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The primary consultant, often the architect, is the consultant whose responsibilities include direction and coordination of the work of specialist consultants. The primary consultant is the main contact with the client.
A specialist consultant is a specialist in a particular field who may contribute to part of a design but generally not the whole design.
Typically, consultants may be engaged to provide specialist consulting services including:
- Access: providing access to the built environment for people with disabilities, guidance on best practice and regulatory compliance. See Acumen note Access design guide.
- Acoustic – prevention, absorption, reinforcement, generation and transmission of sound.
- Artists – mural works, sculpture works, artworks selections and installation, coordination with lighting consultant.
- BIM Consultant – review and ensure compliance with client’s BIM requirements.
- Building maintenance/roof access – fall restraint and arrest, safe access and building facade maintenance systems design.
- Building surveyors/certifiers – assessing plans for conformity with National Construction Code (NCC) and local authority requirements, pre-purchase inspections of buildings, issuing compliance certificates on completion. View Acumen note National Construction Code (NCC).
- Civil – earthworks, water supply, sewerage, site drainage, road works, parking areas.
- Costing specialists or Quantity surveyors – cost estimates, cost planning, compilation of bill of quantities, appraising tenders, measuring variations, assessing prolongation claims.
- Cultural engagement – First Nations stakeholder and community engagement, research and design solutions.
- Door hardware consultants – hardware selections, keying.
- Electrical/communications – lighting, power, emergency lighting and power, clocks, fire detectors, public address systems, call and warning systems, radio and TV installations, telephones and intercoms, sound systems, information technology and associated electrical and electronic systems.
- Energy consultants – energy rating determinations, thermal performance, achieving Section J compliance.
- Environmental engineering – contaminated land, air, water, soil and noise quality.
- Facade engineering – facade, waterproofing and design detailing and testing.
- Fire engineering – fire services design and planning. See Acumen note Fire safety engineering vs fire services engineering.
- Furniture and equipment procurers – design and selection, scheduling, installation management.
- Geotechnical – site investigation, soils testing. See Acumen note Geotechnical reports.
- Graphic designers – corporate graphics, building graphics, brand management, specialist design such as restaurant menu design.
- Heritage specialists – identification, assessment, management and interpretation of cultural heritage, project management of native title, historical, built and environmental heritage issues. See Acumen note Heritage buildings.
- Interior and furniture designers – colours and materials, work stations, furniture, task lighting, space planning.
- Kitchens/bars consultants – commercial kitchen design, specialist equipment, selections, specialist contract administration services.
- Land surveyors – subdivision, height contours, invert levels.
- Landscape architects – landscape design.
- Lifts – lifts, hoists, escalators, conveyors.
- Marketing – property marketing.
- Mechanical – ventilation, heating, air conditioning, hot water, steam, town and natural gas, compressed air, oxygen, medical gases, vacuum, pneumatic tubes.
- Model making – physical three-dimensional representation of design.
- Plumbing and hydraulics – cold water, flusher services, fire services, sprinkler systems, sewerage, internal soil and waste plumbing including or excluding sanitary fittings, booster pumps, gas services, other piped services.
- Programming consultants – design development and documentation programming.
- Property valuers, financial analysts – development financing, leasing.
- Safety consultants – occupational health and safety audits, safety in design and construction management.
- Security specialists – alarms systems, bank security, secure area design.
- Signage specialists – coordination with client on building signage, internal and external signage design and documentation, signage tendering and contract administration.
- Specialist lighting – artistic lighting effects and design enhancement.
- Specification writer/consultants – production and coordination of consultant specifications.
- Structural – structural concrete, structural steel, load-bearing masonry and other structural components.
- Swimming pool/water feature consultants – pools design, local authority approvals, fountains design.
- Theatre consultants – specialist auditorium and services including lighting, acoustic and amplification systems.
- Traffic – roadways, vehicular movement, access and parking design.
- Urban planners – policies and plans for the use of land and resources, commercial and retail development planning, masterplanning.
- Visualisation – rendering, photo-realistic representation.
- Waste – planning of waste streams and removal systems and design.
- Wind engineering – management of the effects of wind on building design, structure and surrounding environment.
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