The Design Process
Practicing professionally as an engineer there is a general outline of what a client expects to be sent to them for sign-off/approval and another engineer would expect you to send for their review. These are called deliverables and form part of the Design Process. The key point of this process is to ensure that the client and the engineer produce deliverables which can be reviewed, commented on and revised so that agreement of the final outcome is progressive and collaborative
My design process is outlined below:
Client Brief;
Return Brief;
Concept Design; and
Detailed/Tender Design.
Depending upon the size, budget and scope of a project there may me more or less stages.
Client Brief
In one way or another, a client will approach an engineering firm for a quote of services (fee proposal) based upon their impression of the works required. This could be a short phone call, email, or site walk. It is a senior engineer’s job to interpret a clients intent by asking the right questions so that a feasible solution can be proposed back to them.
For an engineer, the fee proposal will clarify the communication so far with the client, their expectations, what you will deliver and how/when. In order to do this a fee proposal needs to capture the following:
Executive Summary;
Scope of Works;
Deliverables;
Program;
Fees;
Inclusions; and
Exclusions.
Return Brief
Once the client has agreed with the engineer’s interpretation of the brief (by accepting the fee proposal) an engineer will then complete preliminary investigations, concept sketches and calcs to scope the project further. At this stage, a holistic scoping document will be prepared from the engineer for the client to approve, in doing so, should any issues arise in future with the engineers scope the Return Brief will act as the point of reference. A return brief would be expected to contain:
Scope of services;
Site particulars and constraints;
Existing services and what is to be replaced;
Option(s) for the proposed works;
Statutory compliance framework;
Works budget (optional); and
Other consultants required
Concept Design
Concept design may form a part of the return brief stage it depends on how far a design needs to be developed to reach a workable solution. Concept design is focused on confirming that a proposed solution will spatially work and what clashes and constraints it will put on a project. In order to do so, all calculations should be completed prior to confirming the final concept so that plant is sized as representatively of the final solution.
These concepts will often be documented via simple sketches so that there is a record that alternatives and spatials have been considered before work progresses.
Additionally, at this stage the Safety In Design (SID) register should commence, to ensure that at each stage the implications of the design on the safety of installers, inspectors and the general public is considered at every step of design.
Detailed Design
At completion of the detailed design stage, all drawings and technical specifications will be completed basically ready for tender with the exception of some items outstanding from other consultants or project team members. The drawing package would be expected to include:
Cover Sheet;
Drawing List;
Legend
Typical Details;
Schematics; and
Plan Drawings
The drawings are there to detail the size and scope of the project. Alternatively, the technical specification will detail out the detailed scope of work, quality work is to becompleted to, quantities and types of plant, methodologies and engineer/client expectations of the tenderers.
All of this documentation will be submitted to the client via a transmittal which highlights the documents submitted, their revisions and submission dates.
Tender Design
Once the client has reviewed the detailed design documentation and all additional consultants have provided their comments these can be incorporated into the detailed design package. This documentation package will then be issued to a number of contractors in order for them to provide a tender price for the works.
Once the design process is completed there are further tasks for an engineer to complete including reviewing tenders, responding to tenderer queries and reviewing construction works
