Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 53
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During Stage 2, an estimate for the construction cost will have to be prepared
and included within the Cost Information submitted at the end of the stage for
comparison with the Project Budget. Where the Cost Information exceeds the
Project Budget, the design team will have to alter the Concept Design until it is
affordable (remembering that this should have been strategically determined
during Stage 0) or the client will need to agree to adjust the Project Budget.
In summary, the cost of the developing design proposals must be aligned to the
client’s budget until the point in time when the cost can be fixed and some or all
of the cost risk transferred to the contractor via the Building Contract.
The process of costing a developing design is not straightforward; however, it
has to be recognised that the production of cost estimates is part of the iterative
design process and not a separate activity undertaken at the end of each stage.
In developing Schedules of Services, the project lead, together with the lead
designer and the cost consultant, must consider carefully how this will be achieved.
The stage outputs (or Information Exchanges)
One of the core themes of the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 is the inclusion of the
Information Exchanges task bar. This task bar has been devised to acknowledge
that the deliverables at each stage may vary, depending on the client’s requirements
and the circumstances related to each project. Furthermore, a client may only
require the services to be undertaken up to a particular stage. One trend that was
identified in the Plan of Work consultations was limited Schedules of Services
being undertaken by some clients where the planning risk was high. This creates
a number of issues. For example, the design may not be sufficiently robust when
it is developed further following the granting of planning consent and may require
further and difficult negotiations during the Developed Design stage.
During the detail design stage, different levels of detail may be required by different
clients. For example, one residential client may require detailed drawings to ensure
that joinery work is carried out to the highest possible standard whereas another
may require only the bare minimum to allow the contractor to tender and for
planning consent to be obtained.
These scenarios underline the fact that different client information requirements
create different project risks and different resource requirements. Agreeing the
project Information Exchanges is therefore a core project requirement in order
to manage the risks associated with project- or client-specific issues.
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