Project and decision stages .1 Development of the brief

The client generally implements the procedure that leads to the appointment of the designers. Construction professionals may be involved beforehand, but the important starting point for the generation of design information is when briefing begins. The initial

‘statement of need’ must be prepared in terms that can be readily transformed into a design concept for development by the designer.

Experienced clients have a very clear understanding of their needs for specific building uses, and they produce very detailed briefing documents that set out criteria for the completed work environment, use of space, and quality standards. They are sometimes referred to as the ‘scope’ documents. Initial assessment and re-statement of the brief by the designer results in the preparation of a ‘functional brief’ document, which establishes the basic policy for the job. Most organizations bring this stage to a close with the creation and approval of a business case for the project that must be approved by the board of directors.

4.2.2 Conceptual and scheme design stage

From the statements of the client’s need within the ‘functional brief’ the designer can develop the concept and outline design for the project. This is done with the project manager who simultaneously develops the budgets for time and cost. The design and budgeting processes produce a co-ordinated set of project information for approval by the client. Once approved, the next step for the designers is to work up the scheme design, where all the basic systems for the building are developed and checked for feasibility. Initial value engineering and buildability studies are carried out. The object is to fix the brief and the design solutions, including planning arrangements, appearance, construction method, comprehensive specifications, and detailed cost and time budgets.

The client must be satisfied that the scheme design meets the agreed requirements and should approve this, together with the budgets for time and cost. At some point between the briefing stage and the end of the concept stage, the budget ceases to be a consequence of the developing design and becomes a tool for control. On some projects, where the client imposes severe constraints, the changeover takes place at the brief stage. If project costs are to be severely controlled it is best to effect the changeover as early as possible.

4.2.3 Engineering

At the engineering stage, the design team develops the full production information. As the various systems are engineered and detailed they can be formed into packages to enable the project manager to start buying the manufacturing and construction work. The separation of the project into distinct packages is most commonly practised in construction management and management contracting procurement methods, with the content of each package dependent upon the form of procurement chosen. Where the package is large (e.g.

the building frame or cladding), the level of detail prepared by the designers could be relatively small, particularly if there is to be a significant contribution by specialist trade contractors. Alternatively if the design is complex there will be extensive design development by the design team. Since these decisions have an impact upon the scale and timing of the project expenditure the client should be involved in confirming the purchasing proposals.

Once the specialist trade contractors have been selected and the contracts signed, they can start to produce their detailed designs. These must be incorporated in a co-ordinated way into the complete set of information for construction. This is probably the most complex and demanding stage of the whole design process.

The form in which information is provided for the construction stage must be appropriate for its use. The designers and contractors have a responsibility to agree their real needs together with the level of detail that is actually required. This concept is drawn from lean thinking (Womack and Jones, 1996), which means that the customer, in this case the production process, pulls the information from the producer, who is the designer. In practice this can lead to a significant reduction in information transfers because only the information that is really needed is produced.

4.2.4 The changing pattern of leadership

The level of involvement of different people within the project team changes from one stage to another, as does the leadership required to achieve the objectives of each stage.

The differing levels of involvement (see Figure 8) are not absolute, but are relative, intended to show simply where the focus of influence lies between the teams. To ensure effective management at each stage it is important to establish and agree, from the beginning, the roles and relationships of all team members.

These broad stages in the design of a building remain the same irrespective of the form of building contract adopted. However, the stage when and method by which a construction-related influence is introduced into the design process will typically vary depending on the type of procurement system used. This may influence the roles and relationships between the participants, but the principles described here apply to any form of procurement.

4.2.5 The client’s involvement

The client needs to remain involved to a varying degree throughout the process. As the design consultants are appointed and responsibility is delegated to them, so the client should normally expect less involvement with the project. This will vary with the type of project, the procurement approach, and the client’s organization. The client’s involvement is at its highest during the briefing, concept, feasibility and scheme design stages and will normally reduce during the detail design and construction stage (see figure 9). Detailed involvement with the building itself will increase again towards the end of the construction stage, as the client begins to consider the occupation of the building. At each Fig. 8. Alignment of work stages to meet the Design Management plan of work.

stage the client must make positive decisions and commitments: the design and construction teams need this certainty if they are to deliver a satisfactory project.

4.2.6 The design team’s involvement

The architect and the other consultants start to become involved at the briefing stage to help the client decide what is needed. The contribution of the architect-led design team is most significant during the concept stage through to the completion of the scheme design, and continues into the following stages through to construction. The engineering disciplines concerned are normally structural and services engineering.

The engineering involvement may be needed at the briefing and concept stages, it always covers the scheme and detail design stages, and will overlap with the procurement and construction. The engineers will usually be introduced during the concept design stage and as the project moves into the engineering stage their activity increases to a peak. They will also be involved through the next two phases of specialist design and construction.

Fig. 9. A schematic of the contribution to the design by the client and designers.

4.2.7 The specialist’s involvement

Although working information used to be mostly produced by the design team, an increasing amount is now produced by the specialist contractors who work with the design team to resolve the intricate details of the project. The specialists’ involvement usually starts during the initial engineering stage and reaches a peak with the production of fabrication and shop drawings. However, unusual projects may well require specialist advice at earlier stages.

4.2.8 The construction stage

Design by all contributors will continue into the construction stage, because of the high design input by specialist contractors. The key objective is to ensure that the information flow does not interrupt the construction process. Therefore, once the manufacturing sequence has started within a product or work package, all the necessary information must be complete to allow the construction stage to proceed efficiently. There must also be a freeze on client decision-making and design development otherwise the penalty, in terms of extra time and cost, will be extremely high.