Area: Health & Safety

Construction Design & Management Regulations

Client: Millennium Dome (O2 Stadium), London

Construction Design & Management (CDM) Principal Designer: Systems2 act as the Principal Designer (previously Planning Supervisor & CDM Coordinator) plus as Client Advisor and Principal Contractor Advisor, for many clients of different scopes and sizes.

Mark Swain, Systems2 Founder & Board Chair, contributed to the research and development of the original Construction Design & Management Regulations along with later updates.

The Principal Designer is responsible for ensuring good investigation and communication of design risks on a construction project. This could be a refurbishment of a tower block, construction of a new housing estate or the renovation of a historic museum. Below we highlight one such project.

The 02 Stadium, London (originally, The Millenium Dome). Systems2 was drafted in at short notice to work as a Construction Safety Advisor and CDM Coordinator on this prestigious project. The construction was of a high-risk nature with hundreds of different contractors operating through complex partnerships, under extremely tight time constraints with a great deal of public scrutiny. Foreign contractors were resistant to working with safety controls. Extreme diplomacy was required, both with contractors and with the enforcing authorities. Good communication was paramount. The project was completed on time with relatively few major injuries.

Some project highlights:
  • Understanding gained from specialist restoration trades.
  • Understanding gained by working with security specialists.
  • Knowledge gained of highly specialised design scaffolds.
  • Close working project team was retained on three future annual projects.

Systems2 has been involved in many CDM construction projects, mainly as Principal Designer, but also as Client CDM Advisor and as advisor to the principal contractors. Some of our other past projects include: Office of National Statistics in Newport; Port Solent Housing in Southampton and The Metrocentre in Gateshead. We are currently advising on the construction of a large modernist houseboat, which will be featured on the TV programme ‘Grand Designs’.