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Briefing is the process of identifying and defining the client's requirements in the early design stage of a construction project. Previous research revealed that there are problems in the existing briefing practice. Recent investigations into the variables of briefing have led people to question whether the value management methodology can be applied in project briefing to improve the briefing practice. This paper describes a research project which seeks to establish a value management framework for project briefing to systematically identify and clarify client requirements, and represent these requirements precisely and explicitly to facilitate the design process. The research methodology and interim findings are presented in the paper. It is revealed that the theoretical foundation of the research supports the use of value management to the briefing process. Further validation of the proposed framework will be completed by conducting questionnaire survey and real-life case studies.

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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.

Purpose -To identify the management tools and variables that impact briefing, assess the nature of current briefing practices, review the need for more structured techniques and determine the place of facilities management in briefing. Design/methodology/approach -A detailed literature review to analyse and critique the briefing process was followed by a brainstorming session to explore relevant technical frameworks. A questionnaire survey investigated opinions of structured approaches to briefing. Findings -The facilities manager operating within the strategic framework of the client organisation and having the necessary skills is a natural choice as brief writer. Facilities managers' involvement is not strongly reflected in this research, indicating perhaps that they do not consider briefing a natural role or that they do not possess the skills for its undertaking. It is concluded that while briefing remains an unstructured investigative process, the skills for which are learned through experience, then architects and project managers will continue to dominate the activity. Practical implications -Currently, briefing is unstructured, iterative, and uses a variety of media for its exposition. More formalised processes recognising strategic and project briefing are advocated in the literature. Options for improvement include a structured approach to investigative briefing and facilitated value management. Originality/value -The limited involvement of facilities managers in briefing prompted this research. This paper identifies the structure and variables impacting the briefing process and concludes with options for formalised approaches to briefing.

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Construction project briefing is a complex and dynamic process which involves identifying and conveying clients' actual needs and requirements accurately to the project team. The briefing process is critical to the successful delivery of a construction project and there are many limitations inhibiting its effectiveness. A study of factors which could contribute to a successful briefing (in this study referred to as critical success factors, CSFs) will enable special attention to be paid to those areas which could improve its performance. The objectives of this study are to identify, categorise and prioritise a general set of critical success factors for construction project briefing. This study is intended to complement the existing but limited research into the identification of such factors and to serve as a stepping stone to the identification and establishment of yardsticks which could be used by construction practitioners on all projects in future. A questionnaire was used to collect opinions from experienced construction practitioners. Thirty-seven factors were identified and coded, and the content analysis yielded five major categories. They include project-related factors, human-related factors, process-related factors, inputrelated factors and output-related factors. Thirty-six percent of respondents identified 'open and effective communication' as the most frequently mentioned factor critical to briefing. Other important factors, in descending order of importance, include such as 'clear and precise briefing documents,' 'clear intention and objectives of client' and 'clear project goal and objectives'. This set of critical success factors can serve as a checklist for practitioners when conducting a briefing in their construction projects. The results of the questionnaire survey generally in line with the findings of a validation exercise by focus group meeting.

Value management is a project-focused process that makes explicit and appraises the functional benefits of a product, process or service consistent with a value system determined by the client. The value system of the client necessarily requires a method for value setting using harder performance variables than the commonly described facets of time, cost and quality. Current value theory is critically appraised in the context of current value management practice. The research proposition is that the constituent parts of time, cost and quality can be made overt enabling a client to express satisfaction in terms of a finite number of variables enabling the explicit statement of client value within a value management workshop. An action research study into the discovery of the component parts of the client's value system at the early stages of construction projects concludes that the variables are the nine non-correlated, high order, discretionary performance variables of capital expenditure, operational expenditure, time, esteem, environment, exchange, politics/community, flexibility and comfort.Value management, client, function analysis, quality, value,