This book is about the stages of the RIBA Plan of Work at the beginning and end of a building project. It starts at Stage 7, when buildings are in use, at the point at which a building is regularly monitored and analysed to ensure that it optimally meets owners’ and users’ needs, or where an existing building or buildings are assessed to inform future building projects and the upcoming Stage 0. It next considers Stage 0, when projects are strategically defined and become identifiable entities with a Business Case. Lastly, it looks at Stage 1, when project briefs are developed and defined and the project team for the rest of the stages are appointed.
The book has set out a number of key principles in relation to these stages:
The pressures on projects have changed over many years, through technical considerations and project complexity being significantly increased. Clients remain concerned about delivery and programme, the cost of the project and the quality and value of what is being delivered. The approach set out in this book encourages clients to consider these issues holistically, and to think about the capital costs of briefing, designing and building in the context of why they actually need the project, its purpose and how much it can benefit them over time.
The next stage in the Plan of Work is the first design stage of a project, at which point the brief progresses into specific ideas and concepts and the project team is firmly established. For this team to work well, and for the work that they produce to be effective, it needs to be based on the strong foundations of a good brief informed by a Business Case, evidence about what works and a sound understanding of the purpose of the project. All of this will result from the correct application of stages 7, 0 and 1.
Stage 2 is the first stage at which the architectural concept for a project will become apparent, and is one that most design and project teams are used to – and that many expect to be the ‘beginning’ of the project for them. Following on from this book, the next in the series sets out how best they can use the information that is available to them, how to work together as a team, and the important considerations and decisions that need to be made during this early design stage.
The key learning to take from all of the books in this series is how one stage influences another, and how important it is to see the Plan of Work as a whole and as part of a continuous circle of improvement whereby we learn, as an industry, from what has worked – and consequently deliver effective, sustainable and durable buildings. As this series demonstrates, this applies to projects of all sizes and complexity using all types of information and technology, and across all building types.
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