judith strong: prequalification in the uk and selection procedures
• An announcement is placed in the press (or in OJEU for countries within EU jurisdiction) • Documentation (rules of entry and an initial brief ) is sent to anyone expressing an interest • An independent jury with relevant expertise is appointed to assess the competition entries. EU rules require at least a third of the members to have qualifications comparable to those required of competitors. • Proposals are submitted anonymously “without any indication as to the authorship of each proposal” and in accordance with the specification detailed in the rules of entry. • The jury assesses each entry according to criteria listed in the documentation and, in the case of EU Design Contests published in OJEU. This is a straightforward and open form of competition which, when properly organised, results in the promoter being presented with an outline design which is judged to provide the best solution to the brief set. The promoter can then agree the terms of appointment and work with the selected team to develop the design. This format has been widely used and continues to be particularly appropriate where: • the client is seeking innovative solutions to a specific problem • a number of different organisations are involved either as funders or as end users • the project is a significant building of public interest • a site of special interest is being developed. Design Contests can be run in one or more stages. Two-stage competitions provide the promoter with a wide choice of design approaches while limiting the amount of detailed design work that competitors have to produce. While there are several advantages to having an initial design stage, one of the factors which deters clients from using this system is the amount of time involved. The process of double briefing and assessment - plus the time allowed for design work – extends the total timescale beyond that which many would find acceptable. Increasingly clients are by-passing the initial design stage and using various forms of selection to move straight to the more detailed “second stage” – a format which used to be known as an Invited Competition. In EU design contests the promoter is permitted to restrict the number of persons invited to partici142
architectural competitions – histories and practice