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History of DQI

The development of DQI has been led by the CIC with sponsorship from the DTI, the CABE, Constructing Excellence and the Strategic Forum for Construction and with support from OGC.

Since its inception DQI has been developed by multidisciplinary core group convened by CIC and including representatives from Buro Happold, Colander Consulting, Edward Cullinan Architects, Hoare Lee and Partners, Penoyre and Prasad LLP, and Imperial College London. This core group utilised input from a wide variety of sources to gather the best intelligence on the issue of design quality and how to assess inherent design quality.

Key stages in the development of DQI have been:

  • September 1999 development starts
  • March 2001 version one of the DQI completed for testing
  • 8 July 2002 trailblazing scheme launched
  • 1 October 2003 DQI launched
  • January 2005 DQI facilitators register launched
  • July 2005 the FAVE briefing tool launched
  • 8 December 2005 DQI for Schools launched
  • June 2008 DQI and DQI for Schools Briefing tools launched

The strategic direction and governance for DQI is provided by the Development Group and Management Board.

From 2004 CIC has worked in partnership with the DCSF to develop the DQI for Schools.

In January 2005 the DQI facilitators register was was launched. The facilitators register was set up in response to demands from users of DQI, who wanted a robust list of impartial professionals they could call on to help them get the most from their use of the tool.

In 2005 Imperial College reviewed the data collected so far by the DQI tool and considered the tool to "provide an appropriate source of knowledge and information for use in the investigation of design quality in the UK construction sector." Read more about this review in Imperial College's paper, presented at the DQI AGM 2006.pdf

Now and future

Driven by users of the tool we are continuously developing the DQI, and feeding into the debate on delivering excellent quality. The task now is to get the DQI widely known, get it used and make it an integral part of the client process. The Development Group plays a key role in the future direction of DQI.

In a recent debate about DQI, the need marry the issues of quality with aspects regarding the process of delivering buildings to address value, was highlighted as a important future direction for the DQI. Read more about this debate on the DQI AGM 2006 page.

In April 2008 CIC dedicated a special edition cascade about current activities in the DQI. Click here to read the CIC cascade.

To find out more more about the history of the DQI read the press releases and newsletters.

(c) 2003 - 2008 Construction Industry Council