How do you draw a site set-up plan?

Last checked 01-11-2026. A plain guide, not legal advice: check the official guidance below for your job.

A site set-up plan is a scaled drawing of how the site will work while you build: fencing and gates, welfare, storage, skips, routes for people and vehicles, the fire points, first aid and the assembly point. CDM 2015 needs these arrangements in your construction phase plan, and a marked-up site plan is the clearest way to show them.

What it is and why you need one

Under CDM 2015 every project needs a construction phase plan before the site is set up. Where there is more than one contractor, the principal contractor draws it up (regulation 12). On a single-contractor job, including most domestic work, the contractor does, as soon as is practicable before setting up the site (regulation 15). The plan must set out the health and safety arrangements and site rules.

The regulations do not use the words site set-up plan, and no law says you must draw one. But many of the duties in Part 4 of CDM 2015 are about where things go: traffic routes, the site boundary, emergency routes, fire-fighting equipment and welfare. HSE guidance HSG144 includes an example site traffic route plan, and lists site maps for drivers and maps shown at the site entrance among the ways to tell people about routes and site rules. One drawing covers all of this and is quicker to explain than pages of text.

It is also a planning tool. Drawing it to scale shows you early whether the welfare unit, the skip, the material bays and a delivery lorry will actually fit.

What the law asks you to arrange

These are the arrangements the plan usually needs to show. They come from CDM 2015 unless stated.

Welfare (Schedule 2): toilets, washing with hot and cold or warm water, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers where needed, and a rest area with tables, seats with backs and a way to boil water, all at readily accessible places. The principal contractor must make sure they are provided throughout the construction phase (regulation 13).
Traffic routes (regulation 27): the site must be organised so that pedestrians and vehicles can move without risk, so far as is reasonably practicable. Routes must be suitable and big enough, with enough separation between people and vehicles. Where a vehicle gate is unsafe for people on foot, there must be a clearly marked pedestrian door right next to it. Routes must be signed where needed and kept clear.
Boundary and security (regulations 13, 15 and 18): take steps to keep unauthorised people out, and where needed mark the perimeter with signs or fence it off. HSE says that in populated areas this will typically mean a 2 m high small mesh fence or hoarding.
Storage and good order (regulation 18): keep the site in good order. HSE advises designated storage areas for plant, materials, waste and flammable or hazardous substances, kept off footpaths and escape routes, with flammable materials usually stored away from the rest.
Emergency routes and the assembly point (regulations 30 and 31): emergency routes must lead as directly as possible to an identified safe area, be kept clear and be signed. HSE says that on a small site the pavement outside may be adequate as the place to assemble.
Fire points (regulation 32): fire-fighting equipment where needed, easy to reach and signed. HSE says extinguishers should be at identified fire points. In England and Wales general fire safety on site also falls under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and HSE says the responsible person will usually be the main or principal contractor.
First aid: HSE's guidance for employers gives the minimum as a suitably stocked first-aid kit, a person appointed to take charge of first-aid arrangements, and information telling everyone what the arrangements are. Your first-aid needs assessment may show you need trained first-aiders as well.
Lighting (regulation 35): the site, its approach and its traffic routes need suitable lighting, by natural light so far as is reasonably practicable.
Lifting: HSE says lifting operations must be planned by a competent person, and the plan must cover the safety of people not involved in the lift. Show where the crane or lorry loader will stand and the area to keep clear under the load.

The public road: skips, scaffold and hoarding

If any part of the set-up goes on the highway, and that includes the pavement, you need permission first. In England and Wales:

Skips: a skip on a public road needs a skip licence, also called a skip permit, from the council. GOV.UK says that in most areas the skip hire company gets it but in some you must do it yourself, that you cannot put a skip on the pavement, and that no licence is needed if the skip is entirely on private land. Lights and markings may be required, and GOV.UK says leaving them off could mean a fine of up to £1,000.
Scaffolding: scaffolding or any other structure on or over the highway for building work needs a licence from the highway authority (Highways Act 1980, section 169). GOV.UK says getting it is the job of the builder or scaffolding company. The licence holder must keep the scaffold lit from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, unless every part is at least 18 inches (about 457 mm) from the carriageway and nothing over the footway is lower than 8 feet (about 2.44 m).
Hoarding: before you put up, take down or alter the outside of a building in a street, you must put up a close-boarded hoarding or fence to the satisfaction of the council, unless the council agrees it is not needed (section 172). The council can also require a covered walkway with a handrail, and lighting. GOV.UK says a hoarding on a public highway needs a licence from the local authority.
Materials and digging in the street: storing building materials or making a temporary excavation in a street needs the highway authority's consent, and the obstruction must be fenced and lit in the dark (section 171).

In Scotland the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 applies instead. You need the roads authority's written permission to occupy part of a road for materials or to put scaffolding over it (section 58), and for a skip on a road (section 85). Northern Ireland has its own roads law, and its own CDM regulations from 2016, so check the rules there locally.

What to show: a checklist

A title block: job name and address, drawing number, revision letter and date, who drew it, a north point, the scale and a scale bar
The site boundary, the fence or hoarding line, and every gate, with the pedestrian gate kept apart from the vehicle gate
Vehicle routes, turning and loading areas, and where delivery vehicles stop
Pedestrian routes from the gate to the welfare, the work areas and the scaffold access, and where they cross vehicle routes
Welfare: toilets, washing, drinking water, changing and the rest area
Storage: material bays, a lockable store, flammables and gas cylinders kept apart, and the spoil heap
Skips or waste bins, and how the skip lorry reaches them
The scaffold footprint, loading bays and hoists, and the crane or lorry-loader position with the area under the lift
Fire points, the fire alarm or warning device, the first-aid kit and the emergency assembly point
Areas to keep out of: open excavations, edges, overhead power lines and known buried services
Parking for workers and visitors, away from the work area
Anything on the highway, with its licence or permit reference
Neighbours' access, footpaths, schools, roads or railways next to the site

How to draw it to scale

You do not need CAD. You need a base drawing at a known scale and a way to put things on it at their real size.

Get a base. Use the architect's site plan or block plan, the location plan from the planning application, or a satellite photo. A satellite photo shows trees, parked cars and neighbouring buildings, but it may be out of date and it is not a survey.
Set the scale from something you have measured on site, such as the front of the house or the gateway, and check it against a second measured dimension before you draw anything.
Pick a scale that fits the paper. 1:100 or 1:200 suits most small jobs. The sum is paper size in millimetres times the scale: A4 (210 x 297 mm) at 1:200 covers 42 m x 59.4 m of ground, and A3 (297 x 420 mm) at 1:100 covers 29.7 m x 42 m.
Draw the fixed things first: the boundary, buildings, gates, the road and pavement, overhead lines, manholes and trees.
Add each item at its true size. Get the footprint of welfare units, containers and skips from the hire company, and leave room round them for doors, steps and access.
Draw the routes: vehicle routes in one colour, pedestrian routes in another, with arrows for any one-way system.
Add a key, the north point, a scale bar and the revision. A scale bar stays true if the plan is printed at the wrong size; a written scale does not.

If a lorry has to turn on site, draw the space it needs from the vehicle size the supplier gives you, not a guess. HSG144 says vehicle routes should be adequate for the number, type and size of the largest vehicles that may use them.

Keep it up to date

A plan drawn for the first week is wrong by the time the scaffold goes up. CDM 2015 says the construction phase plan must be reviewed, updated and revised throughout the project (regulation 12), and HSG144 says changes to traffic routes need to be passed on to site workers and visiting drivers. Regulation 27 also says traffic routes must be regularly checked and properly maintained.

Draw a new revision at each change of stage, for example groundworks, scaffold up, roof on, fit-out and external works.
Revise it whenever a gate, route, storage area, fire point or assembly point moves.
Give each revision a letter and the date, put the new copy up and take the old ones down.
Compare the plan with the site on your regular checks, and note changes in the site diary.

Brief it at induction

The principal contractor must make sure a suitable site induction is provided (regulation 13), and HSE says it should be site specific. The set-up plan is the quickest way to cover the layout part of it.

Walk new starters through the plan: gates, routes, welfare, no-go areas, fire points, first aid and the assembly point.
Put a copy at the gate and in the welfare unit. HSG144 suggests displaying maps and site rules at site entrances and in welfare areas.
Send it to suppliers with site-specific delivery instructions when you order, so drivers know where to stop before they arrive.
Give visitors a version that suits the visit. HSE says escorted visitors only need to know the main hazards and the control measures.
Brief each new revision, for example at a toolbox talk.

Worked example: Brunel Terrace

The job is a single-storey rear extension and a rear dormer loft conversion to a mid-terrace house on Brunel Terrace. The plot is 5.5 m wide and 32 m deep. The house is 9 m deep, so the rear garden is 23 m long. A private lane 3.5 m wide, shared with the neighbours, runs along the bottom of the garden, and the front door opens onto the pavement. There is one contractor, so the builder writes the construction phase plan and draws the set-up plan.

Scale and paper: at 1:200 the plot is 5,500 mm / 200 = 27.5 mm wide and 32,000 mm / 200 = 160 mm long, which fits on A4 portrait with room for the lane, the street and the title block. The builder sets the scale on a satellite photo from the house frontage, measured on site at 5.5 m, and checks it against the lane: 3.5 m should measure 3,500 / 200 = 17.5 mm.

What goes where:

The rear boundary onto the lane gets a pair of vehicle gates with a separate pedestrian gate beside them, and 2 m mesh fence panels along the open boundary while the garden wall is down.
A welfare unit with a toilet, hot and cold water, a rest area and drinking water sits just inside the rear gate, where the hire lorry can place it from the lane. Its footprint comes from the hire firm.
Material bays and a lockable container go beside the welfare unit. Gas cylinders go in a separate caged store away from the escape route.
A skip bag sits in the garden near the gate. It is on private land, so no skip licence is needed, and the collection lorry lifts it out from the lane.
The rear elevation is scaffolded for the dormer, with a loading bay, a ladder access and the base fenced off.
A 1.2 m wide walkway runs from the pedestrian gate to the back door, kept clear of materials. 1.2 m is the builder's own figure: HSG144 asks only that walkways are wide enough for the number of people using them at peak times.
Fire points with extinguishers are at the welfare unit and the back door, with an air horn in the welfare unit as the alarm.
The first-aid kit is in the welfare unit, and the appointed person is named on the plan.
The assembly point is the pavement outside the house, reached through the house along the hall, which is kept clear and signed. The second way out is through the rear gate to the lane.
Deliveries stop in the lane at the rear gate. There is a primary school at the end of the street, so the builder books deliveries between 09:30 and 14:30, tells the neighbours who use the lane, and has a trained signaller whenever a vehicle reverses down it.

Revision B is drawn when the scaffold goes up, moving the material bays to keep the scaffold base clear. Revision C is drawn when the extension roof is on and the welfare unit moves to make room for the new patio.

How do you draw a site set-up plan?

What it is and why you need one

What the law asks you to arrange

The public road: skips, scaffold and hoarding

What to show: a checklist

How to draw it to scale

Keep it up to date

Brief it at induction

Worked example: Brunel Terrace

Sources

Tools that help

More guides

The construction manager’s toolbox.