A day in the life of an office fit out design manager

I started my career in interior architecture, as I always wanted to work in design. Although I really liked the creative process as a designer, I also found a lot of satisfaction from seeing projects literally grow from the drawing through to completion.

I love the process in construction — finding solutions to problems and resolving them in a creative way.

Okay, so what does a design manager do?

Fundamentally, the role of a design manager is sleeves rolled up on site supporting the whole team to deliver the project. It’s much more than that for me.

I feel my role is pivotal to the construction face of a project. I have an interaction with the designers, a relationship with the project managers and client team whilst supporting my own construction team. It’s a multifaceted enabling and coordinating role.

What do you do on site to enhance the delivery of an office fit out?

At the preconstruction procurement phase, I help scope the packages and plug any gaps by working closely with the commercial team to build a robust procurement package and ascertain interfaces between different packages and subcontractors. Potential issues are identified and de-risked at an early stage to try to mitigate issues on site during construction.

For the architects and designers, I become an additional resource — their onsite eyes and ears. I support them with guidance and advice and maintain the integrity of the design by relaying it to the construction team and subcontractors. I bring together the lead designer, the services designers, structural engineers, and specialist designers to ensure a coordinated scheme is prepared and ready to build to.

With the construction team on site, I have to plug in the information they need and support them where necessary, discussing sequencing, buildability and quality. Our construction teams know how to build a great quality project, but not necessarily how to make it elegant. My principle is to ‘build what’s right, not what’s easy’.

The ability to build relationships and adapt, chameleon-like, your approach in a very short space of time is definitely a skill a design manager needs. You need to be able to instil confidence in the consultants, so they know where you’re coming from and trust you.

It’s not just about populating a schedule, organising meetings and having a chat, it’s the emotional intelligence of consciously building relationships. Sometimes it works but everyone is different so it’s always good to take the time to read them and adopt the relevant approach.

I care about people, so I make a conscious effort to speak to everyone from the security team to the site secretary and the delivery driver. I like making that contribution to a relationship and then using it to bring everyone together as a team.