Professional & Financial Services

Architects' and engineers' design duties

If you design buildings or infrastructure — as an architect, engineer, surveyor or other designer — you carry statutory duties under the Building Regulations, the CDM 2015 designer duties and, for higher-risk buildings, the Building Safety Act 2022. Only "architect" is a protected title, so architects must also register with the ARB. This guide explains what every designer must do, and where the rules differ by nation.

UK-wide
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UK-wide

Related guides in Building Safety

Designing buildings and infrastructure carries legal duties, whatever your discipline. Architects, structural and civil engineers, building services and fire engineers and surveyors all prepare designs for building work — and the design duties under the Building Regulations, CDM 2015 and the Building Safety Act apply to anyone who prepares or modifies such designs, whatever their discipline. (Land-use town planning that produces no construction design does not, by itself, attract these duties.) The one duty that is specific to architects is registration: only "architect" is a protected title.

If you call yourself an architect: register with the ARB

"Architect" is a protected title under the Architects Act 1997. You may not practise or carry on business under that title unless you are on the Register held by the Architects Registration Board. Registration is of individuals, not firms — every person using the title must personally be registered, and the ARB applies UK-wide. "Landscape architect", "engineer", "surveyor" and "town planner" are not protected titles, so there is no equivalent registration gateway for those roles (professional registration with the Engineering Council, RICS or RTPI is voluntary).

Design to the Building Regulations

Your designs for building work must comply with the Building Regulations — structure, fire safety, access, energy efficiency and the rest of the Approved Documents — with compliance signed off through building control (a local authority or a registered building control approver). The Building Regulations 2010 apply in England and Wales; Scotland has its own Building (Scotland) Regulations under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, and Northern Ireland its own Building Regulations.

Meet your CDM 2015 designer duties

On construction projects you are a "designer" under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. You must eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable health and safety risks through your design, and provide design information to the other dutyholders. The lead design firm is frequently appointed principal designer, coordinating health and safety in the pre-construction phase. CDM 2015 applies in Great Britain; Northern Ireland applies the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. If you commission rather than carry out design, see CDM 2015: your duties as a construction client.

Higher-risk buildings: Building Safety Act competence and gateways

Under the dutyholder regime made under the Building Safety Act 2022 (and the Building Regulations 2010 as amended in 2023), any designer must be competent — having the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for the work — and must not start design work unless satisfied of that competence. For any building work in England with more than one contractor, the client must appoint a principal designer under the Building Regulations dutyholder rules, to plan, manage and monitor the design work and coordinate Building Regulations compliance. For higher-risk buildings in England (at least 18 metres tall or 7 or more storeys, with in-scope residential uses), the gateway regime overseen by the Building Safety Regulator adds further controls on top. This regime is England-only; Scotland operates separately under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.

If you work on higher-risk buildings, read the dedicated guide to the gateway regime, the golden thread and personal liability: Building safety duties for designers.

Next steps

Make sure the cross-cutting duties for your practice are in place — see Run a compliant architecture or engineering practice — then confirm everything with the architecture, engineering and testing compliance checklist.