WORKING DRAWINGS HANDBOOK, Fourth Edition

Working Drawings Handbook

The increasing use of CAD, of course, has blurred the
separation of the various work stages described in the
plan of work. In the same way that word processing has
transformed writing, CAD has transformed the process
of designing buildings and describing them through
working drawings. The process is no longer a strictly
linear one. We don’t necessarily have to finish the
design before we start on the production information
(though we may well be unwise to do so.)

CAD forces the designer into making some decisions far
earlier than might otherwise have been the case. Even
at outline stage it is possible for the walls to be drawn
with absolute accuracy, taking account of brick, block
and cavity thicknesses; openings may be drawn to
conform with coordinated brick dimensions. The layout
might change as the design evolves but at any given
moment in time the ‘model’ is accurate.

Nevertheless, a proper laying of the groundwork will
help to avoid those drawing office crises, destructive
alike of morale and financial budgeting, when a team of
several people is brought to a standstill by the sudden
realisation of some unresolved problem. So from the
standpoint of stage F let us look back to the preceding
stages, where a little forethought will make life in the
subsequent stages a great deal easier.

Pre-requisites for stage F

There is a basic minimum of information which needs to
be available before embarking on stage F and this
should certainly include the following:

These items are dealt with in detail below.

Final design set (stage D)

It will always be necessary to produce a set of drawings

showing the final design, and if subsequent changes are

called for, no matter how minor, it is sensible to record

these on the drawings or CAD files themselves in

addition to any other form, so that at any one time there

exists an up-to-date record and confirmation of what has

been agreed with the client.

Obviously these will be presentation drawings, prepared

in the manner best calculated to obtain the client’s

approval. Nevertheless, before the trees and the

shadows are added, it is prudent to take a set from the

unadorned master files, for then definitive plans and

elevations will be available which may be issued

immediately to other consultants on commencement of

stage E, and the rather fruitless business often

encountered of ‘draft working drawings’ once design

approval has been obtained may be eliminated, with

benefit to both office economics and programme.

This implies, of course, that the scales and draughting

techniques should be compatible with use for both

purposes but this is quite feasible if their subsequent

use is borne in mind from the outset (5.1and 5.2).

The use of CAD, of course, renders the whole process

much simpler and of even more economic benefit. The

final design plans, denuded of their extraneous trees

and shadows, will serve directly as the basic file for

subsequent elementalisation, with the decorative

final set of design drawings (stage D)

record of statutory approvals (stages D and E)

key detailing in draught (stage E)

room data sheets (stages C to E)

outline specification

applicable trade literature

library of standard details

drawing register

design team network

drawing office programme