In the first stages of construction or any redevelopment project, selecting the site is essential. This is where the architect steps in to determine the viability of the potential site for construction. It is only after the approval of the site by the architect that the client can go ahead with the work as decided. Architects should be called in at the beginning of every commercial real estate project to save time and money from being wasted.
Eugene Bernshtam– How do architects add value to commercial real estate projects?
Eugene Bernshtam is a project manager living in the United States of America. He is a fan of music, design, and entrepreneurship and is interested in movies and arts. According to him, once the potential site for construction has been identified, the architect needs to make a conceptual budget that generally falls in the 15-25% of the costs of the final budget. The client can understand the other hidden cost variables of the project early.
The inputs provided by the architect are also an indispensable piece of information for the agent or real estate company to advise a client on the correct site for the desired construction project. After the site has been approved, the building details need to be fine-tuned for budget accuracy.
Developing the layout of the site and the building schemes
The architect develops the layout and building schemes during the conceptual building and design phase. There are special conditions like environment considerations and other mandatory variances that might have hidden variables. They need to be detected and taken into consideration during this stage.
The architect will develop the site layout and schemes during the conceptual building and site design phase. Special conditions, such as environmental considerations and required variances that had been unknown variables, are also identified and considered during this phase. Once these special conditions are determined, the architect can refine the project budget.
Phase for detail programming
When the project reaches the phase for detail programming, both the real estate agent and the architect need to work to define their goals and predictions for growth, functional building, and a strategy for building owners. Once these priorities and needs have been detected, the time comes to add a general contractor to the project team and proceed to the schematic design of the construction project.
According to Eugene Bernshtam, when, the project comes to the design development and the schematic design stage; the team needs to work with the client to develop a site strategy for the building. Once this site plan and the floor plan for the building have been established, the team goes ahead to reconcile the project’s budget by developing a customized program to narrow down the specified parameters for installation.
The architect has to work together with the client to refine the strategy of the building by advising them on the design decisions that remain. Once they have been made, the project can be reduced to about 10% of its actual costs. It is here that the architect has sufficient information for generating the construction documents needed for the final design to be implemented.
