An empirical study of the variables affecting construction project briefing/architectural programming

Briefing is the process of identifying and articulating client requirements in the early design process of a construction project. It is crucial to the success of construction projects. The importance of effective briefing has been emphasised in many research studies during the past two decades. However, many problems still exist in current briefing practice. The inadequacy of briefing may be attributed to the lack of a comprehensive framework for identifying the requirements of clients. A more holistic approach to tackle the problems is required. The objective of this paper is to develop and validate a theoretical framework for construction project briefing. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the significance of 13 variables identified in the research study and their related attributes to the briefing process. The survey results indicate that all these 13 variables which have an impact on the briefing process are significant. Major findings regarding the elements of briefing is that the client should determine the time at which the brief becomes fixed and secondly the brief should be fixed before detail design commences. Significant variables and attributes will be considered and used in drafting a comprehensive and practical framework for systematic identification and representation of client requirements in the briefing process.