After reading the following article this morning we felt the need to promote the advantages of using a small architectural practice.
Most public work ‘to go to firms with 250+ staff’
29 September 2011 | By Andrea Klettner
Source: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/
The government has announced that it would like to see 75% of public sector work going to just a handful of the UK’s largest architecture firms.
The Cabinet Office, the department responsible for setting out the government’s purchasing guidelines, said it was aiming for just a quarter of its work to go to companies employing fewer than 250 people.
According to 2011 figures from the RIBA, 97% of UK architecture practices employ fewer than 50 staff. The move has been slammed by procurement experts, with Walter Menteth, leader of the RIBA’s procurement task force, calling the government “out of touch”.
He added that its proposal would see “only a handful of firms” winning the majority of projects procured by the government.
“We have to get them to be looking at the reality,” he added. “Architecture is 79% micro-businesses. Such broad-brush categorisation is not helpful to the profession and shows little understanding of the industry.”
The news comes as the cross-industry task force, which met for the first time in Hoxton last week, gears up to lobby government to simplify pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) and procurement processes.
RIBA president Angela Brady appointed Menteth to lead the group, which includes David Ubaka, head of design (urban realm) at Transport for London and Nigel McKay, head of supply chain management at developer Bovis Lend Lease. Members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors were also represented.
Task force member Willie Watt, partner at Dundee-based Nicoll Russell Studios, said: “The challenge now is to approach the issue with real focus in order to deliver a reinvented system which is appealing to the ‘architect on the street’ while being capable of withstanding professional and political scrutiny.”
Task force members will now be divided into groups looking at four areas: process simplification and acceleration, whole life quality, access and sustainable procurement.
A manifesto will be completed before Christmas and be presented to the government.
Brady added: “The RIBA calculates that a PQQ condition for a s£1 million turnover threshold excludes over 50% of the profession’s available individual talent and reduces market access to just 15% of architects’ practices.
“This is not good for clients or our profession as it significantly depletes the talent pool they can call upon,” she said.
Being a small practice of less than 50 employees has many advantages over the larger companies that sometimes have over 250 employees.
For example here at CAD every project has a main point of contact who leads a small sub team. This team handle all the design and construction decisions for a specific project -this guarantees the client will always speak to one of the team dedicated to their project and will not be passed around to different members of the main CAD team.
The advantage of this streamlined structure is the efficiency in the office. This allows us to offer more competitive fees compared to the larger practices. These savings can then be passed on to the client!
So not only do we offer a professional and more personal service but we are also more cost effective - this surely is a no-brainer!
Most public work ‘to go to firms with 250+ staff’
29 September 2011 | By Andrea Klettner
Source: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/
The government has announced that it would like to see 75% of public sector work going to just a handful of the UK’s largest architecture firms.
The Cabinet Office, the department responsible for setting out the government’s purchasing guidelines, said it was aiming for just a quarter of its work to go to companies employing fewer than 250 people.
According to 2011 figures from the RIBA, 97% of UK architecture practices employ fewer than 50 staff. The move has been slammed by procurement experts, with Walter Menteth, leader of the RIBA’s procurement task force, calling the government “out of touch”.
He added that its proposal would see “only a handful of firms” winning the majority of projects procured by the government.
“We have to get them to be looking at the reality,” he added. “Architecture is 79% micro-businesses. Such broad-brush categorisation is not helpful to the profession and shows little understanding of the industry.”
The news comes as the cross-industry task force, which met for the first time in Hoxton last week, gears up to lobby government to simplify pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) and procurement processes.
RIBA president Angela Brady appointed Menteth to lead the group, which includes David Ubaka, head of design (urban realm) at Transport for London and Nigel McKay, head of supply chain management at developer Bovis Lend Lease. Members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors were also represented.
Task force member Willie Watt, partner at Dundee-based Nicoll Russell Studios, said: “The challenge now is to approach the issue with real focus in order to deliver a reinvented system which is appealing to the ‘architect on the street’ while being capable of withstanding professional and political scrutiny.”
Task force members will now be divided into groups looking at four areas: process simplification and acceleration, whole life quality, access and sustainable procurement.
A manifesto will be completed before Christmas and be presented to the government.
Brady added: “The RIBA calculates that a PQQ condition for a s£1 million turnover threshold excludes over 50% of the profession’s available individual talent and reduces market access to just 15% of architects’ practices.
“This is not good for clients or our profession as it significantly depletes the talent pool they can call upon,” she said.
Being a small practice of less than 50 employees has many advantages over the larger companies that sometimes have over 250 employees.
For example here at CAD every project has a main point of contact who leads a small sub team. This team handle all the design and construction decisions for a specific project -this guarantees the client will always speak to one of the team dedicated to their project and will not be passed around to different members of the main CAD team.
The advantage of this streamlined structure is the efficiency in the office. This allows us to offer more competitive fees compared to the larger practices. These savings can then be passed on to the client!
So not only do we offer a professional and more personal service but we are also more cost effective - this surely is a no-brainer!
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