The register is due, and the design moved on months ago
A stage is closing and the principal designer asks for your updated designer risk register. The engineer opens last stage's spreadsheet, tries to remember what changed, and adds some rows about the new transfer structure and the revised basement propping sequence. Some entries describe elements that were redesigned since, and nobody is quite sure whether they still apply.
The register ends up reflecting what the engineer remembered on the afternoon it was written, rather than the decisions made along the way.
Why registers lag the design
- The register is a separate document, not linked to drawings or calcs.
- Design decisions are made in meetings and on markups, and the register is not in front of anyone at the time.
- Each project team uses its own format, often inherited from a template years old.
- When an element is redesigned, nothing prompts a review of related entries.
- Information passed to the principal designer is inconsistent between projects.
CDM places duties on designers, and every practice interprets how it records and communicates design risk information through its own procedures. The difficulty is not the principle. It is keeping the record current while the design keeps moving.
Formats add friction. Principal designers often ask for information in their own template, so the same risks are copied from one spreadsheet into another, and entries get shortened or lost on the way. By the time they reach the people who use them, the reasoning behind them may have gone.
What a stale register costs
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Entries written from memory | Information less useful to those who rely on it |
| Superseded entries left in | Confusion about which risks still apply |
| Inconsistent formats | More work for the principal designer, more questions back |
| End-of-stage rush | Senior time spent on paperwork under pressure |
How we build a living register
- The register is held per project in a shared tool, in a format based on your practice's existing template and procedures.
- Each entry is linked to the drawings, elements or calculation sections it relates to.
- Engineers can add or update an entry from the same place they log design changes or issue drawings, so it happens at the moment of the decision.
- When a linked drawing is revised, related entries are flagged for the engineer to confirm or update.
- Entries have an owner and review history, so it is clear who recorded what and when.
- Exports in the format your principal designers ask for are generated at any time.
- A practice-wide view lets directors see registers that have not been reviewed recently.
We do not write risk content or advise on what should be recorded. That is for your engineers and your own procedures. What we build keeps the record organised and prompts reviews when things change.
We usually start by looking at your current template alongside two or three registers from recent projects, to see how entries are actually written and which fields are used. The tool keeps the structure your engineers are used to, so there is little to relearn.
How it looks day to day
When an engineer changes the basement design, the register flags the related entries and they update them in a few minutes, while the reasoning is fresh. At stage end, the export is ready, and the conversation with the principal designer is about content rather than chasing.
Projects across the practice use one format, which makes internal reviews quicker.
Is this your experience?
- Risk registers are updated in a rush at stage end.
- Entries remain for elements that have been redesigned.
- Each project uses a different register format.
- Principal designers come back with questions about your information.
- Nobody can see which registers are overdue for review.