GuidanceContractors, August 2026
Managing contractors in schools over the summer
Several trades, no pupils, and usually one person holding the keys. The summer is the month where it pays to be clear who is in charge of what.
A school in August is a construction site with a school wrapped round it. The duties do not go away because the pupils have, and the person who signs contractors in is usually the only one on site who knows what is behind each door.
Know which job needs a principal contractor
Where more than one contractor is involved, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 require a principal contractor and a principal designer to be appointed in writing, with a construction phase plan before work starts. A roof replacement with a roofer, a scaffolder and an electrician is that job. Ask for the plan and read the first two pages.
Check before they arrive, not after
Insurance in date, the right qualifications for the work, and method statements you have actually looked at rather than filed. Where anyone will be near pupils at any point, including holiday clubs running in part of the building, the safeguarding checks matter as much as the safety ones.
Keep the works and the building apart
Agree the route in, the parking, the welfare and the storage before day one. Segregate the works area with something more than tape. Confirm who is locking up, and make sure that whoever it is can get hold of the school and the school can get hold of them.
Say what happens if the alarm is isolated
Detection is often disabled for dusty work and sometimes left off overnight. That needs agreeing in advance, recording, and a written arrangement for what covers the building while it is off. It is a common reason a small summer fire becomes a large one, so it is worth pinning down.
Before the first van arrives
- A named person in charge of the site each working day, with a number.
- Insurance, competence and method statements checked, not just collected.
- Asbestos register issued and signed for by every contractor.
- Works area segregated, with the route in and the welfare agreed.
- Any alarm or detection isolation agreed in writing, with cover arranged.
- Escape routes kept usable, or an alternative agreed and told to everyone.
If you are a Hillingdon maintained school
The council's Schools Capital Projects and Building Maintenance Guidance asks maintained schools to tell the Education Team about planned major works and to share the compliance documentation. Worth checking before the summer programme starts rather than afterwards.
How we help
We read contractor packs before the work starts and say what is missing, including where a job needs a principal contractor and does not have one.
General guidance only. It does not replace the fire risk assessment, water hygiene risk assessment or specific advice for a particular building.
