Skip to main content
The Site Book
Start free

Construction compliance guide

Construction Phase Plan Example: What a Good CPP Looks Like (UK)

A section-by-section walkthrough of a real construction phase plan. See what good looks like, what bad looks like, and how to write a CPP that meets CDM 2015 requirements.

ND
Nicola Dobbie·Founder, The Site Book

TL;DR

  • • A construction phase plan (CPP) is required under CDM 2015 for every construction project — including domestic work.
  • • It covers project description, management structure, site rules, welfare, emergency procedures, site-specific risks, and monitoring.
  • • Good CPPs are specific to the project. Bad CPPs are generic templates with the project name swapped in.
  • • The principal contractor (or sole contractor on domestic jobs) is responsible for preparing the CPP before work begins.

In this guide

What is a construction phase plan?

A construction phase plan (CPP) is the document that sets out how health and safety will be managed during the construction phase of a project. It is required under Regulation 12 of CDM 2015 and must be prepared before the construction phase begins.

The CPP is not the same as a RAMS, although the two documents are related. A RAMS covers a specific activity or task. The CPP covers the entire project — how the site will be managed, who is responsible for what, what the site rules are, where the welfare facilities are, and what to do in an emergency. Think of the CPP as the overarching management plan for the project, and the RAMS as the detailed risk assessment and method statement for each individual activity within it.

Schedule 3 of CDM 2015 sets out what the CPP must include. The content should be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project. A multi-storey commercial development will need a far more detailed CPP than a single-storey domestic extension, but both need one. In this guide, we will walk through each section and show you what good looks like.

What should the project description section cover?

The project description section should give anyone reading the CPP a clear picture of the project. It should include: the site address, a description of the existing property and surroundings, the scope of work, the expected programme (start date, duration, key milestones), and any site-specific constraints.

Good example

“The project involves the construction of a single-storey rear extension to a 1930s semi-detached house at 42 Oak Road, Swindon SN2 4AB. The property is occupied during the works. Vehicular access is via a shared driveway (3.2m wide) with the neighbouring property at No. 44. Rear garden access is through a 900mm side gate — no plant wider than 800mm can reach the rear. A 2.4m close-boarded fence separates the rear garden from the primary school playing field to the south. The project is expected to run for 10 weeks from 12 May 2025. Key milestones: groundworks complete by week 2, superstructure by week 6, watertight by week 8, handover by week 10.”

Bad example

“Construction of a rear extension at the above address.”

This tells you nothing about the site. It does not mention access constraints, neighbouring properties, whether the property is occupied, or how long the work will take. An HSE inspector or principal contractor would reject this immediately.

What goes in the management structure section?

The management structure section identifies who is responsible for what on the project. Under CDM 2015, every project has defined duty-holder roles: client, principal designer, principal contractor, and contractors. The CPP should name the individuals in each role, their contact details, and their specific responsibilities.

Good example

“Client: Mr and Mrs J. Williams, 42 Oak Road, Swindon SN2 4AB (domestic client — contractor duties under Reg. 7(1)(b)). Principal Designer: N/A (single contractor, duties default to contractor). Contractor/Principal Contractor: ABC Building Ltd, contact Dave Smith (Site Manager), 07700 900123, dave@abcbuilding.co.uk. Site Supervisor: Dave Smith (SMSTS, CSCS Gold, First Aid at Work). Structural Engineer: XYZ Structural, contact Sarah Jones, 01234 567890. CDM awareness: All operatives to hold valid CSCS card and receive CDM briefing at induction.”

Bad example

“The management structure will be as required under CDM 2015.”

This says nothing. Who is in charge on site? Who do you call in an emergency? Who has first aid training? Without names, contact details, and qualifications, this section is useless.

For domestic projects where the client has not made formal CDM appointments, the contractor takes on the duties of both principal contractor and principal designer. The CPP should make this clear and state which individual is responsible for each duty.

What site rules should a CPP include?

The site rules section establishes the standards of behaviour and safety that apply to everyone working on the project. These should be specific to the site, not a list of generic platitudes.

Good example

  • All operatives must attend site induction before starting work. Inductions are carried out by the site supervisor on the first morning of attendance.
  • PPE minimum standard on site: hard hat, safety boots, hi-vis vest. Additional PPE as specified in individual RAMS.
  • Working hours: Monday to Friday 08:00–17:00, Saturday 09:00–13:00. No work on Sundays or bank holidays (planning condition).
  • No smoking anywhere on the property or in the rear garden. Designated smoking area is on the public footpath at the front of the property.
  • All power tools to be 110V or battery-operated. No 240V tools on site without a specific risk assessment and RCD protection.
  • The shared driveway must be kept clear at all times. No materials to be stored on the driveway. Vehicles to be parked on-street unless loading or unloading.
  • Side gate to be kept locked when not in use to prevent unauthorised access, particularly from the adjacent school.

Bad example

“All health and safety rules must be followed at all times. PPE must be worn as required. No unauthorised access.”

What rules? What PPE? What counts as unauthorised access? Generic site rules are not site rules at all — they are empty statements that give no practical guidance.

What welfare facilities must be covered?

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and Schedule 2 of the CDM Regulations require welfare facilities on every construction site. The CPP should describe exactly what is provided, where it is located, and who is responsible for maintaining it.

The legal minimum includes: toilets (a portaloo or access to the property’s own facilities by agreement with the client), hand-washing facilities with hot and cold running water, a sheltered area for rest and eating meals, somewhere to dry wet clothing, a supply of drinking water, and somewhere to change and store clothing.

Good example

“Portaloo located in the front garden, serviced weekly by Easy Loos Ltd (contract ref. EL-7892). Hand-washing station with hot water located adjacent to portaloo, soap and paper towels replenished daily by site supervisor. Welfare cabin (6m × 2.4m) positioned in rear garden with electric heater, microwave, kettle, fridge, table, and seating for four. Drying room: welfare cabin rear section with wall-mounted heater and coat hooks. Drinking water: 5-gallon dispenser in welfare cabin, refilled as required. Client has agreed access to the ground-floor WC during inclement weather — boots to be removed before entering the property.”

Bad example

“Welfare facilities will be provided in accordance with the regulations.”

Where is the toilet? Where do people eat? Is there hot water for washing? This tells you nothing and would not satisfy an HSE inspector.

What emergency procedures should a CPP describe?

The emergency procedures section should cover every foreseeable emergency that could occur on the project. This includes medical emergencies, fire, structural collapse, contact with live services, chemical spills, and severe weather. For each type of emergency, the CPP should describe the response procedure, the responsible person, and the contact details for emergency services.

Good example

“Appointed first aider: Dave Smith (First Aid at Work certificate, expires March 2027). First aid kit location: welfare cabin, checked weekly by site supervisor. Fire assembly point: public footpath outside No. 40 Oak Road. Fire extinguisher: one foam, one CO2, located inside welfare cabin. Nearest A&E: Great Western Hospital, Marlborough Road, Swindon SN3 6BB (2.8 miles, approximately 8 minutes by car). In the event of a serious injury: make the area safe, call 999, apply first aid, notify Dave Smith immediately. Do not move a casualty with suspected spinal injury. In the event of striking a gas main: evacuate immediately, call National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, do not use mobile phones within 5m of the leak, assemble at the fire assembly point.”

Bad example

“In the event of an emergency, call 999 and follow the emergency procedures.”

What procedures? Where is the assembly point? Who is the first aider? Where is the first aid kit? This is worse than useless — it gives the impression that emergency planning has been done when it has not.

How should a CPP cover site-specific risks?

The site-specific risks section is where the CPP links to your individual RAMS. It should identify the main risks associated with the project and explain how they will be managed. This is not the same as a full risk assessment — the detail lives in the RAMS for each activity. The CPP provides an overview of the key risks and points the reader to the relevant RAMS for detail.

For our example project (single-storey extension at 42 Oak Road), the site-specific risks section might cover:

  • Excavation near existing foundations — structural engineer to confirm minimum distance, monitoring for settlement during groundworks
  • Underground services — utility plans obtained, CAT and Genny scan before any excavation, trial holes within 500mm of detected services
  • Structural alterations (removing rear wall) — temporary propping designed by structural engineer, propping plan issued before work starts
  • Adjacent school — noise and dust management, site perimeter secured, no deliveries during school drop-off and pick-up times (08:30–09:15 and 14:45–15:30)
  • Occupied property — client safety briefing, dust containment between construction area and living space, temporary partition installed before demolition
  • Asbestos — refurbishment and demolition survey commissioned before any work to the existing structure, survey report appended to CPP

Each risk should reference the RAMS that covers it in detail. For example: “Excavation: see RAMS-001 Groundworks. Working at height: see RAMS-003 Roofing. Structural steelwork: see RAMS-002 Steel Installation.” This creates a clear link between the overarching CPP and the task-specific RAMS.

How should a CPP address monitoring and communication?

CDM 2015 requires the principal contractor to plan, manage, and monitor construction work. The CPP should describe how you will monitor compliance with the plan and communicate safety information to everyone on site.

Monitoring arrangements might include: daily site inspections by the site supervisor, weekly scaffold inspections, weekly toolbox talks, a near-miss reporting system, periodic safety audits, and inspection records for plant and equipment. The CPP should state who is responsible for each type of monitoring, how often it happens, and how the results are recorded.

Communication is equally important. The CPP should describe: how new arrivals are inducted, how changes to the plan are communicated (e.g. updated RAMS briefings), how subcontractors receive site rules and emergency procedures, how incidents and near misses are reported, and how the client is kept informed. On a domestic project, this might be as simple as: “Site supervisor carries out a daily walk-around inspection and records findings in the site diary. Weekly progress update given to the client each Friday afternoon. Toolbox talk held every Monday morning covering the week’s key risks.”

If a F10 notification is required (projects lasting more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers at any one time, or exceeding 500 person-days), the CPP should confirm that it has been submitted and include the notification reference number.

What does a bad CPP look like?

A bad CPP is easy to spot. It reads like a compliance textbook rather than a project management document. Here are the telltale signs:

  • It could apply to any project in the country — swap the address and nothing else would change
  • It uses phrases like ‘as required,’ ‘as appropriate,’ and ‘in accordance with regulations’ instead of giving specifics
  • The management structure section does not name anyone or give contact details
  • The welfare section says ‘facilities will be provided’ without saying what, where, or by whom
  • The emergency procedures section says ‘call 999’ and nothing else
  • There is no mention of the specific site — its constraints, neighbours, access, or conditions
  • It was clearly downloaded from the internet and had only the project name changed

If an HSE inspector picks up your CPP and cannot tell which site it relates to without reading the cover page, it is not meeting the standard. A good CPP is a working document that helps you manage the project safely. A bad CPP is a piece of paper that exists only to tick a box — and it will not protect you if something goes wrong.

How does a domestic CPP differ from a commercial one?

The legal requirements are the same — CDM 2015 applies equally to domestic and commercial projects. However, the HSE recognises that the level of detail should be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project. A domestic CPP can be simpler and shorter than a commercial one.

A domestic project typically has one contractor (or a main contractor with a few subcontractors), a straightforward management structure, and a relatively contained set of risks. The CPP might be six to eight pages and cover the essentials: project description, who is in charge, site rules, welfare, emergency procedures, key risks, and how you will monitor the work.

A commercial project with a principal contractor, multiple subcontractors, and a principal designer will need a more detailed CPP. It will include: a comprehensive management organogram, detailed coordination arrangements between trades, traffic management plans, crane and lifting plans, phasing and sequencing information, permit-to-work procedures, detailed environmental management (noise, dust, waste), stakeholder communication plans, and arrangements for managing the interface with occupied parts of the building.

The Site Book supports both. Its CPP wizard asks about your project type and adjusts the level of detail accordingly — a lightweight CPP for domestic work and a comprehensive CPP for commercial projects, both tailored to your specific job.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about construction phase plans and their structure.

How long should a construction phase plan be?

There is no fixed length requirement. For a small domestic project like a house extension, a CPP might be six to ten pages. For a large commercial build with multiple contractors, it could run to thirty pages or more. The test is whether the document adequately covers the management arrangements for the project without being so padded with generic content that nobody reads it. HSE guidance is clear: the CPP should be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project. A two-page CPP for a multi-million-pound commercial development would be inadequate. Equally, a thirty-page CPP for a single-storey extension would suggest someone has copy-pasted a template without tailoring it to the job.

Who writes the construction phase plan?

Under CDM 2015, the principal contractor is responsible for preparing the construction phase plan. On projects with only one contractor and no principal contractor appointment, the contractor takes on this duty. For domestic projects where the client has not appointed a principal designer or principal contractor, the contractor doing the work is responsible for producing the CPP. In practice, the principal contractor often delegates the writing to a site manager or health and safety professional, but the legal responsibility remains with the principal contractor. The CPP must be prepared before the construction phase begins, and must be reviewed and updated throughout the project.

Is a CPP the same as a health and safety plan?

The construction phase plan replaced the old ‘health and safety plan’ that existed under CDM 2007. The two documents serve a similar purpose — setting out how health and safety will be managed during construction — but the CPP under CDM 2015 has a specific structure defined in Regulation 12 and Schedule 3. If someone asks you for a ‘health and safety plan’ on a construction project, they almost certainly mean a construction phase plan. The terminology has not fully caught up with the legislation, and many people still use the old name. The content requirements are broadly similar, but you should structure your document as a CPP to align with current regulations.

Do I need a CPP for a domestic extension?

Yes. CDM 2015 applies to all construction work, including domestic projects. If you are a contractor working on a domestic extension, you are required to plan, manage, and monitor the work so it is carried out safely. A CPP is the standard way to evidence this planning. For domestic projects, the CPP can be lighter than for commercial work — the HSE expects it to be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project. A domestic CPP might focus on key areas like site management, welfare arrangements, emergency procedures, and the main risks, without the full management structure detail you would need for a large commercial site.

What happens if I do not have a CPP?

If the HSE inspects your site and you cannot produce a construction phase plan, you are likely to receive an improvement notice requiring you to prepare one before work continues. In more serious cases — particularly if an incident has occurred — the absence of a CPP can be used as evidence that you failed to plan and manage the work properly, which is a breach of CDM 2015. Principal contractors who fail to produce a CPP before the construction phase begins are in breach of Regulation 12. The penalties can include prosecution, unlimited fines, and in the worst cases, imprisonment. Beyond legal consequences, the absence of a CPP means you have not properly thought through how the project will be managed safely, which puts your workers at risk.

Can I use a template for my CPP?

A template is a reasonable starting point, but it must be thoroughly tailored to your specific project. The biggest problem with CPP templates is that people fill in the project name and address and leave everything else generic. A CPP that says ‘welfare facilities will be provided as required’ is meaningless — it needs to say where the portaloo is, where the drying room is, what the hand-washing arrangements are. Similarly, ‘emergency procedures will be in place’ needs to specify the assembly point, the nearest A&E, the first aider, and the procedure for each type of emergency. The Site Book creates a project-specific CPP from your description, so you get a tailored document without starting from scratch.

Create your Construction Phase Plan in minutes

The Site Book creates professional, CDM 2015 compliant Construction Phase Plans from your project details.

See how it works →

Related guides

What is a CPP?

A plain-English guide to construction phase plans under CDM 2015.

Domestic Client CDM

How CDM 2015 applies to domestic clients and their projects.

F10 Notification

When and how to notify the HSE about your construction project.

Free CPP Template

Download a free construction phase plan template for your project.

Get a free CPP template emailed to you

No spam. Just the free resource. Unsubscribe any time.

Create a project-specific CPP in minutes.

Stop copy-pasting generic templates. The Site Book’s CPP wizard builds a tailored construction phase plan from your project description. Free trial — no credit card required.

Start free trialBack to guides