Members of the design team and their job roles in a construction project.

University Degree Engineering

DESIGN PROCEDURES IN CONSTRUCTION

MEMBERS OF THE DESIGN TEAM &

ORGANISATIONAL & CONTROL PROCEDURES

ASSIGNMENT 1

P1: Identify and explain the roles and responsibilities of members of the design team.

Members of the design team:

The client
The Architect
The Structural engineer
The Quantity surveyor
The Building services engineer
The Building surveyor
The Interior designer

The Client: In the design team, the client has the need for a building so he/she employs an architect and tells them what kind of a building they want. The architect, who in most cases is the lead designer, designs the kind of building that meets the client needs and interacts with the client throughout the project so that the building stays within the clients requirements and specifications.

The Architect: The architect in most cases is the lead designer and is responsible for designing and maintaining the structure of the building and ensuring that it will all meet the clients’ requirements. During the whole design and building process of the project the architect is in constant communication with the client so that the design of the building and the project budget does not exceed the clients’ constraints. The Architect also communicates with the Quantity surveyor and the Structural engineer along with the landscape architect. The architect is frequently the evangelist for new and different ideas, processes and solutions. These solutions must meet the clients needs but not necessarily every wish and constraint. One of the architects’ main jobs is communicating the architecture to everyone involved in the design and building part of the project so as to avoid confusion and mistakes which will setback the project. He/she must become the solutions “Champion”, selling the vision and keeping it alive in the face of challenges.

The Structural Engineer: A Structural engineer’s job is ensuring that the structure is capable of standing up and can withstand the pressures of use that the building is subjected to including potential weather conditions of locality. He is responsible for designing the ‘skeleton’ of the building. Structural engineers prove that the building can withstand the pressures by mathematical calculations in order to satisfy the Local Authority Building Control that a design is safe. This work complements the work of the architects, who are spatial and aesthetic experts of building design and construction. A structural engineer also inspects buildings with cracks and potential subsidence and report to determine whether or not the problem is serious and gives recommendations on appropriate action. He/she can also undertake a site inspection to establish the nature of the ground and then design a suitable foundation for a building. In a construction project the structural engineer communicates with the Architect and the Quantity surveyor.

The Quantity Surveyor: Is responsible for producing the bill of quantities, pricing every single item from a single nail to every bag of cement needed. Quantity surveyor’s (QS) are the accountants of the building profession, planning construction projects from start to finish. QS don’t just measure and price work, they are involved in all stages of a project from preparing tenders and planning the bill of quantities and making sure that the projects are planned and completed in time. Quantity surveying has a demand of technical and business knowledge, a logical mind with a clam approach to problem solving and being able to communicate and work in a team. Private QS are employed by a client to advice on their construction project and working out the most appropriate:

Site chosen
Cost of labour, plant and materials
A suitable building contractor

The Building Services Engineer: Building services engineers are responsible for designing and ensuring the cost effective and environmentally sound and sustainable design and maintenance of energy saving elements and services in buildings. They have an important role in developing and maintaining buildings and their components, to make the most effective use of natural resources and protect public safety. This includes all equipment and materials involved with heating, lighting, ventilation, air condition, electrical distribution, water supply, sanitation, public health, fire protection, safety systems, lifts, escalators, façade ...

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Site chosen
Cost of labour, plant and materials
A suitable building contractor

Electrical engineering;
Mechanical engineering;
Public health.

The building services engineer communicates with the Quantity surveyor and the Architect.

The Building surveyor: The building surveyor is responsible for ensuring that the building control regulations are observed in the planning and construction stages of new buildings and of most property such as extensions, conversions etc. He will resolve any queries on the building regulations and allied legislation presented by staff or other persons. Ensuring uniformity of approach and consistency or interpretation amongst staff. The building surveyor will also make site visits at different stages of the construction to ensure that it is being properly carried out. Building surveyors advise and make judgements on building proposals. This aspect of the work involves reading applications for building regulation consent.

The Interior Designer: An interior designer is responsible for the interior design, decoration, and functionality of the client’s space, whether the space is commercial, industrial, or residential. Interior designers work closely with architects and clients to determine the structure of a space, the needs of the occupants, and the style that best suits both. The position is a combination of engineer and artist, and it takes a unique type of mind to handle both of those concepts well. Interior designers have to be good with more than color, fabric, and furniture; interior designers must know materials, have budgeting skills, communicate well, and oversee the ordering, installation, and maintenance of all objects that define a space. They also have to know about electrical capacity, safety, and construction. This broader range of required knowledge distinguishes them from interior decorators. Interior designers have to be able to work with contractors and clients alike, planning and implementing all aesthetic and functional decisions, from faucet handles to miles of carpeting and all this usually must be done within a fixed budget. Interior designers are hired for their expertise in a variety of styles and approaches, not merely their own personal vision. Therefore, they have to be able to balance their own tastes and their clients’ tastes—and be willing to put their clients’ tastes first.

M1: Produce job descriptions and person specification for each member of the design team.

The Architect - An architect is a person who is involved in the planning, designing, modeling and overseeing of a building's construction and a simple view of the role and specialization of the architect in the design team is that architects create architectures, and their responsibilities encompass all that is involved in doing so. This would include making building design and planning decisions, put projects to tender on behalf of their clients, advise on the award of the project to a general contractor, and review the progress of the work during construction. They typically review subcontractor shop drawings, prepare and issue site instructions, and provide construction contract administration. In a design team the architect mainly specialises in designing the structure building being constructed. He is also in some cases the lead consultant to the client.

The Quantity surveyor –A Quantity surveyor is a person in the construction industry who specializes in the pricing of work for construction projects. The role of the QS is, in general terms, to manage and control costs within the construction projects and may involve the use of a range of management procedures and technical tools to achieve this goal. There are many areas of specialisation in which a Quantity Surveyor may concentrate. The main distinction amongst QSs is between:

Those who carry out work on behalf of a client organisation: often known as a "Private Quantity Surveyor", "Private QS" or "PQS" and ;
Those who work for construction companies: often known as a "Contractor's Quantity Surveyor".

Quantity surveyors control construction costs by accurate measurement of the work required, the application of expert knowledge of costs and prices of work, labour, materials and plant required, an understanding of the implications of design decisions at an early stage to ensure that good value is obtained for the money to be expended. They specialize in measuring and then pricing quantities from drawings and specifications prepared by designers and then producing a bill of quantities. In a design team, the Quantity surveyor mainly specializes in managing all costs relating to building projects from initial calculations to final figures and they aim to minimize costs but enhance value for money whilst still achieving the required standards and quality.

The Building Surveyor - The building surveyor is responsible for ensuring that the building control regulations are observed in the planning and construction stages of new buildings and of most property such as extensions, conversions etc. He will resolve any queries on the building regulations and allied legislation presented by staff or other persons ensuring uniformity of approach and consistency or interpretation amongst staff. The building surveyor will also make site visits at different stages of the construction to ensure that it is being properly carried out. Building surveyors advise and make judgements on building proposals. This aspect of the work involves reading applications for building regulation consent. The Services that Building Surveyors undertake are broad but include:

Construction design and building works
Project Management and monitoring
Building Inspection to ensure compliance with building regulations
Planning Supervisor under CDM Regulations

In the design team the Building Surveyor specialises in providing professional advice on all aspects of property and construction. They are involved in design, maintanance, repair, refurbishment and restoration of a building. They also ensure that projects are completed on budget and on time.

The Interior Designer - An interior designer is a person who designs interiors of buildings as part of their job on a construction project. Interior design is a creative practice that analyzes programmatic information, establishes a conceptual direction, refines the design direction, and produces graphic communication and construction documents. They achieve interior desings by shaping the experience of interior space, through the manipulation of spatial volume as well as surface treatment. Interior designers can specialize in a particular interior design discipline, such as residential and commercial design, with some developing expertise within a niche design area such as hospitality, health care and institutional design. The interior designer consults with the client about what kind of interior design they are looking for and they use their interior décor knowlegde to produce what the client requires by selecting colors, materials and finishes to appropriately convey the design concept and then price the job. In the design team, the Interior Designer specialises in the original design or renovation of internal spaces, including structural alterations and the eventual colour scheme, furniture and furnishings.

The Structural Engineer - A structural engineer is an engineer who designs the building skeleton and makes sure that a building can withstand the uses the clients needs it for. Structural engineers inspect, analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems. Their work takes account mainly of technical, economic and environmental concerns, but they may also consider aesthetic and social factors. Structural engineers ensure that buildings are built to be strong and stable enough to resist all appropriate structural loads (e.g., gravity, wind, snow, rain, earthquake, earth pressure, temperature, and traffic). They also design structures to be stiff enough to not deflect or vibrate beyond acceptable limits. They also give consideration to durability of materials against possible deterioration which may impair performance over the design lifetime. They prove that buildings can withstand the pressures of use by using mathematical calculations. In the design team, the Structural Engineer specialises in designing structures of the buildings and ensuring that they can withstand all the pressures they have to endure and they achieve this by developing initial designs, using mathematics to calculate the stress that could arise at each point in the structure.

The Fire Protection engineer - Fire protection engineering (also known as fire engineering or fire safety engineering) is the application of science and engineering principles to protect people and their environments from the destructive effects of fire and smoke. fire protection engineers typically specialze in identifying risks and design safeguards that aid in preventing, controlling, and mitigating the effects of fires. Fire protection engineers assist architects in evaluating buildings' life safety and property protection goals. FPEs are also employed as fire investigators, including such very large-scale case. The FPEs job also includes :

Active fire protection - fire suppression systems, and fire alarm.
Passive fire protection - fire and smoke barriers, space separation
Smoke control and management
Building design, layout, and space planning
Fire prevention programs
Fire dynamics and modeling
Human behavior during fire events
Risk analysis, including economic factors

In the design team, the Fire Protection Engineer specialises in protecting people and their environment from destructive fire by applying science and engineering principles and analyzing potential fire risks.

The Civil Engineer – Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design and construction of the physical and natural built environment, including works such as bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings. In construction a civil engneer specializes in planning and execution of the designs from transportation, site development, hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineers. In the design team, The Civil Engineer specialises in undertaking technical and feasibility studies and site investigations and also assessing the potential risks of specific projects, as well as undertaking risk management in specialist roles and managing, supervising and visiting contractors on site and advising on civil engineering issues.