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Collinge W H and Harty C F (2013) Evolving designs and stakeholder contributions to the briefing process. In: Smith, S D and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (Eds.), Proceedings 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2013, Reading, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 137–146.

  • Type: Conference Proceedings
  • Keywords: briefing; hospitals; semiotics; stakeholders
  • ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-9552390-7-6
  • URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2013-0137-0146_Collinge_Harty.pdf
  • Abstract:

    This paper examines how client stakeholders engage with a project in the briefing phase through the artefacts of design. The significance of stakeholder engagement and interpretation of evolving designs is emphasized by empirical evidence drawn from a research study into hospital construction project briefing and design practices. The paper reflects that whilst both the NHS client and hospital design teams attempt to “engage” and “understand” stakeholders, stakeholders have the capacity to interpret designs with their own cognitive understandings. The semiotic theories of Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco concerning the role of author and reader of signs and lexicons of knowledge provide a supportive analytical framework for the insights of the paper. It is noted that whilst the constitution of the client and the parameters of a project affect stakeholder management practices, the role of evolving design artefacts and stakeholder engagement and interpretation of them should be recognised. Stakeholders relate to a project via the artefacts of design, interpreting issues against personal individual understandings that may be different to those of construction professionals or externally appointed project advisors. The paper makes the case for more inclusive participatory design initiatives to embrace diverse and insightful stakeholder opinions and interpretations.