A CDM consultant is someone a client, principal designer or principal contractor engages to help them discharge duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The engagement is advisory. CDM places its duties on named roles, and buying advice does not move the duty: a client who has appointed a consultant is still the client, and is still the one HSE will write to.
Who normally buys it, and why
Most often the client, particularly a commercial client who builds rarely and has no in-house construction function. The regulations require the client to make suitable arrangements for managing the project and to satisfy themselves those arrangements are maintained. A client who has never done that before generally cannot judge whether the arrangements are suitable, and that judgement is what the consultant supplies.
What the work looks like
Assembling and issuing pre-construction information, advising on whether the project is notifiable and submitting the F10 if it is, reviewing the construction phase plan before work starts, checking the appointments are in writing and the appointees are actually capable, monitoring during the build, and making sure the health and safety file is produced and handed over at the end.
Where a consultant stops
They cannot be the principal designer unless they are appointed as one, and they cannot be appointed as principal designer merely to hold a title while somebody else does the design coordination. A consultant who has no involvement in the design is not in a position to coordinate it, and an appointment made on that basis is one that falls apart when it is examined.
Judging one before you engage them
Ask which projects of your type and size they have advised on, who will personally do the work, and what they will produce at each stage. A consultant who describes their service purely as compliance and never mentions the design or the sequence of the build is describing paperwork, and paperwork is not what CDM asks for.
Questions people ask about cdm consultant
Is a CDM consultant a legal requirement?
No. CDM 2015 requires appointments of a principal designer and principal contractor where more than one contractor is involved, and requires the client to make suitable arrangements. A consultant is one way of achieving that, not a role the regulations name.
Is a CDM consultant the same as a principal designer?
Not unless they are appointed as one in writing and actually coordinate the design. The two are frequently conflated and the distinction matters if anything goes wrong.
Who pays for CDM consultancy?
Usually the client, as part of the professional fees on the project. Contractors sometimes engage their own adviser for the construction phase duties.