Guide to Using the RIBA Plan of Work 2013

Dale Sinclair

• Publisher: RIBA Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000704952
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 is the definitive framework for the contemporary building design and construction process. It provides a stage-by-stage model to assist all members of the project team to manage the process from inception to completion and beyond. This practical guide explains how the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 can be applied for optimal results in construction projects, revealing the Plan of Work as much more than just a project framework. It can be used as a tool to ensure best outcomes and guide thinking across a range of key themes including whole life costs, procurement routes, BIM, and social and environmental sustainability.

With useful explanations of the various stages and technical terms, this book is packed with guidance and tips for using the Plan of Work to ensure genuinely integrated projects. Intended as complementary to the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 Online, the RIBA Job Book, and Assembling the Project Team, it is for construction professionals industry-wide, from architectural practices to clients and contractors, as well as students studying for their professional examinations.

Chapter 1

Introduction

What is the RIBA Plan of Work?

Why is a major update of the RIBA Plan of Work necessary?

What are the main changes to the RIBA Plan of Work?

How does the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 respond to the issues raised?

How does the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 differ from the 2007 Plan?

The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 Overview publication, available from www.ribaplanofwork.com, explains the rationale behind the eight project stages and eight task bars as well as explaining the logic behind the defined terms and newly introduced aspects of the RIBA Plan of Work 2013.

In addition to providing further details on these subjects, this Guide to Using the RIBA Plan of Work 2013:

• • explains the importance of the project team and details the suite of documents required to assemble a successful project team
• • underlines and considers the importance of whole life costs
• • highlights the importance of Project Outcomes and why they are an essential briefing consideration
• • clarifies how the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 enables the most progressive of Building Information Modelling (BIM) projects
• • considers how the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 engenders best practice in health and safety, and
• • demonstrates how the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 assists the implementation of sustainability measures.

It is a valuable document for any party involved in a building project during the briefing, design, construction or in-use stages, including clients, contractors and design team members. As well as providing an insight into the thinking behind the RIBA Plan of Work 2013, this guide also allows those who embrace the new RIBA Plan of Work to utilise it more effectively by understanding the reasoning behind the many issues that have been addressed during its development.

The importance of considering and successfully assembling the project team is covered in Chapter 3 but the themes are dealt with in greater detail in the RIBA publication Assembling a Collaborative Project Team, which has been developed in parallel with this guide.

What is the RIBA Plan of Work?

Since its conception in 1963, the RIBA Plan of Work has been the definitive model for building design and construction processes in the UK, and has also exerted significant influence internationally. The RIBA Plan of Work framework has served both the architects’ profession and the wider construction industry well.

The initial Plan of Work was conceived as a ‘Plan of Work for Design Team Operations’ and consisted of 12 stages and three columns that set out ‘the purpose of work and decisions to be reached at each stage’, ‘tasks to be done’ and ‘the people directly involved’. This Plan of Work was updated in 1967 and again in 1973. In 1998 a major revamp was undertaken. The 12 stages were reduced to 11 by the deletion of the ‘Completion’ stage and, although the general thrust of each stage remained the same, only two stages retained their original titles. The 1998 RIBA Outline Plan of Work defined ‘the work stages into which the process of designing building projects and administrating building contracts may be divided’. This Plan acknowledged that some variations to the work stages apply to design and build procurement, although it did not set out what these variations might be. This Plan was updated in 2007, with five stages renamed and additional descriptions of the key tasks added along with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Gateways, which were the old Government ‘checkpoints’, now renamed ‘UK Government Information Exchanges’. More importantly, guidance was added on how the Plan might be adapted to different forms of procurement, although the Outline Plan of Work continued to relate to traditional procurement.

This brief synopsis of the Plan of Work’s history underlines its continual evolution in response to changing trends. The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 represents the next significant evolutionary stage of the RIBA Plan of Work.

This Guide to Using the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 sets out the reasons behind the fundamental changes, clarifies the amendments to the project stages, details changes to the key tasks to be undertaken and provides additional narrative on the core subjects that must be considered in relation to the RIBA Plan of Work 2013. More importantly, this guide sets out how the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 can be used to assemble an effective project team. This shift in emphasis from the design team to the project team is, in itself, one of the major cultural changes that the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 acknowledges and reinforces.

The principal purpose of the RIBA Plan of Work 2013, in line with its predecessors, is explaining to clients the circular processes involved in a building project, although these are expanded and adjusted to relate to the briefing, design, construction, maintenance, operational and in-use processes involved in a building project. Within this explanatory framework the stages continue to set particular and specific boundaries for those involved in the process. While the RIBA Plan of Work is devised by the RIBA, it is intended for use by all the parties involved in a project.

Why is a major update of the RIBA Plan of Work necessary?

The RIBA Plan of Work has continued to evolve in response to changing processes within the broader construction industry. For example, the RIBA Plan of Work 1998 acknowledged the reduced use of bills of quantities by amending Stage G to Tender Documentation and redefining the nature of Stage E. In a similar vein, the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 has been created in response to a number of drivers. The eight most important factors necessitating a major review of the RIBA Plan of Work are considered below:

• 1. Previous editions of the RIBA Plan of Work related to one form of procurement: traditional. The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 consultation process confirmed the fact that many different forms of procurement are used. It is now essential that the Plan of Work is relevant to any of the procurement routes currently in use.
• 2. Time constraints inevitably place greater pressure on front-end design work. There is a need to recalibrate the initial stages to ensure that the brief is properly developed and the project team is properly assembled.
• 3. The RIBA Outline Plan of Work 2007 acknowledged the potential increase in the scope of post-occupancy duties. The nature of post-occupancy duties has certainly become more onerous, but a crucial factor is the need to identify these duties at the outset of a project.
• 4. There has been a shift in emphasis from the design team to the project team (consisting of client + design team + contractor) and the lead designer role is frequently underplayed and misunderstood. The new RIBA Plan of Work must address the concept of the project team and redefine and reinforce the lead designer and project lead roles.
• 5. The RIBA Outline Plan of Work 2007 does not recognise the design work undertaken by specialist contractors. For some time now JCT contracts have acknowledged this subject by including a clause requiring such work to be stated in the Building Contract. The RIBA Plan of Work needs to embrace this common way of working.
• 6. The Information Age is fundamentally changing the way that we design, communicate, store and harness information. The RIBA Plan of Work has to address the implications of what some people call the ‘Third Industrial Revolution’. While BIM is used as a catchall phrase for this important subject, the RIBA Plan of Work must consider the broader context.
• 7. Many practitioners utilise terms such as C+ or D− to refer to the point when a planning application is made. The RIBA Plan of Work must reflect these cultural ‘norms’ as well as acknowledging the need for pre-application activities or the increased importance of addressing any conditions attached to a planning consent.
• 8. The information produced at Stages D, E and F1 varies widely depending on the client, practice or project. The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 aims to provide greater clarity on this subject.

The RIBA Plan of Work is not a contractual document. Schedules of services and other contractual documents are used for contractual purposes.

What are the main changes to the RIBA Plan of Work?

On first sight, the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 appears to be a radical shift from the RIBA Outline Plan of Work 2007 (see the fold-out template at the back of this book). This is not the case. The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 maintains the tradition of explaining to clients how the briefing, design, construction, maintenance, operation and in-use processes work by mapping key activities against project stages. It still specifies the core activities undertaken at each stage. While the concept is the same, four key points need to be digested in order to understand the changes to the RIBA Plan of Work, before considering how it responds to the issues that have been highlighted:

• • The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 has eight stages and eight ‘task bars’. The task bars define groups of related tasks that run across all the stages. This is a shift from the 11 stages and two task bars (headed ‘Description of key tasks’ and ‘OGC Gateways’) contained in the RIBA Outline Plan of Work 2007. The new stages and task bars are set out in detail in Chapter 2.
• • The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 has been developed as a template that allows a bespoke practice- or project-specific Plan of Work to be created via www.ribaplanofwork.com. Selecting the correct task bar from the three variable task bars for Procurement, Programme and (Town) Planning, and thus defining your own practice- or project-specific Plan, is a crucial part of the RIBA Plan of Work 2013.
• • The eight ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Foreword
• Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The RIBA Plan of Work 2013
• 3 Establishing your project team
• 4 Defining whole life costs
• 5 Project Outcomes
• 6 Harnessing Building Information Modelling (BIM) using the Plan
• 7 The changing nature of project handover
• 8 Sustainability
• 9 Enhancing health and safety
• 10 Terms used throughout the RIBA Plan of Work
• Index