CDM Regulations 2007: What They Were and What Replaced Them

A practical guide for UK site managers, contractors and small builders.

If you are looking for the CDM Regulations 2007, the most important thing to know first is that they no longer apply. They were revoked and replaced by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 on 6 April 2015. This guide explains what the 2007 regulations required, what changed when 2015 came in, why the old CDM coordinator role vanished, and what all of that means for the project in front of you today.

The 2007 regulations have been replaced

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 were the health and safety law for construction work in Great Britain for eight years. On 6 April 2015 they were revoked in full and replaced by CDM 2015. If you are relying on a 2007 document, a 2007 template, or advice built around the 2007 rules, you are working from law that no longer exists.

This matters because a lot of paperwork still in circulation, and a lot of memory among people who trained under the old system, is built around 2007. Knowing what changed is the quickest way to avoid carrying an outdated habit onto a live site.

What CDM 2007 required

CDM 2007 set out the duties for managing health and safety across the life of a construction project. It defined roles for the client, designers and contractors, and for larger notifiable projects it introduced two extra layers.

• The CDM coordinator. On notifiable projects the client had to appoint a CDM coordinator to advise on health and safety and coordinate the pre-construction phase.
• The principal contractor. On notifiable projects a principal contractor managed health and safety during the construction phase.
• An Approved Code of Practice. The 2007 regulations sat alongside an ACOP (L144) that carried special legal status and gave detailed practical guidance.
• A distinction around domestic clients. Domestic clients were largely outside the duties, which left a gap in how smaller domestic work was covered.

What changed in 2015

CDM 2015 kept the same underlying idea, plan the work, manage it and record it, but restructured the roles and closed some gaps. The headline changes are the ones that trip people up if they still think in 2007 terms.

• The CDM coordinator was abolished. The role disappeared entirely. If you see it named in a document, that document predates 2015.
• The principal designer was introduced. A new duty holder, drawn from the design team, took over managing health and safety in the pre-construction phase. This is not a like-for-like replacement of the coordinator; it sits inside the design team.
• The ACOP was withdrawn. In its place the HSE published guidance L153, Managing health and safety in construction, which explains the 2015 duties in plain English.
• Domestic clients were brought in. CDM 2015 applies to domestic projects too, with the client duties passing to the contractor or principal contractor rather than falling away.
• The notification threshold changed. The trigger for notifying the HSE was redefined, and notification no longer decides who the duty holders are.

The CDM coordinator confusion

The single biggest source of error from the 2007 era is the CDM coordinator. People still ask who the coordinator is on a job, or expect to appoint one. There is no such role under CDM 2015. The nearest equivalent is the principal designer, but the responsibilities are framed differently and the principal designer is part of the design team rather than a standalone adviser. If a template, contract or method statement refers to a CDM coordinator, treat it as a signal that the whole document needs updating.

What applies to your project today

For any construction work now, CDM 2015 is the law, not CDM 2007. In practice that means:

• Use the 2015 roles. Client, principal designer, principal contractor, designers and contractors, with workers having duties too.
• Produce the 2015 documents. A construction phase plan before work starts on every project, pre-construction information, and a health and safety file at the end where more than one contractor is involved.
• Read L153, not the old ACOP. The 2007 ACOP L144 has been withdrawn; L153 is the current guidance.
• Bin the 2007 templates. Anything mentioning a CDM coordinator, or built around the 2007 structure, should be replaced with current material.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general guidance for UK construction and is not legal advice. For requirements specific to your work, check current HSE guidance, including L153, and your own duty holder obligations under CDM 2015.