Construction Design and Management Regulation 2015 – Will it be a worthy successor or a failure like its predecessors, what does the Construction Industry think?

Abstract

This dissertation is about trying to establish why the HSE has just commissioned the change of the Construction Design and Management Regulations again in 2015 the second time it has been changed in its short lifetime of 21 years. The construction industry is well known for being a dangerous industry to work in, this study will aim to find out if the changes to the Construction Design and Management Regulations will play a part in changing this reputation. In order to undertake this study, it is important to carry out two different types of research. This first will be a literature review to find out what information has already been written on the subject and try to find out why the two previous versions of the regulation have failed. This will also include trying to establish the changes to the new regulation to find out if they have been targeted at the industry correctly. Following this a Qualitative Survey will be undertaken of a number of construction industry professionals to establish their opinions on the subject based upon their professional opinion. The study established that the construction industry professionals had embraced the changes to the regulations in 2015, with many of them having received training or briefing sessions. The majority of the surveyed professionals were of the opinion that the new regulations are an improvement on the 1994 and 2007 versions of the regulations. Some of them were unsure if the new regulation would make the construction process itself safer, but they were of the opinion that it would make maintenance and further construction related refurbishment much safer. Crucially however, the professionals didn’t think that the clients understood their duties under the regulation but this only comes with education from both the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor.