety during design and planning. CCM provides CDM consultant and Principal Designer services for commercial, retail and energy projects, with each role and responsibility defined in a written appointment.
Based in Cheltenham, we support projects across Great Britain with practical advice, design-risk coordination and clear CDM 2015 information.
Helping Clients Manage CDM Duties and Construction Risk
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set duties for clients, designers and contractors involved in construction work. CCM helps commercial clients understand the arrangements, appointments and information needed to manage health and safety through design, planning and delivery.
Where CCM is appointed in writing as Principal Designer under CDM 2015, our role is to plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety during the pre-construction phase. We help bring together pre-construction information, coordinate designers and liaise with the Principal Contractor as design continues.
What Our CDM Services Include
We help commercial clients understand their CDM duties, review the proposed management arrangements and identify the appointments and information required.
The client retains its legal duties and remains responsible for allowing suitable time and resources and appointing competent dutyholders.
On projects involving more than one contractor, the client must appoint a Principal Designer in writing.
Where CCM accepts that appointment, we plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety during the pre-construction phase within the agreed scope.
The commercial client must provide relevant pre-construction information to designers and contractors.
As Principal Designer, CCM can help bring together existing information, identify gaps and organise what needs to be shared, with surveys and specialist assessments separately agreed.
We work with designers to identify foreseeable health and safety risks and coordinate the steps taken to eliminate them where possible or reduce and control them. Each designer remains responsible for its own design decisions, information and CDM duties.
Where CCM is the Principal Designer, we can prepare, review and update the health and safety file using relevant information from the project team.
The required inputs, review process and arrangements for transferring the file are confirmed in the appointment.
We liaise with the Principal Contractor about design information and risks that need to be managed during construction.
The Principal Contractor remains responsible for the construction phase and construction phase plan; site monitoring and inspections are included only where separately appointed.
Direct Access to the People Supporting Your CDM Appointment
Thomas Lewis leads CCM’s project-management and commercial delivery services, while Jack Bostock brings architectural design expertise. Their involvement helps connect client duties, design coordination and delivery requirements where CCM has accepted a CDM or Principal Designer appointment.
Thomas Lewis
Managing Director
Thomas leads CCM’s project-management and commercial delivery services, helping clients understand project appointments, responsibilities and the information needed to support coordinated delivery within CCM’s agreed remit.
Why Clients Use CCM for CDM Services
CCM provides practical CDM support for commercial, retail and energy projects, with each service and formal dutyholder role defined around the project and appointment.
Clearer Understanding of CDM Responsibilities
We help clients understand which duties apply, which appointments are required and what information needs to be available. Advice supports the client’s decisions, but does not remove or transfer the legal responsibilities retained by each dutyholder.
Earlier Coordination of Design Risk
CDM is most effective when the relevant appointments and design-risk arrangements are established early. CCM can work alongside architectural design services and specialist designers to help identify foreseeable risks and coordinate the information needed to address them.
Organised Pre-Construction Information
Useful pre-construction information depends on input from the client, designers, surveys and existing records. We help identify gaps, organise relevant material and make information available to the parties who need it within the agreed appointment.
CDM Support Connected to Project Delivery
Where CCM also provides construction project management services, CDM coordination can be aligned with wider programme, procurement and reporting activity. Construction risk management remains a separate service, and every role and responsibility is stated in the relevant appointment.
Tailored Support for Your Project
Services Provided
RIBA Stages Covered
project oversight
CCM has supported CDM and design-risk coordination across commercial, retail and energy projects, including fit-out, new-build and EV charging work. To request information about a relevant case study, provide a broad outline of your project and CCM can consider what material may be appropriate to share privately.
How We Support Your Project
Reviewing the Project and Appointments
We start with the project scope, location, programme, expected contractors and existing appointments. This helps establish which CDM duties apply, whether a Principal Designer is required and the written role CCM is being asked to accept.
Gathering Information and Reviewing Design Risk
CCM reviews the available pre-construction information and works with the client and designers to identify relevant gaps and foreseeable risks. Surveys, investigations and specialist assessments are coordinated or commissioned only where included in the appointment.
Coordinating the Pre-Construction Phase
Where appointed as Principal Designer, CCM plans, manages, monitors and coordinates health and safety during the pre-construction phase. We support cooperation between designers, track agreed actions and communicate relevant information to the client and Principal Contractor.
Liaison During Construction and File Handover
As design work continues, we liaise with the Principal Contractor about relevant design risks and information. CCM updates the health and safety file within its appointment and agrees the transfer arrangements; any on-site monitoring and inspections are separately defined.
Let’s Talk About Your Project
Tell us what you are planning, where the project is based and what design support you need. We will review your enquiry and get in touch to discuss whether CCM is the right fit.
You do not need a complete brief to start the conversation. A short outline of the intended use, current stage, site information and any planning or programme constraints will help us understand what you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take a look below at some of our most Frequently Asked Questions – get in touch for more!
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set out how health and safety must be managed on construction projects in Great Britain. They assign duties to clients, designers, Principal Designers, Principal Contractors, contractors and workers from project planning through construction and later use or maintenance.
A CDM consultant can advise on project arrangements, dutyholder responsibilities, information and coordination within an agreed scope. “CDM consultant” is not itself a statutory dutyholder named in CDM 2015. If CCM accepts a formal Principal Designer appointment, that separate role must be confirmed in writing.
CDM 2015 applies to construction work in Great Britain, including commercial and domestic projects. The duties and appointments vary with the client type and number of contractors. A Principal Designer is required where a project involves, or is likely to involve, more than one contractor.
A commercial client must appoint a Principal Designer in writing when a project involves, or is likely to involve, more than one contractor. The appointment should be made as early as practicable. The appointee must be a designer with control of the pre-construction phase and suitable competence.
The Principal Designer plans, manages, monitors and coordinates health and safety during the pre-construction phase. The role includes helping with pre-construction information, coordinating designers, supporting cooperation, addressing foreseeable design risks and liaising with the Principal Contractor about risks that need control during construction.
A commercial client must make suitable project-management arrangements, appoint capable designers and contractors, allow sufficient time and resources, provide pre-construction information and ensure required dutyholders perform their roles. The client must also ensure that a construction phase plan and health and safety file are prepared where required.
No. Appointing CCM for advice or as Principal Designer does not remove the client's own duties under CDM 2015. The written appointment should state what CCM has accepted, while the client and every other dutyholder remain responsible for the obligations that apply to their respective roles.
Pre-construction information is relevant information the commercial client must provide to designers and contractors. It can cover the project, site, existing structures, known hazards and management arrangements. The Principal Designer helps the client bring this material together and makes it available to those who need it.
For a project involving more than one contractor, the Principal Contractor prepares and maintains the construction phase plan. For a single-contractor project, the contractor prepares it. The client must ensure that the plan is in place before construction begins; it is not automatically a Principal Designer deliverable.
The health and safety file contains information likely to be needed for health and safety during later construction work, maintenance, cleaning, alteration or demolition. The Principal Designer prepares, reviews and updates it during the project, and the client must ensure it is retained and made available when required.
Fees depend on the project stage, duration, complexity, number of designers and contractors, existing information and the responsibilities CCM is asked to accept. Meetings, design reviews, site attendance, file preparation and reporting can affect the scope. CCM needs a project outline before proposing an appointment and fee.
CCM is based in Cheltenham and supports Commercial, Retail and EV and Energy projects across Great Britain. This includes fit-out, new-build and EV charging work where the required CDM consultant or Principal Designer services match the team's competence, capacity and agreed appointment.
