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East Bergholt Parish Council, Discussion Document for item 7 of the
SPF Committee meeting on 18
th
September 2025

Policy Requirements for Works Contract Procedures
Different types of procurement contracts
There are two types of procurement contacts
1, Supply contracts
2, Works contacts
In practice a procurement contract may contain elements of both a supply contract and works
contract.
An example of a supply contract is (or will be) the contract to procure the solar cells for the sports
pavilion. It is essentially about the supply of goods or equipment, even if there is an element of
“works” in the act of installation.
A works contract is a contract where the major requirement is a service contract to construct
something.
Our existing policy and procurement procedures is appropriate for supply contracts. For works
contacts we need to add additional requirements.
Essential Requirements of a Works contract
The purpose of a contact is to
• Assign risk (the organisation most able to manage a particular risk should be the
organisation to carry that risk)
• Define the works (the works are usually defined by the drawings, particular specification and
general specification. However the works do not stop with these three sets of documents,
requirements to satisfy regulatory and legal requirements are also included in the works.
These include such things as the CDM requirements. The hierarchy of information needs to
be defined in the contract and the practice is usually that drawings take preference over the
particular specification which in turn take precedence over the general specification.
However is some forms of contract a bill of quantities is also used as part of the description
of the works.)
• Set out the Construction Period
• Defines how the financial payments will be determined and when they will be paid
• Sets out warranties, guarantees, bonds and the like
• Sets out how uncertainty is managed such a when the works are complete, how any less
significant parts of the works may be completed after hand over and special financial
measures such as retention and defects liability period.
• A contract should foster good relations
• A contract should improve understanding between the parties to the contract (standard
forms of contract enable this to be achieved)

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When Should a Works Contract be used?
Accepting an offer from a contractor to carry out the works for a consideration for the erection of a
dog bin, means a works contract has been entered into. However the nature of the works is of such
a trivial nature that a formal works contract is unnecessary. The client will still need to check that
insurances are in place and that health a safety risk assessment are in place (necessary permissions
are in place, a utility search shows the works are clear of utility apparatus, the works will comply
with all Health and safety requirements etc.)
So when does the use of additional contract procedures become a necessity? Certainly when an F10
Health and Safety Executive notice is required, but also at a much smaller level. Whenever there is a
design requirement as well as a construction requirement, a defined site where a contractor takes
responsibility during construction and a handover back to the client, then we should expect to follow
a process using a works contract.
Standard Forms of Contract
Professional institutions involved with construction have their own standard forms of contract.
Generally they offer families of types of standard contracts, e.g. fixed price, admeasure contracts,
schedule of prices, cost plus, partnering contracts etc., etc. Most of these are institutions offer small
works or simplified forms of contract as ell, which would generally be very useful for the nature of
work by parish councils.
Guidance is available from the institutions, in text accompanying the forms of contract and from
experienced consultants and the like and also from training bodies. However I would expect
guidance should be available from local government advice organisations, other councils and
perhaps some government departments.
A client may also have a preference due knowledge of particular family of contracts and this can be
very important to ensure a successful project. The choice ultimately should be made as part of a
formal assessment of the management of risk.
Aims of successful compiling the appropriate contract documents
• Part of ensuring value for money (alongside project management)
• Ensure that the contractor provides what the client wanted
• Helps develop good relationships and future cooperation
• Helps understanding of duties and liabilities
• Ensure that things like the safety file is provided
• Ensure that any issues that arise are dealt with to the satisfaction of everyone
• Ensure no confusion
• Ensure all third party and legal requirements are met
• Ensure the neighbours and happy
• Ensure nothing is forgotten
• Ensure the works function and are as durable as intended.
• If anything does go wrong then the responsibility and processes to remedy are understood
and are in place.
• Provides information for the future, for people and maintenance requirements.
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Appendix 1
(Copied from a website)
CDM regulations
Complying with CDM 2015 Regulations is a legal requirement. By adhering to the
regulations, clients and contractors can ensure that projects are carried out according to
health and safety best practices, from managing risks in the pre-construction phase to
coordinating with employees and subcontractors during the build process and compiling
and handing over the health and safety file upon project completion to facilitate alterations,
ongoing maintenance or demolition once the project is complete
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations outline the health and
safety responsibilities of various “duty holders”.
These duty holders reflect the key roles involved throughout the construction
process. The CDM 2015 Regulations duty holders are:
• Client
• Principal designer
• Principal contractor
• Designer
• Contractor
Projects do not require individuals to fulfil all roles. For example, the CDM 2015
Regulations only requires a principal designer to be appointed when more than one
contractor works on a project at a time. A person may also hold multiple roles.
For example, if the client fails to appoint a principal designer and/or principal
contractor on a project with more than one contractor, then the duties of these duty
holders must be fulfilled by the client.
The CDM Regulations 2015 include an overview of the various terms used
throughout the legislation — including definitions for each duty holder, the
construction phase plan and construction work — the health and safety duties of
each role and general requirements for all construction sites
Client Responsibilities
Client responsibilities include ensuring the project is safely planned, resourced, and
delivered in compliance with health and safety law.

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The CDM regulations define a client as any person for whom a construction project is
carried out. Clients can be either domestic or commercial, depending on whether the
construction project is being carried out in connection with a business.
Part 2 of the CDM regulations outlines the client duties in relation to managing
construction projects:
• Appointing a principal designer and principal contractor if more than one
contractor is working (or expected to work) on a project. The client must
appoint these roles in writing; otherwise, they are legally responsible for
carrying out these duties.
• Providing pre-construction information to every designer and contractor
appointed to communicate expected standards and project requirements. Pre-
construction information is any information relevant to the construction work,
including:
• The reason for the construction work
• The work involved and vision for the completed project
• How the project will be planned and managed
• Health and safety hazards and how they will be addressed
• The extent and location of existing information such as that included in
the health & safety file, including existing services, structures and
ground conditions.
• Allocating sufficient time and resources to complete the project without
risks (so far as is reasonably practicable) to the health or safety of any person
involved.
• Ensuring the principal contractor (or sole contractor if a principal contractor is
not appointed) draws up a construction phase plan before construction
begins.
• Ensuring the principal designer prepares a health and safety file for the
project.
• Notifying the Health and Safety Executive if construction work is scheduled
to exceed 500 person days or last longer than 30 working days, and involve
more than 20 people working simultaneously on the project

Principal Designer Responsibilities
• Preparing a health and safety file for the project and revising it as
appropriate.
• Planning, managing and monitoring the pre-construction phase to
minimise risks to health and safety. This requirement includes providing pre-
construction information to the client and every designer and contractor
appointed (or being considered for appointment) to the project.

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• Estimating the time required to complete the various stages of work
scheduled to take place.
• Identifying and eliminating foreseeable risks to the health and safety of
any person carrying out construction work, maintaining or cleaning structures
and using structures designed as a workplace. Control measures should be
implemented to reduce any remaining risks and improve the health and safety
of the building site and the overall project.
• Ensuring all designers carry out their CDM duties.
• Assisting the client in the provision of pre-construction information and
providing it to each designer and contractor appointed on the project.
• Liaising with the principal contractor during their appointment, including
sharing information related to the planning, management and monitoring of
the construction phase

Principal Contractor Responsibilities
Clients should appoint this role to a contractor with the necessary skills, experience
and training to manage the construction while ensuring health and safety standards
are met. The principal contractor has the same responsibilities as any other
contractor, plus several more specific to the role:
• Draw up a construction phase plan and review and update it so that
construction work is carried out with consideration of risks to health and
safety.
• Plan, manage and monitor the construction phase to ensure that
construction work is carried out without risks to health or safety, in line with
the principles of prevention.
• Consider all health and safety risks that could arise during the construction
phase.
• Manage and supervise contractors, ensuring the right contractors are hired
(including that they possess the appropriate skills, knowledge, training and
experience), conducting a suitable site induction, organising work schedules,
providing project site information and informing contractors of hazards, risks
and control measures. The principal contractor is responsible for cooperating
with workers in developing, promoting and checking the effectiveness of
measures designed to ensure their health, safety and welfare.
• Take necessary steps to prevent access to the construction site by
unauthorised persons.
• Provide welfare and sanitary facilities such as toilets, washing facilities,
drinking water, changing rooms and rest stations before work begins.
• Liaise with the principal designer to review pre-construction information,
coordinate health and safety matters and determine the design and methods
that will be used to achieve the desired project results. This communication is

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vital because it helps all parties understand how risks will be managed
throughout the project.
The principal contractor may also be responsible for updating the health and safety
file and passing it to the client upon project completion if there is no principal
designer or the principal designer’s appointment concludes before the end of the
project

Copied from the HSE website
Commercial clients: roles and responsibilities
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
2015 (CDM 2015)
CDM 2015 makes a distinction between commercial clients and domestic clients.
Client duties apply in full to commercial clients (for domestic clients the duties
normally pass to other dutyholders).
A commercial client is any individual or organisation that carries out a construction
project as part of a business.
Commercial clients have a crucial influence over how projects are run, including the
management of health and safety risks. Whatever the project size, the commercial
client has contractual control, appoints designers and contractors, and determines
the money, time and other resources for the project.
For all projects, commercial clients must:
• make suitable arrangements for managing their project, enabling those carrying it out to
manage health and safety risks in a proportionate way. These arrangements include:
• appointing the contractors and designers to the project (including the principal
designer and principal contractor on projects involving more than one contractor) while
making sure they have the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability
• allowing sufficient time and resources for each stage of the project
• making sure that any principal designer and principal contractor appointed carry out their
duties in managing the project
• making sure suitable welfare facilities are provided for the duration of the construction work
• maintain and review the management arrangements for the duration of the project

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• provide pre-construction information to every designer and contractor either bidding for the
work or already appointed to the project
• ensure that the principal contractor or contractor (for single contractor projects) prepares a
construction phase plan before that phase begins
• ensure that the principal designer prepares a health and safety file for the project and that it
is revised as necessary and made available to anyone who needs it for subsequent work at
the site
For notifiable projects (where planned construction work will last longer than 30
working days and involves more than 20 workers at any one time; or where the work
exceeds 500 individual worker days), commercial clients must:
• notify HSE in writing with details of the project
• ensure a copy of the notification is displayed in the construction site office

Principal designers: roles and responsibilities
Future building safety regulations
The government has asked HSE to establish a new building safety regulator in the
wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
A principal designer is a designer who is an organisation or individual (on smaller
projects) appointed by the client to take control of the pre-construction phase of any
project involving more than one contractor.
Principal designers have an important role in influencing how risks to health and
safety are managed throughout a project. Design decisions made during the pre-
construction phase have a significant influence in ensuring the project is delivered in
a way that secures the health and safety of everyone affected by the work.
Principal designers must:
• plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the pre-construction phase. In
doing so they must take account of relevant information (such as an existing health and
safety file) that might affect design work carried out both before and after the construction
phase has started
• help and advise the client in bringing together pre-construction information, and provide the
information designers and contractors need to carry out their duties

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• work with any other designers on the project to eliminate foreseeable health and safety risks
to anyone affected by the work and, where that is not possible, take steps to reduce or
control those risks
• ensure that everyone involved in the pre-construction phase communicates and cooperates,
coordinating their work wherever required
• liaise with the principal contractor, keeping them informed of any risks that need to be
controlled during the construction phase
On a domestic client project where the domestic client does not appoint a principal
designer, the role of the principal designer must be carried out by the designer in
control of the pre-construction phase. When working for a domestic client, the client
duties will normally be taken on by another dutyholder (often the principal contractor
on projects involving more than one contractor). However, the principal designer can
enter into a written agreement with the domestic client to take on the client duties in
addition to their own.

Principal contractors: roles and responsibilities
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
2015
A principal contractor is appointed by the client to control the construction phase of
any project involving more than one contractor.
Principal contractors have an important role in managing health and safety risks
during the construction phase so they must have the skills, knowledge, experience
and, where relevant, organisational capability to carry out this work.
The principal contractor must:
• plan, manage, monitor and coordinate the entire construction phase
• take account of the health and safety risks to everyone affected by the work (including
members of the public), in planning and managing the measures needed to control them
• liaise with the client and principal designer for the duration of the project to ensure that all
risks are effectively managed
• prepare a written construction phase plan (PDF) before the construction phase begins,
implement, and then regularly review and revise it to make sure it remains fit for purpose
• have ongoing arrangements in place for managing health and safety throughout the
construction phase

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• consult and engage with workers about their health, safety and welfare
• ensure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start and maintained throughout the
construction phase
• check that anyone they appoint has the skills, knowledge, experience and, where relevant,
the organisational capability to carry out their work safely and without risk to health
• ensure all workers have site-specific inductions, and any further information and training they
need
• take steps to prevent unauthorised access to the site
• liaise with the principal designer to share any information relevant to the planning,
management, monitoring and coordination of the pre-construction phase