Architecture by Design provides Building Regulations Principal Designer appointments under the Building Safety Act 2022 — properly separated from CDM, documented from day one, and evidenced for Gateway.
CDM Principal Designer sits under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The Building Regulations Principal Designer duty was created by the Building Safety Act 2022. These are separate statutory regimes with separate duties.
CDM PD manages construction-phase health and safety coordination. The Building Regs PD is responsible for demonstrating design compliance, evidencing team competence, and managing the information required at each gateway stage.
Gateway 2 does not move until the right information is in the right format, signed off by the right people. If the Building Regs PD appointment is treated as an afterthought, the programme pays for it. So does the building owner.
"We've been appointed as Principal Designer under Building Regulations for the Well Lane project. Not CDM — Building Regs PD. The role the Building Safety Act created that a lot of design teams are still working through."
Read the full post →We establish which duties apply to your specific project and review what existing appointments already cover. Most teams on higher-risk buildings have CDM in place. Very few have Building Regs PD properly separated and evidenced. We start by mapping the gap.
We build the information structure from the appointment, not the week before Gateway. This covers design compliance evidencing, competence frameworks for the whole design team, and decision tracking. The volume of information the BRPD role generates compounds fast on a live project — it needs proper infrastructure.
When Gateway 2 approaches, we have the right information in the right format, signed off by the right people. Not assembled under pressure — maintained as a live system throughout the design phase. We have run CDM PD appointments for years and treat the Building Regs PD duty as its own discipline with proper documentation and evidencing from day one.
Running CDM PD appointments for years gave us a strong foundation — but we treat the Building Regs PD duty as its own discipline with proper documentation and proper evidencing. The Building Safety Act asks different questions. We answer them.
The information load in this role is significant. We have built the infrastructure to handle it properly — connected systems that keep the right information in the right place at the right time. Not to replace the judgement the role requires. To ensure nothing falls through the gaps before Gateway.
If your project is heading into Gateway and the Building Regs PD appointment has not been locked down, it is worth a conversation before it becomes a programme problem. Drop us a message and we will come back to you within one working day.
Thank you — we will be in touch within one working day.