dqi for education: guidancedqi.org.uk/perch/resources/dqi-schools-guidance-copy.pdfeducational...

DQI for Education: Guidance

01 September 2014

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DQI / DQI for Education: Guidance 01 September 2014

1. What is the Design Quality Indicator ........................................................................................................................... 2

2. What is Design Quality? ............................................................................................................................................... 3

3. Benefits.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

4. DQI Process................................................................................................................................................................... 5

5. Which Stakeholders should attend assessments?..................................................................................................... 7

6. DQI Outputs ................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Appendix 1 DQI and RIBA Stages...................................................................................................................................... 11

Appendix 2 Project Cycle 3 Stages ................................................................................................................................... 12

Appendix 3 Project Cycle 5 Stages ................................................................................................................................... 13

Contents

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What is the Design Quality Indicator?The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) is a process forevaluating and improving the design and constructionof new buildings and the refurbishment of existingbuildings.

DQI focuses on actively involving a wider group ofstakeholders in the design of buildings than is usuallythe case. It involves not only the design andconstruction teams but all those who will use, financeand be affected by the building.

DQI is designed to set and track design quality at allkey stages of a building’s development andincorporates post-occupancy feedback. It plays afundamental role in contributing to the improveddesign, long term functionality and sustainability ofbuilding projects

Why improve ‘design quality’?Evidence shows that patients recover faster in betterdesigned hospitals, children score higher in qualitydesigned schools and well designed neighbourhoodsresult in lower crime. In short, investing in high qualitybuildings can improve the welfare of business andsociety.

DQI in numbers In use for 11 years Used on over 1,400 projects Engaged over 7,000 stakeholders

Used on 55% new build, 10% refurbishment, 35%mixed.

Has 3 questions sets to date DQI General, DQI forSchools and DQI for Health.

DQI, Recommended by others‘The Green Book Appraisal and Evaluation inCentral Government’ HM Treasury (2013).

DQI improves benchmarking quality Identifying opportunities in design. Reduce whole life costs Increase value of investment Capture post occupancy feedback

‘Creating Excellent Buildings: A guide for Clients’Commission for Architecture and the BuiltEnvironment (2011)DQI. ’Highlights strengths and weaknesses’ (in design).

‘Achieving Excellence in ConstructionProcurement Guide: Design Quality’ Office ofGovernment Commerce (2009)DQI ‘Increase value of investment’ and ‘Engage allstakeholders’

DQI for EducationDQI for Education was commission by the Departmentfor Education and launched in 2005. It was usedextensively though the Building Schools of the Futureprogramme, It has been utilised on over 800educational facilitates across the UK to date. The DQI

for Schools shares around 90% of indicators in the DQIbut has allowed emphasis to be put on the spacesfound in schools, such as teaching spaces, halls, staffareas, school grounds and dining areas, and therelationship between the school and the community it ispart of

Creating a common languageThe DQI process is an inclusive process thatestablishes a Briefing Record as a firm platform fromwhich stakeholders can agree common goals,interrogate designs, and demand excellence fromsuppliers. It is at its most effective when as wide auser group as possible becomes involved.

Representatives from both the supply and the demandside of a project take part and it is in this way that DQIcan really help people work together to achieve thebest building possible.

The Design Quality Indicator empowers the building’sstakeholder community by providing a structured wayto talk about their new building. By encouragingeffective communication between suppliers and theeventual users of the building, the process helpssuppliers deliver excellent buildings attuned more tousers’ needs

1. What is the Design Quality Indicator

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The 10 aspects of the design quality framework thatDQI established, and has become the foundation forthe industry is set out below.

FunctionalityFunctionality is concerned with the arrangement,quantity and inter-relationship of spaces, and how thebuilding is designed to be useful.

1. Access is concerned with how easy it is for allpeople to get to, and around the building

2. Space is about the size and interrelationship of thebuilding's rooms or component spaces

3. Uses is concerned with how well the buildingcaters for the functions it may accommodateoriginally and in the future.

Build QualityBuild Quality stems from how well the building isconstructed: its structure, fabric, finishes and fittings, itsengineering systems, the co-ordination of all these andhow well they perform.

4. Performance is concerned with the building'smechanical, environmental and safety systems.

5. Engineering looks at the quality of the building'scomponents.

6. Construction is concerned with how well thebuilding is put together.

ImpactImpact includes a building’s ability to delight, tointrigue, to create a sense of place, and uplift the localcommunity and environment. Also the design’scontribution to the arts and science of building andarchitecture.

7. Urban and Social Integration is concerned withthe relationship of the building with its surroundings

8. Internal Environment is concerned with thequality inside the building’s envelope. Thequantitative aspects of some of these elements aredealt with under Performance

9. Form and Materials is concerned with thebuilding's physical composition, scale andconfiguration within its boundaries

10. Character and Innovation is concerned with whatpeople think of the overall building.

Where these aspects overlap there is opportunity foradvanced results. Where all three aspects areconsidered and managed there is the opportunity for‘inspired’ quality

2. What is Design Quality?

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General Benefits: Enables a simple and objective assessment of

design quality Clarifies the design process by providing a

common language shared by all stakeholders Empowers stakeholders to set and manage

aspirations Ensures user briefing requirements are integrated

in later stages Engenders sense of ownership of the building Simple to incorporate in all common forms of

procurement Process outcomes are quickly available in visual

form to facilitate discussion and agreement Helps develop a shared vision for the whole project Clarifies the project brief Facilitates periodic testing of original aspirations Provides a structured framework for a good value

design Can reduce whole life cost of the building Reduces user complaints Supports BREEAM and energy efficiency

Users / Occupiers: Helps all stakeholders to communicate their needs

and aspirations to the designers Provides end-user engagement without reliance on

expert criteria that people feel excluded from Improves functional efficiency of working space Increases staff productivity

Enhances the quality of space

“...DQI raised my knowledge ofplans for the project and helpeddevelop a sense of ownership andcommitment to the building – it wasnice to be asked and I felt like I hadmore of a stake in the project.”

Estates / Facilities Managers: Helps develop a more sustainable building Incorporates post-occupancy feedback Helps avoid duplication, encourages

standardisation and associated savings Ensures future proofing and avoids costly bespoke

solutions Assists integration of experience from previous

projects across the education sector Facilitates participation in briefing discussions and

communication with the designers and otherstakeholders

“… the DQI session left thearchitects with a goodunderstanding of what we wanted…we are the people who are left withthe building in the end – we have themost at stake in ensuring thebuilding is fit for purpose.”

Designers: Helps all stakeholders to communicate their needs

and aspirations to the designers Clarifies the project brief and why it is required Minimises design errors Environmental issues are highlighted early The briefing session provides a structure through

which different parties communicate collectively

Project Managers / Delivery partners:

Manages stakeholder engagement in a structuredand recorded way

Clarifies the project brief Enables a comparative assessment of demand

and supply side requirements Allows useful analysis and performance checks

throughout the delivery process

3. Benefits

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Introducing the DQI process to the construction ofa new building or the refurbishment of an existingbuilding will dramatically improve the quality of thefinal product.

The DQI process consists of a series of 5 workshopslinked to the industry phases of a building project –Briefing, Concept Design, Detailed Design, Ready forOccupation, and In-use. See Appendix 1.

At each stage there is a formal workshop and it isrecommended that a day is allocated to the workshop .These workshops enable DQI to record whatparticipants think about the building or design andpresent this information in clear and consistent way.

Representatives of the demand and all the supply sidestakeholders participate in the workshops. The eventsare prepared and facilitated by an independent DQIFacilitator who is accredited by the ConstructionIndustry Council.

DQI QuestionnaireAt the heart of the process is the DQI questionnairethat is used to structure workshop presentations,discussions and reporting. The questionnaire is acomprehensive, non-technical set of statements underthree main headings, Functionality, Build Quality andImpact. Together they measure all the factorsapplicable to the design quality of most buildings.

An Example of the question set is in Appendix 4.

The 5 stages are as follows:

Stage 1. BriefingAt the Briefing workshop the stakeholders debate andagree their aspirations for the project. The DQIFacilitator documents their consensus as to what theproject should achieve in the form of a Briefing Record.This document contributes to the project design briefand becomes a benchmark against which to evaluatethe design at later DQI Stage workshops

Stage 2 & 3 DesignAt Concept Design (DQI Stage 2) and Detailed Design(DQI Stage 3) workshop participants will receive apresentation of the current design proposals at a levelof detail appropriate to the stage reached.Presentations should cover all design and constructiondisciplines and be accessible to a lay audience.

The aim of these workshops is to enable participants tocompare their respective opinions of the designproposals and to help them identify the strengths andweaknesses of the scheme relative to the targets set inthe Briefing Record.

Stage 4. Ready for OccupationAt the Ready for Occupation (stage 4) stage theworkshop takes form of a physical walk around theproject as well as the workshop setting. As part of thisprocess the project supply team members explain theoperation of the occupied building and prepares thedemand side for occupations.

Stage 5 In UseThe In Use Assessment (Stage 5) is recommended tobe undertaken 12 months after the project has beenoccupied and at the end of any defect liability periodthe supply team may have. This is in order for theissues o quality and defects not to be mistaken.

TimingTo gain the greatest benefits and DQI should beintroduced at an earliest stage possible in the process.However, DQI can equally be introduced at any stagethe project if you have already commenced the briefingor design.

The outputs from each stage help inform the process ofdesigning a better building.

AccreditedBy successfully undertaking all three to five DQIStages a project receives the Construction IndustryCouncil’s DQI badge of Accreditation

At the WorkshopAt the assessment workshop the DQI AccreditedFacilitator use their knowledge of the DQI process toformulate and deliver the structure needed for meetinginteractions to be effective. The Facilitator focuses ongroup dynamics and interaction, ensuring theworkshops participants focus on the content and thesubstance of DQI Questions.

4. DQI Process

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Facilitators will also bring understanding andexperience of the briefing, design and buildingprocurement processes. This will help stakeholderswho are unfamiliar with project process, design andconstruction jargon

DQI OutputsIt should be noted that participants often comment thatsimply bringing the stakeholder community together todiscuss their respective views of a project, in a waythat otherwise seldom happens, is reward in itself forthe few hours invested in attending the workshops.

The DQI Facilitator is responsible for applying the DQIanalysis tool to the data collected during the workshopto prepare a Workshop Report. This includes simplegraphical representations and a narrative thatcompares the views of different participants andmeasures stakeholder assessments against theiraspirations at Briefing. The Workshop Report willcontribute to the development of the design and thesuccess of the final scheme.

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DQI focuses the design and construction team on theneeds of the end user, resulting in a building tuned touser requirements. It does this by balancing thetradition influence and impact positions of the groupsas shown in the table on the right.

Using DQI creates a sense of ownership by engagingusers throughout the process from briefing to postoccupation It also helps ddisseminates feedback andlearning for future projects because it captures howimprovements are made and helps to develop a moresustainable building in response to user expectations

Once your project has commissioned the use of DQI,the Accredited Facilitator will work with you to ensurethe relevant individuals attend the workshop. This will,in part, depend on the nature of the project, the stageof the assessment and the number of team memberswho are already associated with it. An example ofsome of those who are likely to attend one, more, or allof the assessments include:

Organisation’s Project Leads Project Director Project Manager Head of Finance Head of Estates Head of Facilities

Other Stakeholders Client representative(s) Local Authority representative Guvnors Pupils Parents Association Representatives Teaching Staff Management Teams

Organisation’s External Advisors Cost Advisor Architect Planner Lead contractor Any specialist that may be required

5. Which Stakeholders should attend assessments?

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DQI Briefing

Sets stakeholder aspirations Achieves consensus throughout the group Creates a DQI Briefing record of issues and

images that have been discussed and that haveinformed decisions

All outputs and notes from the Briefing session arerecorded in the DQI Facilitator’s report and can beused as part of the output specification documentation.

In the briefing record are set benchmarks against theframework established by the DQI Working Group.These targets can be adjusted to suit the aspirations ofthe project. If this is the case the Facilitator will workwith you to update selected section questions underthe following headings

Required. Compliance with standards andregulations.

Desired. Above plus the setting targets beyond theminimum.

Inspired. Above plus setting exceptional targets. Not applicable: Where the question is not relevant

to the project.

The Briefing target and default line illustrates targetsfor the project in all the different sections andcompares it with the original DQI Benchmark.

6. DQI Outputs

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DQI AssessmentThe DQI outputs at the assessment stages include thefollowing:

Section Scores Section Scores Weighted Quality Dimensions Supporting Report

Quality DimensionsThe Quality Dimensions graph illustrates the overallDQI priorities and it is scaled between 0% to 100%. Itvisualises two sets of results; firstly it takes intoaccount the overall weightings allocated toFunctionality, Build Quality and Impact. The length ofthe segment shows the importance of that dimensioncompared to the others two. Secondly the darkercolour of the segment summarises how well theparticipants scored the building or design against thequestions within that dimension.

Section ScoresThe Section Scores graph is a spider diagram scaledbetween 0 and 6. This graph displays the average of allthe selected participants' answers to each section. Thehigher the score (the further out) the better theparticipants felt the design or building was achievingthat characteristic. The graph provides an idea of howwell a building or design is thought to have performedin each section.

This graph can be set out to show two sets of data (amain group and a sub group). It can be used to see thedifferent scoring of groups such as designers vs usersand to highlight where there are significant differencesin views.

Section Scores, WeightedThe Section Scores Weighted graph is weighted usingthe data given by participants at the end of the mainsections. This graph allows the team to see the mostimportant sections (the overall length of the white bar)and how well the building/design is performing againsteach section (the dark bar). The project teams aretherefore able to see which areas specifically can beimproved to deliver great design. The scale of thisgraph is not set and can vary due to the originalweighting provided.

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Target line

The Target line graph is generated by comparing theresults achieved by the design or building in the DQIAssessment tool, with the active Briefing Record tags -Required, Desired, Inspired and Not Applicable. This isdone using an algorithm which weights the resultsdepending upon the tags; it will not weigh anystatements that are tagged Not Applicable.

The target line is the maximum the design or buildingcan achieve. The green bars display the results fromthe assessment and highlight where a building or adesign is:

doing very well and meeting, or nearly meeting thetarget line, so participants feel the building is notonly achieving what is Required, but excelling inthe Desired and Inspired statements to help delivera building of distinction (example 1)

achieving the Required characteristics to deliver abuilding which fulfils its purpose (example 2)

underachieving on what participants want fromtheir building (example 3)

There may be several assessments associated with aparticular project and results can be compared.

Any statements that were tagged as Required butwhich participants felt have not been achieved arelisted above the target line graph. This list should betaken seriously and particularly during the design stagethese should form an action for design development.

Follow Up Assessments/ActionsThe DQI Report is issued to the Client within 14 daysof the workshop being held.

Observations highlighted in the report are of a specificmoment if time of the design/construction process. Theopportunity to improve quality occurs betweenAssessments based on the actions the project teamtake to address shortfalls following the informationprovide in the report.

Each Report forms the basis of the followingAssessment.

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The 5 stages of DQI mapped against the 2013 RIBAPlan of work is below:

Appendix 1 DQI and RIBA Stages

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Appendix 2 Project Cycle 3 Stages

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Appendix 3 Project Cycle 5 Stages

dqi for education: guidancedqi.org.uk/perch/resources/dqi-schools-guidance-copy.pdfeducational...

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