Cost exercises
The RIBA Plan of Work published by the RIBA in 2020 suggests that cost exercises are: ‘Exercises used to develop the Cost Plan and to verify that the Outline Specification for the Building Systems meets the available Project Budget.’
It proposes that the goal of cost exercises during spatial coordination (Stage 3) is to allow more detailed aspects of the design to be tested, and that design studies are a good way of developing specific aspects of building systems and determining their affordability. This process may require input from suppliers or specialist subcontractors.
It also suggests that cost exercises might result in increased costs, but that these should be balanced by a reduction in the project contingency due to greater certainty regarding detail as the project progresses.
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