Changes to the Building Regulations - October 2023

The Building Safety Act (2022) has introduced the role of duty holders, amending the Building Regulations 2010.
The Building Regulations 2010 - PART 2A Dutyholders and competence
 
Find more information on the general duties of all duty holders, and the particular duties of the principal designer and the principal contractor.

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• Framework for competence of individual Principal Designers
• Framework for Competence of Individual Principal Contractors

Duty holders must be appointed by the Client. There are 3 duty holders:

The Applicant – the person making the application, must include the details of the:

1. Client including Domestic Clients – the person for whom the work is being carried out (including residential homeowners referred to as Domestic Clients)
2. Principal Designer – the person responsible for drawing together and signing off the plans, designs and calculations, previously known as the Agent
3. Principal Contractor – the person responsible for carrying out works on site, previously known as the Builder

Duty holders are responsible for having arrangements and systems in place to plan, manage and monitor the work, to ensure compliance with the building regulations.

The duty holders are required to work together to ensure compliance. At the end of works, all duty holders are required to sign off the Completion Notice to confirm they have taken all reasonable steps to check, and that to the best of their knowledge, the works comply with the regulations.

The duty to ensure compliance ultimately sits with those who procure the building work, e.g. on a domestic extension this will usually be the homeowner.

Where there is more than one designer working on the project, the Client should assign one of them as the Principal Designer to be in overall control of the design work.

Where more than one contractor is working on the project, the Client should assign one of them as the Principal Contractor to be in overall control of the building work.

Duty Holder Responsibilities

Clients (including domestic clients) need to ensure that those they appoint are competent (i.e. that they have the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours). They can appoint an individual or an organisation. The same individual or organisation can hold more than one duty holder role.

They must provide all reasonable building information to designers and contractors.

They must cooperate with anyone working on or about the project to enable them to comply with their duties or functions.

Principal Designers (PD)

A designer is appointed by the client/domestic client. They must plan, manage and monitor the design work, ensuring both they and any working under them produce designs such that, if the works are built to the design, they will comply with all relevant requirements of the building regulations.

They must ensure that they, and all those working under them on the project, cooperate, communicate and co-ordinate their work with the client, the Principal Contractor, and other designers and contractors. This includes providing information as reasonably required, with allocation of sufficient time and resources to do so.

In practice, this means appointing the right people, with the right people, with the right competencies (the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours) for the work, and ensuring those they appoint have systems in place to ensure compliance.

Principal Contractors (PC)

A contractor is appointed by the client/domestic client. They must plan, manage and monitor the building work, ensuring both they and any working under them complete works according to the design produced and signed off by the Principal Designer, per all the relevant requirements of the building regulations. 

They must ensure that they, and all those working under them on the project, co-operate, communicate and co-ordinate their work with the client, the Principal Designer, and any other designers. This includes providing information as reasonably required, with the allocation of sufficient time and resources to do so. 

If there are any problems with the design, the contractor must raise this to the Principal Designer to be resolved and signed off by the Principal Designer.