The Design Statement, which is to be produced by the Boards for each project prior to the submission of the Initial Agreement (IA), is central to the consideration of design matters within the business case approvals process as it is this document that establishes the design criteria against which the project will be assessed.
The benchmarks set by the Board will also be assessed to ensure that they are in line with the expectations established in national policy. Three Example Design Statements (for different scales and natures of project) are included in Appendix E as guidance on the form and nature of Statements that are expected and to guide boards on the level of benchmarks that will be considered acceptable.
Project teams are advised to discuss, with the NDAP, the draft version of the Design Statement in development where it is likely to differ significantly from one of the example statements, or one approved previously. Assistance may be available from A+DS to help the team develop the statement.