Who owns the temporary works on your project?

Summary

Edition #2 asks a question that is easy to answer for permanent works and surprisingly hard for temporary works: who owns them? On fast UAE programmes the scaffold, falsework, access towers and hoist usually belong to different subcontractors, and each looks after its own equipment. The whole picture often has no owner, and that shows up on the morning of a pour when nobody can say who may sign the falsework off.

The article explains why the gap opens: work is split into packages, design is done off site from drawings that age, people rotate between projects and programme pressure pushes decisions to whoever is nearest. It then sets out what ownership means in practice, using the roles described in BS 5975, which many contractors in the region follow even when the contract does not name it.

Four things a working coordinator should be able to show are covered: a live register, a design brief per item, permit control and an interface map. A short list of questions for the next coordination meeting tests whether ownership is really clear, and the closing section links clear ownership to programme and cost, not only safety.

Key points

• Ownership means accountability for temporary works decisions, not ownership of tubes and fittings.
• BS 5975 describes a Designated Individual, a Temporary Works Coordinator, supervisors, and designers and checkers.
• A common failure is a coordinator role shared by several people, or added to a full site management load.
• The coordinator should hold a live register, a design brief per item, permits to load and dismantle, and an interface map.
• Seven questions for the next coordination meeting show whether ownership is still open.

This page is a summary written for scaff.ae. The full edition was first published on LinkedIn. General guidance for project teams. Follow your project's temporary works procedure and the current Guide edition.

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