Critique by Professor Donald Bishop (formerly Head of the Building Research Establishment)
A splendid publication: real quality.
At first I leafed through a few pages then, caught by the quality and vitality of the exchanges between Waterhouse and his clients, I avidly read every page. This book has many lessons:
– a good client team, able to respond to demands made on them, quickly and exactly;
– a very able architect who respected his clients’ views without being dominated by them;
– the rapid flow of correspondence. (Why do we need computers, e-mail and fax?);
– an impression of mutual respect for the contribution of others – builders and craftsmen;
– few reports of mistakes and of problems that had to be put right;
– short elapsed time, despite no heavy plant or mechanical aids
– correspondence that is succinct and free from jargon;
– in short, a model project.
I am impressed. All project-based education for architects, surveyors and builders could benefit from this get-up-and-go account, free from all the complexity and waffle of modern management systems!