The growing liability gap – why principal designer appointments are being underused

Residential developers face an expanding web of legal duty under the Building Safety Act. The Principal Designer role sits at the heart of it — yet many appointments still don’t reflect the weight of what’s required.

The Building Safety Act 2022 is now fully in force. For residential developers, that means a legal landscape that is materially different from anything that existed before October 2023 and one that continues to evolve. Gateway 2 approvals, Principal Designer (Building Regulations) appointments, compliance declarations, golden thread documentation, and the Accountable Person regime are all now live requirements for higher-risk residential buildings. The question is not whether developers are aware of them. It is whether their project structures actually reflect them.

The evidence suggests a gap. A Freedom of Information request published in late 2024 found that fewer than 15% of Gateway 2 applications for higher-risk buildings were approved without requests for clarification or resubmission. Median approval timescales far exceeded the statutory eight or twelve-week periods — in London, average Gateway 2 timescales stretched to 48 weeks. For residential developers, that is not a compliance footnote. It’s a programme risk of the highest order.

5,613 residential buildings 11m+ in height have been identified with unsafe cladding in England – only 35% have completed remediation works, and an estimated 100-3,000 further affected buildings are yet to be identified – MHCLG Building Safety Remediation Data Release, November 2025

The Two Principal Designer roles and the confusion between them

One of the most persistent sources of confusion in the post-BSA residential sector is the distinction between the CDM Principal Designer (managing pre-construction health and safety under CDM 2015) and the Principal Designer (Building Regulations) (responsible for ensuring design compliance with Building Regulations, including fire safety and structural integrity). These are separate roles, with separate legal duties. They can be held by the same person or organisation – but only where the relevant competence exists.

The Building Safety Act created genuine uncertainty among insurance underwriters about whether the market fully understands the Principal Designer (Building Regulations) role and its potential liabilities. The compliance statement required of the Principal Designer under the Gateway regime, confirming that building works will be safe on completion, places a direct and personal liability on whoever signs it. Developers who treat this as an administrative requirement rather than a substantive professional duty are exposing themselves, and their appointed professionals, to significant risk.

Appointing a Principal Designer is straightforward. Appointing one with the competence, authority and resource to actually discharge the role is where most appointments fall short.

The liability tail is longer than developers expect

The Building Safety Act extended limitation periods significantly. Under the amended Defective Premises Act, claims can now be brought in respect of residential work going back 30 years. For developers, architects, and contractors involved in residential schemes completed well before the BSA, this represents a genuinely new exposure. The first Remediation Orders from the First-tier Tribunal are already flowing, and the government has confirmed that a Remediation Bill expected in 2026 will impose hard deadlines on landlords – with criminal prosecution and unlimited fines for non-compliance by 2029 for buildings over 18m.

For new residential schemes, the implication is straightforward: the decisions made during design and pre-construction – specification of materials, coordination of fire safety design, documentation of the golden thread – will carry legal weight for decades. A Principal Designer who is appointed early, is genuinely competent, and maintains rigorous documentation, provides real protection. One who is appointed as a box-tick does not…

What Wakemans brings to residential PD

Wakemans’ Principal Designer and CDM Advisor team, led by Bradley Taylor, provides proactive, hands-on support across the full development lifecycle – from pre-planning through to handover and the Health & Safety File. On residential schemes, that means coordinating design risk management from the concept stage, conducting competency assessments for the whole duty holder team, and providing the ongoing oversight that the Building Safety Act demands.

For residential developers navigating this environment, the Principal Designer appointment is not a cost – it is the mechanism through which Gateway 2 approval is achieved, programme risk is controlled, and long-term liability is managed. Getting it right at the outset is considerably less expensive than remedying it later. Wakemans provides expert CDM Principal Designer and Building Regulations Principal Designer services, for a range of residential developments. Speak to Bradley Taylor’s team about your scheme today at wakemans.com/expertise/principal-designer