Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 43
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Chapter overview
Having examined the importance of the first two RIBA stages, the issues
associated with the initial appointments and the need to strategically consider
the generic nature of the project team at Stage 0, this chapter details the
strategic issues associated with assembling a collaborative project team before
the specific tools required to do so are examined in Chapters 6 to 9. Considering
and understanding the strategic issues is essential: by making the right
decisions early, and by sticking to them, time and energy can be focused on the
design process rather than lost in debating who should be doing what.
Why is a collaborative project team required?
Chapter 2 mentioned the ‘them and us’ attitude that has historically existed in
the construction industry. The only way of breaking through this cultural barrier
is to harness collaborative project teams where all members of the team work
together to achieve the client’s goals and objectives. Until the culture of our
industry has changed this will, of course, be a significant challenge, particularly
when the intuitive skills and interests of each member of the team may be in
conflict. For example, the architect may have created a Concept Design that
meets the client’s objectives and is aligned to the difficulties of a historic site
but the contractor may judge the design to be complex to construct and may
consider a simpler design solution more appropriate. This is, of course, an extreme
example; however, it highlights how quality, cost and time variables need to be
considered by the client and their resolution assigned to those best placed to
manage them. It also flags up the biggest conundrum in the construction
industry: the interface between the design team and the contractor and how
to make this core relationship work more effectively.
To achieve effective collaboration, the client may select a procurement route that
harnesses early contractor engagement but this step in itself may not resolve all
the issues of the interface. For this core interface to be effective:
•the design team needs to consider construction and buildability issues as the
design progresses and respect and respond to the difficulties that may be
encountered on site
•the contractor has to understand the rationale behind the design concept and
respect the reasoning behind a particular approach
•ways of communicating the project risks must be agreed so that they can be
understood and managed by the most appropriate member of the project team
•means of progressing the Cost Information for the developing design and,
more importantly, the means of transferring the cost risk from the design team
to the contractor have to be considered, and
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