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building, on a “good” site, may attract a higher rent than his own brilliant design on a "not so good" site.
The awful fact that cost and value are different things is a sobering truth for the student to reflect upon, but his reaction need never be one of frustration if he can learn that other simple truth; that "good design need not be expensive design."
The R.I.B.A. itself, in the remark- ably frank and self critical report of 19621, commented that many build- ing developers regarded the architect as "a rather wayward character with no head for figures, little integrity and scant control of costs". The same report comments on the remedy avail- able to overcome at least part of this problem.
Cost planning
The remedy is, of course, cost-plan- ning, which enables the architect to allocate the money available in a way which will produce the most attrac- tive and balanced design within the predetermined cost-limit.
By using cost-planning techniques, the architect is able to avoid having to make panic-stricken attempts at savings near the end of the design process or even after the tenders have been taken. The brilliant achieve- ment of the British post-war school building programme has demonstrated the immense national benefits which may be attained through the use of the new techniques.
The rise in the cost of school build- ing during the period 1949 to 1957 was 22 per cent; if cost planning tech- niques had not been used, it is pos- sible that the rise would have been 55 per cent2. The cost of school building rose at a much lower rate than that of building in general and the schools produced were archi- tecturally acceptable.
The student of architecture must also understand that the object of cost planning is not to produce cheap build- ings. Any observer of the Hong Kong scene can readily appreciate that the local development industry needs lit- tle guidance in the matter of creating cheap building. The formula for suc- cess in this has been all too easily acquired in the recent past
with the object of creating a maximum rental area at minimum cost the de-
veloper followed the pattern of minimal internal planning standards, a reinforced concrete frame on a 12 ft. grid, the cheapest possible cladding. a roof finish which would require treatment within 10 years, a skimped approach to services (with a specially nightmare-inspiring electrical installa- tion), inadequate lifts, and a miserly standard of finishings.
The designer (whether architect or engineer) was the only professional commissioned; such specialists as quantity surveyors and consultant en- gineers were looked upon as frivolous and unnecessary appendages.
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Fifth year group research team-part of report for an emergency living unit to house disaster victims
30
"The Architect and his Office" R.I.B.A., 1962.
Far East BUILDER, June 1968.