Pre-construction information template

Pre-construction information (PCI) is the relevant, proportionate health and safety information about a project and site that designers and contractors need to plan their work. Under Great Britain's Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the client brings together information already held or reasonably obtainable and provides it to the people who need it. On projects with a principal designer, that designer helps the client assemble and share it. PCI informs the construction phase plan, but the two documents perform different jobs.

Use the copyable template below to identify what is known, what is uncertain, who must obtain missing information and who has received the current version. Do not convert unknown survey results into “no hazard”. HSE's CDM 2015 guidance, L153, Appendix 2 says PCI should be relevant to the particular project, appropriately detailed and proportionate to risk; it should be gathered and added to as design progresses. A preliminary pack may not be enough for construction to start.

Copyable PCI document

Create one controlled document for the project, with attached surveys and drawings. Replace bracketed fields and delete irrelevant prompts only after recording why they do not apply. The format can be a table, shared folder or formal report; the information needs to be clear, current and accessible to those who must use it.

1. Document control and distribution

Known information gaps on issue: [Item, why it matters, person responsible, target date, work or design decision held pending it]. A work package should not be released simply because the PCI has a version number if a critical survey or design decision is still outstanding.

2. Project brief and site context

Describe the proposed work, its location, phasing, intended end use, known interfaces and existing use of the site. Record whether the building remains occupied, which areas must stay operational, access/egress routes, neighbours and public boundaries. Include constraints such as school hours, hospital operations, tenant access or utility shutdown windows where relevant. These are project facts, not a generic risk list.

Fields:

• Client brief and scope: [ ].
• Site ownership, possession and work boundaries: [ ].
• Existing building/asset use and occupied areas: [ ].
• Programme assumptions, sequencing and handover constraints: [ ].
• Adjacent premises, public interface, highways and delivery routes: [ ].
• Design stage and outstanding approvals: [ ].
• Other contractors or operations sharing the area: [ ].

State the source for each constraint. If an assumption remains unverified, identify the decision owner and make it a hold point. For example, a plan may show a service in an old route, but the actual position needs checking before excavation design or work proceeds.

3. Existing information and surveys

Attach the actual records, or provide a controlled route to them. A list of document titles without access to the contents is weak PCI. Check whether the survey covers the proposed intrusive work and area; a non-intrusive survey for an occupied building may not resolve the risk of opening a specific ceiling void. Explain limitations to bidders and designers, then obtain further information before the affected work is authorised. HSE specifically notes that the client, with the principal designer where one exists, should provide relevant underground-service information so designers and contractors can plan risk reduction.

4. Significant site and design risks

Do not reproduce every routine hazard from a standard construction checklist. Record risks that are unusual, significant, difficult to identify from a site visit, or tied to the design and site. Explain what has been eliminated by design, what remains and who must control it.

Prompts to consider, only where applicable: existing structural instability; live services; fragile roofs; concealed voids; contaminated ground; asbestos; unstable excavation ground; major lifting constraints; unusual fire or evacuation arrangements; demolition sequence; temporary support needs; public/tenant interface; traffic and delivery restrictions; future maintenance access. For each, state the evidence and the specific action. “Contractor to manage all risks” is not a useful design-risk transfer.

For example, if a façade repair is near an occupied entrance, the PCI should show the entrance location, peak use, access limits, any façade condition report and what design changes or alternative access arrangements have been explored. The contractor can then plan segregation and a programme using real information. If the façade condition is unknown, commissioning the assessment may be a prerequisite to choosing an access or temporary support method.

5. Project management and coordination arrangements

Record the arrangements and resources that shape safe delivery:

• Appointed dutyholders and contact details: [ ].
• Design review and risk-information exchange process: [ ].
• Meetings and decision record for unresolved hazards: [ ].
• Contractor procurement and competence information relevant to the work: [ ].
• Site access, induction, welfare and emergency planning assumptions: [ ].
• Works in occupied areas and communications with occupants/public: [ ].
• Temporary works and specialist design/approval arrangements: [ ].
• Time or resources reserved for surveys, isolations, permits and safe sequencing: [ ].

The PCI is a communication input, not a complete construction phase plan. HSE's principal-designer role guidance says the principal designer helps the client bring together the information and provides it to designers and contractors. The principal contractor uses relevant PCI when preparing and updating the construction phase plan. Avoid implying that software creates or approves a plan on behalf of these dutyholders.

6. Questions, missing information and change control

Use a change log for new surveys, design revisions, discoveries and contractor queries. Record version, date, author, changed information, affected work packages and recipients. A changed design or a newly identified buried service needs to reach every team using the old PCI. Make clear whether a contractor's risk assessment or construction phase plan must also be revised.

Release gate: [Name/role] confirms that the information necessary for the next design or construction package has been made available and the outstanding risks have a responsible owner and hold point. This is an internal project control, not a claim that HSE issues a PCI approval certificate.

7. Handover to construction and future use

At the handover to the principal contractor, record the PCI version and attachments provided, outstanding hazards, design assumptions and the person who can answer queries. Confirm that the construction phase plan reflects the relevant information before site work begins. As work develops, add new information rather than letting the pre-start pack freeze.

Identify material that may need to move to the health and safety file for future construction, maintenance, cleaning or demolition. The full existing health and safety file can also inform this project's PCI. Record who curates and ultimately hands over that file under the applicable CDM roles. The PCI itself should not be treated as a substitute for the final health and safety file.

How much detail is enough?

HSE's L153 Appendix 2 is explicit that the content is proportionate. A small, simple job may need a concise pack containing the building information, relevant surveys and site constraints. A complex demolition or occupied refurbishment will need more detailed surveys, phased design-risk information and multiple updates. The test is whether the intended recipients can make informed decisions, not whether the file has a set number of pages.

If some information is not yet obtainable, say so and prevent the dependent decision or activity until it is resolved. A provisional PCI can be issued for early design or tendering with clear caveats, then reissued when survey results arrive. It should not be labelled complete simply because a tender deadline has passed. The client and principal designer should decide what information each recipient needs at each stage.

Example: occupied office refurbishment

A client plans to refurbish two floors while the rest of the office remains occupied. The first PCI issue includes a plan of occupied routes, working-hour restrictions, known service isolation points, the existing fire strategy and asbestos information for the areas already surveyed. It flags an unsurveyed ceiling void in one work zone. Designers can use the available information to refine the layout and programme, but intrusive ceiling work is held pending appropriate survey information. When the survey arrives, the PCI is updated and sent to the relevant designers and tendering contractors. The principal contractor uses the latest issue to plan segregation, service shutdown, emergency access and the sequence in the construction phase plan. The change log shows who received the new ceiling information. This is much more useful than a generic paragraph saying “beware of asbestos and occupied premises.”

Frequent PCI failures

• Treating PCI as a static tender appendix. Relevant information develops during design and must be shared.
• Listing surveys without limitations. An old or out-of-scope record can create false assurance.
• Recording only common site hazards. Recipients need project-specific site and design information.
• Leaving unknowns invisible. Give gaps an owner, date and hold point.
• Assuming the construction phase plan is the PCI. The plan uses PCI; it does not replace the client's information duty.
• Sending different versions without a log. A contractor may work from superseded drawings or service information.
• Forgetting the health and safety file. Existing information can inform PCI and new residual risks may need future-user handover.

Related Complys route and next step

The construction phase plan page is the relevant commercial next step because PCI feeds planning for the construction phase. The current public page contains specific claims about generated plans, times and trial terms; those must be checked against implementation and current commercial conditions before publication. This PCI template does not claim a live Complys PCI builder or automated legal sign-off.

Next step: Open a project PCI record, attach the latest surveys and drawings, give each gap an owner, and issue a controlled version to the designers and contractors who need it. Update it as design and site knowledge change.

Writer-side source and QA record

Terminal writer-side disposition: READY.