RIBA Plan of Works - Stage 4

RIBA plan of work

Stage 4 - Technical Design

Intro

The RIBA Plan of Work is published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and sets out the key stages of a building project.

Architects and construction professionals use RIBA work stages to denote stage payments and identify team members tasked with different responsibilities.

The RIBA Plan of Works is split into 8 key stages.

It is important to clearly specify what activities fall within which stage, and what level of detail is required in order to prevent any confusion.

Stage 4 - Technical Design

Technical Design refers to project activities that take place after the detailed design but before the construction contract is tendered or construction begins.

Technical Design may sometimes continue through tender and construction stages.

The technical design includes designs from the client’s core design team and specialist subcontractors.

A design responsibility matrix helps to allocate design tasks between the project team members.

It may be necessary to appoint a design coordinator responsible for coordination.

By the end of the stage, the architectural, structural and mechanical services design and specifications should describe all the main components of the building.

Any performance specified work should be defined and there should be sufficient information for applications for statutory approval to be completed.

Regular reviews should be carried out during the stage to assess construction sequencing, build ability, the interfaces between different elements of the design, the project programme and risk.

Once the client is satisfied with the technical design, the lead consultant should freeze the design and specifications and introduce change control procedures and remaining statutory approvals and other approvals should be completed.