what is a brief?
- It is a formal statement of the objectives and functional and operational requirements of the finished project.
- The brief formally defines the client requirements and objectives in sufficient detail to enable the proposed project to be designed and specified
- A good brief ensures clarity for the design team and crowd sound foundation for a successful delivery
- It needs to contain sufficient detail to enable the construction team to execute the detailed design.
what is required to develop a project brief? What steps would you take to prepare one?
Work with the client to identify:
o Business objectives.
o Project requirements.
o Project objectives.
o Project values.
o Critical success factors.
What the expected outcome would be.
What resources the client has available.
Timescales.
Research – benchmarking against other projects.
What information should be included in a brief?
- Project Background
- Project objectives & requirements
- Critical success factors / key performance indicators
- Project deliverables
- Client policies, e.g. transport policy, energy policy, natural ventilation policy and sustainability policy
- Technical requirements, e.g. building services, fire compartmentation, maintenance, durability and lifespan
- Planning requirements
- Budget
- Project programme and key milestones
- Known risks
Why is having a clear understanding of the clients requirements important?
- Quality Assurance: It ensures that the project meets the client’s expectations, leading to higher quality outputs and customer satisfaction.
- Project Success: A well-defined set of requirements helps prioritize tasks and resources, reducing the risk of project failure.
- Client Satisfaction: Understanding the client’s needs fosters trust and strengthens relationships, which are essential for long-term success.
Who are key stakeholders?
Client, Contractor, Design team, Local authorities/councils, local residents, local business, end users.
How would stake holders input be incorporated into the development brief?
Can gather initial information from stake holders through:
- Meetings
- Collaborative workshops
- Surveys
- Regular review meetings of brief with stakeholders
- Running changes past key stakeholders
What are typical elements of Business case?
Information could be:
-the background of the project, -the expected business benefits, -some basic options considered (with reasons for rejecting or carrying forward each option), -basic estimates of the costs of the project and the
-expected risks.
Explain the difference between a business case and a project brief?
- A Business case It is an early reporting of the reasoning for initiating a project or task. Within this consideration will also be given to the option of doing nothing.
- It include background of the project, the expected business benefits, some basic options considered (with reasons for rejecting or carrying forward each option), basic estimates of the costs of the project and the expected risks.
- Whereas a Development brief goes into much further details and formally defines the client requirements and objectives in sufficient detail to enable the proposed project to be designed and specified
How has the business case helped you to prepare a brief?
The business case is helpful as it gives you some key information which you can then develop on such as an idea of budget, any expected risks, and what they want to achieve.
How do you ensure that the project brief aligns with the client’s strategic objectives?
Clear comms, consultations with all stake holders
How do you manage conflicting stakeholder requirements when preparing a brief?
- influence/ interest matrix
- Communication/negotiation
What does your change control procedure look like once the brief is frozen?
Once the brief is finally approved change control procedures may be initiated by the employer to ensure that the approved information in the scope of works is not changed without its express permission. This can however vary and sometimes a formal change control process does not come into play until detailed design, technical design are complete.
What is the purpose of change management?
The purpose of the Change Management process is as follows:
- Alert all parties to the existence and nature of any potential change
- Provide a structured means of reporting the potential implications of that change on cost, programme, and any other relevant criteria.
- Provide a basis for the decision to approve or reject the proposed change to be made and inform the adjustment of the budget, programme, and other criteria in accordance with the change.
- Trigger the issue of the relevant instruction to cover any approved changes.
How do you ensure that changes to the brief are properly authorised and documented?
- During the early stages of a project I have used a central tracker through SharePoint where consultants should log any changes so these can be tracked and formally signed off by the client.
- Post contract changes are managed using CRFs and formal instructions
What strategies do you use to ensure the project team remains aligned with the brief, especially when scope creep is a risk?
- Having an appropriate change control process
- Making sure the team understands the impact of not keeping to the brief
- Reviewing the design at the end of each riba stage and checking against the brief of the compliance
- The brief at key meetings and workshops particularly design team meetings
- Regularly reviewing and updating the project execution plan to ensure suitable processes are in place
How do you ensure that the Project Execution Plan (PEP) remains a useful and relevant document throughout the project lifecycle?
Regularly update and make sure the team refer to the PEP
On 12 Smithfield, how did you handle a situation where a team member proposed something that conflicted with the brief?
- Had to establish if this was an error or if this was a beneficial change- would weigh up the pros and the cons of the change prior to allowing it to progress.
- The projects I have been involved in to date have all adopted a robust change management process to
ensure variations are handled through a structured and controlled process which typically includes the
following steps:- - Identification – The potential variation is first identified and documented by the parties involved. This may be during a team workshop or via an early warning procedure as defined in the contract or change management process.
- Evaluation – When identified, the project team assesses the effect of the variation on time,
cost, quality and scope for example a design modification might require additional materials or an extension of time due to the required manufacturing or procurement period. This impact should be scheduled out within the change control register. - Stakeholder Communication – All proposed changes should be communicated to the relevant stakeholders involved to build trust and ensure transparency. They need to be kept informed to make informed decisions on how best to manage the change.
- Client Approval – Variations must be formally approved by the client and subsequently instructed by the project manager to the Main Contractor and Design team where applicable. This ensures alignment with the project goals and allows budget provisions to be put in place in the event the change has a cost implication.
- Implementation – When the change is implemented, relevant project documents, specifications and plans can be updated to reflect the change and ensure all parties are made aware of the variation requirements.
Can you describe a time when referring back to the brief helped resolve a dispute or misalignment on the project?
On Equitable house in the early stages the architect proposed very involved façade and reception improvements, we had to refer them back to the brief to show that this area was only meant to be light touch due to the relatevly low budget.
Could say:
-MEP wanted to focus on replacing more of the central plant
-Arvitect wanted to iprove the entance experiance so we refered to brief
On 1 James Street, how did you assess whether a proposed change was worth implementing? What criteria did you use?
- Need to first understand the reason for or desired outcome for the change this can be split inot three main catorories:
- quicker construction
- improved performance
- more economical project:
- Then weigh up the risks associated with the change and who bears them against the effect of not making the change
- For example for the gym we looked at the cost and programme implications against the benefit for the client such as the space becoming more appealing and improved rent
On 1 James Street how did you asses whether something was a change?
- A change is ‘the alteration or modification of the design, quantity or quality of the works by a change of ERs’ or
- the imposition by the employer of any [additional] obligations or restrictions, or the addition to or alteration or omission of any obligations or restrictions; these obligations or restrictions refer specifically to access to the site or parts of it, limitations on working space or working hours, and carrying out work in a specified order’.
How do you ensure that all changes are properly documented and communicated to relevant parties?
Through a formal change control procedure and an instruction
How do you deal with a change that is over cost?
- The employer may request more substantiation. After receipt of that information it may accept the change, and again implement that change on the project.
- However, if the employer does not agree with the cost, the time taken, the content of the change or the possible disruption to the project, then no change is agreed and the scope may need to be amended to reflect this. The analysis will begin over again until agreement can be reached or the proposed change is dropped altogether. In some cases, an instruction may need to be given before the cost is agreed, to ensure the programme remains on schedule.
Talk me through the principles for developing a project brief.
-Clear definition of objectives
-Stakeholder engagement
-Clear scope and deliverables
-Budget and cost parameters
the brief will be frozen - why and when this occurs?
-This occurs at the end of stage 1 to prevent scope creep and enables focused design development,
facilitates stakeholder alignment.
