Assessing important qualities of the design team in managing client´s brief

Development of sufficient brief is crucial to ensure successful achievement of expected outcomes of construction projects. The client is responsible for delivering required information during briefing. However, their lack of knowledge and experience is a barrier to active involvement during briefing. The paper presents the findings of the questionnaire survey of 104 consultant architects on the importance of client´s participation during the briefing process and highlights the qualities of the design team as pre-requisites for improving the attributes of clients during briefing. In this study, the design team includes architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. Five related variables tested were found significant to influence client attributes. These are experience, competency, commitment, ability to understand the client and teamwork within the design team. These key qualities facilitate the design team in understanding the client and fostering teamwork which leads to consequential enhancement of brief development.