Introduction The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (the 'CDM Regulations') replace the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 entirely, and were enacted in order to improve the management and co-ordination of health and safety and welfare issues on construction projects. Application The CDM Regulations apply to all construction works in Great Britain carried out in the course or furtherance of business (profit is not relevant and so the Regulations can apply to a charity or local authority, but not a domestic occupier). Construction work is widely defined and includes (amongst others) alteration, repair, redecoration and maintenance and various categories of assembly, disassembly and installation. There is no minimum threshold, although see further below in relation to the effect of the size of the project. It is therefore worth noting from a landlord and tenant point of view that, in all likelihood, any alterations undertaken by a tenant under a licence to alter will be caught by the Regulations. Duties The CDM Regulations impose general duties on all 'duty holders'. The general duties are to: Address health and safety competence; Co-operate with other duty holders to allow them to meet the requirements of the CDM Regulations; Co-ordinate activities with other duty holders to ensure the health and safety of those carrying out or affected by construction work; and Apply the principles of prevention in relation to risks. There are also specific duties particular to each duty holder. Duty Holders The individual duty holders are defined as: 'Clients'; 'Designers'; 'Contractors'; 'CDM Co-ordinators'; and 'Principal Contractors'. A Client is defined as a person who, in the course of its business, either carries out a project itself or appoints another to do so. Therefore, there may be more than one Client, for example if a site owner appoints a developer to develop a site. Under the 1994 Regulations, a Client could appoint an agent to act on its behalf for the purposes of fulfilling the Client's obligations, which was useful where there was more than one Client. This is no longer permitted. Instead the 2007 Regulations allow an election to be made to identify which party will act as the Client in practice. This election will form an important part of agreements for lease and many development agreements and landlord and tenant documents. A Designer is anyone who in the course of business, prepares or modifies a design, or has someone under their control prepare or modify a design. The meaning of design is broad and may categorise people as Designers when they would not ordinarily expect to be (e.g. a landlord who specifies that a certain material must be used by a tenant during alterations. A Contractor is any person who, in the course of business manages or carries out construction work. Note that this is separate from a Principal Contractor and will include sub-contractors. A CDM Co-ordinator is a professional consultant who both advises and assists the Client in meeting the Client' duties, co-ordinates compliance with the CDM Regulations on the project as a whole and prepares the health and safety file for the project. See further below regarding notifiable projects. A Principal Contractor must plan, manage and monitor the construction phase of a project to ensure that, so far as reasonably practicable, the project is carried out without risk to health and safety. Again, see further below regarding notifiable projects. Further guidance on all of the duties is provided by the Approved Code of Practice ('ACoP'), which is approved by the Health and Safety Commission. Notifiable Projects The size of the project is relevant only in determining whether a project is 'notifiable', in which case additional duties will apply. Broadly, a project is notifiable if it involves more than 30 days of construction work or more than 500 person days of construction work. Nearly all new commercial building projects will be notifiable, but many tenant alterations will not be. The client must appoint a CDM Co-ordinator and a Principal Contractor on all notifiable projects, but neither is required on a non-notifiable project. There can be only one CDM Co-ordinator and one Principal Contractor at any one time.