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First-time and occasional clients have always needed advice and assistance in the early stages of projects, to help to define and set them up and to ensure that design quality is achieved. In recent years this need has become more pressing, particularly in the public sector where new methods of procurement have been introduced that effectively separate clients and end users from designers during the development of proposals. The RIBA is therefore of the firm belief that high-quality architects and other professionals need to come forward to carry out the role of the RIBA Client Design Advisor (CDA) to ensure that good design is an integral part of the public sector procurement programme, particularly the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme.
With many newer forms of building procurement, such as Design-Build or Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the client and users do not have the traditional relationship with, or direct access to, architects and other members of the design team. Unless the client is experienced in commissioning building projects it is likely that both they and the project will benefit from independent advice on issues of design, procurement and the means of achieving high quality delivery.
This is especially true in public sector procurement where bidding and contract procedures frequently exclude a close relationship between clients and users. In these cases the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) strongly recommends the use of a CDA, as does the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
The job of a CDA is to use their own extensive experience, gained in designing and delivering equivalent projects elsewhere and for other clients, to help ensure that the best quality result is achieved from the procurement process. They will do this by assisting the client organisation in strategic decision making, stakeholder consultation and developing the brief, as well as feasibility studies, appraisals and acting as a champion of quality design. In the latter stages of projects they may also act as the client’s agents to monitor both the design and construction processes.
It should be noted that although CDA may frequently be well qualified to design the project themselves, that is not their role as a CDA. They are there to help the client through an increasingly complex set of procedures and to help them achieve better outcomes.
CDAs should ideally be appointed as early as possible in any project as critical decisions are taken at the start of any process when the strategic advice of a CDA can be most effective.