3.11 Once a prospective client has decided that a project should proceed in principle, and roughly how much risk and direct involvement to accept, the project and design briefs can be prepared. The client who knows exactly what is required can instruct the intended provider. That may involve either appointing a Project Manager, or a client's representative to liaise with the designers, or a lead designer, or a contractor for direct design and build procurement. Even the best clients are likely to benefit from some advice on alternative methods of achieving their aim, which may produce better value for money. Most clients require detailed advice7. Getting the design brief right is crucial to the effective delivery of the project. The lead adviser must be given time to assist the client with the preparation of that brief. This should be an iterative process. Stages A & B of the RIBA "Plan of Work" are described as "Inception" and "Feasibility". The client will already have taken some basic procurement decisions on these matters. But whether or not the scheme is designer-led, the client must allow time and space for its wishes as expressed in the project brief to be further tested for the purpose of the design brief against questions of feasibility. Time may also be needed for other advisers - including the essential mechanical and engineering design/construction input - to be called in at these early stages. Commercial pressures from the client may require the detailed designs to be prepared sequentially. But clients will benefit by allowing enough time for a good brief to be devised in order to avoid subsequent delays and cost overruns in the project.
3.12 There should be a distinction between the project brief - the basic objectives of the client - and the design brief which comprises the client's specific requirements. The CIC, in its final report, recommends a comprehensive standard questionnaire and check list to assist the client in the briefing process. But the Royal Institute of BritishArchitects (RIBA) believes that a "check list of standard subjects will necessarily be too general and rudimentary to be of much relevance" (RIBA evidence, April 1994). The CIEC's final report also favours an "authoritative guide" for clients to help "produce a comprehensive, agreed design brief", and points out that a good deal of work has already been done in this regard by various organisations.
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7 The Association of Consultant Architects (ACA), in stressing the need for many clients to receive help with their brief, divides the design process into three stages:-
(1) The development of a statement of the client's intent. The design lead consultant should rigorously analyze any document received from the client, and the assumptions contained in it.
(2) The designer responds with concept sketches, and innovation in design usually occurs at this stage.
(3) The development of the sketches, with the design team and with the professional construction team. Design for procurement is likely to begin here. (ACA evidence, March 1994.)