ABSTRACT
Virtually all of the schools in Scotland in which the defects such as bed-joint reinforcement, were identified had been constructed using a design and build contract, either directly or as part of a wider Private finance initiative procurement process. The architects and other members of the design team in these cases had been employed directly by the building contractor, who was responsible for determining their terms of appointment. In a large percentage of cases, often in an attempt to transfer all design and construction risk away from themselves, public-sector clients had decided not to employ a professional team to undertake independent scrutiny of the quality and compliance of the work on their behalf. A largely unseen consequence of the increasing use of terms of appointments that only require and provide for very limited attendances on site by design team members is a deskilling of the professions.
