They have been four years in the writing, but the draft revised CDM regulations have finally been approved by the Health and Safety Commission. The Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) is expected to be issued in the new year ahead of introduction on 6 April, when it will be goodbye Planning Supervisor and hello to the CDM Co-ordinator.

Presented as a single package, the new regulations combine CDM regulations, ACoP and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations in a bid to unify the construction health and safety regime. The commission reports that most of the proposed changes have been welcomed by the industry, although the door has been left open for comments on the few remaining contentious issues.

No new duties are imposed on clients, the Commission stressed this week. Rather, the new rules make explicit what clients should already be doing under existing legislation.

There are new duties for designers, however. The regulations make clear that designers have a duty to eliminate hazards and reduce remaining risks, so far as is reasonably practicable. Secondly, there is a new duty to ensure that any workplace they design complies with the relevant sections of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

And there is the imminent demise of the Planning Supervisor, who will be replaced by the CDM Co-ordinator. This new duty holder will provide the client with advice, co-ordinate the planning and design phase and prepare the health and safety file. Again, the Commission says that issues surrounding the role of this new figure have largely been resolved.

Changes in the client role are described as ‘enhanced’ rather than new, reflecting the fact that the new rules make existing requirements more explicit. There will be a primary duty to ensure that arrangements made by other duty holders are in place and sufficient, and clients must instruct any contractors they appoint how much time they have allowed for the planning and preparation of construction work.

Formal provision allowing the appointment of Client’s Agent and transfer of CDM liability is removed from the draft regulations – one area that the Commission says remains contentious.

Domestic clients’ duties are unchanged (the above changes do not apply) and there is little substantial change for primary and other contractors, other than a duty to tell those they appoint how much time they have allowed for health and safety planning and preparation before work commences.

A summary paper is at http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/meetings/index.htm and new, simplified guidance aimed at clients and SMEs is in the pipeline.

Once again P+HS is in the Top 100 Architects and in the top 250 Consultants in the UK.

The annual survey, carried out by Building Magazine, reflects the size and quality of firms, looking at size, turnover and profitability. For more details have a look at at this week’s issue – Friday 13th October. Details of how to log on to the Building [and other websites] will be posted on “Links” shortly.

While the debate about the merits of the Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) versus the ‘roof tax’ rumbles on, the Housing Corporation has launched a new toolkit aimed at negotiating Section 106 agreements, which remain one of the key mechanisms for delivering affordable housing.

The new assessment system, known as the Economic Appraisal Tool, is designed to help all sides reach agreement more quickly, both on the level of finance that should be offered by developers and the amount of social housing grant required to make developments viable and sustainable.

The toolkit was commissioned by the Corporation from property agents GVA Grimley and Bespoke Property Group with an eye on Kate Barker’s forthcoming Review of Land Use Planning and the Treasury’s decision on whether to press ahead with its plans for PGS.

Launching the toolkit, the Corporation’s deputy chief executive, Steve Douglas, said that applying the new appraisal approach would also help the Corporation to better measure the value of its investments on Section 106 sites.

The Economic Appraisal Tool consists of an Excel spreadsheet model and a user manual, both available to download at http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/eat

The ‘good practice’ requirement for all replacement windows to be fitted with trickle ventilators, as set out in Part F of the Building Regulations, was hastily withdrawn last week after the DCLG admitted getting its sums badly wrong on the cost to industry.

Doubts about the measure first emerged at a NBS seminar on ventilation in September, when the DCLG’s Buildings Division admitted to ‘a bit of a problem’. The problem was that the financial impact to industry had been estimated at £8m a year, while the Glass and Glazing Federation put the figure at ten times that amount.

The Approved Document for Part F calls for trickle ventilators in replacement windows only where the original windows had them until 1 October 2006, after which date all replacement windows were to have them (paragraph 3-4 in Approved Document F, 2006 edition). This guidance was officially withdrawn by the DCLG on 2 October 2006.

Instead the DCLG has accepted the offer of the Glass and Glazing Federation to produce new good practice guidance that will take on board industry views. The DCLG added that the new guidance should be in place as soon as possible.

Please be aware, as well as the EA site there is a further EA site http://www.pipernetworking.com/floodrisk/index.html which gives National Standing Advice to Local Planning Authorities for Planning Applications. Even when the risk is low ie Flood Risk 1, a Flood Risk Assessment may still be required. I have been requested to provide one for a housing project as the site is over 1 ha. Flood Risk 1 is referred to as a “little to no risk area” and is shown unshaded on the maps! The main area that will need to be covered by the risk assessment for this site is that of the impact of surface water drainage. SUDS would be a consideration whether an FRA or not was required. A good starting point to assessing your project requirement is “the matrix” http://www.pipernetworking.com/floodrisk/matrix.html. The site also provides technical notes on flood risk assessment, but hopefully these will be carried out by a consultant.  

Another major piece of employment legislation came into force this week, although aspect of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations are likely to generate more deliberate resistance than the new fire safety regime.

Key points of the new regulations are that employers should not permit age discrimination in areas of recruitment, promotion and training, should not set or maintain any unjustified retirement age policy for those under 65. The age limit for unfair dismissal claims and redundancy rights has also been removed.

New rights for employees include the opportunity to request to work beyond retirement age (a request the employer is bound to consider), and at least six months notice to be given prior to any planned retirement date.

In a profession where practitioners under 40 are still regarded as ‘young’ and some at 65 are just getting into their stride, the employment concerns are not typical of UK businesses as a whole; other sectors are more likely than architecture to challenge the new regulations – as is already happening in the courts. The new age of anti-ageism has clearly arrived, however.

BONFIRE OF THE OLD FIRE REGULATIONS
Fire certificates became history this week as new fire safety law came into force from 1 October 2006. The legislation, which replaces over 70 pieces of legislation with a single reform, has been well signalled though many businesses will remain unaware of their responsibilities.

The key reform is that tasking of a ‘responsible person’ within each business premises to be accountable for fire safety, including checks on fire protection equipment and facilities.

Specific guidance documents, which can be purchased or freely downloaded, has been replaced for a whole range of business premises – such as residential care homes, factories, healthcare and educational facilities – and can be found at http://www.firesafetyguides.communities.gov.uk

Practice principals are also responsible for their own practice premises, of course, as employers. Your own procedures can be quickly put to the test by using the self-assessment routine at the new Fire Gateway website at http://www.fire.gov.uk