Guidance · Reviewed October 2026
What a CDM consultant can and cannot do for you, why a consultant is not automatically your principal designer, and the questions to ask before you appoint one.
The short answer
A CDM consultant advises and supports duty holders under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Hiring one does not transfer your legal duties. The principal designer must be a designer with control over the pre-construction phase, so a consultancy that does no design work can advise the principal designer but cannot properly be appointed as one.
CDM 2015 places legal duties on clients, principal designers, designers, principal contractors and contractors on every construction project in Great Britain. Our CDM regulations guide explains that framework in full: who holds which duties, when appointments must be made and what each project has to produce. This page covers what a CDM consultant can and cannot do for you within it, and how to choose one.
If you last looked at CDM before 2015, one change affects who you can hire
CDM 2015 abolished the CDM coordinator and replaced it with the principal designer. That was not a rename. The coordinator was an adviser sitting alongside the design team; the principal designer is a duty holder inside it, and must be a designer.
Before You Hire: A Consultant Is Not a Duty Holder
Getting this wrong leaves the legal duty sitting with you while you believe it has been transferred.
Under regulation 5, where there is more than one contractor, the client must appoint in writing a designer with control over the pre-construction phase as principal designer. CDM 2015 defines a designer as anyone who, in the course of a business, prepares or modifies a design, or arranges for or instructs people under their control to do so. That covers architects, consulting engineers, quantity surveyors, interior designers, temporary works engineers, technologists and anyone who specifies materials or methods.
A health and safety consultancy that does no design work, and has no designers under its control, therefore cannot properly be your principal designer. It can support one, advise you on your client duties or work alongside the design team, but the statutory role has to sit with a designer who genuinely controls the pre-construction phase. In practice the lead designer, usually the architect, is often best placed, though on services-heavy or structurally complex schemes the engineering lead may be the better fit.
Two arrangements that look compliant and may not be
Appointing a CDM consultant as “principal designer” on paper. If they are not a designer with control of the pre-construction phase, the appointment does not do what you think it does. What you have bought is advice, more accurately described as adviser to the principal designer. That is a useful service, but it does not discharge the duty.
Assuming the role carries over on a novation. The principal designer must be appointed by the client. If the architect holding the role is novated to a design and build contractor, check who holds the principal designer appointment afterwards and confirm it in writing, or make a fresh appointment.
What a CDM Consultant Does
Used properly, a consultant is genuinely valuable, particularly to clients who build occasionally and carry duties they are not resourced to discharge. Typical services include:
Client adviser
Helping you understand and evidence your own duties: making appointments in writing, allowing adequate time and resources, and satisfying yourself that the people you appoint are competent.
Support to the principal designer
Providing health and safety expertise a design practice may not hold in-house, while the statutory role stays with the designer.
Pre-construction information
Gathering what you know about the site and the project into something designers and contractors can actually use. The duty to provide it remains the client’s.
Plan and file reviews
Reviewing the construction phase plan and the health and safety file for adequacy, not just existence.
CDM audits
An independent view of where your arrangements stand, with a report setting out what needs to change.
F10 and competence
Submitting the F10 for notifiable projects on the client’s behalf, and identifying the training your people need.
Questions to Ask Before You Appoint
- Are you a designer as CDM 2015 defines it? If not, who on our project will hold the principal designer role?
- Exactly which duties are you helping us discharge, and which remain with us?
- What experience do you have of projects of this type, size and procurement route?
- What professional indemnity cover do you carry, and does it extend to CDM services?
- What will you produce, and when, and will our contractors be able to use it?
- How will you evidence your skills, knowledge and experience, given that we must satisfy ourselves of them before appointing you?
- On building work in England, do you also need to hold, or advise on, the separate Building Regulations principal designer role?
When you are ready to shortlist, our sister site, Raybee, helps you find CDM consultants and principal designers covering your area, so you can contact several and compare what each would deliver.
Free F10 Notification Checker
Before you commission anyone, establish where your project stands. Our free checker applies the regulation 6 test, tells you whether the project must be notified to HSE and why, shows who has to be appointed in writing and on what trigger, and lists the documents the project needs. Printable record at the end, no signup.
Check your CDM position ↗ Free · on envicourse.com, our course marketplace · opens in a new tab
What Good CDM Compliance Is Worth
- Fewer accidents, and less of the delay, sickness absence and disruption that follows them.
- Lower exposure to enforcement. Compliance does not guarantee you will never face action, but it puts you in a defensible position.
- Buildings that are easier and safer to maintain, repair and clean, because those risks were designed out rather than inherited.
- A documented trail showing duties were discharged, which is what an HSE inspector, an insurer or a court will ask to see.
- Credibility with clients and principal contractors, many of whom check CDM arrangements at pre-qualification.
CDM Training: Building Competence In-House
CDM does not require anyone to appoint a consultant; it requires competent duty holders. Training your own team is often a better long-term investment than ongoing consultancy.
| If you need to… | Usual route |
|---|---|
| Understand your duties as a client or duty holder | CDM Duty Holder |
| Act as designer or principal designer | CDM for Designers and Principal Designers |
| Act as contractor or principal contractor | CDM for Contractors and Principal Contractors |
| Compare every option | All CDM training courses |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can our health and safety consultant be the principal designer?
Only if they are a designer as CDM 2015 defines it and have control over the pre-construction phase. A consultancy that provides advice but does no design work, and controls no designers, cannot properly hold the role however the appointment is worded. It can act as adviser to whoever does hold it, which is a legitimate and common arrangement as long as it is described accurately.
Do we still need a CDM coordinator?
No. The role was abolished by CDM 2015 and replaced by the principal designer. If a supplier still offers CDM coordinator services, query it: the duties are different, and so are the appointment requirements.
Do we need a consultant at all?
Not necessarily. CDM requires competent duty holders, not consultants. Organisations that build regularly and hold the expertise in-house often need none. The case for one is strongest where you build occasionally, carry client duties you are not resourced to discharge, or have a design team without health and safety depth.
What should a CDM consultant cost?
There is no standard rate. Fees vary with project value, complexity, duration and the scope of services. Ask for a written scope listing the deliverables and which duties remain yours, and compare quotes on that basis rather than on headline price.
Related Guidance
Reviewed October 2026 against CDM 2015 and HSE guidance L153. Envico is an independent training intermediary. We list training courses delivered by accredited providers; we do not provide CDM consultancy services. This page is general information, not legal advice or a recommendation of any particular supplier, and Envico is not affiliated with the HSE.