Design and Build Definition
Design and Build: A popular method of procurement under which the contractor completes the design started by the designers of the employer. Flexible, because the initial design can be as little as a performance specification (and sometimes not even that) or a fully developed set of scheme drawings. Cost-effective, because the price is fixed: provided the employer doesn't make Changes to the Employer's Requirements (i.e. variations).
Under design and build, the designers do the initial design; and the contractor completes the design and constructs the works.
A design and build contract comprises articles of agreement and conditions of contract, Employer's Requirements, Contractor's Proposals and a Contract Sum Analysis.
Where the contractor agrees to take responsibility for the Employer's Requirements, it is usual for the building contract to provide for him to take over the designers' appointments, stepping into the employer's shoes by way of a deed of novation. The designers may then be required to give a warranty to the employer.
The JCT produces the most widely used design and build contract, called JCT 98 WCD (i.e. With Contractor's Design).
It also publishes a variant of its main traditional-procurement forms of contract, called JCT 98 With Contractor's Designed Portion Supplement, which requires the contractor to complete the design of pre-defined elements.
