Aipedia: Principal designers and building safety

AI tools for checking designer competence

Aipedia, by the Apex broking team · Last reviewed 2026-10-27

AI can speed up competence screening, but Part 2A reg 11E requires reasonable steps and, on higher-risk buildings, a direct question about serious sanctions. A wrong match or missing record can undermine the client's competence declaration.

Part of: AI in principal design and building safety

In short

Under Part 2A reg 11E, anyone appointing a designer or contractor must take reasonable steps to confirm competence under reg 11F, and on HRB work must ask about serious sanctions in the previous five years. AI tools can summarise CVs, search records and score bidders, but they can mismatch names, overstate qualifications and leave no usable record. The client signs the competence declaration for HRB applications, so evidence must be reliable. Where individuals are screened, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 adds safeguards on automated decisions.

How AI is used to check competence

Before anyone is appointed to design or build under Part 2A, someone has to check they are competent. On higher-risk buildings that includes asking about serious sanctions. AI tools are being used to summarise CVs and company profiles, compare qualifications against a role description, search public records and news for enforcement history, and score bidders.

For a PD that appoints or recommends designers, or carries out client duties on a domestic project, these tools promise consistency and speed. The AI for principal designers overview puts this in context with other PD uses of AI.

The duties that apply

Part 2A reg 11E: before letting another person carry out design or building work, the person appointing must take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the appointee meets the competence requirements in reg 11F, or is in supervised training. For HRB work, they must ask whether a serious sanction has been imposed in the five years before appointment and consider any information about misconduct. Where the appointee is to be PD, the client must also check reg 11G.
Reg 11F: competence means the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (individuals) or organisational capability (organisations) needed for the work.
SI 2023/909 Schedule 1 para 1: on HRB applications, the client signs a competence declaration confirming it checked appointees, and where there is more than one contractor, copies of the client's records go with it.

Where screening involves individuals, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 s.80 replaced the UK GDPR rules on automated decision-making. A significant decision about a person made with no meaningful human involvement needs safeguards, including the right to make representations, obtain human intervention and contest the decision.

What can go wrong

Illustrative scenario. A PD uses an AI tool to screen a shortlist of specialist façade designers for an HRB. The tool reports no sanctions for the preferred firm, having matched public records against a similarly named company. The firm had in fact received a relevant notice within the five-year window. The issue surfaces when the BSR queries the competence evidence, and the client looks to the PD for the cost of re-procurement and delay.

Other ways AI competence screening can fail:

accreditations or project experience invented or overstated in a summary;
scores that reward keyword-rich CVs over relevant experience;
no record of what was checked, so reasonable steps cannot be shown;
the question about serious sanctions never actually asked of the appointee, because the tool's search was treated as the answer.

How PI usually responds

If a client claims that a PD's negligent competence advice caused loss, PI would usually respond, subject to the wording and to the activity being within the declared professional services. Advice on appointments may be treated differently from design work in some wordings, so check. There is no statutory PI requirement for PDs. Apex's guide to whether CDM principal designers need PI explains why PI matters for the role.

Practical controls

Ask the reg 11E sanctions question directly and record the answer.
Verify any match or non-match from an AI search against primary records.
Check claimed qualifications and memberships with the issuing body.
Make sure a person decides, and can explain, each competence conclusion.
Keep the evidence in a form the client can use for its competence declaration (see Gateway 2 applications).
On domestic projects, confirm who holds the client's checking duties (see domestic projects).
Apply the same thinking to your own competence (see the competence question).

How Apex helps

Apex arranges PI for principal designers. A broker can check that advice on appointments and competence is within your declared activities and explain how your policy would respond.

Sources

Frequently asked

Can an AI search satisfy the serious sanctions check?

Reg 11E requires the appointing person to ask the appointee whether a serious sanction has been imposed in the last five years and consider misconduct information. An AI search can supplement this but should not replace asking and recording the answer.

Do data protection rules apply to AI screening of individuals?

Yes, where personal data is processed. Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 s.80 sets safeguards for significant decisions made with no meaningful human involvement, so keep a person making the decision.

Who signs the competence declaration on an HRB?

The client signs it under SI 2023/909 Schedule 1 para 1, confirming it checked appointees. The PD may help assemble the evidence, so accuracy of that evidence matters to both.

What records should a PD keep of AI-assisted screening?

Keep the questions asked, the answers given, the sources checked, any AI output relied on and who reviewed it. That record shows the reasonable steps reg 11E requires and supports the client if the BSR queries competence evidence.

Check your PI covers how you use AI

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about how AI is used in the profession and how insurance may respond. It is not legal, regulatory or insurance advice on your circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.