Teamwork made easy

A new type of workshop is set to make the design of sustainable building easier. BRE is now trailing a type of US-style collaboration workshop called a “charrette” for the first time in UK. If it is successful, it should help design teams reap the enormous benefits to be had from collaboration and help make sustainable construction a reality.

Charrettes have become popular in the USA as a means of encouraging public involvement in large-scale developments and community regeneration. Bill Lennertz, of the US National Charrette Institute, says: “In the USA, people are tired of bad development and bad process. The public have become disillusioned with previous design processes which were supposed to be collaborative, but weren’t. The charrette is used to bring about transformative change; to overcome deadlocks with local public objections to development.”

In the USA, the charrette lasts up to five days, and the team includes architects and engineers who draw up proposed designs at the end of each day’s consultation with locals. Feedback is then given the next day, and the design is refined to a final, agreed outcome. “The ultimate goal of the charrette is to minimise rework. This reduces the overall workload; projects are designed faster and we get it right first time,” explains Lennertz.

Dr David Strong, managing director of BRE’s energy division, has adapted the US version for the UK market. Strong realised that if that if a charrette could save a lot of work on a large-scale development though facilitating collaborative working, it could also save time on individual buildings. “Reworking takes time so why not use this at the start of an individual project instead to get the design right from the outset and so cut the amount of rework?”

A single building charrette works by bringing together all the interested parties, including the developer, client, architect and specialist engineers. A facilitator is at the heart of the charrette, ensuring that all views are explored. “BRE’s charrettes last between one and three days,” says Strong. “A huge amount can be achieved in a single day, but the expert facilitators are essential to attaining this goal.”

For many industries, a creative workshop isn’t anything new, yet for construction it could be revolutionary. A charrette offers a fast, managed and, crucially, collaborative way of getting things done, which makes it particularly useful for the development of sustainable buildings. “We need to leave behind the egos of architects and other designers to integrate all aspects of the design to create more sustainable buildings,” says Strong. For example, facade design is linked to issues such as lighting, heating and cooling and all members of the team must agree on an approach to the facade to create a truly energy efficient building.

But will the UK construction industry take to charrettes? The key issue is cost. Creative workshops aren’t going to be high on the shopping list of a major developer at the outset of a big project. However, BRE’s Strong says the corporate social responsibility factor will encourage responsible clients to knock heads together: “It will be a major reputation issue. Greenwash won’t be possible any more. Some of the outrageous claims made on behalf of some London buildings simply won’t wear in the future. If you claim it’s a green building, it had better be green.”

Ironically, the charrette, which is intended to compress creative design into a time-saving process, also compresses many of construction’s main challenges – inability to collaborate, lack of trust, demarcation of skills, and a blame culture. Whoever the charrette facilitators are, they’re going to have to be very good to overcome these problems in just a few hours when others have been trying for so many years. But perhaps having a team in one room, with egos left at the door will be a good start.