ABSTRACT
The strategic brief and outline case is prepared at Stage 0. The architects bidding for work must satisfy themselves that all possible aspects of the work have been covered. According to the experience of healthcare architects, surprisingly a lot of health projects don’t come with an adequate brief. Instead, the architects are required to work out the priorities for the brief. They have to stack up the business case and propose challenges to the client, such as showing where space can be saved though design. While a healthcare organisation might commonly say they want a ‘world class facility’, they will have financial constraints to consider. In any case, architects need to ensure that proper engagement with the users and stakeholders is carried out by the trust before the design brief is signed off, otherwise the planning process might turn out to be fractious, expensive and longer than usual.
