The objective
Prior to this chapter production information has been the
primary concern. It is this information—both drawings
and specification—which represents the final
commitment to the building project of planning and
constructional decisions arrived at during the earlier
stages. This documentation is inevitably a time-
consuming process and if it is to be carried through
smoothly and economically it is important that all the
necessary decisions should have been taken before its
commencement.
It is also true to say that of all the aspects of an
architect’s work it is this final documentation that lends
itself best to the deployment of a team. On very few
projects will there be the time available to allow the
working drawings to be prepared by a single individual
and in practice quite small buildings will involve more
than one person at this stage.
The objective therefore, is the achievement of a rapid,
well-programmed set of drawings, in which the
information to be documented by each member of the
team is allocated in advance with due reference to his
experience and ability, and during which only the most
routine and undemanding of technical problems should
remain for resolution. In order to achieve this it is
important that a more or less rigid adherence to the plan
of work is maintained.The plan of work
The RIBA Plan of Work was illustrated in Chapter 1 as
constituting the basic discipline within which the manifold
activities of the architect are contained. Against each
stage were noted the major aspects of work dealt with at
that stage which will have a bearing on the working
drawing process or which will be influenced by it.The plan of work is sometimes criticised as being
doctrinarian and unrelated to the harsh facts of
professional life. Certainly, in practice there are constant
pressures to do things out of sequence because there is
a short-term benefit to be gained by doing so. It is very
tempting when struggling with knotty problems of detailing
or seemingly lethargic fellow consultants, to take the view
that a premature start on the final drawings will in some
way have a cathartic effect on the enterprise.5
CHAPTER