Producing better specifications may be the key for architects and specifiers who need to reduce risks across every area of a construction project. Are you giving your specification process the attention it needs?
We all know that risk management is important – especially in construction, where unchecked safety risks can lead to catastrophic consequences. Poor risk management can also lead to project delays, increased costs, legal disputes and environmental problems such as habitat loss. Disputes aren’t rare – according to the RIBA Contracts and Law Report, over a quarter of all construction professionals were involved in a project dispute in the last 12 months.
In the complex and variable landscape of construction, risk management cannot be attributed to a single role. Every stakeholder, from manufacturers to specifiers, designers, installers and those involved in maintaining and operating buildings, shares a collective responsibility. Notably, architects hold a significant position in this framework, particularly in light of the new ‘duty holder’ roles established by the 2023 Building Safety Act. This legislation underscores the growing emphasis by regulatory bodies and the government on the responsibilities of principal designers, highlighting the critical role that architects play in ensuring safety and compliance in the construction industry.
Managing risk is about more than safety. Architects must design with consideration for risks, including some of those listed below:
- Delays, disruptions and subsequently increased costs. A total of 15% of construction projects are delayed due to poor specification.
- Sustainability risks, including loss of habitats or biodiversity, as well as environmental hazards.
- Fire safety, where small variations in a product or system may impact real-world performance and invalidate warranties, guarantees and insurance. This is just one reason why risk-aware architects are now recognizing the importance of third-party certification for fire performance.
Every project element poses risks, although some are outside of your control. How, then, can architects best manage the risks that they can control? The answer: by creating better specifications.
The risks addressed by better specification
Producing a strong specification helps you to manage many different types of risk and to establish a positive overall trajectory for your project. According to the What Specifiers Want Report 2023, 80% of specifiers say a good specification prevents delays – but that’s far from the only risk a good specification helps address. Let’s take a detailed look at the crucial role that specification plays in risk management across an entire construction project life cycle.
Resolving poor information management
The Building Safety Act makes the maintenance of a ‘golden thread’ of information a requirement for projects involving higher-risk buildings. Architects have an important role to play in establishing this thread by incorporating as much relevant information, such as a chosen system’s product performance data, into the specification as early as possible to determine principles to be followed and allow initial design intentions and requirements to be maintained.
Specifications must provide accurate, reliable information to minimize safety risks. But aside from just safety, the way information is collected and curated within a project impacts the timeline and efficiency too. The RIBA Contracts and Law Report states that ‘25% of construction projects are delayed due to poorly coordinated project information’.
As indicated by requirements of the ‘golden thread’, construction must move towards a more standardized, reliable set of information for every project. A robust digital specification produced using NBS Chorus helps architects to provide all of the information needed for the project, both in terms of practical requirements and regulatory standards. This information will be digital, secure, accessible and kept up-to-date in real time.
Choosing evidence-backed products
Construction products play a pivotal role in building safety and risk as a whole – but until recently, the standards associated with product safety and information were chaotic at best. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) found that ‘between 20,000 and 30,000 UK construction products were unregulated’.
Subsequently, new measures have been introduced to help establish which construction products can be deemed safe. As part of the move towards a safety-led process, the Building Safety Act has significant enforcement options. Of particular note is that for those who are convicted of ‘providing false or misleading information to BSR’. They can be imprisoned of up to two years and can have an unlimited fine imposed.
If a product is manufactured outside GB, the duty falls on the importer, not the manufacturer, so specifiers need to be highly cautious about any systems that rely on foreign supply chains. The manufacturer must be able to demonstrate that they’ve addressed this risk and have the correct information to adhere to safety standards.
All of this goes to show how important it is that architects build specifications with the full knowledge of the products or systems they are specifying, with all testing and product certification made available by the manufacturers.
Controlling material selection
However, sometimes a client or contractor will swap out a product from the spec that may compromise the safety and integrity of the entire system.
While new initiatives, such as the gateway system in the Building Safety Act, mandate a review of any changes made to a specification, the best way to prevent product substitutions is to produce a specification crafted with support from manufacturers to offer warranty-backed, information-rich systems. This can be achieved with NBS Chorus. According to the What Specifiers Want Report, 89% of specifiers think that a robust specification helps prevent inappropriate products from being substituted.
Establishing clear product and system guidelines as part of your specification process at an early stage can maintain the ‘golden thread’ and helps to set expectations that will echo down through the project’s chain and result in fewer product swaps or system risks.
Minimising environmental risk
Sustainable design is a clear focus for the entire construction sector. Initiatives such as BREEAM and other environmental schemes that enable the construction industry to achieve net zero have encouraged manufacturers to offer greater levels of environmental information in product data, including EPDs, cradle-to-cradle certification and even introducing concepts such as the life cycle assessment to measure the environmental impact of a building throughout its entire lifespan.
Specification helps architects to manage environmental risks by allowing them to choose sustainable products with the documented information required to ensure that projects help reduce carbon emissions, minimize energy wastage and even support biodiversity.
Managing fire hazards
Risks associated with fire are the most crucial part of the Building Safety Act. Every principal designer needs to produce a detailed fire safety statement – but again, a robust specification can support this. Commenting on Fire safety in the construction industry: 2024 anticipations, Rob Norton from PlanRadar stated: ‘Moving into 2024, I predict an increasing reliance on digital tools and platforms as the industry looks to improve the speed and accuracy of fire safety processes. In particular, the stringent management of fire safety information and record-keeping.’
Through NBS Source, you can find manufacturers who will directly assist with specifications or offer products with rich digital information, including all necessary fire safety information. Completing a spec in this way means that means you’ll have greater control over the project fire safety information requirements and be able to reduce risks from an early stage in the design.
Minimise risk with NBS specification support
As we’ve hopefully demonstrated, specification plays a pivotal role in lessening risks of all kinds throughout a construction project’s life cycle. As the sector continues to prioritize a ‘golden thread’ of information and clear data governance, building a robust digital specification helps architects stay ahead of changing requirements and protects projects against the varied risks that our industry faces.
Use NBS Chorus to produce robust specifications, or get help writing a specification that addresses all of these risks with NBS Schumann.
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