RIBA PLAN OF WORK / 0–7
From opportunity
to delivery.
Architecture develops through testing, coordination and progressive resolution.
A clear framework. Direct senior involvement. Continuity from the first strategic question to the completed building.
01
RIBA Chartered Practice
Professional standards and practice management sit alongside the architectural work.
02
RIBA Plan of Work 0–7
Eight stages provide a common structure from strategic definition to use.
03
Tailored appointments
Clients can appoint us for all or selected stages, depending on what the project requires.
We use the official stage titles below. The descriptions explain how Bolans works within that framework rather than replacing it with a separate process of our own.
The RIBA Plan of Work.
THE PROJECT FRAMEWORK
0
RIBA STAGE 0
Before design begins, we help establish what the project is trying to achieve and whether the proposed route is the right one.
This can include early site appraisal, development potential, planning context, project risks, budget, programme and alternative ways of meeting the client’s objectives.
Strategic Definition.
FOCUS / PROJECT OUTCOMES, STRATEGIC BRIEF, OPTIONS AND VIABILITY
1
RIBA STAGE 1
The project brief is developed alongside the information needed to design with confidence.
We bring together the client’s priorities with surveys, site information, planning research, consultant input, programme and budget so that assumptions are identified early rather than carried into later stages.
PREPARATION AND BRIEFING.
FOCUS / PROJECT BRIEF / SURVEYS / PROJECT TEAM / PROGRAMME AND INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
2
RIBA STAGE 2
Ideas are tested through drawing, modelling and discussion. We explore the relationship between brief, site, context, space, structure and material before a preferred architectural direction is agreed.
Concept design is not treated as an isolated image-making exercise. Cost, environmental thinking, planning and technical implications begin to inform the architecture from the outset.
CONCEPT DESIGN.
FOCUS / ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT, DESIGN OPTIONS AND EMERGING PROJECT STRATEGIES
3
RIBA STAGE 3
The preferred concept is developed into a spatially coordinated design. Architecture, structure, services and specialist requirements are brought together and tested against planning, cost and regulation.
Where planning permission is required, the application will commonly be prepared during this stage, with the precise submission point agreed around the project and planning strategy.
Spatial Coordination.
FOCUS / COORDINATED DESIGN, PLANNING STRATEGY AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION
4
RIBA STAGE 4 / TECHNICAL DESIGN
Stage 4 is still a design stage.
Technical Design is where architecture becomes increasingly precise. Structure, envelope, services, fire strategy, accessibility, Building Regulations, fabrication and specialist information must resolve into coordinated decisions.
For us, this is not simply a documentation exercise. Junctions, tolerances, materials and interfaces can strengthen — or dilute — the architectural idea.
Our role is to coordinate that information so the design is not only compliant and buildable, but remains recognisably the project that was conceived.
FOCUS / TECHNICAL INFORMATION, SPECIALIST COORDINATION, COMPLIANCE AND BUILDABILITY
5
RIBA STAGE 5
The project moves from coordinated information into manufacture and construction. Our role at this stage depends on the procurement route and agreed appointment.
Where retained, we stay close to the work: responding to queries, reviewing materials and specialist information, carrying out site inspections and, where appointed, administering the building contract.
Manufacturing and Construction.
FOCUS / CONSTRUCTION, SITE QUERIES, QUALITY AND CONTRACT RESPONSABILITIES
6
RIBA STAGE 6
Practical Completion marks a transition rather than an abrupt end. The building is handed over, outstanding items are managed and the information needed for occupation is brought together.
Where our appointment continues, we support the client through completion, defects and the early period of occupation.
Handover.
FOCUS / PRACTICAL COMPLETION, HANDOVER INFORMATION, DEFECTS AND AFTERCARE
7
RIBA STAGE 7
A building continues to change once it is occupied. Stage 7 considers how it is used, operated, maintained and, where appropriate, evaluated in practice.
Feedback from completed work matters to us because it closes the loop between design intention and everyday experience — and informs the projects that follow.
USE.
FOCUS / OCCUPATION, OPERATION, PERFORMANCE AND LEARNING
ACCROSS EVERY STAGE
Understand the people, place and commercial brief.
01 / LISTEN
Use constraints to find possibility.
02 / TEST
Develop the structure, detail and interfaces.
03 / RESOLVE
Carry the architectural idea through construction.
04 / DELIVER
DESIGN VALUES
DeSIGN WITH, NOT FOR.
The RIBA Plan of Work gives a project structure. Our values shape how we make decisions within it.
Good architecture depends on listening carefully enough to understand how people actually live, work and use space. We try to limit assumptions, test what we think we know and make room for different experiences throughout the design process.
01
Design with, not for.
We develop work alongside clients and communities rather than assuming the answer in advance.
02
Listen, do not assume.
Conversation, observation, research and feedback are part of testing the brief as well as the design.
03
Reflect the communities we serve.
Broader experience and perspective strengthen the questions we ask and the architecture that follows.
04
Design beyond the average.
Inclusive environments consider people and needs that conventional design assumptions can too easily overlook.
05
Honour plurality.
People, households and communities are never one thing. Architecture should make room for that difference.
Some clients appoint us from Stage 0 through to completion. Others need a defined service — feasibility, planning, technical design, executive architect services, contract administration or specialist advice.
Our proposals are broken down by the RIBA stages and services included in the appointment, with the main assumptions, exclusions and information required from the client and wider consultant team set out clearly. You are not obliged to appoint us for every stage.
CLEAR SCOPE. CLEAR FEES.
FEES + APPOINTMENTS
For many architectural commissions, fees are calculated as a percentage of the construction contract value. The percentage varies with scale, complexity and the services required.
As an indicative guide, our currently published fee range for a typical project is around 11–13% of the construction contract value, while smaller projects can carry a higher percentage, around 15%.
Percentage-based fees.
Where the scope is limited, specialist or difficult to define in advance, we may work on a time basis. Hourly rates reflect the complexity and scale of the task and the experience required to carry it out.
This can suit surveys, feasibility work, specialist advice, Party Wall matters, additional design work or queries outside an agreed staged appointment.
Time-based fees.
These percentages are a guide rather than a quotation. Every project is assessed individually and the written fee proposal for that commission sets the agreed scope and fee basis.
PROFESSIONAL FRAMEWORK
A RIBA Chartered Practice.
RIBA Chartered Practice status reflects standards for the professional management of an architectural practice. It sits alongside the project-specific framework of the RIBA Plan of Work.
Our architects are registered with the Architects Registration Board and work within the professional and ethical requirements that apply to architects in the UK.
Bolans is a RIBA Chartered Practice. We structure our architectural appointments with reference to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 — the industry framework that organises a project from Strategic Definition through design, construction, handover and use.
The framework gives clients and project teams a shared understanding of where decisions sit, what information is required and how responsibility changes as the project develops.
Not every commission needs every stage. We tailor the scope to the project, but where we remain involved throughout, continuity helps protect the architectural idea as planning, regulation, procurement and construction introduce increasing levels of complexity.
Tell us where you are in the process.
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