To continuously improve engineering construction quality and building quality, and to give full play to the professional and technical advantages and leading role in management and coordination of architects and their teams in engineering design or design consulting, cost consulting, project management, engineering supervision, and other aspects, Jiangsu, Chongqing, Shandong, Tibet, Shaanxi, and other regions have issued implementation plans for the architect responsibility system, adhering to the principle of piloting first and promoting industry transformation and upgrading.

"One-stop" responsibility ensures quality

Strolling among the academic buildings of the campus, a modern ecological campus unfolds before one's eyes. Recently, the Konggang Branch project of Jiangsu Province Meicun Senior High School was officially delivered for use. From planning and design, construction to final presentation, the entire process was personally "directed" by the architect team, with "one-stop" responsibility carried through to the end.

"This is Wuxi's first 'architect responsibility system' model project, with the architect team responsible for the entire process from design and construction to completion and delivery, embedding the design concept of a modern ecological campus into every brick and tile," introduced a relevant person in charge of the Wuxi Construction Management Center. The project was personally "directed" by the team of Academician He Jingtang, the "master of campus architectural design," with the "Meiyuan" academic ring—65 meters in inner diameter and 85 meters in outer diameter—as the planning core, adopting a surrounding sequential spatial layout to connect teaching, leisure, office, sports, residential, and other functions.

The architect "tracked" the project throughout, witnessing the construction project transform from a planning blueprint into a beautiful reality. A relevant person from the Municipal Construction Management Center said that Wuxi's key construction projects are actively exploring the "architect responsibility system." Since the launch of construction on this model project, the architect team has taken "one-stop" responsibility; for example, in material selection, the team specially sent personnel to the raw material manufacturer to place precisely color-matched materials in a simulated outdoor environment, subjecting them to repeated wind, sun, and rain to test their temperature and water resistance, ultimately selecting the product closest to the design parameters.

"One-stop" responsibility ensures stable and traceable building quality. "From macroscopic campus planning to architecture, landscape, and even detailed signage and furniture design, all are finely controlled, and the selection of major building materials is signed and confirmed by the architect team," said a relevant person in charge of the architect team. Good architectural design concepts are difficult for construction units to present alone; under the guidance of architects, not only can high-quality buildings be jointly constructed, but if problems arise during subsequent use, they can also be clearly traced. Next, the "architect responsibility system" will be promoted and applied in more key public construction projects in Wuxi.

Digital management promotes development

In the Jiangjin District Xiangtang Area infrastructure improvement project in Chongqing—the health and wellness center and the Jiangjin District Maternal and Child Health Hospital construction project (outpatient building)—as Chongqing's second batch of pilot projects for the architect responsibility system in whole-process engineering consulting, the architect coordinated the design consulting team and participated in the entire construction process.

A relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission stated that the architect responsibility system is one of the business environment innovation and reform measures implemented in Chongqing's housing and urban-rural development field, which is conducive to promoting the digital management of drawings throughout the entire process of engineering construction projects and to promoting the high-quality development of the construction industry.

The implementation opinions on the pilot work of the architect responsibility system in whole-process engineering consulting issued by Chongqing propose that the responsible architect lead the team to provide services such as main body design and on-site technical cooperation, provide or comprehensively coordinate specialized designs such as curtain walls, fine decoration, intelligent systems, and BIM (Building Information Modeling), implement the technical coordination and quality management of the design consulting team, assist in design approval and permit applications, and undertake the review of construction drawing detailed designs completed by contractors. The construction drawing stage design focuses on solving building usage functions, quality value, and investment control, and promotes building refinement.

Taking the health and wellness center and the Jiangjin District Maternal and Child Health Hospital construction project (outpatient building) as an example, the project covers a total area of about 102 mu and is the largest health project built in Jiangjin District in recent years. According to the chief engineer of Tongyan Digital Intelligence Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd., which is responsible for the whole-process consulting of the project, during the pilot process, the architect coordinated the design consulting team to balance the technical and economic proportions according to the owner's needs, conducting full-discipline review of the preliminary design documents and construction drawing design documents, putting forward more than 400 optimization suggestions in total, solving problems of errors, omissions, collisions, and deficiencies in the professional design of architecture, structure, mechanical and electrical, HVAC, and other disciplines, and saving 4.8 million yuan in investment for the project. During construction, design consulting personnel were stationed on site, fully communicating with construction and design personnel to discover and solve drawing problems in advance. It is understood that since the start of construction, there has been no rework caused by construction according to erroneous drawings, which not only saved direct costs for the project but also saved a great deal of time.

Moreover, the project also actively explores the integrated innovation of digital-intelligent whole-process engineering consulting and the architect responsibility system. After the whole-process consulting unit entered the site, the collaborative management platform was officially launched. It covers all management objectives of project construction and can be updated and iterated according to project needs during implementation, multiplying the communication efficiency of all participating parties. At the same time, through the application of the collaborative management platform and BIM technology, smart construction featuring online processes, data visualization, lightweight models, and digital-intelligent management can be realized.

Optimizing processes saves time

In Jinan's first and Shandong Province's first batch of "architect responsibility system" pilot projects—the F-1 plot project in the starting area of the Jinan International Standard Land Investment Promotion Industrial Park—the transformation from "delivering drawings" to "delivering products" has been achieved, with an internationally aligned management model led by design and centered on investment control, greatly shortening the construction period, improving the efficiency of fund use, and enhancing the value of architects.

To ensure that the pilot work of the architect responsibility system is better rolled out and implemented, Shandong Province recently issued guiding opinions on implementing the architect responsibility system, proposing in the safeguard measures to optimize the approval process. After obtaining the plot planning conditions, architect responsibility system projects can carry out the scheme-stage bidding and entrust the architect team to carry out consulting services and architectural design. Before applying for a construction permit, the construction unit may, with a commitment letter to complete the construction drawing review qualification certificate within three months from the date of the permit and a commitment letter signed by the architect that the construction drawing design documents comply with laws and regulations, planning permit documents, and mandatory engineering construction standards, upload all construction drawings to the digital review system and handle the construction permit procedures under the tolerance-deficiency mechanism. If the construction unit fails to obtain the construction drawing review qualification certificate within three months, the housing and urban-rural development authority may order suspension of construction or revoke the construction permit. The construction unit may adopt the notification and commitment method to be exempted from work such as construction setting-out re-verification for individual buildings.

The Tibet Autonomous Region also proposed optimizing approval processing in its guiding opinions on the pilot architect responsibility system, encouraging relevant policies for optimizing the business environment in the Tibet Autonomous Region to be piloted first in pilot projects, and optimizing approval methods for pilot projects: after obtaining the plot regulatory detailed plan or the preliminary review opinion of "multi-plan integration," pilot projects can carry out scheme-stage bidding, entrust the architect team to carry out consulting services and architectural design, and handle project approval, planning approval, and commencement procedures; after the completion of pilot projects, the construction unit may, in accordance with the "multi-measurement integration" method, entrust a surveying and mapping unit with corresponding qualifications to carry out completion surveying and real estate surveying. Based on the results report of "multi-measurement integration," individual projects can be accepted upon application after completion.

The Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of the Xi'an High-tech Zone in Shaanxi Province, together with the Administrative Approval Service Bureau and the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, issued the "Implementation Plan for the Pilot Work of the Architect Responsibility System in the High-tech Zone (Trial)," officially launching the pilot reform of the architect responsibility system. After the reform is implemented, the approval procedures for pilot projects will be optimized in terms of project bidding, construction drawing design document review, and construction permit processing, effectively improving planning management efficiency and saving costs for construction units.