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@Construction Channel CDM = Construction Design & Management Regulations. Its health & safety legislation specifically for construction that was first introduced in the U.K. way back In 1994 and then amended in 2015. The purpose of it was to make the construction and maintenance of buildings (and other related structures) safer. It's had a major effect on the way that safety is approached and nobody I know in construction would want to go back to the dark ages of what it was like on building sites pre 1994. My first job after qualifying as an architect in 1987 was to design a large industrial building. The steel workers erecting the frame did so 10m up without any safety netting or safety harnesses and when the roofers were installing the large metal roof panels it was a windy day and one blew away, travelled over all 6 lanes of the M62 and landed on the far side. Looking back it was a miracle nobody was killed on that site but pre-1994 and CDM that's what it was like on building sites. Likewise architects like myself and other designers (structural and M&E) would commonly design buildings without seriously considering how they could be safely and easily maintained. These days as an architect on every project that I am involved with I've got to formally consider safety (i.e. written risk assessments and method statements) and show how my design approach has eliminated risk for the construction and maintenance of the building.

Why the hell did we ever start the self build malarkey ? We're asking ourselves that very question today!

So that's negligence and standard cause for prosecution under HSAWA as the team were employees of the company - no get out on that one, its general HSAWA stuff. So that confirms they were prosecuted under WAHR and not under CDM 2015 so its not a CDM 2015 prosecution at all. The actual notation on the prosecution outcome from the HSE was this : Leyland SDM (LSDM) Limited has been fined after four workers fell more than three and a half metres whilst carrying a ventilation unit. Westminster Magistrates Court heard how LSDM had been in the process of redeveloping a warehouse in Wembley. However, when four workers tried to move a ventilation unit into position, the working platform became overloaded and gave way. Neither the work at height nor the lifting operations were planned properly. Two of the four injured men suffered leg fractures, while a broken collar bone were among the other injuries caused by the incident. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company failed to manage the risks when working at height and carrying out the lifting operation. The company also failed to have the right level of trained personnel and supervision in place to carry out these tasks safely and effectively. LSDM of Fourth Way, Wembley pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6 (3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Regulation 4 (1) of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 they have been fined £450,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1038. Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Jack Wilby said: “The safety failings by this company are severe and it is lucky that the injuries were not more severe. This incident highlights the importance of planning work, in this case both for lifting operations and working from height, to ensure it is carried out safely.” I've managed to dig into the legislation that makes interesting reading as its not as clear as the HSE website makes out !! Below are clauses 5 & 7 which relate to this discussion, and a very interesting definition.... [Full Legislation is here : http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/51/introduction/made ] Firstly ... “domestic client” means a client for whom a project is being carried out which is not in the course or furtherance of a business of that client; That defines self builders are as domestic clients unless they are building to sell. So onto the PD and PC appointments.... Appointment of the principal designer and the principal contractor 5.—(1) Where there is more than one contractor, or if it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on a project at any time, the client must appoint in writing— (a)a designer with control over the pre-construction phase as principal designer; and (b)a contractor as principal contractor. (2) The appointments must be made as soon as is practicable, and, in any event, before the construction phase begins. (3) If the client fails to appoint a principal designer, the client must fulfil the duties of the principal designer in regulation 11 and 12. (4) If the client fails to appoint a principal contractor, the client must fulfil the duties of the principal contractor in regulations 12 to 14 Application to domestic clients 7.—(1) Where the client is a domestic client the duties in regulations 4(1) to (7) and 6 must be carried out by— (a)the contractor for a project where there is only one contractor; (b)the principal contractor for a project where there is more than one contractor; or (c)the principal designer where there is a written agreement that the principal designer will fulfil those duties. (2) If a domestic client fails to make the appointments required by regulation 5— (a)the designer in control of the pre-construction phase of the project is the principal designer; (b)the contractor in control of the construction phase of the project is the principal contractor. (3) Regulation 5(3) and (4) does not apply to a domestic client. So.... The architect is on the hook for the Principal Designer in law as regulation 5(3) does not apply to a domestic client and therefore if a domestic client does not appoint a principal designer then the architect has no choice if they undertook any work (ie design / planning ) as they are defaulted into that position in legislation. The law does not allow you to divest yourself of a legal responsibility under statute, so unfortunately an architect cannot decline being PD as they are noted in the statute as taking that role.

Think I'm blessed because my build was a modest hut and my expectations were lower...was up today helping a neighbour with his decking and we popped next door for lunch into my Hut. The odd creak or red wine stain matters not a jot, I'm actually very pleased and *forgive me* quite proud of what I've created. It's the quality of the time you spend cooking a meal or having a smoke and a half on the balcony that makes it good? Have some friends around and crack open the fantastic value rioja from Lidl...get in?

Asking myself that question just now.... trying/learning to float the garage floor on a Friday night.....

Yup. Unfortunately G3 requires the PRedV ( multiblock aka control group ) to be mounted at the UVC location ( iirc within 500mm of the cold inlet for some MI's ). Therfore you have to take a balanced cold feed, tapped off said block, back to any mixer outlets upstream. I combat this by doing what J suggests above, but for G3 you MUST have the manufacturer supplied PRedV at the UVC as it also incorporates a 5 or 6 bar cold mains PRV to mitigate against the PRedV failing. Regs folks, wonderful regs. Fwiw, @Crofter can easily choose between either discipline as his hut is quite small

Two simple sentences that sum up the pressing need for well-presented accurate, simply expressed online materials. They need to be accessible, (device agnostic) authoritative (authored by people who understand that online content and presentation needs a sophisticated, thoughtful approach), readable (people hate reading for detail online) and engaging. That last characteristic is what costs the money. That's why it won't happen.

I used JG speed fit when redoing a bathroom in our old house. Great stuff I found. Didn't have any leaks and also the speed fit pipe is marked so you know if the fitting is fully seated correctly. Even replaced a few old weeping compression joints with the stuff and I have no complaints. Very easy to use and having done a kitchen many years ago using copper and compression joints I would use the speedfit stuff again. Heard of a few folk who have had issues with the cheaper grey coloured (not sure of brand) fittings though.

There is a large distinction between (1) a domestic client, where works are being carried out on their house by others, (2) a DIY self builder. and (3) a self builder employing multiple trades directly and concurrently. In (1), typically the client will appoint a builder / roofer / plumber / kitchen company to undertake some work on your house and it will be for them to organise everything - welfare, scaffold, materials etc. The role of PC will pass to them. In (2) if the work is being undertaken by you it will fall outside CDM2015. In (3) you will probably fall within CDM2015. For example, you will most probably have, scaffolding erected for other trades, where you appoint the scaffold contractor. They will not take responsibility for the entire site while their scaffold is in place but it will be up to you to ensure that the scaffold is regularly inspected and safe. You will probably have several other trades on site at the same time, who also will not assume the role of principal contractor. You should also make available welfare facilities, provide site inductions, fire evacuation procedures, site security, check contractor insurances, RAMS etc. In other words you are acting as Principle Contractor.

This sounds very much as if the Conservation Officer (CO) is pulling the strings. CO's are a bit notorious for not having a balanced view, and being pretty much against any form of new development, so I'm not at all sure that their view can be considered to carry significant weight, in terms of the validity of the condition. It might be an idea to collate information on where the evidence of Roman occupation is, as precisely as you can. If you can show that the adjacent site, without this condition, is closer to the known evidence of Roman occupation, then I think it would be worth appealing the condition. The advantage of an appeal is that it is considered on the hard facts that are presented, so the decision may be less likely to be swayed by personal opinions.

That makes sense. However, self-builders insist on falling into the "honey trap" by engaging contractors during the construction phase. If a principal contractor has not been appointed, this - by default, makes the self-builder the principal contractor and therefore he/she assumes the full CDM duties that this position demands. If self-builders do not have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to fulfill this role (fully in accordance with CDM2015) then he/she has a duty of care not to undertake these duties themselves (i.e. due to not possessing the required competence) and therefore has no option other than to appoint a principal contractor who can demonstrate that they possess the required CDM competence. During the pre-construction phase it is entirely foreseeable that multiple contractors will be engaged during the construction phase and therefore a principal contractor should be engaged prior to the commencement of construction. It is of absolutely no relevance to when trade contractors are engaged or indeed how many trades will be on site at any given time. CDM2015 demands that a principal contractor is required when it is envisaged that more than one contractor will be engaged to undertake the works, end of.

And that 'sense' is in short supply often enough in my direct experience for me to realise that the building sector has brought the H+S hammer down hard on it's own head.

The self builder acts as their own project manager, employing individual trades at different times. In this instance the self builder steps out of the DIY arena, because they are taking control of construction work. Where a self builder controls the way in which construction work is carried out, by a person at work, they must comply with all the matters outlined in Part 4 of CDM 2015 This requirement is set out in Regulation 16 of CDM 2015, (which effectively replaces Reg 26 in CDM 2007). This is not a new requirement. In this scenario the self builder will in effect become a contractor. In this case HSE will expect self builders to demonstrate sufficient health and safety capability to meet the requirements of Part 4 of CDM 2015. Individual contractors will be expected to be able to advise the self builder on any specialist matters within their own work activities. HSE’s expectation of a self builder in this position will be one of coordination and management, not of direct supervision of contractors on site. The self builder is entitled to expect contractors to plan, manage and monitor their own work in compliance with CDM 2015. https://www.citb.co.uk/documents/cdm regs/cdm 2015 - qa 3 self build projects.pdf

The contractor is you, unless you have specifically appointed a principle contractor, that's the whole point, Most self builders don't do that, as they want to contract each trade individually.

By being a self builder undertaking the role of contracting the various trades by yourself it is a given that you have assumed competence of a degree to manage the works, thereby you are appointing yourself competent. I really fail to see how any self builder can contemplate spending 50 100 200 £K and more even and fail to see the advantage of spending 5 or 10K in obtaining professional services for certain stuff beyond their knowledge, it's part of the reason i try and distance myself from domestic works, most domestic think they know better until they get into a hole, only then do they want to pay for professional help for things they can't materially see. It was an HSE case actually, householder settled out of court, but still got a massive fine for allowing works to carry on with no professional competence.

I think we are kind of saying the same thing. The scenarios I have described are correct relative to CDM2015. The only weakness in CDM2015 is that it places no responsibility on domestic clients to ensure they have the skills, knowledge and experience to undertake the duties I outlined above. I believe this recognised anomaly can only be clarified by a court of law resulting from an accident investigation (which I do feel will come in the fullness of time). Whether this could result in criminal convictions against a self-builder, I am not so sure. CDM2015 does imply that a domestic client would not be held accountable. However, I feel this is directed towards "non technical" homeowners who have building works designed and installed by an architect and local builder. In this situation, it is (under most circumstances) obvious that the homeowner had no CDM involvement. On the other hand, self-builders clearly have far more competence and input than the "traditional" domestic client and therefore I feel this would be taken into account in terms of foreseeable and wholly preventable accidents. In this situation, it is not obvious that the self-builder had no CDM involvement. So, I suppose I do tentatively agree with you in principle that a self-builder might not face criminal conviction under CDM. However, ignoring the spirit of CDM brings considerable risk and is certainly not for the faint hearted.

So heat loss is reduced as much as poss. Good stuff

@curlewhouse Also worth reading this - usually the vehicle is defined in the easement with the height / width / weight as they are tangible - and it does beg the question if that is even enforceable. http://www.boundary-problems.co.uk/boundary-problems/priv-r-o-w.html

I think the big issue is that the tv "architects" give a slightly misinterpretation of an architects role and gives a false expectation of what to expect. When you see this on tv and you get one of two responses - that they are pretentious and know nothing about what "real people want", or that you have to have pots of money to hire an architect ... And there is a whole spectrum of damn good ones in between ..!!!

Just remembered my Wooster-named Restoration architect. Ptolemy Dean. I like him ... probably fantasic person to chinwag with over a bottle of Becherovka.

Has to be construction to be on topic. You can put a full length laminated one in the shower of you new bathroom. (In 2025 or whenever ). (Senses impending Sword of Damocles)

And wasps & bees chew through as do birds.

+1 our garden is well watered dont read any further if you are having your tea.......... ......ok you were warned: when we first came to this plot we had no connection to the mains, well we did but the pipe had collapsed and the 1950's bog didn't work and had long since dried up. So, I used to place a carrier bag in the bowl. Do what I needed on the rare occasion i need to make a deposit. Tied the bag and chucked it in the fire bin. Simples

It helps to be mad here, though.

Nick I hate to be the one to break this to you, but if he is delivering your mail, he already knows where you live