Principal Contractor Services
ALU brings façade expertise and construction management together to deliver remediation and building safety works as principal contractor where appointed. We help your team turn the agreed scope into coordinated site delivery, with clear responsibilities, controlled procurement and evidence of quality. That gives you a stronger basis for advising your client and making commitments you can explain with confidence.
Clear responsibility for construction delivery.
In England, the principal contractor role under the Building Regulations 2010 concerns planning, managing, monitoring and coordinating building work to meet the applicable requirements. The role under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) concerns health and safety during construction.
These duties are distinct, even where ALU holds both appointments. We clarify our roles, design responsibilities and reporting arrangements at the outset so your team can understand what the appointment covers.
Our Services Include
Construction Planning & Site Logistics
We develop the sequence around access, occupied areas, temporary protection, deliveries and inspection points. Design release, procurement lead times and required approvals become visible programme dependencies.
Identifying scaffold alterations, repeat access and making good early helps your quantity surveyor assess preliminaries and package costs against the actual delivery method.
Procurement & Specialist Coordination
We coordinate specialist contractors around defined scopes, competent resources and the agreed design. Junctions between cladding, glazing, cavity barriers and balconies need clear ownership.
We identify the information and acceptance criteria needed before ordering, helping your team compare quotations consistently and recognise omissions before they become site issues.
Health & Safety Management
Where appointed under CDM 2015, we prepare and maintain the construction phase plan, coordinate contractors, provide site inductions and manage welfare and access arrangements.
Planning considers risks such as work at height, lifting, falling materials and exposure to dust. On occupied sites, we coordinate with building management so construction controls and the building’s fire-safety arrangements work together.
Quality Records & Inspections
We turn the specification and installation details into inspection points, including checks before concealed work is closed. Records link locations, products, drawing revisions and photographs, with identified defects tracked through correction and reinspection.
This gives your team a clearer account of completed work and outstanding actions to inform progress reviews, valuations and handover planning under the contract.
How we deliver projects.
Design and Build: We coordinate design development and construction within the agreed contract.
Traditional Procurement: We deliver against the client’s design team’s information and raise buildability or coordination issues for resolution.
Contractor’s Designed Portions: We design defined elements allocated to ALU. In each case, we clarify who provides calculations, specifications and interface details so your team can price and manage the design obligations.
We manage regulatory and commercial changes together.
For applicable higher-risk building projects in England, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) process adds controls under the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023. We plan delivery around the relevant approval and construction control arrangements. Where required, we operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system with the principal designer so serious building safety concerns can be identified and reported.
We understand the full effect of a proposed change.
A product substitution can affect fixing design, fire performance, interfaces and procurement as well as price. We coordinate technical review and record cost and programme implications through the agreed procedures. Controlled changes must be logged; notifiable changes require notification to BSR before related work, and major changes require approval before affected work proceeds. A contractual instruction does not replace statutory approval.
We give your commercial team usable evidence.
We report progress, information gaps and delivery constraints, distinguishing installed work, defects and proposed changes to support forecasts and client updates. At handover, we coordinate as-built records and our contributions to the health and safety file and, where applicable, the golden thread. Contractual completion and regulatory certification are planned as separate milestones.
How We Support Your Project
Establish the delivery arrangements
1
Agree the appointment, project scope, responsibilities, reporting and information needed to start.
Prepare for construction
2
Coordinate the programme, contractor appointments, procurement, site logistics and construction planning.
Manage the works
3
Monitor progress, coordinate interfaces and inspections, and resolve issues through the agreed project procedures.
Complete and hand over
4
Close out defects, coordinate final inspections and provide the agreed records and handover information.
