ABSTRACT
Principles of the design and build system Design economy Procedures, responsibilities and progress Extent of contractor's design Competition and financial control
The first chapter reviews the aims of employers and some of the contractual frameworks within which these may be met. The key principle of design and build, as against other frameworks, is that it simplifies the central contractual position to that between employer and contractor, without mediating consultants. This is achieved by allocating all design responsibility and liability in a thoroughgoing case to the contractor alone. Design and construction are contractually one 'package' supplied from contractor to employer, whatever each may arrange with their own supporting consultants acting 'behind' them. Communications across the contract divide are reduced to a single channel, which itself is a virtue. It is not concerned with further channels between each party and his consultants.
