Introduction - Research suggests that a major cause of cost overrun in construction is late change introduced by clients who hadn't really understood what the architect's sketches meant. Even "professional clients" who build regularly and have an established method of communicating their requirements experience difficulties. They want to encourage the designers and constructors to innovate and explore new ways of delivering an optimum building but they need to ensure the resultant building will effectively support the activities they want to carry out in that facility.

In some areas, the industry has attempted to solve this using Virtual Reality but the fundamental problem remains - how can the client and designer agree a design specification that gives the designer freedom to innovate yet protect against a building being created that is not "fit for purpose".

The clients' need is communicated in a "brief" which should contain everything the designers need to know about the facility the client needs; effectively a detailed description of what the client requires in space, spatial relationships, finishes, environmental standards, fixtures and fittings, layout, financial and durability performance. It is an abstract representation of the facility design. The current methods used with industry are time and paper intensive resulting in delays and even inaccuracy. At the simplest level, Scheme briefs consist of a schedule of accommodation and a detailed definition for the space type (Room Data Sheet).

Development of the schedule of accommodation for each scheme will vary. The detailed spatial type definitions (Functional Space Definitions) are more complex to design manually but can be more standard for space provision.

Activity-based Design - activeplan is a database-driven application that allows regular changes in equipment, furniture, or personnel from a range of other software applications to generate a new layout of an existing building. Spaces and equipment can be intelligent objects that know what they are and where they are in 3D space but as well as these physical attributes, they have logical attributes. This allows us, for example, to know not just that a desk is located in a room but also who sits at that desk, what they do and how they are performing in that role (assuming there is some means of measurement).

The growth in PFI/PPP and the need to ensure a finished building is truly "fit for purpose" has led to these tools being used in a new way i.e. to design a facility, room or building around the activities that will be carried out there and the functional spaces/equipment required to support those activities. Layouts will be generated automatically from the database, allowing the client and designers to explore alternatives in a multi-user web-based environment and see the effect of their changes.
Fit for purpose- proposed layouts can be automatically tested to ensure the planned activities have sufficient space and the required equipment to support their procedures. Where an agreed output specification exists, perhaps in the form of room data sheets, ActivePlan replaces the current process of manually checking drawings against the room data sheets, producing an automated "gap analysis" report that highlights any variation, thereby allowing innovation to be properly considered without costly oversights being made.

This helps the designer to communicate more effectively with the client and, because it is web-based, all relevant parties can be included in the decisions taken, reducing last minute changes.
Every iteration of the design is version controlled and, when published to the master project, onwardly version controlled, even recording when a specified piece of equipment changes and generating detailed materials and equipment lists for procurement, if required.
activeplan can generate models of functional areas (in 2D and 3D) from a rules-based database that can include the experience from previous projects and has an interface that allows the occupier of the planned space to set down what activities they will need to undertake, visualise the functional spaces and equipment the designer perceives they will need and collaborate in refining that to meet budgetary, operational and health and safety constraints.
An entire building could be generated automatically at a very early stage and used as an interactive model to ensure everyone understands what is to be built and to reflect any required changes. Such changes can be applied globally allowing the designers to test alternative options, settle on the optimum and update the entire project with a specification change.

Cost Modelling - Elemental costs can be combined with costs related to spaces and work activities to create a more meaningful information set that can be analysed at the earliest stages, before the design is underway.
A simple graphical tool allows the functional spaces defined in the schedule of accommodation to be laid out on a virtual site plan and immediately costed. The spaces can be moved around to ensure the facility is functionally viable and re-costed automatically again and again.
Where the client has not yet committed to invest in a detailed design, this approach help the team arrive at a more reliable GMP without a major investment in potentially abortive design.

O&M and FM - Because the collaborative web environment encourages the team to update the room data sheets as information comes available, the as-built information is more accurate and can populate O&M, H&S and FM applications including the maintenance regimes.
Although activeplan is a very advanced FM application, it is specifically designed to work with other FM, maintenance, estates or building management systems.

Audit & Measurement - As the project continues, the briefing system version control can be employed to ensure that changes are workflow-approved and the implications are managed. This means that it becomes a reliable source of information to test delivery against resulting in faster sign-off saving time and money and reducing risk for all parties.
At project completion the brief is then available as the functional space standard against which spatial operational changes can be assessed and, for the first time, provide an objective and auditable measure of "best value".

The brief invariably changes through the design and construction stages and activeplan scheme briefing can be used as the conduit to communicate change, to test the designer's interpretation to ensure that the brief is being properly complied with and flag up the likely cost implications. Where the design varies from the brief, perhaps for good reason, that variance can be communicated with appropriate justification, if necessary.
This provides clients within a PFI/PPP relationship with the means to audit the solutions a consortium provides, both at design/construction phase but also during operation and through to disposal.

Where the client has an existing portfolio, activeplan can be used to analyse floor plans and create a schedule of functional areas and any equipment they contain, creating room data sheets if required. If the client has information about the productivity of a particular facility, this can be used to compare the impact of various layouts and ensure the brief matches operational needs.
Where a programme of work is being considered, a survey comparing what exists against the benchmark in the form of a "Gap Analysis" can contribute to the production of a strategic plan for longer-term portfolio investment that encompasses disability accessibility, for example.

Durability and Whole Life - activeplan has a partnership with Building Performance Group, a world-leader in life cycle and their data can be applied to materials, equipment and areas for analysis purposes.
Because the materials and products are driven from the database, a change to a floor finish in a functional area, for example, can generate a revised building model that reflects that option and can generate a report outlining the overall cost implications. In addition, because the model now differentiates between the activities each functional areas support, the cost model can reflect the fact that a carpet in a busy corridor will wear more quickly that the same carpet in meeting room.