Types of client related roles for construction projects
The CIOB Code of practice for project management (4th edition), defines a client as the 'Entity, individual or organisation commissioning and funding the project, directly or indirectly.' The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) provides specific definitions of clients, whilst the Building Safety Act and regulations name the client as a duty holder, under the Building Regulations, a ‘client’ is ‘any person for whom a project is carried out’, a ‘domestic client’, means ‘a client for whom a project is carried out which is not in the course or furtherance of a business of that client.’
Clients are rarely single people acting alone, even on relatively small projects there are likely to be other interested parties, as the number of interested parties grows, different roles and specifications are used to describe their relationship with a project. Below is a list of some client related terms and roles that might be found in relation to a project:
- Academic Institution.
- Asset Manager.
- Authority.
- Buyer.
- Board of directors.
- Board of representatives.
- Board representative.
- Champions for construction clients.
- Charity.
- Client design advisor.
- Client models.
- Client team
- Client's representative.
- Co-operative.
- Company.
- Customer.
- Developer.
- Domestic client.
- Duty holder.
- Employer.
- End-user.
- Government authority.
- Heads of department.
- Housing Association.
- Independent client advisers.
- Integrated project team.
- Intelligent client.
- Investment Decision Maker (IDM),
- Local Authority.
- Main board of directors
- Non-Governmental Organisation.
- Non-profit.
- Owner.
- Principal.
- Project board,
- Project director.
- Project manager.
- Project Sponsor (PS).
- Promoter.
- Purchaser.
- Residents' Association.
- Senior Responsible Owner (SRO)
- Sponsor.
- Stakeholders.
- Tenant.
- Tenant management organisation (TMO).
- User.
- User panels.
- Users.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Client design advisor.
- Client for building design and construction.
- Client model.
- Client procedures in construction: Knowledge hub.
- Client's representative.
- Champions.
- Contracting.
- Customer.
- Domestic client.
- End-user.
- Independent client advisers.
- Integrated project team.
- Integrated supply team.
- Intelligent client.
- Owner.
- Project manager.
- Purchaser.
- Stakeholders.
- User experience UX.
- User panels.
- Users.
Featured articles
Check out some of the best features and news from Designing Buildings as well as key stories from around the web.
The importance of early engagement
Construction lessons from the Trillium HealthWorks Experience Centre.
Mayors are to be given planning call in powers
Mayors across England will be able to make the most important planning decisions.
The Master Builder: William Butterfield and his times. Book review.
Why construction can't afford to ignore the skills gap.
Building Safety Regulator, 19 August
Gill Kernick appointed Independent Chair of Residents’ Panel.
Connecting knowledge, technology and conservation
Building competence for the future of built heritage.
Building Regulations and Building Safety Act
CIOB publishes free advice for non-domestic clients.
Building Safety Newsletter from MHCLG.
An extraordinary record of steel engineering worldwide.
Households living near new pylons to save on bills.
ECA warns growth must not outpace grid capacity or skills.
The role of the client and decision making
CIOB response to built environment professions call for evidence.

















