Case study : Design briefing stage

Parliament Hill School Haverstock Associates are a medium sized architectural firm based in Camden, London . They are committed to design quality and ensuring that their buildings improve the lives of the people who use them. John Jenkins, a founding partner of the practice, initiated Haverstock’s signing up as a DQI trailblazer through his involvement as a CABE Enabler. Parliament Hill secondary school is situated in a conservation area near Hampstead Heath, London .

“We won the contract through a competitive tender process with Camden Borough Council. A condition of the project set

out by the Local Education Authority (LEA) was that Design Quality Indicators would need to be applied. The LEA brief commissioned the design and supervision of new school accommodation, the scope and brief to be decided after completion of a feasibility study, accessibility audit and curriculum analysis, subject to planning and budgetary constraints.

The workshop took place during the early design stage (RIBA stages A–B) of the project. The participants consisted of the LEA senior technical officer engineer, our mechanical engineer, two LEA project managers and an LEA educational inspector; school facilities manager, planner, governors, teachers, senior school management and students. It proved invaluable in bringing together a range of influential individuals at such an early stage of the project. It made everybody aware of the initial design development that had been undertaken and opened up lines of communication by introducing all the different individuals who would have an involvement with the building at some point in its life time. It also enabled us to carry out further consultation to find out what types of modern buildings people liked and disliked, so we could get an idea of what type of building/s and materials people really felt they wanted to see in the end product. The information gained from this process was a vital part of our brief.

The DQI questionnaire provided a well structured framework for the discussions, and raised issues which could otherwise have been overlooked. It also added value for the client as the DQI enlightened them to the thought process behind our design.

Our next step will be to revisit the DQI results through a further workshop to see if our design solutions match the aspirations and perceptions brought about by the original process. We intend to revisit the DQI process regularly throughout the construction process and will continue to use it on future education projects.”

John Jenkins
Claire Barton
Haverstock Associates