Improving the effectiveness of the building design management process in the UK

Managing the design process has become an issue of prominence in the UK Construction industry in recent years. Experience of practitioners as well as research and industry analysis have suggested that the process is not under control and there is a lack of understanding of how it works in practice. In order to consider how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the process an investigation was carried out by obtaining data from senior practitioners in the local Architecture Engineering and Construction professions in the North East of England. The analysis suggests that, in order to improve, the most significant concepts which need attention are; the Design time available, the quality of briefing, the involvement of a team approach, that a clearly identified competent manager controls the process and that the process and particularly task dependencies are understood.