Construction Design Management applies to everyone involved in construction in a commercial and domestic sense. CDM covers health and safety aspects of a project. In 2015 there were some significant updates from the 2007 policy and the most notable are the 5 key duty holders:
Client
Principal Designer
Principal Contractor
Contractors
Designers
Each role is allocated to a set person who is responsible for those areas set out in the 2015 CDM policy. With many duty holders being involved in the CDM it ensures that the whole construction process is carried out with health and safety at the forefront. But overall the principal contractor is in charge of health and safety and they must collect the documents, plus ensure what has been said in these documents is carried out on site.
If you do not comply with CDM the fines can be up to million of pounds or even criminal imprisonment.
The HSE's main role in the UK is a regulator They have a number of roles
providing advice, information and guidance
raising awareness in workplaces by influencing and engaging
operating permissioning and licensing activities in major hazard industries
carrying out targeted inspections and investigations
taking enforcement action to prevent harm and hold those who break the law to account
(www.hse.gov.uk)
Energy Performance Certificate: EPC
An Energy Performance Certificate gives you the energy performance of your property. There is a rating of A-G with A being the most energy efficient and G being the lowest. From April 2018 all rented properties had to be at least band E. If the property does not reach band E you are asked to make improvements to increase the efficiency such as install double glazed windows. Please make sure that you demonstrate to the surveyor what you have done that cannot be seen such as cavity wall insulation. After the inspection you will be able to see where the property will reach on the EPC if improvements are done.
An up to date certificate must be presented to a tenant when they enquire about the property. If you do not present the EPC to the tenant then a Section 21 can not be issued.
There are some exceptions to the rules such as listed buildings or religious premises.
Permitted Development can be used to allow you to build a structure without seeking planning permission saving you time and money. There are different rules for domestic and commercial projects, and also those in designated areas such as a conservation area. Tungsten MG found that Marlborough Road was positioned half in a conservation area and half of the house was not, so we had special permitted development rights imposed due to half the house being in a conservation area.
Broadly speaking permitted development rights allow you to extend your house via a single story extension up to half the width of the existing dwelling; a single-storey rear extension up to 4m in length for a detached dwelling and 3m long for a semi or a terrace house. You can also add a rear dormers (but does not exceed 50m3) and you can build an outbuilding but we long as it is behind the main property and does not cover more than 50% of the land nor is not more than 3m in height.
Be mindful that the Government have the ability to alter your permitted development rights via Article 4, which means you have to seek planning permission. See the first terminology article for more inforamtion via the link
