Attributes of an Effective Design Consultant in the Built Environment

Being a design consultant in the built environment is challenging. Factors include:

1. Highly complex projects that require coordination between multiple disciplines
2. Tight schedules, but with projects delivered over years, not months
3. Balancing competing objectives, for example: equipment maintainability versus space; capital cost versus operating cost; and redundancy versus budget
4. Finite design resources. This applies not only within each company, but within the industry.
5. Limited project budget and competitive design fees

The most important resources on any building design project are the People and the Technology. Technologies like Building Information Modelling (BIM), Building Management Systems (BMS) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and other engineering software have already been covered in previous articles. This article will focus on People, and the attributes required to be an effective consultant in the built environment:

1. Attitude – attitude is everything.?Attitude is the Magic Word [Earl Nightingale], as it controls everything about how we think, feel and act.?It is incredibly powerful.?When you change the way you look at something, what you look at will change.?Look for the good in any situation; there’s good in everything.

2. Passion – do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do. Be driven to deliver excellence within the project limitations.

3. A Strong Foundation of design expertise and experience and then using that as a basis to develop the ability to create and innovate. Always be learning.

4. Effective Communication. Clear and concise. Understand the audience and what their key interests will be. There is a real skill in being able to distil complex issues into key points that can be understood by non-technical decision makers. Be proactive; try to foresee potential problems based on your experience and then put in place a plan to avoid it or at least explain the risks. Explain issues and document important decisions. Maintain reviewed records of calculations. Tender drawings must have sufficient content and notes to be understandable by contractors who haven’t been through the design process (they can’t read your mind).

5. Endurance and Resilience. The industry tends to be confrontational. Clients and project managers often have strong opinions after problems arise, and they may not fully understand the issues. There will always be issues for a design team to work through, especially schedule and budget. Try to keep looking forward, towards the end goal.

6. Ethical Behaviour. As consultants, our independence is fundamental to our ability to offer clients sound advice and solutions that best meet their needs and limitations.

7. Selecting Future Leaders and training them to be your successor. It is easier to recruit junior staff than senior staff. Upskill staff and give them more responsibility – Always Be Training. Identify talented junior staff with the right attitude and give them opportunities to grow. Ask staff how they propose to fix problems; don’t just give them a solution. Reward those that bring solutions to meetings, not just problems.