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Engaging a professional team

Once you have identified the land, you will need before you can buy it to engage an architect to design a scheme and secure planning permission.

You need to take care when engaging with professionals in order to ensure you find a firm both experienced and sympathetic to the CLT’s cause and mission to provide affordable housing. The design of your homes and the cost of their construction will impact significantly on your business plan and the affordability of the homes. The professional advice and expertise you access should understand that this is paramount. It is imperative to recognise that different architects will be skilled in different areas of design and consequently you must ensure you engage with one who is sympathetic to, and has experience of, the aims of developing affordable housing. An architect experienced in developing open market housing may not recognise the particularities and financial margins which affordable homes are typically subject to. Developing a clear and specific brief for your appointed professionals to work to will help establish an understanding of your project's needs and avoid any disconnect with your budget when it comes to construction. The supporting resources to the DTA’s ‘So You Want to Build a House’ guide provide an example.

As well as an architect you may need other design professionals such as an engineer especially if there are difficult ground conditions or obstacles. Wild-life surveys, noise surveys and traffic investigations may also be needed. Your architect should be able to advise on which other professionals you will need to engage having spoken with the planners.

You will also need to allow for the cost of investigating the site: a site survey to determine the levels will be needed and a soil survey to find out about ground conditions.

You will of course also need to employ consultants you can help you decide what the scheme is going to cost. A quantity surveyor will be needed to prepare a specification for pricing and to estimate the cost if you are following the conventional contract route (see Managing the build process). Normally a QS should be able to provide an estimate prior to purchase for a nominal cost but a full appointment would then follow after the land is bought.

If you decide to follow the design and build route, it will be the developer who takes over the employment of the architect (to whom the architect is “novated” to take over all liabilities) once planning is obtained and a specification written. In this you need an “Employer’s Agent” a role generally taken on buy quantity surveying firms They will take care of the administration of the contract and help complete the “employer’s requirements” (mainly the drawings and the specification) to which the developer responds with contractor’s proposals.

Please see the Asset Transfer Unit's guide to 'Appointing Professionals' for a guide to the process which will ensure the services you acquire are tailor-made to your needs. (http://atu.org.uk/Support/wiki/AppointingProfessionals)