Episode 130 - *Bonus* RIBA Exam Past Paper 2022 Analysis (Q6,7 &8)

Hi and welcome to the part three with me podcast. The show that helps part three students jumpstart into their careers as qualified architects and also to provide refresher episodes for practicing architects and your host Maria Skudari. And this week is part three of the past paper exam analysis where I will be running through an exam past paper to give you a better insight of things look out for and how you can start to answer the exam questions. Now as mentioned in the previous episodes, the paper I'm running through today is the RABA examination paper from autumn 2022 and today I will be covering questions 6, 7 and 8 and we'll follow up with the final two questions in the next episode. So I ran through the scenario and projects in episode 128 so I would recommend listening to it to refresh your memory on those. The projects covered in this paper is a science park, a student center, a performing arts center and a retail park. Just as a general note, the answers I'm providing are just guidance on some of the information you could provide and respond with but you could of course add more information to reinforce them and go into more depth. The aim of these episodes is just to get you to start thinking how you would start tackling the questions. Now let's dive into question 6. So you receive an email from Sue regarding the new science park project. Now the project has moved forward and NDG has been formally appointed to carry out the master plan and the initial stage of work has commenced. So soon forms you that the practice is working on the early stages of a master plan for a new science park on a disused airfield outside Rochester. Due to the size of the project there are two client stakeholders, an insurance company funding the project and our client the development company. The client has appointed an employer's agent and project manager to manage the development and the practice has been appointed as the lead designer and architect. Now the design team at this stage of the project includes a cost consultant, a planning consultant, a structural engineer and an MEP engineer. There has been keen interest in the sustainability aspect for this project. Given you have specific interest and knowledge of the topic, Sue was wondering if you could look at the issue through fresh eyes on behalf of the practice and she asks you to kindly draft a brief note on NDG's approach to sustainability, making reference to the profession's goals and any wider goals that could be utilized as a summary statement in future bids and submissions. It would be interesting to hear your suggested benchmark for the science park project as there is currently a lot of discussion regarding the standards to be set and ultimately achieved for this project. So having set your thoughts down on paper regarding NDG's approach, she would like you then to consider the current discussion regarding this major project. As some background information the office has prepared a number of schematic options for this project to achieve a zero-carbon approach and the cost consultant has provided a cost report with an estimated cost plan for each option which have been presented to the client. However, at the last development team meeting, the project manager expressed concern on behalf of the client about the risks associated with the development. The funders taking into account the short-term forecast for very low economic growth are worried about the viability of the project and are demanding a higher rate of return on their investment. This therefore requires a review of each option for the project and the cost plans. As a result, the practice has been instructed to change the current approach to sustainability and to downgrade the goals for the project in order to save money. The project manager has made it clear that the project risks being postponed indefinitely unless savings can be made. She would therefore appreciate your views on the matters relating to what professional ethical issues does the office need to address. The second is give two examples of sustainability aspects that could add value for the client in achieving a net zero-carbon approach and the third query is what options are available to the practice and what would be your recommendations. So looking at the response to question six, before we dive into how we would go about responding, let's refresh our memories on the scenario information which mentions that the practice had submitted an initial PQQ for the development of a master plan and the faced implementation of a new science park of a disused airfield outside Manchester. There are two stakeholders and insurance company funding the project and the development company delivering the buildings and infrastructure and NDG have been appointed as lead designers and architect and are at the initial stages of the project. Now reverting back to the question, it places an initial query within the main body of the question for you to provide a brief note on NDG's approach to sustainability, making reference to the profession's goals and any wider goals that could be utilised as a summary statement in future bits and also submissions. So remember to always read the questions very carefully and look out for any smaller subquestions within the main body of the question like this one. So for this initial query, you would start by responding to Susie email expressing your gratitude for the opportunity and for coming to you to put the Office of Sustainability Strategy which you will gladly put together. Then you can say please see attached to the email, the summary statement for her review and to let you know if she has any comments. So you will then start the statement itself by stating that as an RIBA chartered practice, NDG follow the RIBA's 2030 climate challenge, demonstrating their commitment and promoting of sustainable development. Also as a chartered practice, NDG adhere to principle two regarding having due consideration of the practice's environmental impact of their professional activities by having an environmental management policy in place, guided by the ARB's sustainability competence guidelines and the RIBA's sustainability outcomes which are aligned with the UN sustainable development goals. So then you can continue to say that at NDG we work closely with our clients to identify sustainability drivers and establish sustainability policies, objectives and targets for proposed developments that respond to the global climate and biodiversity emergency. So we would advise our clients on the need for specialist advice to safeguard the environment, ecology and biodiversity promoting sustainable design and development principles by developing alongside them a written sustainability strategy tailored to each individual project. So that's briefly what you could mention in terms of the sustainability summary, note that you consent to suit to review and to share with the rest of the office that could potentially accompany future bids or future projects. Now next we will move on to the rest of the three queries relating to the science park more specifically. So for these queries she didn't mention what format the response should take so you can simply respond back as an email. So under the first query relating to the professional ethical issues the practice needs to address with regards to the science park specifically. Here I would recommend referring to the RIBA ethical guide as well as the RIBA code of practice. So before we move to those there was also a sub note within the main question where Sue mentioned that she would be interested to hear your suggested benchmark for the science park. Now there are a number of different routes you can recommend the science park can follow such as achieving pream certification but this can be quite a costly route and given the project manager and client have asked the practice to review the current approach to sustainability and downgrade the goals then the practice will need to recommend alternative less costly approaches by tackling the buildings fabric and mechanical systems maybe which will make the most positive impact to the buildings embodied and operational carbon and improve the internal environment for users and staff alike. This could be through referring to the RIBA 2030 climate challenge and sustainable outcomes. Then you would link this with the professional ethical issues that the office needs to address in response of being asked to have sustainability take back seeds. So as mentioned in the summary now earlier as an RIBA charted practice and DG must adhere to the RIBA code of practice in considering the impact of their professional activities including the impact of each project on the natural environment which also links to the practices effects from their professional activities and completed projects on users the local community and society. Here you can also refer to the RIBA ethical guide to expand further on the environmental and societal duties we have as professionals. So with this in mind we could have recommended we have a meeting with both the client and the project manager to review the options and their associated costs and review potential systems or alternative approaches to assist in achieving the sustainability ambitions for the project. It would also be worth highlighting to the client that although some upfront costs may be required it will be offset in the long term by the efficient operation of the building. Therefore maybe a specialist can be brought on board to undertake some initial calculations to highlight the benefits to the client of investing in sustainable systems. Then regarding the following query relating to providing two examples of sustainability aspects that could add value for the client in achieving a net zero carbon approach. Here there are of course a number of solutions again you can recommend some of which could be utilizing a fabric first approach to have an efficient building envelope and significantly limit any heat loss which as a result will reduce operational energy and therefore reducing the client's annual bills and maintenance costs. Also they can utilize renewable energy technologies allowing them to store excess energy and reuse it therefore further decreasing their operational costs. Some other options also include rainwater harvesting sustainable material choices and so on. And lastly on the final query it requests that you provide your thoughts on the options available to the practice and what would be your recommendations. So for this query I assumed that they mean what the options are when it comes to taking on the project or not given the drastic change to the sustainability strategy and if this is something the practice can support. So you could mention here that the options they would have is firstly presenting the various scenarios and long-term benefits in adopting sustainable practices to the client and try to persuade them and educate them on such practices. Then we can also be transparent with the client and explain that removing all sustainability targets goes against the practices ethos goals and professional codes of conduct and that it would be difficult for NDG to progress with the project if all sustainability aspects were removed. Therefore the best route forward ensuring NDG remain involved is to assist the client in any way they can to find the most cost effective way to make the building as sustainable as possible within the budget the client is comfortable with ensuring the relationship with the client is maintained and NDG uphold their values and codes of conduct in which case probably setting up a meeting would be the best approach to run through these various options. So for this answer your resources would have been the ARB and RABA codes of conduct, the RABA ethical guide, the RAB 2030 climate challenge, the RABA sustainable outcomes, ARB climate change and sustainability strategy and the letty guides. So that captures briefly what you could mention for question six. Now let's move on to question seven. So under this question you receive an email from Belinda regarding the new five-story office building project in Manchester City Centre. The project has moved forward to the end of stage three and planning has been submitted and approved by the local authority. So Belinda mentions that basing the project on undergoing traditional procurement it was tended with a set of detailed drawings and a specification package. The tender submission accepted by the client was just within the six million pretender estimate provided by the cost consultant. However the client has been persuaded by his newly appointed in-house project manager to progress the scheme using a JCT PPC 2000 contract on the basis that this can be open book and any savings achieved by alternative specifications and suppliers can be shared with the client. So the project manager has suggested that NDG have used Rolls Royce products and has also commented that the external envelope is to be constructed in a very old fashion manner whereas the use of an SFS frame and a different manufacturer for the curtain walling could be considered. Then the project manager has further stated that there should be no contractor designed elements and NDG should be asked to look at alternative specifications and details. So in order to keep the client happy NDG agreed with this arrangement and the cost consultant also seems to feel the project manager's suggestion is a viable approach. However so far we have drawn up three different sets of details for roofing as well as for alternative external wall envelope specifications. So the contractor can obtain alternative quotations from their supply chain and decide what is most cost-effective proposals. There will then almost certainly be changes in detail as a result of the chosen specification and there is also talk about looking into future alternatives for internal components and finishes. So the client at this stage appears delighted with this approach and the initial indications are that there are indeed savings to be made relative to NDG specification. So they have already saved 10,000 pounds using vibro compaction for the foundations rather than piles. However we are now three months into the contract and this process is expanding a lot of resources and time. So at the moment it has taken 15 person days undertaken by Doreen Patel at £450 per day charge out rate when we thought we already had produced the finalized construction information. So we have made an initial approach to the client who is unsympathetic to our request for additional fees pointing out that this is only happening because our original specification was so extravagant. So Ray Sharp stated that he is actually looking forward to the fee reducing as a result of the savings since it's on a percentage basis. So when securing this commission, Belinda used the information you provided as the basis of our professional services contract with Ray Sharp back in day one on the question two and she asks you to draft a letter to the client making a case for additional fees with full justification in order to cover the extra work we have carried out so far. You will also want to refer to possible future alternatives with which we may get involved exploring further options. The letter will need to be firm but diplomatic since this is an important client to NDG. So looking at the response to this question, first let's refresh our memories on the scenario information and question two from day one. So the project is with a longstanding client of NDGs and they want to develop a five-story office building of a simple rectangular form with two stair cores and toilet facilities located on each floor. Now the question two is when you were required to put together a fee from the resources needed to deliver the project and then convert it to a percentage fee based on a six million pound construction cost. You were also required to recommend a suitable RIB professional services contract under question two. Also setting out our schedule of services and provide the list of caveats and qualifications explaining the basis on which the fee was calculated. So as the question requests you would write a draft letter to the client but first it would be best practice to also write a short email back to Belinda outlining your thoughts on the matter. You would essentially outline what was provided in your email to her in question two which we covered in episode 128 whereby we broke down the fees per stage on the provided time scales and stated how many people were allocated on each stage and the estimated dedicated time of each staff member to be spent on each stage. Then you would remind her that we made a list of caveats within our fee where we mentioned that any additional changes made to the design post planning consent would be subject to an additional fee. Therefore it was made clear within our fee proposal that any changes would be chargeable and based on the scope of services set out in our RIB standard professional services contract. This falls outside of our agreed scope. So the contract also states on the close 5.5. If the architect or consultant is involved in extra work or incurs extra expenses for reasons beyond the architect or consultant's reasonable control, additional fees shall be calculated on a time basis in accordance with closes 5.2.4 at the rates set out in item G of the contract details unless otherwise agreed. So matters in relation to which the architect or consultant shall be entitled to additional fees include but are not limited to the cost of any work, installation or equipment in connection with the architect or consultant performed services is not included in the construction cost and the under close 5.52 the architect or consultant is required to vary any service already commenced or complete or to provide a new design after the client has authorised development of an approved design. Also under close 5.53 the nature of the project reasonably requires that substantial parts of the design are not comprised or that they are specified provisionally or approximately before construction commences. Then you would proceed to say please see attached the draft letter to the client for your consideration. So you would set up your template to be in letter format and start by saying, "Dear Mr Ray, I'm writing with regards to the new 5-story office building in the centre of Rochester. It has been a great process and experience working collaboratively with you and the team to achieve the aspiring outcome for the construction of the new 5-story office building in Manchester City Centre." As your architect, NDG has been diligently exercising reasonable skill and care to ensure that the project's requirements are achieved in a timely manner and with adequate quality. So this letter is to inform you that due to the alternative detailing and specification requirements that we have had to prepare to assist with cost savings, these works fall outside of our original agreed scope of services outlined within our professional services agreement. So we would therefore like to discuss the next steps regarding our additional fees incurred. We understand that in part we may have caused the delay to the project due to the specification of certain items and as a gesture of goodwill, we would like to reach a joint agreement with you regarding next steps and additional fee payments. As you can understand, in order to obtain cost-effective proposals from the contractor supply chain, we have to undertake a strict exercise and produce three different sets of details for roofing and four alternative external wall specifications. These amendments have proven to achieve further savings to the overall construction budget that we will share with you in due course. However, as our originally agreed construction information has been signed off, the additional changes resulted in extra work to the practice and hence falls outside of our originally agreed scope. So we had mentioned in our fee proposal to you that any additional changes made to the design post planning consent would be subject to an additional fee and as stated within our professional services agreement, close 5.5, if the architect or consultant is involved in extra work or incurs extra expenses for reasons beyond the architect or consultant's reasonable control, additional fees shall be calculated on a time basis in accordance with clauses 5.2.4 at the rates set out in item g of the contract details unless otherwise agreed. With matters in relation to which the architect or consultant shall be entitled to additional fees include, but are not limited to close 5.5.1, the cost of any work installation or equipment in connection with which the architect or consultant performs services is not included in the construction cost, close 5.52 where the client or consultant is required to vary any service already commenced or completed or to providing new design after the client has authorized development of an approved design and under close 5.53 where the nature of the project reasonably requires that substantial parts of the design are not comprised or that they are specified provisionally or approximately before construction commences. Therefore we would like to request that we arrange a meeting in the first instance to run through the additional works undertaken and to come to a joint agreement regarding additional fees. Currently the additional resources expended on the project have been 6,750 pounds but as you are a valuable client to us as a gesture of goodwill we would be open to the discussion of reviewing a reduced fee. Additionally you can mention to the client that we would like this opportunity to clarify the percentage fee matter as you mentioned that you are looking forward to our fee reducing as a result of the overall savings made on the project as it's based on a percentage basis. Although the construction budget may have reduced we feel that we have demonstrated great flexibility and have been very accommodating and providing the additional services required and we feel some additional fees are justified. As we anticipate further alternatives may be required we would like to discuss with you the available options of undertaking these on a time-charge basis or we would be happy to set a fixed fee based on agreed deliverables and then you would conclude the letter to say we appreciate your patience and understanding on this matter and look forward to receiving your availability regarding arranging a meeting. So for this answer your resources would have been your answer from question 2 and the RIBA Standard Professional Services contract. So that briefly covers what you could mention for question 7 in terms of recovering fees and lastly moving to question 8 you receive an email from Michael regarding the Joint International Center for Matches to University and Matches to College. It has been decided that we will now be exploring the option of retaining and refurbishing the existing building and developing an initial concept. It was also opportune to revisit the site and building and remind ourselves of the challenges ahead. As part of this question a series of photographs were attached of the state of the existing building which was in a very bad state with crumbling ceilings, mold, cracked staircases and cracked external render. So the chair of the group wants NDG to proceed as was outlined at the meeting. So whilst the appointment is formalized for NDG as lead consultant architect and conservation architect Michael would like you to give some detailed consideration regarding the following points. The first one is who else should be involved in recording and understanding the existing building, its detail and condition. And the second key point is for you to look at the state's team at matches to college that require a permit to work to be issued before we and/or the specialist team can gain further independent entry to the building. So we need to put together a simple document that sets out the hazards and risks, general and site specific procedures that need to be followed. So they ask you to make a start on the document so we can brief Sven who will assist in assembling the final information but has yet to visit the site and building. And one final note that's provided in the question is that matches the college will be providing the principal designer services and will invariably be looking to our team to provide information for the pre-construction information pack as we move into detailed and technical design. So before we start looking at the response let's refresh our memories on the scenario information which mentions that matches the university and matches the college are eager to establish a single centre for the management of international students matters and inquiries. It was being considered to use a dilapidated three-story grade two-star listed late Georgian building, formerly the home of an architect of Manchester, sits within the campus of Manchester College and has been identified in a recent master planning study as a significant heritage asset and a potential building that could be reutilised. NDG have been shortlisted for interview and have been asked to bring along any initial thoughts regarding the threats and opportunities of the site and building. As the question mentions you are required to provide two separate items, the first being an email response back to Michael addressing the first query on who should be involved in recording and understanding the existing building and under the second query you are required to essentially put together a risk assessment identifying the hazards and risks general and site specific procedures that need to be followed which will ultimately be used for the pre-construction information. So starting with the first query you would respond back to Michael in an email format mentioning that it's great news that the clients would like NDG to explore the next steps of the proposal and retaining the existing building in terms of who else needs to be involved in recording and understanding the existing building. It's detail and condition. We would recommend first and foremost a structure engineer will be required to identify the current structural condition of the building and identify any urgent repairs and replacements of relevant components of the building including floors, roofs, stairs and so on. They will also be able to provide accurate and detail calculations for the load requirements for the new extension. Then we would recommend a building survey should be involved to undertake a measured building survey. Next an ecologist would be crucial to the renovations in order to assess the presence of bats and birds. A cost consultant should also be brought on board to provide initial advice to the clients of the forecasted costs to bring the building up to standards, then an asbestos survey should be arranged as it's suspected that this building is pre-2000s and will therefore have asbestos present. A survey should also be engaged to investigate for mode and to treat it accordingly. Also an arbitrary cultural list may also be required as the images provided with the question show some trees adjacent to the site. So it would be beneficial to have the surveyed to determine that our proposal will not impede within any root protection areas. As NDG will be appointed as the conservation architect, a heritage consultant will most likely not be required as long as NDG can carry out the heritage statement unless if they require assistance in which case they may consult with a heritage consultant to assess the significance of the building and what interventions can be made without affecting its character. If access to the site is also affected, then a high-risk consultant should also be appointed to advise on access placement and size. So that's the first query. Now moving on to the second query, you can mention with the email to Michael that you have attached the designer risk assessment for the project, identifying the key hazards and risks general and site-specific procedures that can be shared with his van in preparation for his site visit which he can add to following his visit prior to sharing with the college to be added within their pre-construction information given they are undertaking the principal designer role. So for the risk assessment, I would recommend you visit the Health and Safety Executives website if you don't have a template where they have a ready templates of risk assessments. So within the assessment, you will need to identify what the hazards are, the risk rating, typically highlighted in red, amber or green, depending on the severity of the hazard, then it would be followed by the proposed mitigation strategy, residual risk and its status whether the hazard or risk is still active or if it has been addressed. Now looking at the hazards and risks specific for this project to be included within the risk assessment, I would suggest the first to be included is the potential presence of asbestos containing material as a hazard whereby a survey would be arranged to determine its presence and then subsequent removal. The second I would say is exposure to life services within any walls or underground within the direct working areas which should be mitigated by carrying out a survey and implementing appropriate controls by a competent person to isolate them. The third I would say is ground risks including water, biological hazards and obstructions in the ground whereby a full sign investigation should be carried out to identify such hazards and address them as required. The fourth would be safe side access which will be down to the contractor to implement a suitable traffic management plan. The fifth would be risk of collapse of walls, floors, roofs and so on given the dilapidated state of the interior whereby temporary props and scaffolding should be put in place to stabilize the various elements and ensure that personnel wear PPE at all times. The sixth item would be the presence of hazardous substances whereby the contractor should provide a COSH risk assessment for any activity that could produce airborne hazardous dust and suitable segregation measures should be put in place. The seventh would of course be far safety ensuring adequate means of detection and warning others of fire are put in place and everyone should have a site induction and be made aware of the fire exits and assembly points. The eighth would be risks of falls from height whereby the principal contractor needs to range for suitable work at heights access via appropriate mobile plant and/or scaffolding installed by a competent contractor. The ninth item would be if present working nearby tree roots that could impact the building whereby suitable foundations should be designed and installed to ensure the building will not be affected in the short and long term and the tenth would be potential presence of bats whereby all works will need to be stopped until a licensed ecologist attends site and removes them safely. I'm sure there will be a lot more hazards that need to be considered but I just provided a few to give you an indication of what these could include given there have been a number of risk assessment questions in the last few papers. For this answer your resources would have been the Health and Safety Executives website. So that covers today's questions that I wanted to discuss. Dreaming next week to run through the final two questions 9 and 10 and that concludes today's episode. If you would like to get in contact with me please feel free to email me on the address provided in the show notes. Thank you for listening. This is an educational show aimed at supporting the future generation of architects. The information opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. Please join me next week for some more part three with me time.