Design Management

DESIGN MANAGEMENT

It is extremely easy to appoint planners, architects, designers, and consultants and have them design your project, however, is even easier for expensive cost blow-outs to occur if they are not effectively managed.

At Ecolink projects, we can help to deliver good development outcomes by briefing, selecting, managing and directing each member of your project design team – both individually and as a group. We also negotiate their fee agreements on your behalf.

But there is no sense developing a product that one will be struggling to pay for, so before we’ve got to this stage, we help you identify what it is that you should be developing by conducting thorough market research (including planning research, highest and best use analysis, supply and demand analysis, and feasibility studies).

Property development is a multifaceted industry that requires a comprehensive approach to maximize success. With an early involvement to take on design management, it’s possible to achieve client goals for a project while effectively keeping in mind the budget and jurisdictional requirements.

Every project is different and design management considers the nuances that could make or break it.

Why Design Management is So Important

Design management keeps the goals of the project at the forefront of consultants’ planning. This ensures that design consultants work collaboratively toward a set of development goals, whether those are residential or business.

Having a centralized point of contact for all the architects, engineers, and other design professionals involved in the project means that there’s less chance of error as information is transmitted to and from the client. This can not only provide an advantage to reduce changes at construction phase but avoid costly errors and delays, as well as confusion, mixed signals, and missed design intentions and messages.

Ensure Design Objectives Are Met

An effective design manager can provide real peace of mind for a developer. By organizing a team of architects and engineers and overseeing the work to ensure it meets objectives, a design manager can improve the overall outcome of your project.

Consultant Procurement

We have the experience and knowledge to assist with the procurement of a competent consultant team and to lead and coordinate all design activities.

You could also tap into the trusted relationships that we have built with most consultancies, providing all levels of services and in all disciplines which allows us to advise our clients the best fit on a project basis. We could also go to the open market through a RFP process or select on a fee proposal basis.

Once we’ve established what should be developed, we identify and assemble a team that is talented, collaborative, committed, and reasonably priced.

Establish Design Strategies

Design management provides structure and process in a way that benefits everyone working on the project. From financials to actual construction, effective design management ensures that all subsequent phases of a project start off on the right foot. Contractors can have confidence in the designs so that their supply chain and scheduling can stay on track and projects can be completed on time.

Design management offers clients an added level of security in knowing that their project will be shepherded through the earliest stages of development when it’s most vulnerable.

Typically, our role is to direct and co-ordinate with other designers in the consultant team as well as any specialist designers that are appointed

The lead designer is often left to the architect, however this is not necessarily the winning formula. Our role in design management include:

Co-ordinating site surveys.
Co-ordinate the preparation of information for the project brief.
Co-ordinating the preparation of designs and specifications.
Integrating different aspects of the design and their interfaces into the overall design.
Co-ordinating internal and external consultations and design reviews.
Reporting to the client on design matters and seeking approvals.
Co-ordinating the preparation of schedules of inspections, tests, mock ups and samples.
Co-ordinating consultations, negotiations and submissions to planning authorities and other statutory and non-statutory authorities.
Co-ordinating the preparation of tender documentation and reviewing submissions.
Co-ordinating quality control systems.

We play a pivotal role in ensuring that each member of the design team is working together harmoniously, attending Project Control Group meetings, and being accountable for their specific responsibilities.