Looking into a career managing health and safety on construction projects under the CDM Regulations? It’s a challenging and rewarding path — but the first thing to get right is the job title itself, because the role many people still call the “CDM Coordinator” has changed.
Important update
The CDM Coordinator role no longer exists. It was created under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, but those were replaced by CDM 2015 — which abolished the CDM Coordinator and introduced the Principal Designer in its place. If you’re aiming for this kind of role today, it’s the Principal Designer (and the wider CDM 2015 duty-holder framework) you need to understand.
Since October 2023 there is also a second, separate Principal Designer role covering building regulations compliance. The two are explained further down — and knowing which one you’re aiming at matters, because they carry different duties and different competence requirements.
What the CDM Regulations do
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set the legal framework for managing health and safety across construction projects in the UK — from planning and design through to construction, completion and demolition. They place specific duties on each party involved, with the emphasis on effective planning and risk management rather than paperwork for its own sake.
Rather than a single coordinator overseeing everything, CDM 2015 defines a set of duty holders, each with clear responsibilities:
Client
The organisation the project is for — responsible for making suitable arrangements for managing the project, and for making the appointments in writing.
Principal Designer
Plans, manages and coordinates health and safety in the pre-construction (design) phase — the role that replaced the CDM Coordinator.
Principal Contractor
Plans, manages and coordinates health and safety during the construction phase.
Designers & Contractors
Eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks within their own work, and cooperate with others.
The Principal Designer and Principal Contractor appointments are required on any project involving more than one contractor. That’s the trigger — not the size of the project, its duration, or whether it has to be notified to the HSE.
The one requirement you can’t work around
You must already be a designer
Regulation 5 of CDM 2015 requires the client to appoint a designer with control over the pre-construction phase as Principal Designer. You don’t have to be carrying out design work on that particular project — but you must be a designer as CDM 2015 defines the term.
The HSE’s list is broad and includes architects, consulting engineers, structural engineers, quantity surveyors, chartered surveyors, interior designers, temporary works engineers, technicians, and anyone else who specifies or alters a design.
The consequence is blunt: a health and safety professional who does no design work cannot become a Principal Designer. No course, certificate or register changes that. If that’s your background, the realistic path is adviser to the Principal Designer, or CDM client adviser — genuine, well-paid roles that need describing accurately rather than being labelled Principal Designer on paper.
The second half of the test is control over the pre-construction phase, which in practice usually means being the lead designer. On most building projects that’s the architect; on services-heavy or structurally complex schemes it may be the engineering lead.
The two Principal Designer roles
Since the Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, the job title covers two separate statutory roles. One organisation can hold both — and often should — but competence in one does not imply competence in the other.
CDM Principal Designer
Manages health and safety risk during the pre-construction phase: coordinating designers, applying the principles of prevention, pre-construction information, and the health and safety file.
Building Regulations Principal Designer
Plans, manages and monitors design work, and coordinates and communicates so that the design, if built, would comply with the building regulations. A compliance role rather than a health and safety one.
The HSE is explicit that the PAS 8671 competence requirements do not cover the health and safety competence required under CDM 2015 — so if you intend to hold both roles, you need to evidence both separately.
What a Principal Designer does
The Principal Designer takes the leading health-and-safety role during design and planning. Typical responsibilities include:
Key responsibilities
- Planning, managing and coordinating pre-construction H&S
- Identifying and helping eliminate or control design risks
- Preparing and sharing pre-construction information
- Assisting the client with their duties
- Ensuring designers cooperate and coordinate
- Preparing the health and safety file
Skills and traits that help
Whatever the title, the work rewards the same strengths: a mind for detail and a good memory for the many CDM requirements; strong communication, since you’ll coordinate clients, designers, contractors and supervisors; and real organisation, because you’ll be responsible for pre-construction information, risk assessments and the health and safety file — all needing to be accurate, on time and correctly submitted.
One trait is worth singling out, because it appears in the competence standards themselves: knowing the limits of your own competence. The role means interrogating structural, services and other specialist designers rather than letting them get on with it — which requires recognising when you need to bring in someone who knows more than you do. That’s treated as a mark of competence, not a gap in it.
Demonstrating your competence
There’s no licence to practise and no register you’re legally obliged to join. But clients must take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that whoever they appoint is competent, so the burden of evidence sits with you. Third-party certification is becoming the quickest way to discharge it:
Routes to evidencing competence
- RIBA Principal Designer Register — built on PAS 8671 and open to Chartered Members, with separate scopes for domestic work, general work and higher-risk buildings. Assessment includes written submissions of CV and project case studies, marked independently.
- APS Principal Designer register — the Association for Project Safety is the long-established professional body in this field and operates its own register.
- Institutional certificates — RICS and others run courses covering the PAS 8671 requirements. Check whether a given course is an accredited qualification or a certificate of completion, as they are not the same thing.
- A documented portfolio — CPD records, project case studies and evidence of design risk decisions, which is what any assessment will ask for anyway.
These schemes are still developing alongside the standards and secondary legislation, so confirm current scope, criteria and fees directly with the body concerned before committing.
Typical salary range
Indicative UK range
A general guide only — pay varies widely by discipline, employer, sector, project scale and experience.
£22,000 – £55,000+
Bear in mind that this spans a broad career path. Entry-level construction health and safety and design support roles sit at the lower end; someone holding Principal Designer duties is by definition an experienced design professional, and pay for architects, engineers and surveyors carrying that responsibility reflects seniority in their own discipline rather than the CDM role in isolation. As with most health and safety roles, the more relevant qualifications and experience you hold, the stronger your earning potential.
Training and qualifications
Most people moving into Principal Designer roles come from a design discipline — architecture, engineering, building surveying — build experience in practice, then add CDM-specific training. Envico lists several routes through its CDM training courses:
CDM courses to consider
For a broader health and safety grounding, the NEBOSH Construction Certificate is a widely-recognised qualification that complements CDM training well. If you expect to work on higher-risk buildings, our Building Safety Act 2022 Awareness course covers the gateway regime, the golden thread and the competence framework that sits behind the building regulations role.
Frequently asked questions
Does the CDM Coordinator role still exist?
No. The CDM Coordinator was a duty holder under CDM 2007, but was abolished when CDM 2015 came into force. Its responsibilities passed largely to the new Principal Designer role, which leads health and safety during the design phase.
What replaced the CDM Coordinator?
The Principal Designer. Under CDM 2015, the Principal Designer plans, manages and coordinates health and safety in the pre-construction phase — the function previously carried out by the CDM Coordinator. It was not simply a rename: the coordinator sat alongside the design team as an adviser, while the Principal Designer sits inside it as a duty holder.
Can I become a Principal Designer without a design background?
No. Regulation 5 of CDM 2015 requires the Principal Designer to be a designer with control over the pre-construction phase. A health and safety consultant who does no design work cannot hold the role, however the appointment is worded.
What you can do is act as adviser to the Principal Designer, or as a CDM client adviser supporting the client with their own duties. Both are legitimate and in demand — they just aren’t the statutory role.
Is the building regulations Principal Designer the same job?
No. It shares the title but comes from different legislation and does a different thing: ensuring design work would comply with the building regulations, rather than managing health and safety risk. Its competence requirements are set out in PAS 8671:2022. One organisation can hold both roles if competent for each, and many do, but they are separate appointments.
What training do I need?
Typically a design discipline and practice experience, plus CDM-specific training such as CDM 2015 in Practice or CDM for Designers & Principal Designers. A broader qualification like the NEBOSH Construction Certificate is also valuable. For the building regulations role, look for training built around PAS 8671.
Who notifies a project to the HSE now?
Under CDM 2015, notification (form F10) for projects that meet the threshold is the client’s duty — it’s no longer handled by a CDM Coordinator, as that role no longer exists.