Working Drawings Handbook
young project architect to be out-gunned by the
senior partner of the engineering consultants.
2 Procedures. The means by which all team members
are to be kept informed must be established. There is
no necessity for the architect to insist on acting as a
post office, nor need he insist on being party to
day-to-day discussions between other consultants,
but it is vital that he be kept informed of the outcome
of such discussions and that all drawing exchanges
are copied to him.
3 Programme. An example of a programme for the
design team has been given in 5.6. Table it, but do
not insist unreasonably on its detailed initial
acceptance by other team members against their
better judgement. It must at all costs be realistic. But
once it has been accepted, it must be taken
seriously. Tongue-in-cheek agreement with one eye
on an escape route when the inevitable problems
occur can be a costly business for everyone.
4 Format. Thought should have been given at the
design stage of the project to the question of suitable
production drawing scales and sizes, so the architect
should be well prepared to table his proposals for the
format. Consistency between all drawing producing
offices is important. Apart from the demonstrable
advantages of enabling the architect’s basic
drawings to be used by other consultants and the
reduction of storage and retrieval problems on site,
the indefinable authority generated by a well-
organised set of drawings and the impression given
of a team well in control of affairs all help in
promoting confidence in the team among both
outsiders and its own members.
Note that the desirability of maintaining a consistent
format applies equally to computer-aided drawings.
With the possible exception of drawings transmitted
electronically—model exchange, for example—
communication between offices will be by means of
drawings in the form of hard copies on paper.
5 Coding of drawings. If the model exchange method
for producing CAD information is in operation, it is a
sine qua nonthat all professional offices involved in
the project will be using it. With this exception it is
not essential for all consultants to follow the
structuring and coding disciples that the architect
imposes on himself. Nevertheless, it is highly
desirable that they should be persuaded to do so. In
practice it should not be very onerous. All disciplines
have their equivalent of the general arrangement
drawing, and all use schedules. These are worth
bringing into the structuring method, even though the
structural engineer may still adopt his traditional
practice of inserting larger scale sections on his
general arrangement drawings. If CI/SfB is in use
then blanket codes of (16) Foundations and (28)
Frame for structural drawings and of (5-) Services
and (6-) Installations for services engineers’drawings
provide a simple expedient for bringing all disciplines
within a common retrieval framework without
launching others on to waters, the depth of which the
architect may not yet have plumbed fully.
It is important that layer naming for CAD should be
agreed in advance by all the professional team.
6 Definition of responsibilities. Many defects, both of
omission and of overlapping information, may be
avoided if the responsibilities of each team member
can be defined precisely at the outset of the project.
Apart from the more straightforward contractual
responsibilities which it is assumed will have been
covered in the respective letters of appointment but
which it will be sensible to confirm at this inaugural
meeting (matters such as, for example, who tackles
lifts, cold water supply, drainage, roads and
footpaths; who details and checks pre-cast concrete
components, etc.)—these are grey areas where
some early agreement will be of benefit. The
allocation to the structural drawing office of the
responsibility for indicating accurately detailed
profiles has already been referred to. Reinforced
concrete staircases provide another area where it is
unnecessary and confusing for the architect to
prepare elaborately detailed sections for the benefit