Supporting our client's design team on United Utilities' projects

CASE STUDY: October 2024 • 12 months

Our client, a major organisation with a large in-house design team, faced a shortfall in capacity after securing a significant number of new opportunities, all requiring design outputs within overlapping timeframes. To overcome this challenge, they commissioned us to provide on-site support, embedding a Design Manager directly into their office. This enabled seamless collaboration, real-time coordination across multiple projects, and ensured that design deliverables were completed on time, to specification, and in line with regulatory and client standards.  

Project scope:

We were able to integrate into the client’s established design team and provide hands-on leadership across several live projects. The scope included managing design integration, ensuring regulatory compliance, coordinating multi-disciplinary teams, conducting constructability reviews, maintaining design intent, and managing communications with stakeholders. 

What we delivered: 

Our Design Manager became an extension of the established design office, delivering the following: 

• Systematic delivery of the design process, ensuring consistency, efficiency and compliance with internal standards

• Oversight of regulatory compliance, including advising on and submitting applications where required

• Leadership of design reviews, ensuring that design intent was maintained throughout

• Contribution to value engineering, identifying opportunities for cost and time savings through practical design improvements 

• Stakeholder communication, keeping all parties informed of progress, highlighting issues early and enabling joint resolution

• Coordination of internal multi-disciplinary teams, preventing scope drift and maintaining focus on project objectives

• Management of the design schedule, ensuring that outputs were completed on time and in line with specifications

Benefits/successes: 

The Procter Street integration delivered a wide range of tangible benefits: 

• Dedicated Design Manager capacity during a period of resource pressure

• Developed and maintained a clear design programme and project deliverables schedule 

• Ensured compliance with our client's client, United Utilities, including signature designs and standards, strengthening technical credibility

• Coordinated design partners to ensure that documents were submitted in accordance with the BIM Execution Plan

• Conducted buildability reviews in the capacity of Principal Contractor and Principal Designer, identifying risks and improving constructability 

• Delivered value-engineered solutions that reduced cost and shortened delivery timescales 

• Enhanced the client’s ability to meet multiple deadlines concurrently without compromising on quality or compliance

Background information

The client already had a highly skilled and well-developed design office but faced an exceptional period of demand, with multiple design projects needing to be completed within a 12-month timeframe. While the team had the expertise, the sheer volume of work risked overstretching internal resources. 

Procter Street was able to provide an immediate solution by embedding a Design Manager within the client’s office. This arrangement ensured full integration with client systems, processes, and ways of working, while also allowing the internal design team to access support in real time. Our presence not only alleviated short-term capacity pressures but also added specialist design management expertise, helping the client maintain delivery standards and deadlines across all concurrent projects.