Move beyond “knowledge of CDM” and show how you apply it.
Most CVs say “knowledge of CDM 2015”, and most free courses stop at telling you what the regulations say. This course takes you further: you work through a realistic civil engineering project, make the decisions that clients, designers and contractors actually face, and finish with a portfolio of eight pieces of work and an assessed project that you can describe confidently on your CV and talk through at interview.
- 19 practical lessons
- 8 portfolio pieces
- Instructor-marked final project
- Written feedback and one resubmission
- Self-paced
Employers rarely ask whether you have heard of CDM. They ask how you have used it.
In an interview for a graduate, site or design role, the useful questions sound like this: who was the client on that job, how did you know a principal designer was needed, what did you do when a supplier changed the product, and how did that information reach the people on site? A list of regulations does not answer any of them.
This course is built around those questions. Every lesson follows one fictional but realistic project, the Brookfield access road, drainage and equipment base, where a warehouse has to keep running while the work happens around it. Designs change, a second contractor arrives, a product becomes unavailable and people disagree about who is responsible. You read the project records, decide what the regulations require and write it up the way a capable engineer would.
Awareness course or this course?
| A typical awareness course | This course |
|---|---|
| Lists the dutyholders | You identify them from contracts, emails and site records |
| States the duties | You apply them to decisions with real consequences |
| Multiple-choice test | A written project assessed by me, with feedback |
| Certificate of attendance | Eight pieces of work plus an assessed project you can discuss |
What you will be able to write, honestly
The difference is specific, evidenced work. Because the projects are fictional, you list them under training or professional development, never as employment. That honesty is a strength: you can explain every line in detail, which is exactly what an interviewer will test.
Skills
- Knowledge of CDM 2015
- Understanding of health and safety on site
- Good communication and teamwork
True, but every other applicant says the same, and none of it shows what you can do.
Professional development: CDM 2015 Project Roles, Responsibilities and Coordination (instructor-assessed, 2026)
- Mapped client, designer, principal designer, contractor and principal contractor responsibilities across a multi-package civil project delivered beside a live warehouse (case study).
- Wrote a designer risk note applying the eliminate, reduce and control order to drainage chamber access and future maintenance.
- Assessed principal appointment and HSE notification requirements from programme and contract records and recorded a reasoned decision.
- Prepared a coordination response to a late supplier change affecting design, construction and site operations.
- Passed an instructor-marked final assessment on a separate depot project, with written feedback.
Already working? Make it real.
Each lesson ends with a short “Use it at work” task that applies the same tool to a project you are involved in, within your employer’s rules on sharing information. If you do that, you can write about real project work, for example “Checked principal appointment and notification records for a drainage scheme and raised a missing written appointment with the project manager”. Only write what you actually did; the course shows you how to describe it well.
Eight pieces of work, built lesson by lesson
Each one is a short professional document of the kind used on real projects. Together they become your course portfolio, which you can use to prepare for interviews and refer to when you talk about your training.
Principle, project, practice, then your own work
- Learn the principle. A clear explanation of what the regulations require and, just as importantly, what they do not, with a quick check that you have understood it.
- See it on the project. The principle applied to Brookfield’s records, with a worked example that shows the reasoning step by step.
- Produce your piece of work. You complete the lesson’s task using a template, then compare it with a model answer and mark it against a rubric.
- Use it at work. An optional task that applies the same tool to your own project, if you are employed and allowed to.
- Take it to your CV and interview. The CV line the lesson earns you and a typical interview question with a strong, honest answer.
Nineteen lessons in five stages
Stage 1. Read the project like a CDM professional
- 01Trace a site risk back to the decisions behind it
- 02Brief your team on the Brookfield projectProduces: project briefing
- 03Identify roles from what people actually do
Stage 2. Work with the client
- 04Confirm who the client is from the evidence
- 05Review the client’s arrangements and find the gapsProduces: client arrangements review
Stage 3. Manage risk through design
- 06Decide when a change becomes design work
- 07Write a designer risk note for maintenance accessProduces: designer risk note
- 08Plan pre-construction coordination as principal designer
- 09Close a design interface issue with evidenceProduces: coordination record
Stage 4. Control the construction phase
- 10Separate contractors, suppliers and installers on site
- 11Check that a contractor’s work is planned, managed and monitored
- 12Coordinate interfaces between contractors as principal contractor
- 13Turn a method into instructions workers can act onProduces: interface and worker briefing note
Stage 5. Handle the hard cases and show your work
- 14Decide on principal appointments and HSE notification, and record whyProduces: decision record
- 15Find and escalate an appointment gap
- 16Advise correctly on a homeowner’s project
- 17Manage a late change without losing controlProduces: change control response
- 18Build your complete Brookfield responsibility mapProduces: responsibility map
- 19Turn your work into CV lines and interview answers
- ✓Final assessed project: Ashcombe depot improvements
Answers with substance
Lesson 19 helps you turn your portfolio into interview answers. Here is the kind of answer the course prepares you to give.
“How would you know whether a project needs a principal designer?”
“It depends on the contractors, not the size of the job. If more than one contractor is involved, or it is reasonably foreseeable that there will be, even one after another, the client has to appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing before construction starts. In my CDM training project the civil contractor finished before the electrical contractor arrived, and someone argued that meant no principal roles were needed. I showed from the records that it was still a two-contractor project, then checked notification separately: the programme ran past 30 working days but never had more than 20 people on site at once, and stayed under 500 person days, so it did not need an HSE notice even though it did need the appointments.”
Specific, accurate and honest about where the experience came from. That is what makes an answer convincing.
Built for people who need to use CDM, not just recognise it
Graduates and career starters
Civil and structural engineering graduates preparing for supervised project work and interviews for graduate, site or design roles.
Engineers new to UK practice
Overseas-qualified engineers who know the engineering but need to understand how responsibilities work on projects in Great Britain.
People already on projects
Assistant engineers, technicians and coordinators who want to contribute more confidently in design reviews and site meetings.
You need a relevant technical background, familiarity with basic construction activities and enough English to follow technical examples. No specialist software is required. The examples are set in England; CDM 2015 applies across Great Britain, and Northern Ireland has separate regulations.
Show what you can do on a project you have not seen before
The final assessment uses a new fictional project, the Ashcombe depot, so you cannot simply repeat Brookfield’s answers. It is open-book and individual, takes about two to three hours and 1,200 to 1,600 words, and I mark it personally with written feedback.
| Task | What you demonstrate | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Responsibility map | Functions, duties, interfaces and the facts that support them | 25 |
| Proposed base change | A coordination response that identifies the reviews needed | 25 |
| Access concern | Urgency, reporting and who needs to contribute | 15 |
| Evidence and assumptions | Missing records versus missing arrangements, and challenging misleading statements | 20 |
| Domestic comparison | How the arrangements differ for a homeowner | 15 |
To pass you need 70 out of 100, at least half the marks in every task and no unresolved critical misunderstanding about safety or responsibility. When you pass, you receive a Certificate of Assessed Completion that records the course, the assessed project and the date.
£250
One payment, self-paced, with personal feedback on your final project.
Enrol now Try the free lessonYou create your account at checkout and pay securely by card. Your lessons open as soon as payment is confirmed. Please read the refunds and cancellations page before you buy.
What is included
- 19 lessons with illustrations, worked examples and knowledge checks
- Templates, model answers and marking rubrics for all eight portfolio pieces
- “Use it at work” tasks and CV and interview guidance
- Final assessed project marked by me, with written feedback within 10 working days
- One resubmission within 30 days of feedback
- Certificate of Assessed Completion when you pass
- Ongoing access to the lessons, with assessment and support for 12 months from enrolment
Before you enrol
Will this get me a job?
I cannot promise interviews or employment, and nobody honestly can. What the course gives you is specific, assessed work you can explain, which makes your applications and interview answers stronger. Hiring still depends on your qualifications, experience, eligibility and the role.
Can I put the project work on my CV?
Yes, under training or professional development, described as an assessed case study. Do not present it as employment or real project delivery; Lesson 19 shows you how to word it so that it is both accurate and strong. If you complete the “Use it at work” tasks on a real project, you can describe that work as real, as long as it is what you actually did.
Is it an accredited qualification?
No. It is independent, instructor-assessed training. The certificate records that you passed this course’s assessment; no HSE, employer or professional body endorsement is claimed.
Will it qualify me to act as a principal designer or principal contractor?
No. Those appointments depend on skills, knowledge, experience and, for organisations, capability on the actual project. The course builds understanding that supports your development; it does not establish that competence on its own.
Do you mark every exercise?
You self-mark the lesson tasks using model answers and rubrics, which keeps the course affordable and lets you work at your own pace. I personally mark the final assessed project.
What if I do not pass first time?
My feedback explains exactly what to improve, and one resubmission is included. A certificate is issued only when the assessment standard is met; payment does not secure a pass.
Learn from a practising engineer who has taught at university level
Damilola Akinniyi, PhD, FHEA
I am a geotechnical engineer with about 15 years across industry, research and university teaching in Nigeria, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Today I work on UK water and wastewater infrastructure, including treatment works, tanks, pipelines and earthworks, where the questions this course teaches you to answer, about who is responsible, what information people need and how changes are controlled, come up on real projects all the time.
Before returning to industry I was Head of Geotechnics at Coventry University and a Visiting Lecturer at Aston University, teaching MSc students. Earlier I completed my PhD at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and stayed on as a Postdoctoral Fellow, before working in engineering consultancy in Hong Kong. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the UK’s professional recognition for teaching in higher education.
I built this course because I have watched capable engineers lose out at interview, not through lack of ability, but because they could not show how they had applied what they knew. I mark every final assessment myself and give you written feedback, so the certificate means you have shown your reasoning to someone who has both practised and taught engineering.
- About 15 years in industry, research and teaching
- PhD, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Former Head of Geotechnics, Coventry University
- Visiting Lecturer, Aston University
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Mentor to students and early-career engineers
This course is my own independent work. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by my employer, the Health and Safety Executive or any professional body. Read more about me.