Ana Matic - Next steps from DCW roundtables-20220607

ANA MATIC was part of the Design group and from her POV as an architect who works through all stages of design and delivery she considers that you have to have enough of the parameters fixed before you can comment on what information you need - the exercise as it was left quite a lot of stuff open which would never be the case in real life. She compares it to working on Revit models etc. Initially you download the whole model and then the next time you only download the changes, so we should never ask what information you need right from scratch as it wastes a lot of time trying to review everything. It’s essential to understand the context and then ask for the variations within that context. This can be applied digitally and to the whole of the Building Safety Bill.

RICHARD replies that this process is to try and ascertain which things are essential, but he takes Ana’s point about context, also part of this process. The RACI methodology works to some extent, the input we’ve been getting from the exercise helps us inform how to adapt the RACI and make it more effective.

Regarding Richard’s question to Ana as to what should be done moving forward, she asks whether we are trying to separate things into gateways…design and construction are very much time depended and what is relevant information therefore changes. BSB has focused on 3 Gateways because there is a progressional change. Re time: how are we calibrating information across time? Fixed points must be made at which information is listed. At the table discussion everyone was delivery based and wanted all discussions to be known from the start, but there is no way you can know them because supply chain/client requirements/occupancy may change. The timeline of the project has to be fair to itself: the list of things that need to be known changes from the design stage to delivery to handover. The shortlist at handover has to have stories/ontologies of when things are going to change.

So, says ANA, it’s not 1 RACI matrix, it’s at least 3 RACI matrixes. Try and keep them tight and be aware of variations that can drastically change things. RICHARD says with the new regulations that are coming in there is going to have to be a lot more done and done differently. ANA thinks we should also look across sectors to tease out good answers e.g. transport sector. RICHARD says they are keen to promote the industrialisation of construction, examining other sectors. Those who will regulate whether the Construction industry is compliant have come out of the highly regulated energy industry.