The News Page

Following on from our story two weeks ago introducing the propsed RIBA Plan of Works 2013 version, here is a brief description of the new sections and how they roughly compare witht the old PoW.

RIBA PLAN OF WORK OVERVIEW
The PoW is split into eight stages as defined below:
Stage 0 – Strategic Definition
This new stage covers some of the activities in the old stage A.  A project is strategically appraised and defined before the creation of a detailed brief.  This would be particularly relevant in the context of sustainability where refurbishment, re-arrangement or reuse of existing building or spaces could be justified instead of a new build.
Stage 1 – Preparation of the Brief
This merges the remaining tasks from the old stage A with the stage B tasks that relate to preparing activities and creating the brief.
Stage 2 – Concept Design
This is an exact duplicate of Stage C covering the early stages of design development.
Stage 3 – Developed Design
Very similar to Stage D but this stage will now be co-ordinated with cost information by the end of the stage. While this may not necessarily increase the amount of time required to design the project, it will create extra time to review information for costing and this could then relate as design changes arising from the cost review, until all outputs are co-ordinated before Information Exchange (one of the Task Bars).
Stage 4 – Technical Design
Comprises of the residual technical work of the core design team members. At the end of this stage the core design work will be complete. Any further design will be though fabrication (stage 5)or due to design queries from construction (stage 6), and therefore may require designers to check design information during these stages.
Stage 5 – Fabrication Design
This covers design work by specialist subcontractors and/or suppliers employed by the contractor. The need to define this work early in the process is a core recommendation of the PoW.
Stage 6 – Construction
This combines together the old stages of J and K.
Stage 7 – In Use
This is similar to Stage L but is likely to cover further duties arising from post-completion and post occupancy requirements.

Tender Stage is no longer its own stage but is instead covered by a Procurement Task Bar, to allow for specific activities of procurement to be inserted at relevant stages.
Other common Task Bars are Program and Planning, while the remaining five task bars will be more specific to the project and each stage.
 

Clayland Architects have once again signed up to be part of the Architect in the House scheme, run in partnership with Shelter and the RIBA. The scheme matches homeowners with local architects for a free hour-long consulation. In return for the Architects time Shelter asks that the homeowners make a £45 donation, which is used to help at least two families find a home this year.

So here is achance for homeowners to do thier bit for charity and get something in return. People who took part in the scheme and got an hour with us commented on how usefull they found the advice and were more than willing to donate to a worthy charity in return.

If you are interested and wish to sign up to use the scheme follow the  linnk below to the official website.

This week we signed up to be part of the country-wide events which invite members of the public and potential clients to pop in and have a chat with architects in your area.

We are always happy to have visitors at our office anyway (so if you're in the area come say hello) so joining in these events was a natural step forward.

The first Tea with an Architect will be at Ecobuild (starting 5th March 2013), and already there are regular sessions being set up at The Architecture Centre Bristol, along with other events.

So if you are an architect and would like to contribute follow the link below, and if you are local to us and would like to collaborate with us drop me a line. And whether you are thinking of a new build, renovation, landscape or anything else yourself and would like to sit down with us for a hot beverage and an informal chat please get in touch.

The RIBA are currently underway in the final stages of creation of a new Outline Plan of Work which will be availbale in May 2013. Gone are the 11 sections from the ocurrent 2007 veriosn defined from A to L. The new PoW will be split into eight work stages numbered 0 to 7, and these will be cross referenced by eight task bars.  The work stages are similar to the A-L stages in many ways and will unify work stages used by other members of the design and construction team for all project types.The task bars will address key elements of an individual project such as Procuerment, Town Planning, Sustainability and BIM, and the PoW will allow for customisation of these task bars to reflect project types. For example many architectural projects finish at the end of the desing stage and are novated over to others for procurement, while often smaller projects still use Traditional procurement methods. Due to this variety and scope of services and procurement methods, the new PoW should offer flexibility and also be clear to use.