For designers
Can an architect refuse to act as CDM principal designer?
Short answer
You can decline to be appointed. Nobody can be forced to accept an appointment they have not agreed to, and excluding the principal designer role from a fee proposal is a normal and honest thing to do. But two things survive the refusal. Your own designer duties under regulation 9 remain in full, and on a domestic project where the client appoints nobody else, regulation 7(2) still allocates the principal designer role to the designer in control of the pre-construction phase. The way to actually decline is to get somebody else appointed.
Three different things that get confused
| The thing | Can you decline it? |
|---|---|
| A contractual appointment as principal designer | Yes. It is a contract. You can decline to enter it, and you can exclude it from a fee proposal |
| Your own duties as a designer under regulation 9 | No. They apply to anyone who prepares or modifies a design, and they do not depend on any appointment |
| The regulation 7(2) default on a domestic project | Not by a clause. It is displaced by the client appointing somebody, not by an exclusion between you and the client |
What your fee proposal exclusion actually achieves
It records the agreement between you and your client: that the principal designer service is not part of your fee, and that you have not agreed to provide it. That is worth having and it is worth being explicit about.
Where it stops is at the edge of the contract. Regulation 7(2) does not read your fee proposal. It allocates the role by asking who is in control of the pre-construction phase. So an exclusion tells the client that somebody else needs to be appointed; it does not appoint them.
A general explanation of how the regulations fit together, not legal advice on your terms of engagement.
The wording that actually works
Practices that handle this well tend to do the same three things.
- Exclude the role explicitly
So the fee proposal is accurate about what is and is not included.
- Say what follows
One sentence explaining that CDM 2015 requires the client to appoint a principal designer in writing where more than one contractor is involved, and that if no appointment is made the role falls to the designer in control of the pre-construction phase.
- Offer the route
Name a specialist the client can appoint, or provide a quote they can act on. A client who is handed a number and a link appoints somebody. A client who is handed a caveat usually does nothing.
Is refusing it the right call?
Sometimes clearly yes: no internal system for collecting design risk information, no appetite for the health and safety file, an insurance position that treats it as a separate service, or simply no wish to add scope. Sometimes no: a practice that already coordinates the design package thoroughly may be the natural holder of the role and may be glad of the fee.
What is not a good position is holding the role without meaning to, unpaid, undocumented and without a system, which is where an exclusion plus silence leaves a practice on a domestic project.
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 5: appointment of the principal designer and the principal contractor legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 7: application to domestic clients legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 9: duties of designers legislation.gov.uk
- HSE: designers, roles and responsibilities hse.gov.uk
Hand us the CDM principal designer role
You keep the design appointment. Build your client's quote in about two minutes and send them the link to check and send on, so the appointment is theirs and the admin is not yours.
Build your client's quote →Not sure yet? read how it works for practices.