Around the Design&Build Concept – Interview with Konrad Krusiewicz
How does the design industry respond to the conditions of a pandemic era? What does implementing the design&build concept mean in practice? What is sustainable design? Konrad Krusiewicz, architect and CEO of The Design Group, answers these and other questions.
The pandemic brought and imposed changes across all industries. Planning in the design sector became faster, amplified by the sense that an online meeting can happen instantly. The office is becoming a place for building community and narrative – design has become human-centred.
The challenge with cost estimation mainly concerns the need to make quick decisions. If the decision to purchase a material is not made at the right moment – the price will change. It is better to accept the risk of increased costs during a project than to bear the cost of a price that suddenly rises by, say, 30%.
The design&build concept is addressed to a client who seeks a model of collaboration characterised by efficient and swift action, while being aware of and prepared to trust their partner. D&B is a form of collaboration ensuring comprehensive oversight of the realisation, focused on a single overriding interest – that of the investor.
Design&build is not a synonym for “cheap”. The guarantee of quality lies not so much in the concept itself as in choosing the right partner – much like choosing a hairdresser based on recommendations and a portfolio. The Design Group handles projects ranging from 500 sqm to 25,000 sqm (half a tower block).
Projects covering several hundred or several thousand square metres involve teams of several people. An advantage of D&B is the ease of cooperation – the entire project group meets under one roof, where a constant exchange of information takes place.
The design&build concept carries risks: communication errors, the design side pursuing its own interests at the client’s expense, the need to quickly decide on material substitutions. The D&B formula limits these problems, as no significant move is made without the investor’s knowledge.
Experienced clients have a financial buffer of between 10 and 15%. One of the most important pieces of advice for those embarking on a project under the D&B formula is to hire a project manager – for realisations worth tens of millions of zloty, this is crucial.
Konrad Krusiewicz is an architect, founder and owner of The Design Group architectural studio. He has been associated with the commercial real estate sector for over 15 years. Since 2015, the studio has completed over 400,000 sqm of design work across Poland.
