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Architecture – Comprehensive Service

Working hand in hand with our client, we can provide:

Project Initiation Services – Including site finding, feasibility studies, budget cost advice, conservation and heritage advice, strategic planning and master plans.

Design Services – Including design team leadership, implementation and direction of the design process, co-ordination of Health and Safety in design, integration of sustainable design solutions, planning and other regulation compliance.

Construction Services – Including preparation of detailed product information, management of the tender process, project team management and building contract administration.

Support Services – Including community and public consultation, related graphics and presentation, 2D and 3D CAD visualisations, advice on funding and project procurement.

Contract Administration Service

Every project is different. A Project’s design, details and procurement path will therefore need to be tailored to project specifics. Construction procurement will need to be controlled, and parties’ rights safeguarded, by agreed contractual terms. An appropriate contract is therefore required.

Which contract? Contract selection is informed by project procurement choices and how the client wants the construction team to operate. The requirements of principal project stakeholders, (eg. Funding bodies, etc.) may also influence a project’s procurement route. This in turn is driven by the client’s ‘risk versus control’ spectrum – which ranges from total client control and risk retention (where quality of outcomes and flexibility are paramount) – to minimum risk for the client, where meeting delivery dates and budget control are paramount and control is handed over to the contractor.

In the construction industry, contracts are usually administered by a contract administrator – who acts as the interface between the employer and the contractor, overseeing quality and costs. The contract administrator is appointed by the client, but when certifying or giving an assessment or decision, the CA should act honestly and reasonably and their decisions are open to challenge via the dispute resolution procedure (unless the contract states otherwise). A contract administrator’s role only starts when a building contract is in place between the employer and the contractor. In some instances, the contract administrator may have to perform pre-contract services as well.

The contract administrator’s role will generally include:

  • Inviting and processing tenders.
  • Preparing contract documents for execution.
  • Administrating change control procedures.
  • Seeking instructions from the client in relation to the contract.
  • Issuing instructions such as variations, or relating to prime cost sums or making good defects.
  • Considering claims.
  • Chairing construction progress meetings.
  • Preparing and issuing construction progress reports.
  • Co-ordinating and instructing site inspectors.
  • Agreeing commissioning and testing procedures.
  • Agreeing defects reporting procedures.
  • Ensuring that project documentation is issued to the client.
  • Issuing certificates of practical completion and interim certificates.
  • Collating and issuing schedules of defects.
  • Issuing the certificate of making good defects.
  • Issuing the final certificate.

The list of CA duties is quite extensive and with some projects, can be very time consuming. As the title suggests, it is an ‘administrative’ function under the Contract. The CA duties have very little to do with either the design of the building or complying with the design that the project architect has spent considerable time putting together to meet the clients’ requirements and needs. Essentially, a CA needs to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and good contract administration is absolutely critical to the effective functioning of any Contract. The importance of the

role is often underestimated and given inadequate attention, until something goes wrong on a project. Ultimately, the quality of the contract administration can be the difference between a successful project and one which fails and results in disputes that drain time and money.

Principal Designer Service

Each project is unique! An individual project will be ‘shaped’ by the Project Brief, the Client circumstances and arrangements, the existing site circumstances, plus the numerous project stakeholder requirements, interests and expectations. A construction project will also require a proactive, diligent and coordinated approach, involving professional inputs required from a wide and diverse assembly of people and organizations.

Each construction project is delivered within a bespoke context. . It is essential that each project is also delivered with due consideration for safety – for all persons affected by a building’s design, construction, use, maintenance and eventual disposal. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 gives reference to three legally-accountable parties: The Client, the Principal Designer and the Principal Contractor. All duties are clearly listed within the CDM Regulations.

For clarity, the Principal Designer duties are also summarised below.

 

  • Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety matters to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, the project is carried out without risks to health and safety
  • Consider the General Principles of Prevention, Construction Phase Plan and Health and Safety Files when:
  • Design, technical and organizational aspects for items of work take place simultaneously or in succession
  • Estimating the period of time required to complete such work or work stages
  • Identify, eliminate or control, so far as is reasonably practicable, foreseeable risks to the health or safety of any person:
  • Carrying out or liable to be affected by construction work
  • Maintaining or cleaning a structure
  • Using a structure designed as a workplace
  • Ensure all designers comply with their duties
  • Ensure, in relation to the pre-construction phase, all persons cooperate with client, principal designer and each other
  • Assist the client in provision of pre-construction information
  • Provide pre-construction information, promptly and in a convenient form, to every designer and contractor appointed, or being considered for appointment
  • Liaise with the principal contractor and share information relevant to monitoring and coordination of health and safety matters during the construction phase
  • Prepare a Health and Safety File during the pre-construction phase and review, update and revise as necessary, and:
  • If principal designer appointment to the end of the construction phase, hand completed Health and Safety File to client
  • If principal designer appointment ceases before the end of the construction phase, hand Health and Safety File to the principal contractor for completion
  • Not accept the principal designer appointment unless capable
  • Provide comprehensible information or instruction as soon as practicable
  • Cooperate with others on the site and adjoining sites
  • Be satisfied that the client is aware of their duties under CDM 2015

Project Management Service

Each project is unique! An individual project will be ‘shaped’ by the Project Brief, the Client circumstances and arrangements, the existing site circumstances, plus the numerous project stakeholder requirements, interests and expectations. The successful delivery of a project, especially a construction project, will require a proactive, diligent and coordinated approach – with professional inputs required from a wide and diverse assembly of people and organizations.

Regardless of size, cost and design, most construction projects introduce complex delivery requirements. Also, due to the unique nature of every project, there is often no standard approach to managing a project’s successful delivery. A simplistic assessment of a project manager’s role could state that the project manager can manage a project’s delivery plus advise, assist and/or undertake any/all client decisions, duties and responsibilities.

Everyone has a different outlook and aspirations. Some clients may wish to take a central and active role in the management of their project – where other clients may not have the time or confidence to undertake project management responsibilities. Where clients ‘fit’ within these two extremes, a project management support services may be of value. The project management services as listed below can provide an initial guide for discussion.

The activities most commonly involved with construction project management include:

  • Supporting and guiding the client(s) through each project stage
  • Identifying and developing the client brief
  • Leading and managing project teams
  • Identifying and managing project risks
  • Establishing communication and management protocols
  • Managing the strategy and feasibility stages
  • Establishing the project budget and project programme
  • Co-ordinating legal and other regulatory consents
  • Advising the selection/appointment of the project team
  • Managing the integration and flow of design information
  • Prepare a Design Development Plan (sometimes viewed as a design lead document)
  • Managing the preparation of design and construction programmes/schedules and critical path method networks
  • Advising on alternative procurement strategies
  • Conducting tender evaluation and contractor selection
  • Establishing control benchmarks for project scope, quality, function/ performance, cost and time
  • Controlling, monitoring and reporting on project progress, and
  • Administering consultancy and construction contracts

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Address

RGP Architects Ltd,
Victoria Street, Barnstaple,
Devon, EX32 9HT

Email

rgp@rgparchitects.com

Phone

+44 (0) 1271 345 304

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 RGP Architects

Company number:

 06556235

Registered Address:

 47 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1SQ

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