Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) and Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) will provide support to Boards in considering design matters in the business case process. Staff from HFS and A+DS, supported as necessary by a broader panel, will have the following roles in relation to all projects that are to be assessed:
• to advise the project team if the standard of benchmarks and self assessment process being established for the project are in line with policy objectives.
• to provide an assessment of the design aspects of the project to support the Board in their consideration of the business case.
• to provide a verification, to the Capital Investment Process (CIG), of the opinion previously given to the Board to support the CIG's consideration of the business case.
The purpose of this resource is to provide support on matters relating to design policy, functionality and healthcare design guidance. The assessment considers the general areas of design being addressed by the project team as a high level verification for the Board and the CIG, as such it should not be seen as a replacement for the project team's in-depth consideration of technical and other standards. Further, the assessment does not provide assurance of the acceptability of the proposals to the Planning or Building Control Authorities. However the opinion given will inform any comment made by A+DS in the planning process (as part of A+DS's Design Review function in the Planning System) and may be used by project teams as evidence of consultation and, where appropriate, in support of their applications.