Guide to Using the RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018 - Other - Page 45
44 z
Guide to RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018
in response to the increase in design work being undertaken by specialist SubContractors employed by the Contractor.
On medium-to-large projects the Design Team will consist of a number of specialist
consultancies. The structure and composition of the Design Team is likely to change
throughout the duration of the project. Indeed, some team members may only have
a very brief involvement, providing specialist knowledge or supplying specialist
components during a particular phase, whilst others, such as the Client, Project
Manager or Architect/Consultant may be involved for the duration of the contract.
On such projects it is important that the roles, responsibilities and communications
are clearly defined in appointment documents and communicated to other Design
Team members. In addition, any risks that the Design Team are accepting for
delivering part of the project must be properly understood and defined.
To assist the Client and the Consultants to help identify the roles required, the
services to be provided and whether there are any gaps or additional resources
required for the project, a roles and responsibilities matrix would be useful in
assessing any requirement. This can be a simple table on a small-to-medium
project or a complex Design Responsibility Matrix on larger projects can be created
to set out in more detail which specific tasks are assigned to which individuals. An
assessment can then be made on whether any further resources exist within the
current team or whether new appointments will be required. This should be updated
as the project develops.
On a small project the Design Team is likely to be two or three parties which may
include structural and building services engineers, cost consultants, etc. Indeed, the
Architect or Consultant may recommend other practices they know, which can save
time for the Client and make it easier to establish collaborative working practices. In
many cases it is likely that they have worked together before and already established
good working relationships. In contrast, on larger projects the team members may be
working together for the first time.
Consultant appointments
The Architect/Consultant will normally act as Lead Designer responsible for the
coordination and integrating the work of other Consultants and Specialists. On
smaller projects the Architect/Consultant will combine this design role with that of
Project Lead, Contract Administrator, etc., whereas on larger projects the project roles
will be more separate and distinct. The RIBA Professional Services Contracts 2018
enable the Architect/Consultant to not only undertake the architectural roles but
also to take on the role(s) of other disciplines. In the case of the latter, the Architect/
Consultant takes on the responsibility and liability and the Client has one point of
contact and a direct contractual link for those services.
On smaller commercial projects and domestic projects, the Client, particularly
inexperienced ones, may assume that the Architect/Consultant is including the
structural or cost control services as part of their services and for which they
neither have the expertise nor insurances. In this instance the Architect/Consultant
should advise the Client that it is in their best interest if the other Consultants are
appointed direct, albeit with a similar PSC to the Architect/Consultant. This then
provides the same direct contractual link between the Client and Consultant so that
the Consultant is directly liable to the Client for their own work and insurances. The
Architect/Consultant then takes no liability for those other services apart from the
responsibility to coordinate and integrate their work.
However, if the Client still insists on the Architect/Consultant undertaking the nonarchitectural services and, effectively employing the other Consultants, that direct
contractual link is lost, the Architect/Consultant will be directly responsible for those
services and the Client will only have recourse to the Architect/Consultant if there are
44
