Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 32
Assembling a Collaborative Project Team
The changing role of the contractor
The role of the contractor has changed. Previously, the rules of ‘engagement’
were better understood and a typical Building Contract was based on a
substantial set of contract documents with the architect’s instruction being
the main tool for administrating the contract.
Design and build forms of contract have radically changed the contractor’s
approach. With risks passed over to them, contractors have had to develop risk
management processes and achieve a clearer understanding of the Construction
Programme and the critical path issues as well as the design process.
Contractors have become better at passing risks on to subcontractors and also
at adjusting their own teams to reflect new ways of contracting. For example, a
design manager is now a core role within any contractor team, regardless of the
procurement route.
The increased role of the specialist subcontractor and the practice of harnessing
their design abilities to bring innovation to the process started with the advent
of management contracting. As design and build forms of contract emerged
in the 1990s, this trend continued and enabled contractors to pass on design
responsibilities to their supply chain. JCT Building Contracts accepted this form
of working and contractor design work is now commonplace on the majority of
traditional JCT projects.
The timing of the contractor’s involvement can vary for a number of reasons and
one of the core considerations of the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 has been aligning
the contractor involvement inherent in different procurement routes to a particular
stage. The benefits of early contractor engagement are that:
• specialist subcontractors can be involved and engaged earlier
•construction risks and buildability issues can be properly considered at the
earliest possible stage
• site logistics issues can be better understood and developed, and
• more accurate Cost Information can be obtained.
The downside can be difficulties in agreeing an acceptable contract sum when
the contractor believes that it is in a good negotiating position (research carried
out by various cost consultants shows that two-stage design and build tenders
result in higher costs per square metre) and a tendency for the exploration of
detailed aspects of the design to distract from the development of a robust
Concept Design.
In summary, contractor-led procurement is now well established and is becoming
a common way of working, particularly on larger projects. The design processes
used on such projects are likely to be very well developed. However, ways of
understanding and agreeing the cost of a project and the allocation of risk still
continue to develop and evolve.
www.ribaplanofwork.com
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