Smart Design Management

On many capital projects, design is treated as something consultants do rather than something the project manages. The client brief is incomplete or keeps changing, design stages overlap without clear deliverables, disciplines work in isolation, and reviews focus on appearance rather than cost, buildability and operation. Information arrives late or uncoordinated, and the gaps become requests for information, variations and delay on site.

This programme treats design management as a controlled process. It follows the design life cycle: setting a clear brief and design responsibilities, planning and programming design deliverables stage by stage, coordinating disciplines and information through digital tools, reviewing and approving design against cost, quality and performance requirements, and managing change and handover into procurement and construction.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references the ISO 19650 series on information management using building information modelling, the RIBA Plan of Work as a stage framework, the design and development requirements of ISO 9001, and the design responsibility provisions typically found in FIDIC and other standard forms of contract. Participants learn how to apply these as practical tools on their own projects.

Decisions this programme improves. Whether a brief is mature enough to start design; how to allocate design responsibility between consultants, contractors and specialists; whether a design stage is complete enough to pass a gate; when to freeze design and how to control late change; how much design to transfer to contractors; and what information the owner needs for operation and maintenance.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a mixed-use building project moving from brief through concept, developed and technical design. Participants test a brief, build a design responsibility matrix and deliverables schedule, run a design review, assess a late design change and plan the information handover.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own stage-gate process, consultant appointments, BIM requirements and review templates, and delivered to owner, consultant and contractor teams together.

Who Should Attend

Owner and client representatives: project directors, project managers and development managers responsible for design delivery

Design managers: design managers and design coordinators in consultancies and contractors

Architects and engineers: discipline leads moving into design management roles

BIM and information managers: staff responsible for information requirements and coordination

Project controls and cost professionals: planners and cost managers who work with design programmes and budgets

Objectives

Explain the role of design management across the project life cycle and its effect on cost, time and quality

Develop and test a client brief and project requirements for completeness and clarity

Define design stages, gate criteria and deliverables using a recognised stage framework

Prepare a design responsibility matrix covering consultants, contractors and specialist designers

Plan and monitor a design programme linked to procurement and construction milestones

Set up information management requirements and common data environment processes aligned with ISO 19650

Organise multi-discipline coordination and clash detection reviews

Conduct design reviews covering buildability, cost, value, safety, sustainability and maintainability

Assess and control design changes and their impact on budget and programme

Plan the handover of design and asset information for construction and operation

Course Outline

Starting Right: The Brief, Requirements and Design Responsibility

Why design management matters: where late design problems come from
Developing the client brief and project requirements
Stage frameworks and gate criteria from strategic definition to technical design
Appointing designers: scope of services and deliverables
Design responsibility matrices and interfaces
Design responsibility under common procurement routes and standard contract forms

Planning and Controlling the Design Process

Design programmes and deliverables schedules
Linking design, procurement and construction sequences
Information release schedules and lead times
Monitoring design progress and productivity
Design risk registers and early warning
Managing design fees and resources

Coordination and Information Management with BIM

ISO 19650 concepts: information requirements, execution plans and the common data environment
Model federation, clash detection and coordination meetings
Naming, status and approval of information
Managing requests for information and technical queries
Digital tools for design review and collaboration
Emerging uses of generative design and AI: potential and limits

Design Review: Quality, Value and Buildability

Structured design reviews and review checklists
Buildability, logistics and safety in design
Cost planning and design to budget
Value engineering and life-cycle cost
Sustainability, energy performance and embodied carbon considerations
Maintainability and operational input to design

Managing Change and Handing Over

Design freeze and change control procedures
Assessing the cost and programme impact of design changes
Contractor design portions and shop drawing review
Design management during construction: queries, submittals and site changes
Asset information and operation and maintenance handover
Lessons learned and action plan for improving design management

Competencies

Client brief development and requirements management

Design stage planning and gate reviews

Design responsibility allocation

Design programming and progress control

Information management and BIM coordination

Multi-discipline design review

Buildability, value and life-cycle cost review

Design change control

Design and asset information handover

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