Health & Safety Built In From Day One.
In complex projects, early health and safety integration is not optional, it is essential. ASPIS delivers expert CDM advice that reduces risk, ensures compliance, and supports smoother project delivery across every dutyholder role.CDM Services at the Core of What We Do
At ASPIS Consulting Group, our Construction (Design and Management) services sit at the heart of our EHS offering. We support commercial and residential projects of all scales by embedding robust health and safety management from the earliest stages of design, ensuring full compliance with CDM 2015 while genuinely improving project outcomes.
The CDM 2015 Regulations can be complex and demanding for clients, designers, and contractors alike. Our specialists bring clarity through practical, proportionate advice tailored to each project and its specific risk profile. From defining dutyholder responsibilities and assessing the competence of appointed parties, to developing comprehensive pre-construction information packages and health and safety files, we help clients manage risk effectively and meet their statutory obligations with confidence.
Operating across London and the wider UK, ASPIS acts as a trusted EHS partner throughout the full project lifecycle. We go beyond compliance, providing assurance, independent scrutiny, and the peace of mind that health and safety risks are being professionally managed from concept through to completion and handover. Straightforward advice. Practical systems. Real-world results.
"CDM is not a box-ticking exercise. When it is applied properly, it forces better thinking, better planning, and better decisions from day one. By identifying risk early and designing it out wherever possible, we make projects safer, more efficient, and more predictable."
CDM Support Across Every Appointed Role
ASPIS can act in or support all three principal CDM dutyholder roles, providing expert, independent advice whether you are the client, the lead designer, or the principal contractor.
Client
We support Clients in fulfilling their CDM 2015 duties by establishing clear project governance, ensuring competent dutyholders are appointed, and providing ongoing assurance that health and safety is being effectively managed throughout. Many clients lack in-house CDM expertise — we provide the knowledge, structure, and confidence to exercise client duties properly from day one.
Principal Designer
As Principal Designer, ASPIS takes accountability for planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating health and safety during the pre-construction phase. We ensure foreseeable construction-phase risks are eliminated or adequately controlled through informed design decisions, effective designer coordination, and the development of robust pre-construction information.
Principal Contractor
We support Principal Contractors in planning, managing, and monitoring construction phase health and safety. By strengthening site safety systems, supporting contractor coordination, and providing independent HSSE oversight, we help Principal Contractors manage their CDM obligations effectively — maintaining compliance throughout the construction phase while supporting safe, productive site operations.
Why Independent Audit and Assurance Matters
Construction remains one of the UK’s highest-risk industries. The human and financial consequences of inadequate health and safety management are significant, and the regulatory implications of failing to comply with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations have never been more serious.
£1.4 Billion
Annual Economic Cost
The annual economic cost of workplace injury and ill health within the UK construction sector for 2024/25, a figure that robust CDM management directly reduces.
2.2 Million
Working Days Lost
Total working days lost in UK construction annually due to injuries and ill health, directly stalling project programmes and increasing cost for clients and contractors.
Unlimited
Fines for CDM Breaches
Courts can now impose unlimited fines for CDM breaches. 2025 saw penalties exceeding £1 million for systemic CDM failures, making competent appointment and diligent compliance essential.
Key Regulatory Requirements You Need to Know
The CDM 2015 Regulations place clear and enforceable legal duties on all those involved in construction projects. Understanding these requirements is fundamental to compliant, safe project delivery.
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply to almost all construction projects in the UK, including domestic work. Whether your project involves a single contractor or a large multi-contractor programme, CDM duties apply.
A Principal Designer and a Principal Contractor must be appointed in writing when a project involves more than one contractor. These appointments must be made as early in the project as practicable to allow adequate pre-construction planning.
Clients have a direct legal duty under CDM 2015 to ensure suitable arrangements are in place for managing health and safety throughout the project lifecycle, including allowing sufficient time and resource for each stage and ensuring competent appointments are made.
Principal Designer is responsible for planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating health and safety during the pre-construction phase. This includes eliminating or reducing foreseeable risks through design and preparing the pre-construction information.
The Principal Contractor is responsible for managing health and safety during the construction phase, including preparing the Construction Phase Plan, coordinating contractors, ensuring site rules are communicated, and controlling site access.
Non-compliance with CDM Regulations can result in criminal prosecution, unlimited fines, and imprisonment under UK health and safety law. The HSE actively inspects construction sites and has issued substantial penalties for dutyholder failures in recent years.
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