Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 23
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the two stages suggested by these two examples and the amount and type of
information contained in the Building Contract will vary. Furthermore, on most
Building Contracts the contractor is responsible for discrete aspects of the
design (this subject is tackled in greater detail on page 69). In scenarios where
a transition from a traditional project team to a contractor-led team occurs, it is
likely that this will occur midway through the design process with the precise
timing dependent on a number of factors, such as risk transfer, cost and
programme certainty, and the level of design development that the client
wishes to see in the Employer’s Requirements.
The traditional project team
The traditional project team has evolved over the years. When the RIBA Plan of
Work was first conceived, the following were commonplace:
• the client would appoint the individual members of the design team
•the architect would be the project lead, lead designer and contract administrator
• a design would be produced by the design team
• the design team was responsible for all aspects of the design
•the client retained the risk (in relation to both cost and programme) for the
duration of the project
• bills of quantities would be produced and the project tendered
•the successful contractor would be appointed under a JCT form of
Building Contract
•Practical Completion would signify the handover of the building to the client, and
• up to a year later the Building Contract would be concluded.
More precisely, there was a common way of working that was consistently used
on the vast majority of projects. Each member of the team understood their role
and what was expected. However, despite the common method of working,
buildings were frequently delivered late and over budget, primarily due to the
adversarial environment triggered by the ‘them and us’ attitude that prevailed
between members of the design team and the contractor, fuelled by the practice
of lowest cost tendering, which required contractors to break even or make a
profit by focusing on the changes made to the tendered design.
This established way of working has altered over the years, primarily as a
consequence of changing procurement routes designed to resolve cost and
programme issues but also in response to the increase in the amount of design
work undertaken by specialist subcontractors appointed by the contractor.
www.ribaplanofwork.com
