ARC7446 – Professional Practice and Management – Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Scenario
The Practice:
Collaborative Architecture Studio (CAS) LLP is a growing, design-led RIBA Chartered Practice based in Birmingham City Centre. The practice is run by two equity partners
(members) and focuses primarily on community-based projects having gained a strong reputation for successful community and wider public engagement.

Staff:
In addition to the two partners the practice has 14 employees comprising two associates, four project architects, including you, four part 2 architectural assistants, two part 1 architectural assistants, a senior technologist (and passive house assessor) and a full-time studio manager.
About You:
Having worked with a large commercial practice for the past 3 years since qualifying, you have recently joined the practice in order broaden your experience in a sector that interests you in terms of your long-term career development. In your new role you will be managing a small team with two architectural assistants, a part 1 and a part 2, and focusing on several new projects in the community sector.
Your previous practice is one of the leading design practices in Birmingham with a reputation for producing high quality buildings, particularly in the education sector.
Your experience with this practice has mainly focused on the education, community and social housing sectors and these are the areas that your current practice would
like to continue to develop in the future.
You have also recently taken on the role as Regional Chair, of the local architectural society.
In your new role you will be managing a small team with two architectural assistants, a Part 1 and a Part 2. In addition, you will be working closely with one of the directors
to develop new business opportunities with a particular focus on marketing and social media. You have also agreed to coordinate ‘continued professional development’
(CPD) for the practice which has previously been unmanaged and has almost entirely fallen by the way-side during lockdown.
Following the lifting of COVID restrictions the practice has now returned to the office however, staff are on a week-on week-off rota in order to maintain social distancing.
The practice has also grown during lockdown and would no longer be able to accommodate all staff in the office at one-time anyway

Procurement
The practice has recently been appointed by a national housing charity to carry out an early stage feasibility study to help define the site, project brief and procurement strategy. The project has been given to your team and you will therefore be acting as the project architect.
The Client is a registered charity providing housing and support to enable young people between the ages of 18 to 24 to move towards independent living
based on the ‘foyer housing model’.
It is envisaged that the project will be part funded through central government, the local authority and through the charity’s fund-raising activities. However, it’s anticipated that the public funding contribution will be in excess of 50% of the total budget. An initial development budget of £12m has been set. This is intended to be the total project cost including fees etc. but excluding land costs.
The suggestion from the Charity is that they would like your practice to lead on the project through all of the work stages but are unsure if they are able to appoint you directly through negotiation without a competitive process. They have therefore asked for your advice on how the project might best be procured, particularly given the complexity of the funding.

1.1 Prepare a short, PowerPoint presentation, maximum 10 slides, to be delivered at the Charity’s next project development committee meeting that discusses the possible options for the appointment of the design team and the principal contractor. Your commentary should include an introduction to the context and background for the tendering process.