Personal Appraisal Flashcards
What employment-related legislation is there?
- Employment Rights Act
- Employment Act
- Equality Act
- H&S Regs
- Also RIBA employment policy
RIBA also provides advice on Employment Law and Business for its members
You mentioned that clients refusing to pay fees is a common threat to small practices. What could you do to mitigate this risk or in the event that this happens?
- Try to foresee those types of risks as early as possible
- Negotiated deferral or legal action
- Prioritise which invoices to pursue - don’t want to waste practice resources on this
- Assess clients’ ability to pay fees > research. As a general rule, clients who show lack of trust in architect early on more likely to contest fees later on. Can also run credit checks on clients.
- Agree payment schedule and invoice promptly
- RIBA also provide more guidance and support for things like this to members
How did we go about setting up a business, invoicing and declaring tax etc and also fee calculation?
- Set up our own registered business and declared earnings for tax purposes but weren’t earning above threshold anyway.
- Fee was not well calculated and was v low because we knew it was a compromise for our clients and a good opportunity for us.
- Was lump sum
- In hindsight, would would out a lump sum by creating a more thorough list of tasks to be undertaken and would have a better idea, through experience, of how long would take. Establish charge out rates based on salaries (standard for part 1s from RIBA averages) and work out based on expected percentage of time spent.
- No formal appointment but weren’t registered architects so Architect’s Code not relevant.
How did we implement Building Regs/ London Housing Guide?
Eg
- Part K for stairs in dwellings eg riser and going dimensions and stair angle
- Part B for fire escape requirements
LHG
- Bedroom sizes
What do I mean by ‘fit for use’.
Although no statutory requirement to follow LHG, used this as a base line to ensure that the flats were adequate and appropriate in terms of sizes of spaces, circulation, layout ect. so that comfortable for use by as many users as poss within the constraints
Change of use from what to what? How does change of use work in terms of permissions?
Change of use application/ permission usually needed. In this case, granted as part of the main planning app. Use classes have been updated since this project. Was some confusion over use class and we may have had to resubmit the application because we thought it was agricultural (dairy barn) but hadn’t operated as a dairy barn for a number of years so was technically under another use class (maybe storage).
Location in a conservation area necessitated full planning approval – why? What constraints are associated with conservation area work?
Otherwise, we believed it may have been doable under permitted development rights. At the time, was aware of PD rights in relation to dwellings, but now understand that these differ for different types of development and use classes. We did get informal advice from planning. Contacted the planning officer responsible for the main, previous development.
I noted that Article 4 definitions were applicable, so these restrict external changes to a building in conservation area, and we knew we would be changing some openings, therefore required approval.
Why is contextualism an ethical issue?
I suppose similar to the reason why we list and protect buildings and heritage assets
- These are of specialist importance to communities, whether for social, historical or cultural reasons
- To ignore or destroy those things is doing a disservice to the communities that enjoy them and benefit from them
- Not just relevant listed or protected assets, can be relevant to any site.
- Communities have personal and collective associations and memories with the built environments around them. That deserves to be respected and taken into account.
Differences between working in a large vs small practice?
- Individuals often having more responsibility by the firm having less responsibility
- Mostly traditional projects in smaller (usually smaller practice means smaller projects)
- Could be a difference in construction experience
Key things learned from Dairy Project?
- Planning
- Working directly with clients and responding to and managing their expectations
What key things did you learn for Northumberlandia project?
- Designing for disassembly
- Adaptability/ working remotely
- Ecology
What key things did you learn at Hive?
- Broad range of things through independent working
- Planning processes
- Running a business through working in new practice (eg marketing, liaising with clients, invoicing and payment
- Technical design and independence in this area
What key things did you learn at Manchester?
- Importance of an informed, socially conscious approach. Taking cues from context and putting users needs and desires at the forefront.
- Eg the book factory
- How to be adaptable and resilient and open to constructive criticism.
What key things did you learn at Newcastle?
- Course had strong focus on theoretical background/ discussion and helped me analyse things more critically eg the architect’s role in society, what architecture is, setting a clear concept/ intention in design
Differences studying at Manchester vs Newcastle?
- Manchester more focused on graphic representation and visual communication
- Newcastle more focused on theoretical background/ discussion
- Neither particularly technical
