Sorry for the delay, but following on from my earlier blog…

As you will all now be aware, the CDM Regulations 2007 came into force on the 6 April 2007.
The key aims of CDM 2007 are to integrate health and safety into the management of a project and encourage everyone involved to work together to:

• Improve the planning and management of projects from the very start;
• Identify hazards early on, so they can be eliminated or reduced at the design or planning stage and ensure the remaining risks can be properly managed;
• Target effort where it can do the most good in terms of health and safety:
• Discourage unnecessary bureaucracy

The CDM Regulations 2007 apply to all construction work from the 6 April 2007.  There are some exceptions, as defined in the regulations; these include maintenance of fixed plant, erection and taking down of tents and various others, but exclude off-site manufacture of items to be used later in construction work.
There are transitional arrangements for projects which commenced prior to the 6 April 07, but these generally concern arrangements and competence in respect of Clients Agent, Planning Supervisor, CDM Co-ordinator and Principal Contractor.
The CDM Regulations 2007 applies to all construction projects and there will be the following duty holders; client, designers and contractors. It is only when a project is notifiable to the HSE that there will be a CDM Co-ordinator and Principal Contractor required.

Notifiable projects are those where construction work is expected to;

• Last more than 30 working days; or
• Involve more than 500 person days, i.e. 50 people working for over 10 days

Although there is no requirement for a CDM Co-ordinator, Principal Contractor or Construction phase plan for a non-notifiable project, the regulations do require co-operation and co-ordination between all members of the project team.  In notifiable projects the CDM Co-ordinator will ensure this takes place as part of the requirements of their role.
I attach below an extract from the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) which sets out the duties of the various duty holders below, and have highlighted some of the important points to note as designers. I have left out the CDM Coordinator role, but think in terms of a key project health & safety advisor with a far more pro-active role:

• The Client is an organisation or individual for whom a construction project is carried out.  Clients only have duties when the project is associated with a business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not).  Non-Domestic clients eg. people having work done on their own home have no client duties under CDM 2007.
• The Client has one of the biggest influences over the way a project is run, and this is reflected in the more onerous  requirements on clients in CDM 2007 – See summary of duties below.
  Example – if a client fails to arrange for a CDM Co-ordinator or Principal Contractor on a notifiable project then these roles default to the client.
• Designers need to make sure they are competent and adequately resourced to address health & safety issues likely to be involved in their design.
• Designers to check Client aware of duties (no change here), except that for notifiable projects designers are to:

a) ensure that the client has appointed a CDM Coordinator,
b) ensure thet they do not start design work other than initial design(up to stage C has been suggested) until a CDM Coordinator is appointed,
c) cooperate with CDM Coordinator, principal contractor & other designers & contractors as necessary to enable them to comply with their duties.

• Designers on all projects are required to avoid forseeable risks and to eliminate hazards and reduce risks during design.

It is not always reasonably practical to eliminate hazards and where this is the case, consideration is to be given to design solutions reducing risk to an acceptable level. The amount of effort put into eliminating hazards and reducing risks should depend on the degree of risk. There is little point in spending a lot of time, money and trouble on low risk issues eg those risks that a competent contractor would be expected to manage.

The focus should be on issues that are known to have the potential to cause significant harm, and where there are known solutions that reduce the risks to everyone exposed.

The greater the risk, the greater the weight that must be given to eliminating or reducing that risk.
This was the message from previous HSE guidance, now it is clear.

• Designers on all projects should provide adequate information about any significant risks associated with the design.
• Designers to coordinate their work with others to improve the way risks are managed & controlled.
• Ensure that any design for use as a workplace takes account of the proviaions of the Workplace (Health,Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992.

What designers don’t have to do:

a) take into account or provide information about unforseeable hazards and risks,
b) design for possible future uses of structures that cannot reasonably be anticipated from the design brief,
c) specify construction methods, except where a design assumes or requires a particular construction/erection sequence.
d) exercise any health & safety management functions
e) worry about trivial risks.

The new ACOP and CDM Policy & Procedures resides in our Quality Assurance folder filed in the shared drive, and should be referred to by all.
Our existing procedures are being reviewed at present awaiting a document from the APS available in June. Please continue to follow our existing arrangements until such time as the new arrangements are in place, but keeping in mind the points made above.

Follow this link for a summary of duties under the CDM regulations under CDM 2007.

Green homes crisis

Two thirds of local authorities admit they are ‘not ready’ to deliver zero-carbon targets
An exclusive BD survey has revealed a planning system in meltdown, with two out of three local authorities not ready to deliver the green homes promised by the government.
Just six weeks before the introduction of key legislation, the findings show huge inconsistencies across the country, alarming gaps in knowledge and skills and a feeling of impotence among planners, many of whom called for stronger guidance from central government.
Some senior planning officers were not even aware that Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes would be mandatory on publicly funded homes from April this year.
Even more worryingly, 16% of authorities surveyed said they were still not meeting the regulations on energy efficiency that are already in place under the new Part L, introduced a year ago. Level 3 of the code is 25% tougher than this.
Other findings show that two out of three local authorities do not impose sustainability standards on planning applications for new housing over and above the statutory minimum, despite strong encouragement from bodies such as the GLA and BRE. And only one in four plans to enforce a level of the code on private residential development from April.
Shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman said: “What concerns me about the findings of this survey is that local authorities have not had the proper support, guidance and direction they need from the centre. This suggests the government’s commitment to delivering energy efficient homes is merely skin-deep.”
The Department for Communities & Local Government defended its position. A spokesperson said: “The code is a voluntary standard. As such there is no requirement for local authorities to enforce it. We will continue to work closely with them over the coming months to raise awareness of the code, to explain exactly how it affects them, and how they can use it.”
But planners told BD they would be unable to deliver the government’s zero-carbon target without strong legislative backing.
“It will be difficult to achieve because it will require a significant culture change for builders, designers and customers,” said one local authority in north-east England. “Primary legislation may be the only means of achieving zero-carbon development.”
The Town & Country Planning Association’s director of policy Robert Shaw urged planners to take responsibility for implementing sustainability standards. “We all have to take responsibility for this. It’s been in the pipeline for two years,” he said.
“It’s a big job to make sure everybody is geared up for this, but a lot of it is not new, a lot of this is good practice. The urgency of climate change dictates the speed at which we do things, that’s why we need to move so fast.”
Amanda Baillieu Buiding Design February 16^th 2007.

The Code for Sustainable Homes will be mandatory for publicly funded housing from April. Initially voluntary for privately funded developments, it will be mandatory for all new homes from April 2008. The code sets minimum standards for energy and water efficiency, promotes renewable energy, and most importantly, does not allow improvements undertaken in one area to be traded against lower performances in another.

Chancellor Gordon Brown
   

Insurers warn on storms

Herzog & de Meuron buildings hit
The Association of British Insurers has warned that new buildings need to be designed to withstand increasingly severe weather conditions after storms caused £400 million of damage across the country last week.
Buildings — including Herzog & de Meuron’s Tate Modern and Laban dance centre — were prominent casualties of the storm after they were unable to withstand high winds thought to be an early sign of major climate change.
A spokesperson for the ABI, the trade association for insurers, said: “We are encouraging the government to look at how the climate will change in the future and how developers and designers should respond. We need to face the problem now: make sure no new buildings are built near flood plains, and that they are designed to resist the high winds and heavy rain expected.”
Heidi Ancell  Buiding Design 26 January 2007

Code for Sustainable Homes signals the future for Building Regulations

At the end of December 2006 the government formally published its long awaited Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), which becomes effective in April 2007.  This is widely regarded as an important tool for achieving ‘zero carbon’ status in housebuilding, building homes which are both thermally efficient and which generate locally their own low energy requirements (eg using solar panels on the roof). 
The government has made it clear that the Code signposts the direction that future changes to Building Regulations will take.  In other words, the concepts, tools and standards in CSH will be encompassed in future changes to Part L.
The CSH is a voluntary tool for both public and private housing developers.  To access central government funding, however, all public housing will need to achieve at least the minimum rating (1 star).
As we all know, achieving carbon reduction has been one of the government’s top priorities for some time – and it is using three main ‘levers’ to effect change:

The government also hopes that the Code, with its maximum 6 star rating scheme, will provide a marketing tool for private developers.  Consumers have responded very well to energy rating schemes for electrical white goods and the government hopes that by informing customers of the overall energy ratings of houses it will lead to the same positive changes in spending decisions.

How will the scheme work?

Developers can achieve ratings from one to six stars.  The lowest level, 1 star, demands an improvement on the minimum requirements given in Part L1A, calculated on a ‘points out of 100′ basis across nine categories (see table below).  The higher star ratings naturally require higher point scores.  There is flexibility in how points are achieved, but some performance aspects are compulsory, as the chart below simply summarises.

Certification for Code compliance

To gain certification for code compliance there is a four-part process:

1. The developer produces an initial design for appraisal
2. A trained and certified Code Assessor conducts an initial assessment on the design, recommends a sustainability rating and issues an interim Code Certificate.  This is carried out for each house type (but not each dwelling)
3. The assessor performs a post completion check on a sample of the development to verify the rating
4. The assessor produces a final Code Certificate of compliance.

The concept of the Code is a positive move towards improving sustainable housing and should promote the greater use of sustainable materials.  Further details of this will be laid out in a revised Green Guide, scheduled to be ready by this April.  The guide will provide sustainability ratings for generic materials and products with a methodology for appraising specific manufacturer’s products.
 

For full details of the Code – visit this site 

 I attended the first of two seminars organised by the Association of Project Safety (APS) in respect of the new CDM 2007 Regulations to come into force in April 2007.  The timescale is as follows:-

17 October 2006            Consideration of the regulatory package by HSC

                                    Update:  The HSC formally approved the draft CDM

                                    Regulatory package for formal proposal to Ministers.

November 2006             Deadline for Ministerial response on new CDM.

January 2007                 ACoP published(date to be advised)

6 April 2007                   Regulations come into force

Interesting items are:

1           The change in Clients duties and the removal of Clients Agents, in recognition of the large influence Clients have on a project, particularly time wise. Note – If Client fails to appoint CDM –Coordinator or Principal Contractor, Client takes on role by default!

2           The Proposed Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) no longer contains any ‘guidance’ material.

3           New phrase introduced to notifiable projects ‘Initial Design Period’ during which it is acceptable for CDM-Co-ordinator not to be appointed.  Period is legally undefined – APS opinion is that this could relate to initial RIBA design stages, say A to C.  Note – On notifiable projects, no designer should commence work, other than ‘initial design’ work unless CDM Co-ordinator has been appointed by the Client.  Reg 18 (1). Remember, Designers Duties apply on all projects regardless of size or status, not just when notifiable.

4           The important duty of advising the Client that CDM Regs. apply to a project and a Client is aware of his duties is still there.  The wording is ensure that the Client is aware of his duties.  I consider this is best achieved by the sending of a letter and advice leaflet at the time of appointment in order that there can be no doubt that we have ensured that the Client is aware of his duties, as per our present procedures.

5           The clarification of designers risk assessments as ‘project specific and concentrating on significant risks not obvious to those who use the design’.  However, APS point out that this appears to be at odds with the CDM Regulations.  My view is that we should, as designers, be aware of all risks, as recorded in our generic risk assessments, and only highlight the significant non-obvious to avoid excessive paperwork which is likely to be ignored.

6           Definition of design now includes calculations for design, and workplaces to be designed to comply with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations.

7           Competence – note definition and assess yourself against this in Appendix A of the ACOP.

I will send an email advising where this latest information can be viewed on our system.