Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 78
Assembling a Collaborative Project Team
The use of BIM does not remove the need to agree a Design Responsibility Matrix.
In fact, the reverse is true: an integrated and collaborative team must be fully
aware of WHO is designing WHAT.
Full versus performance specification
One crucial reason for creating a Design Responsibility Matrix is that the decision
on whether or not a specialist subcontractor is to ‘take over’ the development
of an aspect of the building dictates the level of detail to which the geometric
information will be developed (see page 80) and also whether the specification
will be developed fully or on a performance basis. With the latter, the design
team members determine a product or solution that will be used and produce a
prescriptive solution, and their information, accordingly. This is defined as ‘full:
proprietary’ in the Design Responsibility Matrix. However, an option exists to
set all of the appropriate standards so that the contractor still has the ability
to determine the final choice of product. This option (full: generic) is more
commonplace on design and build forms of Building Contract and the client
may require the selections to be vetted. With a performance specification,
the performance criteria are set out by the design team, giving the specialist
subcontractor a degree of flexibility in developing the design solution. The Level
of Design section of the Design Responsibility Matrix deals with this issue.
One further complexity is that, even where the design team is designing to full:
proprietary, the specialist contractor may have to produce ‘shop drawings’
for off-site fabrication purposes.
To the majority of clients, the Design Responsibility Matrix may be unimportant;
however, when this document is prepared early on they can be assured that
design team fees are being apportioned appropriately. The lead designer needs
to pay particular attention to the Design Responsibility Matrix as the matrix may
impact on their ability to perform their role.
A template Design Responsibility Matrix and two examples derived from a large
and small project are set out in Figure 7.1 and Figures 7.2 and 7.3 respectively.
These examples include only a limited number of elements to demonstrate the
principles of the document. A more comprehensive project- or practice-specific
Design Responsibility Matrix can be completed at www.ribaplanofwork.com/toolbox
where further advice and information on how to complete the document is available.
Finally, the Design Responsibility Matrix is a core contractual document as it sets
the boundaries of the design work between design team members for inclusion within
the professional services contracts. Importantly, it can be used to ensure that design
is apportioned appropriately in the Building Contract where the Contractor’s
Designed Portion is being used on a traditional Building Contract. More crucially,
even where a design and build or contractor-led form of procurement is being
adopted, it is an essential document to bring clarity regarding the design
interface between design team members and the specialist subcontractors.
www.ribaplanofwork.com
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