Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 27
20
contractors have had to develop methods of managing the design process as well as
means of assessing the capability of the designers for whom they are taking responsibility.
Appointing the design team as a single entity
Design team members have traditionally been appointed individually by the client
and, in the majority of scenarios, clients will want to continue this practice. However,
in recent years there have been an increasing number of cases in which the lead
designer has been expected to select the design team members and be accountable
for their performance and payments. This gives the lead designer greater control over
who is to form part of the design team and the processes that will be used by the
assembled team as well as encouraging innovation from one project to the next.
However, this arrangement also creates additional risks, including the need to prepare
subconsultant documents that are back-to-back with the lead designer’s appointment,
enhanced personal indemnity insurance (PII) requirements and greater financial risk
in the event that the client is unable to pay invoices.
Nevertheless, it can be argued that this scenario is preferable to an ‘arranged marriage’,
where the lead designer is responsible for coordinating the work of a design team,
yet has had no say over the composition of this team. Certain clients overcome this
hurdle by appointing the lead designer and then involving them in the selection
process to determine the other members of the design team.
The use of framework contractors
Appointing the design team as a single entity resolves certain issues; however, it still
does not address the question of how to involve the specialist subcontractors that
can add value to the design process at an earlier stage in that process. Some clients
who undertake regular building projects are overcoming this by setting up frameworks
with contractors. These frameworks encourage contractors to provide more ‘up front’
contributions from their supply chain, allowing the design to progress holistically
before a Building Contract is entered into.
The contractor-led team
All forms of design and build contracts require a contractor-led team, even if the team
is formed by novating the original design consultants (see Figure 2.3). In recent
years, projects undertaken under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) have represented
the purest forms of contractor-led procurement, although such contracts were more
complex as the special purpose vehicles (SPV) set up to bid for them typically
comprised a funder(s), a contractor and a facilities management (FM) contractor.
Aside from cost and programme benefits derived from design and build procurement,
contractor-led procurement is considered by clients for a number of reasons:
•
Early specialist contractor involvement – arguably the biggest advantage of
contractor-led procurement is the opportunity for the contractor to involve
their supply chain at an early stage. At Stage 2, strategic contributions from
the specialist subcontractors, whose input may dictate or influence the design
www.ribaplanofwork.com
