The first two stages of a building project

Eight stages lie between the first idea for a building and its everyday use: project start, project requirements, location and property, design team, design and engineering, construction, occupation and operation. Several years often pass between the first and the last. The agents, the architects, the engineers and the project managers join from stage 03 onwards. The first two stages are ours.

Before an architect is appointed

A building affects the people in it for decades. Much of that effect is fixed early. Daylight, access, surroundings, noise and the layout of the floors all follow from two things: the location and the requirements. We set the requirements and the criteria for the location in the first two stages. The location itself is chosen in stage 03, and the architect appointed in stage 04 works within both.

While the requirements are still being written, a change costs little and has a large effect. Once design work is under way, the same change means new drawings and a new round of coordination with the engineers. The project waits.

Our work is therefore most useful before a location has been chosen. It has to begin before detailed design does. The organisation may bring us in directly. An architect, a developer or another adviser on the project may do the same.

The workshops with the management team

An engagement on a new project begins with the Decision Brief. Over three weeks, we establish where the project stands and what it requires of the organisation. The Strategic Project Blueprint follows from it.

Stage 01 takes six to eight weeks. It consists of a series of workshops with the management team. Together, we determine who the organisation is, how it works today and what the new building has to do for it. The management team sets out its view on three topics: how people will live and work in the new spaces, how the building should reflect the organisation and how it will stand out in the market. The results go into the Blueprint. The management team approves it before capital is committed.

The second part of the Blueprint is the Scientific Foundation. It contains the research areas that matter for this project, in order of priority, with a note on where the evidence is strong, where it is thin and where the findings diverge. We also assess whether a certification is worthwhile. The choice between buying, leasing and building, and the financing of the project, remain with the organisation's own real estate team and its financial advisers. We work from their conclusions.

From the studies to the rules

Stage 02 takes eight to ten weeks. We do most of our work in it. We search the published research for the topics set out in the Blueprint. From that search, we write the requirements the architects and engineers will work from.

The requirements take the form of rules, in four sets: light, air, acoustics and temperature; layout and who needs to be near whom; views and planting; and surfaces, colour and furniture. We set how binding a rule is by the strength of the research. The design team has to meet every rule with Strong evidence. A rule with Moderate evidence is a recommendation: the design team follows it or gives a written reason for departing from it. Rules with Limited evidence remain under review.

We deliver three documents at the end of this stage. The Decision Rulebook contains the rules. We document the literature search in the Evidence Design Brief: the databases and terms used, the grade of each study and the findings set aside, with the reasons. Tenants, employees and investors learn from the Market Positioning Report which qualities of the building can be demonstrated once it stands, and what evidence each one needs.

After stage 02, the client receives the Decision Rulebook, the Evidence Design Brief and the Market Positioning Report. We test the locations under consideration against the requirements in stage 03. For stage 04, we prepare the Competition Brief and Assessment from the Rulebook and assess the proposals. In stages 05, 07 and 08, we return when asked. We then assess the design proposals against the Rulebook, check at move-in whether the building is used as agreed and, one year into operation, compare the building in use with the indicators of the Rulebook. Construction, in stage 06, remains with the project managers and the site supervision.

The table of all eight stages, with the firms involved in each and the extent of our part, is on neuecon.com/consulting.