Operational experts agreed that to achieve the best results in any project, the design solution should flow from knowledge of the service; operational expertise should be harnessed to drive technical and service innovations; and the entire project should be structured around whole life service considerations. They regard the relationship between service provider and design team as extremely important:
"We don't just sub-contract the build. It is an iterative process. We work with one key architect each time, so knowledge and experience build up. It is a very dynamic relationship."
Some interviewees mentioned that when there is a steady flow of projects in the pipeline, the same construction team is used for each new facility:
"For a while there was a steady flow of work [in our sector], so the team moved from one project to the next - the same companies and people, including the builders, moving together from project to project. You then get a build up of expertise. Problems can be ironed out and lessons drawn through from each building, including some that have already been running for a year."
They see access to operational expertise as the key to achieving a building that fulfills all the required criteria - from meeting health and safety requirements to conforming with international standards and conventions on minimum space requirements. But they also see the service provider's involvement as the key to achieving the kind of innovations that lead to better service outcomes for users:
"Take cleaning as an example - small differences in the design can make a big difference to how easy a building is to clean, and how expensive. In [one facility], the architects came up with a design that had windowsills on the inside. It sounds such a small thing, but those windowsills accumulate dirt. They take a huge amount of cleaning, so you need more cleaners to keep the building up to standard. If the ledges had been on the outside, nature would have done its work and solved the problem."