Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 31
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work, while others may source local architects based on discussions and fee
proposals. Some will utilise the skills of a RIBA Client Adviser to help them navigate
the early stages of a project successfully.
Experienced clients are likely to be sector-focused, and many sectors have client
groups that meet to discuss current trends and issues specific to their own
sector. By understanding issues across a number of projects, best practice in
each sector can be distilled and more effectively applied. As a result, such clients
expect their design team to have detailed sector knowledge and to be experienced
in the delivery of the particular project type being commissioned.
Some clients directly employ a broad base of design and construction professionals
who can bring additional insights to the design process and ensure that the work
of the appointed design team is ‘translated’ in a manner that can be better
understood within their own organisation.
Most crucially, clients are not always the end user. For example, the design team
may be employed by a contractor or a developer and be remote from the end
user. This creates communication issues as the design team can be one step, or
several steps, removed from those who will occupy a building. This remoteness
creates design and contractual challenges but, more significantly, it can make the
achievement of the best Project Outcomes and right life cycle cost considerations
more difficult to achieve.
Certain clients value design above cost and programme concerns. For example,
a good design solution may be fundamental to their business or may be a core
requirement for a residential client who will live in the completed project for a long
time. However, some clients consider that design and build procurement can deliver
appropriate design solutions as well as securing cost and programme certainty.
Unfortunately, traditional procurement does not offer the time and cost advantages
although, by carefully considering contingencies, properly preparing tender
information and selecting the right contractor, these issues can be managed.
Furthermore, new digital technologies (BIM), which result in more efficiently
coordinated designs, might in turn lead to an increase in traditionally
procured projects.
Some clients are focusing their attention on new subjects, such as Project
Outcomes or operational and maintenance costs. Others are more interested in
Feedback, Post-occupancy Evaluation or benchmarking that can be applied to
future projects and methods of using the Project Information for the successful
management of their building.
In conclusion, every client is different and each member of the project team must
understand the objectives and goals of their particular client. The three-step
briefing process (comprising the Strategic Brief, Initial Project Brief and the Final
Project Brief) in the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 is designed to assist with this process.
www.ribaplanofwork.com
