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4.3 Preparing the project specification

.3.1 Specification Coordinator

On larger projects the specification process is likely to be complex, and requires positive and timely management. Each of the design disciplines will wish to retain technical control of their respective specification sections, but this should not be confused with management control. A Specification Coordinator for the project as a whole should be appointed at an early date, by agreement between the various disciplines.

The specification and drawings will be produced in parallel and are likely to involve the same personnel, so the Specification Coordinator and the Design Team Leader (see Section 2.4.8) will need to collaborate closely, and may well be one and the same person. The Specification Coordinator should be given the power and responsibility to manage all stages of the specification process, including:

Deciding who is to do what, and when;
Monitoring progress and ensuring that target dates are met;
Ensuring that technical and editorial checking of drafts is carried out;
Ensuring that the whole specification document is consistent with the design aims and the drawings, and is appropriate to the nature of the project.

4.3.2 Planning and control

Positive steps should be taken to ensure that the specification sections prepared by the different design disciplines are technically and editorially consistent:

This will be greatly facilitated if the same specification library system is used for the whole project. If the selected system does not cover all the required sections, it can be used as a style model for drafting those that are missing.
The design team should review and determine technical strategy for the project, particularly the priority balance between cost, time and quality. The review may consider the use of performance specification, proprietary product specification, and specification of alternatives.
The procurement route and form of contract should be decided in good time, and preliminaries and general conditions should be drafted early. All work sections can then be drafted in a known context.
Presentation issues such as font, spacing and page layout, if decided early, can be used for all drafts as well as for the final production document.

From the outset the project specification should be established as a single multi-disciplinary document, held centrally with rights of electronic access assigned to the personnel involved in the project. Rights to edit the document should be restricted to particular people on a section-by-section basis. There should be strict section-by-section 'version' control, identification and storage. The specification sections may be included in a Specification Register, and subjected to the same document management procedures as the Drawings Register (see Section 2.4.7).

One of the major failings of past practice was that the specification was started far too late, with inadequate time left for the task. Firm specification decisions start to be made at an early stage (e.g. during the obtaining of statutory approvals) and most are likely to be completed during detailed design. To enable this to happen the project specification should be set up before the start of detailed design.

Programming the completion of the specification should also occur before the start of detailed design:

A list of sections required for the project should be prepared, responsibility for them allocated, sequence (where it matters) determined and durations predicted.
Sections that need early action should be identified and programmed accordingly. These may include demolition, site clearance, site preparation, piling, items with a long delivery period, and items or systems that must be resolved before related design work can proceed.
If the method of procurement involves the use of discrete work packages, the scope and sequence of these should be determined and the programme structured accordingly. Different versions of the same work section may be included in different work packages.
The specification programme should be coordinated with the drawings programme. Certain parts of the drawings may involve design interactions with certain specification sections, in which case they should be prepared concurrently.
The preparation of a list of cross-references (see Section 4.1.5) will mean that drawings annotation and completion of bill of quantities items can, if desired, proceed in advance of completion of the specification.
The programming of resources should be realistic, and include for both technical investigation and checking. However, it should be kept reasonably simple.

4.3.3 Procedure

Historically, it was common practice to copy sections from the specifications for previous projects in the belief that they are technically sound. There is the obvious danger that the specification will be out of date and not appropriate for the current project. However, on serial contracts, or very similar projects with little time difference, using the previous project specification as the basis may be appropriate. If and when this procedure is used, the technical content should be reviewed and checked thoroughly.

In other circumstances it is better to use the specification library system or a suitable up to date office version of it as the basis for specifying. The procedure will be basically the same for each section. It should start with general familiarisation with the clauses, guidance and reference documents, a task that will vary in difficulty according to one's current knowledge.

This newly acquired knowledge may prompt revision of certain design assumptions and may affect the drawings as well as the specification. The choice of products and methods of construction should be reviewed in the context of user requirements and budget.

Specification decisions should be recorded at the time they are made, using the specification library system to build up the specification clause by clause. Guidance notes should be checked, and relevant Standards and manufacturer's literature consulted. Clauses for systems, work types, equipment and accessories should be considered at an early stage so that cross-references can be used on drawings and in bills of quantities (see Section 4.1.5).

In using the specification system it is importnat to be both decisive and clear; there is little point in producing a specification that fails to do this. Compare the following inserts (in italics) into the same basic clause:

PRESERVATIVE TREATMENT FOR TIMBER:
- Preservative: to approval
- Application: pressure

PRESERVATIVE TREATMENT FOR TRUSSES AND PURLINS:
- Preservative: Protim 80
- Application: Medium hazard specification of Protim Ltd

The project specification may be prepared intermittently over several days or even weeks. At the end of the process it is important to check through to ensure that the specification has been completed. Each section should be reviewed in general terms - is it too onerous? - is it insufficiently detailed? - is it affordable? - is the quality high enough?

After the authors of the various sections have checked for completion the project specification should be subjected to a separate checking process. Checking can be time consuming, so it is vital that the process is managed carefully:

The programme should allow adequate time for checking - if the programme is running late it may not be done. If it can't be done before tender, it should be done before construction, and instructions issued to give effect to any changes.
Prevention is better than cure, so time invested in producing thorough office version(s) of the specification system is likely to be repaid at checking stage.
It will normally be better for checking to be performed by someone other than the author. People who have special subject knowledge can check different sections. Some people have a natural ability to spot errors.
Although it would be wrong to rely on this as the only method of checking, the quantity surveyor and/or the project manager is likely to be the first 'user' of the specification, and is likely to find at least some of any errors. Time should be allowed for these to be resolved before the specification is finalised.
Rather than random sample checking, it is better to concentrate the available time where it will be of most benefit, e.g. large scale or high value types of work, and sections prepared by less experienced staff.
Full use should be made of the system software to highlight incomplete clauses, 'special' clauses and clauses affected by a system update.
Changes to the specification consequent upon checking should be agreed with or at least explained to the author (as appropriate).
Each office should have a formal system for 'signing off' specification sections by the author and checker.

After completion the specification will be used as a tender document and subsequently become one of the contract documents. During the course of construction the employer or design team may initiate changes, e.g. substituting one product for another. To give effect to these the relevant specification sections should be amended and reissued, under cover of an instruction listing the clauses that have been altered, deleted or added.

The specification will be a fundamental part of the 'as built' information to be provided to the employer after completion. This 'final' version of the specification may be prepared by the design team or the constructor. It should include any changes instructed by the designers, and any decisions by the constructor, e.g.:

STAINLESS STEEL WIDGETS: to BS EN 2468, reversible type with side outlet, colour to approval. Brand chosen by contractor: Bloggs Superflow RS756.'

4.3.4 Presentation

The specification must have the status of a contract document. Under the JCT With Quantities form of contract this can be by assigning it as one of the Contract Bills.

A typical design office may produce hundreds or even thousands of pages of project specification in one year. It is therefore worth standardising practice on such things as fonts, margins, headings, continuation headings, indenting, spacing and page numbering, insisting on high visual standards.

To make it easier to divide up the contents of the specification for distribution to specialists and subcontractors each work section should start on a new page; the alternative of running the sections on will usually give only a small reduction in the number of pages. Printing on both sides of the paper will reduce the apparent size.

Given that each section starts on a new page, each page in the specification will be devoted to only one section. This means that each page can be 'flagged' by giving the work section number in the top outside corner to help users find sections quickly.

A contents page or pages should be provided, preferably with sections indexed to page numbers. Page numbers should run consecutively through the document to facilitate checking that pages are not missing.

The specification and the bill of quantities (if provided) should be in separate volumes so that they can be opened side by side to make it easier to read them together. Thumbing backwards and forwards within a single volume can be inconvenient.

Traditionally, copies of the project specification are printed for the client, for formal submission, tender, contractual and record purposes, and to provide working copies for the project manager, all consultants, the clerk of works and the constructor(s). In addition to bound reference copies, a number of loosely tagged copies are provided for splitting up and distributing to specialists and subcontractors. The total number of copies can thus be between 30 and 50, and even then it may prove necessary to photocopy selected parts.

Consideration should be given to providing the specification and bill of quantities electronically (in a form which prevents corruption of the text) so the tendering constructors can more easily divide up the information for distribution, electronically or on paper, to specialists, subcontractors and suppliers. During construction, all parties will then have access to the documents on screen, printing copies of relevant parts if and when required. Copies of the documents can be made as required for contractual or other purposes.

Provision of both bills of quantities and specification in electronic form means that the former can include specification references hyperlinked to the latter, significantly enhancing the convenience in use of the documentation.

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