No Principal Contractor Appointed: The Duties Fall to You
- Paul Scanlon
- Jul 30
- 1 min read
Don't appoint a Principal Contractor, and the role doesn't disappear. It lands on you.
This is one of the least understood consequences in CDM 2015.
Where there is more than one contractor on a project, the client must appoint a Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor in writing.
If the client fails to make those appointments, the duties do not lapse.
Under Regulation 5, the client is treated as holding the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor duties itself.
So the commercial client that "never got round to it" has not avoided the role. It has personally absorbed every obligation that came with it — planning, managing and monitoring the construction phase included.
That is a vastly larger exposure than most clients realise they are carrying.
And it happens by omission, not decision. No appointment is itself the decision.
If you cannot point to the written appointment of your Principal Contractor on a current multi-contractor project, assume those duties are sitting with you right now.
Can you produce the written appointments for the duty holders on your live projects?
Get your free Client Guide to CDM 2015 here: cdm2015.co.uk/resource-download
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