An F10 notification is the form a client submits to the Health and Safety Executive to notify a construction project under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Under CDM 2015 a project is notifiable if the construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days AND have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or if it will exceed 500 person days. If either test is met, the client must notify HSE in writing as soon as is practicable before the construction phase begins.
That is the short answer. Below: how the thresholds actually work in practice, who is responsible, what goes on the form, what happens if you do not notify, and how the F10 sits alongside the construction phase plan and RAMS in a pre-start documentation pack.
What is an F10 notification?
F10 is the reference for HSE’s notification of construction project form. It is a short administrative notice telling the regulator that a notifiable project is starting, where it is, who is carrying the CDM duty-holder roles, and how long it will run. It is submitted online through HSE’s website.
It is worth being clear about what the F10 is not. It is not a permission, a licence or an approval — HSE does not respond to say you may proceed. It is not a safety assessment, and submitting one does not discharge any other CDM duty. It is a notification, and its main practical effect is that your project becomes visible to the regulator.
When is an F10 required?
CDM 2015 sets two alternative thresholds. Meeting either one makes the project notifiable.
| Test | Threshold | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Duration and workforce | Longer than 30 working days and more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point | Both parts must be true. A 40-day project peaking at 12 workers does not meet this test. |
| Person days | Exceeds 500 person days | Total across the whole construction phase, all workers, all contractors. |
Two points catch people out. First, the duration test changed with CDM 2015 — under the old CDM 2007 regime the 30-day test stood alone, so projects that would once have been notifiable no longer are. Second, the tests apply to the construction phase, not the whole project, so design and pre-construction time does not count.
Does a project stop being notifiable if it shrinks?
Notifiability is assessed on what is scheduled. If a project is planned to exceed the thresholds you notify, even if it later comes in under them. Conversely, if a project grows past a threshold mid-way, notify as soon as that becomes apparent rather than waiting.
Who is responsible for submitting the F10?
The client must notify. This is a common misconception on site — the principal contractor is often assumed to hold the duty, and frequently ends up completing the form in practice, but the legal duty sits with the client.
The one exception is domestic clients. Where the client is domestic, their client duties normally pass to the contractor, or to the principal contractor where more than one contractor is involved, and the notification duty travels with them.
Once submitted, a copy of the notification must be displayed where it can be read by workers on site — the site office notice board is the usual place — and kept up to date if the particulars change.
What information goes on the F10 form?
The form is short, but it needs details that are often not settled early. Have the following ready:
- The address of the construction site and the local authority for the area.
- A brief description of the project and the construction work it involves.
- Client name and address.
- Principal designer name and address.
- Principal contractor name and address.
- The date planned for the start of the construction phase.
- The time allocated for the construction work, and the planned duration.
- The estimated maximum number of people at work on site at any one time.
- The planned number of contractors on site.
- Names and addresses of any contractors already appointed.
- A declaration that the client is aware of their CDM duties.
The friction is almost never the form itself. It is that the principal designer and principal contractor appointments, the programme dates and the peak workforce number all have to be pinned down before the form can be completed honestly — and on many projects those sit in different people’s heads or different documents. On a demolition scheme those same numbers have usually already been worked out once during pricing, which is why the demolition estimating and tender process is the natural place to capture them rather than re-deriving them at pre-start.
What happens if you do not notify?
Failure to notify is a breach of CDM 2015 and can be enforced against the client. In practice the more common consequence is indirect: an unnotified project that should have been notified is a visible signal to an inspector that CDM duties have not been thought through, and it tends to invite scrutiny of everything else — the construction phase plan, the appointments, the pre-construction information.
The reverse also happens. Notifying a project that is not notifiable causes no legal problem and is sometimes done deliberately for clarity. If you are genuinely uncertain whether a threshold is met, notifying is the lower-risk option.
How does the F10 fit with the construction phase plan and RAMS?
The F10 is one of three documents that make up the pre-start set, and they are frequently confused with each other. They serve different purposes and different audiences.
| Document | Purpose | Audience | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|---|
| F10 notification | Tells HSE the project is happening | The regulator | Client (or contractor for domestic clients) |
| Construction phase plan | Sets out how health and safety will be managed across the project | Everyone working on the project | Principal contractor |
| RAMS | Sets out how a specific activity will be carried out safely | The operatives doing that task | The contractor carrying out the work |
The sequence matters. Pre-construction information flows to the principal designer and principal contractor, the construction phase plan is drawn up before the construction phase starts, the F10 goes in before work begins, and RAMS are produced by each contractor for their own activities as the work approaches. On site, point of work risk assessments then close the gap between the written method and what the operative actually finds in front of them.
Where does AI help with pre-start documentation?
Assembling a pre-start pack is largely a data-consistency problem. The same facts — appointments, dates, peak workforce, site address, scope description — appear in the F10, the construction phase plan, the pre-construction information and half a dozen contractor RAMS. They are usually re-typed each time, which is why they drift out of alignment.
Assistive AI is a good fit for that specific problem: pulling the project facts once into a structured record, drafting the documents from it, and flagging where a date or a headcount in one document contradicts another. It is also useful for first-draft RAMS against a template, with a competent person reviewing before issue.
What it does not do is make the judgement calls. Whether a threshold is met, whether a method is genuinely safe, whether an appointment is appropriate — those remain human decisions, and the regulations put the responsibility on named duty-holders for a reason. We treat AI here as a drafting and consistency-checking capability, not a compliance decision-maker. For the wider picture see our overview of AI in construction, or the sector-specific version in AI in demolition.
Frequently asked questions
Is the F10 the same as an F10 HSE form?
Yes. F10 and F10 HSE refer to the same notification of construction project form, submitted to the Health and Safety Executive.
How long before work starts should the F10 be submitted?
As soon as is practicable before the construction phase begins. There is no fixed minimum notice period, but leaving it to the day before defeats the purpose and looks careless if questioned.
Does a notifiable project always need a principal designer and principal contractor?
Any project with more than one contractor requires both appointments, whether or not it is notifiable. Notifiability and the appointment duties are separate tests, and it is possible to have a non-notifiable project that still needs both roles.
Can the F10 be updated after submission?
Yes, and it should be if the particulars change materially — for example a change of principal contractor or a substantially different programme. The displayed copy on site should reflect the current position.
Do demolition projects need an F10?
Demolition is construction work for CDM purposes, so the same thresholds apply. Many demolition packages are short and fall below them, but a large or long-running scheme will meet the person-days test. Note that demolition also carries separate consents and notifications that the F10 does not cover — including the local authority Section 61 application for noise and working hours, and notification to HSE under other regulations.
Getting the pre-start pack right first time
Most F10 problems are not really F10 problems. They are symptoms of appointments and programme facts that were never captured in one place. If your pre-start documentation is assembled by re-typing the same details into four documents, the fix is upstream of the form.
We work with contractors and developers on exactly that — see operational efficiency for construction and fit-out firms, or the demolition equivalent at operational efficiency for demolition contractors.
Book a discovery call to talk through how your pre-start documentation is produced today.