What should be included in pre-construction information?
Useful pre-construction information gives designers and contractors what they need to plan safely. It is a managed flow of relevant project information—not simply a folder issued at tender.
Updated 17 October 2026 · Construction Safety Desk · About the desk
What CDM means by pre-construction information
Pre-construction information is information already held by the client, or reasonably obtainable, which is relevant to the construction work and of an appropriate level of detail and proportionate to the risks. It includes information about the project, planning and management arrangements, and health and safety hazards.
The client provides it as soon as practicable to designers and contractors bidding for or appointed to the project. The principal designer helps the client assemble, review and communicate it during the pre-construction phase.
1. Project and client brief
- Project description, objectives, scope and exclusions
- Site address, work areas, key dates, phasing and working hours
- Known budget or programme constraints that affect risk decisions
- Client standards, approval routes and operational requirements
- Dutyholders, proposed appointments and contact details
2. Existing site and asset information
- Current drawings, specifications, models and previous health and safety files
- Asbestos surveys and registers suitable for the planned work
- Structural information, condition surveys and known fragile materials
- Underground and overhead services, isolations and utility constraints
- Ground conditions, contamination, water, excavations and buried structures
- Access, boundaries, neighbouring properties and public interfaces
State the status and limitations of surveys. An old drawing or desktop search may be useful, but it should not be presented as verified fact if conditions could have changed.
3. Occupation, logistics and interfaces
- Whether the premises remain occupied or operational
- Shared access, traffic, deliveries, storage and parking restrictions
- Security, safeguarding, vulnerable persons and public protection
- Other contractors, tenants, maintenance teams or simultaneous work
- Shutdown windows, permits, restricted areas and emergency arrangements
- Available welfare and any temporary provision required
4. Design and construction risk information
Include significant or unusual risks that a competent designer or contractor would not be expected to know, along with relevant assumptions and decisions. Examples may include temporary stability, heavy or unusual components, sequencing constraints, retained structures, hazardous processes, difficult maintenance access and materials requiring special control.
A useful design-risk record explains the risk, who may be affected, the decision made and what information still has to reach the next dutyholder. Generic hazard lists are not a substitute.
5. Management and assurance arrangements
- How design coordination, change and approval will be managed
- Expected communication, meeting and information-sharing routes
- Site rules, induction, competence and contractor-control expectations
- Requirements for the construction phase plan, RAMS, permits or lifting plans
- Monitoring and reporting expectations proportionate to the project
- Format, content and handover arrangements for the health and safety file
Use an information-gap register
List each missing survey, decision or design input, who owns it, when it is needed and what work cannot safely proceed without it. This makes uncertainty visible and prevents a tender assumption becoming an unmanaged site risk.
Build an information-gap register
Turn a missing survey, drawing or decision into a clear action. Use roles rather than personal details. Your entries stay on this page and are not submitted to us. Download a copy before leaving or refreshing.
0 information gaps entered. Up to 20 entries per working register.
Marking an item resolved does not verify the evidence or authorise work. Check the information and decisions with the responsible project team.
Example: make an information gap actionable
Suppose an occupied refurbishment includes new cable routes, but the asbestos survey excludes the ceiling void. Recording “asbestos survey received” does not resolve the gap. The register should identify the route, the excluded area, the person arranging further competent input and the point before which the affected work must not start.
| Information gap | Decision to record |
|---|---|
| Survey excludes work area | Identify the affected activity, required investigation, owner and hold point. |
| Service isolation unconfirmed | Identify the competent party, confirmation needed and work that depends on it. |
| Premises remain occupied | Agree access, segregation, emergency interfaces and who approves changes. |
Is PCI the same as a construction phase plan?
No. Pre-construction information informs design and planning. The construction phase plan explains how the construction phase will be managed. The contractor’s RAMS then need to reflect the relevant information, constraints and controls for the actual task.
For refurbishment work, use the asbestos information checklist when reviewing survey scope. For project setup, check the welfare requirements before mobilisation.
How does the health and safety file fit?
Relevant information from an existing file helps the next team plan the project. The new or updated file at handover should then support subsequent work. Use our health and safety file contents and handover checklist to keep those purposes clear.
Keep it live and proportionate
Issue information early enough to influence design, pricing and planning, then update it when surveys, design decisions or site conditions change. Provide each party with what is relevant to its work. A concise, indexed pack with clear status information is normally more useful than an unfiltered archive.
Read HSE’s principal designer guidance and the CDM Regulations 2015. For help reviewing or developing the pack, see our CDM support and client duties checklist.
General guidance only. Check the current official sources and your project conditions. Unless stated otherwise, legislation discussed is for Great Britain; Northern Ireland has separate rules. Remote advice supports, but does not replace, competent site management or specialist assessment.