We were asked by the Writtle School of Design, Writtle College, to lecture undergraduates and postgraduates as part of their Professional Practice module. We provided two lectures, the first of which focussed on public sector procurement for designers and the second on setting up a new business against a background of difficult economic conditions.
The first lecture explored:
The importance of procurement to built environment professionals
The theory behind procurement and competitive markets
The various types of procurement processes
Typical procurement documents and requirements
Identifying and taking part in procurement processes
The importance of understanding procurement for the design professional.
We drew on our extensive experience of procuring a range of services on behalf of both the public and private sector from international landscape design competitions and multi-million pound OJEU developer procurements to appointing contractors and procuring studies and reports such as transport assessments planning applications and feasibility studies.
The second lecture explored:
Rationales for starting a new business
Important steps in business planning
Understanding business finance
Understanding the market
Preparing and implementing marketing and communication strategies.
Emphasis was placed on the current dynamism of the built environment sector and how the market might finally be stabilising after five years of instability.
