Starting a Project Brief - 4 Steps to take to today
Perhaps your organisation has committed to a development project, allocated a site and prepared a funding strategy. But how do you start developing a project brief as a non-expert to procure your professional team?
Maybe you run a service, lead a business unit, or write strategy. Perhaps you even work in a related area of development, just not direct delivery. Either way, it’s difficult to know where to start with the briefing process without specialist support.
While getting your in-house team in place, this post offers four actions you can take to get the ball rolling with confidence today.
Step 1 - Define ‘Why’ the Project is Needed
Ask yourself ‘what’ problem the project will solve to start defining ‘why’ it's going ahead.
Perhaps it’s part of a programme that delivers a political promise, addresses a socio-economic issue or generates financial gain?.
Examples include -
A new Mayor promises 3000 new affordable homes in a borough over their elected term. Now it's up to you and the executive team to deliver it….
A Library service needs a new flagship offer with excellent digital services to address falling education levels and reach minority groups….
Partners want to unlock a strategic site with mixed use development and placemaking at its heart…
A PLC board wants to expand a hotel chain into a new region with three new sites…
Regeneration is needed on an end-of-asset-life housing estate due to worsening living conditions and unviable maintenance costs…
A university is needed to address a long standing regional skills ‘cold spot.
Then establish the context and evidence for that problem - this may include statistics, policy recommendations, asset management or appraisal findings . Not only will this support evidenced decision-making later, it will also assist you at business case and funding stages.
Step 2 - Look at existing constraints and opportunities
If the project delivers business change to a service, review the current accommodation and ask the following questions:
Describe the current accommodation and how the service is delivered.
What do you and your team like about it?
What would you like to change to create a best practice offer?
What do you envisage in your new offer that the present offer lacks?
Any additional income streams to transfer - room hire, kitchen/dining space, conference facilities?
What kind of spaces are ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’?
Are there lease, equipment, ICT, vehicle, back-of-house and staff requirements you need to consider?
Are there insurance or accreditation requirements to be considered?
What do you think the new accommodation should look like?
If its brownfield or greenfield development, visit the site and note any superficial matters too.
Step 3 - Collaborate with Internal Stakeholders and Partners
On development projects, engaging with internal stakeholders from the start is time well spent. In conversations with property, legal. planning and housing management colleagues, ask the following questions:
Legal - Is there a recent report on title on file? If not, request one. If leases exist, establish end dates, break clauses and termination rights.
Housing Management - are there tenants/residents on site to decant or remain insitu? If yes, how many and what is their status?
Property - What information is on file relating to the site/building? Are there commercial or retail tenants insitu?
Planning Authority( in Local Authority organisations) - What is the planning policy designation of the site, has it an allocation in the Local Plan? If a quantum of affordable housing is required, what mix is required for policy compliance?
When starting to collaborate with partners - ask what success looks like to them and what they bring to the project.
Step 4 - Visit best practice projects nationally
Visiting benchmark projects will help you define what you want as much as what you don’t want.
So why not reach out to similar projects nationally and organise a site visit?. Perhaps there are projects known to you, your staff or other stakeholders. If not, with a little research, they are easy to find.
Request that you meet the client team when you visit where possible. Ask about their experience, lessons learned and what went wrong as much as what went right. It's helpful to hear from the first hand experience of others and it may provide valuable insight for your project.
When your design team is on board, they may propose other site visits, which is a great. However, taking matters into your own hands with independent visits first helps you build your credibility as an informed client.
Next Steps
Taking action is worthwhile and empowering. Plus, its exciting to get out and about to see what finished projects are really like and to meet the people involved.
To take the briefing process forward, now you need to appoint your client-side project manager to write a good strategic brief and procure a professional consultant team. Remember too that the professional team won’t manage themselves when they are hired. Instead they need direction, challenge and problem-solving acumen from the client team to deliver the project successfully for you. That will require the input of you, your client-side project manager and others within and without the organisation to do successfully.
If you work in a organization with a strong development track record, there may be an in-house team to provide the technical know-how needed. If not, you will need to hire a development consultant or project manager to provide that support instead.
Alvy Projects provides Client Advisory and Development Consultancy services to client organisations from inception to completion. Expertise include project brief preparation, design team management, peer reviews and technical reviews. Why not contact us today to discuss your requirements?
