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The construction sector is awaiting consultation on the latest revision to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. Industry is expecting the Government to bring into force the third version of the CDM Regulations, the latest incarnation of a regulatory framework that was first introduced in 1995. 

The CDM Regulations have generated significant improvements in the management of Construction projects. Equally, they have led to much unnecessary bureaucracy and mis-understanding.

The latest revision will occur because the European Union has seen the need to include matters that it considers were previously omitted (primarily relating to the inclusion of the domestic client as a duty holder), and for which the UK was in danger of EU legal proceedings. It is also a result of the Government's strategy to minimise regulations in general and, specifically, to avoid ‘gold-plating'. In this latter regard, the Government has its eye on the fact that there are subjects in the current regulations which do not appear in the originating EU Directive, specifically competency, and designer duties. It is anticipated that these will be omitted.  

The CDM co-ordinator will probably also disappear with such necessary duties then allocated to a ‘lead designer. The draft Regulations will be more of a ‘copy-out' of the Directive. 

It is also likely that the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) will also disappear or be very significantly reduced. 

The duties on the various parties (with the exception of domestic clients) will hardly change.

Courses on the CDM Regulations are run regularly by Peak HSE Ltd. http://www.peakhse.co.uk/training/courses/cdm-regulations