The Building Regulations in England place duties on clients as well as designers and contractors. ClearRegs gives you a clear view of the requirements, decisions and evidence your team records, helping you stay informed without having to administer the project register.
These duties sit in the Building Regulations 2010, as amended in 2023. They apply generally to building work in England, subject to applicable exemptions and transitional arrangements, not only to higher risk buildings.
The four responsibilities below describe the general client position. Special arrangements apply to domestic clients, as explained below.
Where more than one contractor will work on the project, or this is reasonably foreseeable, appoint a Principal Designer to control the design work and a Principal Contractor to control the building work.
Make these appointments in writing before construction begins. For higher risk building work requiring a BSR approval application, appoint them before submitting that application.
Unless you are a domestic client, failing to make a required appointment means carrying out that role’s duties until someone is appointed.
Take all reasonable steps to satisfy yourself that those you appoint have the competence required for their work and responsibilities.
For individuals, this means appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours. For organisations, it means the policies, systems and resources needed to carry out the work properly.
Ask for relevant evidence. Keeping a record of your checks helps explain why you considered the appointment suitable.
Provide relevant building and project information to your designers and contractors as soon as practicable. This includes information you hold or can reasonably obtain, such as surveys, existing drawings and details of known building issues.
Cooperate with the team so they can fulfil their duties and make informed decisions.
Put suitable arrangements in place for planning, managing and monitoring the project so that the design and building work comply with the applicable requirements. Allow sufficient time and resources, and enable the designers and contractors to cooperate.
Maintain and review those arrangements throughout the project. A shared record helps you follow progress, identify outstanding actions and document changes.
For a project outside your business, specified management and competence checking duties are carried out by the sole contractor or, on projects with several contractors, the Principal Contractor. The Principal Designer can undertake those duties on a project with several contractors if you expressly agree this in writing.
You retain duties to provide information and cooperate.
If required principal appointments are not made, the designer controlling the design phase and the contractor controlling the construction phase take those roles.
Access is per project. Your design team manages the register and invites you to view the requirements, progress and supporting evidence.
The project lead invites you as a member. You can access the shared record without setting up or administering the register.
Requirements are organised by Approved Document and RIBA stage, with a recorded status and named person assigned to each item. See what has been marked complete and what remains open without waiting for a separate report.
Decisions and supporting evidence are dated and attributed when recorded. You can see what was added, by whom and when, helping you follow how the team has addressed each requirement.
Export the register as a structured schedule for handover. Archived projects remain available to read, preserving access to the information your team recorded.
ClearRegs helps you follow and document how compliance is managed on your project. Your legal duties remain, and the record supports professional review and building control without itself establishing compliance.