PROJECT MANAGEMENT

DESIGN, PERFORMANCE, VALUE FOR MONEY, MEETING DEADLINES

The Project Management Role

Project Management has only relatively recently become recognised as a separate profession within the building industry.

The role has come to the fore in recent times as a result of the ever increasing complexity of the process of getting buildings built, the ever more stringent legislative requirements and the necessity to ensure due diligence in cost control.

Clients often assume that when they appoint an architect to design a building they are also appointing them to project manage the process; this is not the case.

Strictly speaking, project management is not the architect’s role, other than to alert the client to the fact that the decisions they have made may affect the budget, or the programme or some other aspect of the project, and to formally ask the client how they wish to proceed.

To give a simple example, at the start of the process the Architect will discuss the brief with the client and it will be agreed that, for instance, there is a budget or a required completion date. Then, as the design progresses, detailed decisions will be made; decisions that may well have an effect upon either the budget or the completion date, or both. A good architect should tell the client that there will be implications to the decisions that are being made. But it is not the architect’s job to quantify the effects of those decisions. The architect simply designs the building in accordance with the client’s instructions.

A project manager, by contrast, is tasked with ensuring that the client is fully aware in detail all of the implications of decisions as they are made, so that there are no unanticipated consequences that might adversely affect the success of a project.

Without the formal appointment of a project manager, the client de facto assumes the role of project manager. So long as the client’s instructions are properly recorded, the consequences of the decisions that they make are the responsibility of the client alone.

We would ideally recommend the appointment of a separate, third party Project Manager. We believe that the task of making sure a project runs as smoothly and efficiently can sometimes be at odds with the job of making sure the building is as beautiful as possible. Consequently, the two roles could potentially be in conflict with one another.

However, if you wish us to take responsibility for the management of the project as well as the design of the building, Design Principle Studio are happy to do so.

APPEARANCE

Delivery of practical brief requirements

Value for Money

Programme

Environmental Performance

In Life Cost and Maintenance

Future-Proofing

Health and Safety

Design Principle Studio helps clients to...

DEVELOP YOUR BRIEF

We can help you analyse your requirements and develop your brief.

SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS

We can look at where you might need to balance the requirements of conflicting pressures and give you options of how to get the best solution to complex problems.

VISUALISE THE BUILD

We can help you visualise the building in its surroundings and understand exactly what it’s going to look like as part of the decision making process.

MANAGE CONTRACTORS

We can administer a building contract so that you have peace of mind that you will be totally in control of both the budget and the process from start to finish.

DRIVE VALUE

We can advise on how to get the best value for money and ensure that you appoint the best contractor for your particular project.

DESIGN END TO END

We can provide detailed deign solutions right through the process from choosing a plot to interior design.

Get in touch with Design Principle Studio for Project Management advice

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