Client, design team and client adviser
Client, design team and client adviser are the three roles behind every public building project. Who decides, who designs, who advises, and how to win that work.
Updated on September 5, 2026
Every public construction project rests on three roles. The client, or employer, is the public body the work is built for; the design team designs the scheme and oversees its delivery; the client adviser supports the client without taking over its decisions. UK practice uses different names from the French maîtrise d'ouvrage and maîtrise d'œuvre, but the division of labour is the same.
How it works
The client is the council, NHS trust, university, housing association or department that decides to build, sets the brief and the budget, appoints the consultants and the contractor, and takes the completed building over. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations put specific health and safety duties on that client, and the Building Safety Act adds further duties on higher-risk buildings.
The design team is a set of consultants, typically an architect with structural and building services engineers and a cost consultant, appointed to turn the brief into a design: concept, developed and technical design, the specification and tender documents for the works, help with the tender process, and inspection during construction. The RIBA Plan of Work stages structure that work, and the appointment is made on a standard form such as the RIBA, ACE or NEC Professional Service Contract, or in Ireland on the Capital Works Management Framework consultancy forms. On larger buildings the design team is often chosen by design contest.
Under the construction contract itself, one consultant takes the administrative role: contract administrator under JCT, project manager under NEC, employer's representative in Ireland. That person values the work, issues instructions and certifies payment on the client's behalf, within the powers the contract conditions give them.
The client adviser, sometimes a project manager, technical adviser or employer's agent, works upstream and throughout: feasibility, brief writing, business case, cost and risk advice, procurement strategy. An adviser that helped shape a project must be managed carefully, because prior involvement that would distort competition has to be neutralised or the firm excluded.
What it means for a bidder
For a contractor, knowing who is who saves money. The design team writes the specification, scores the technical bid and issues instructions on site; the client signs the contract and pays. Clarification questions during a tender go to the buyer's procurement team, not directly to the architect.
For an architect, engineer, cost consultant or project manager, these appointments are public contracts in their own right, advertised on the same portals. Smaller commissions sit below the threshold and are well within reach of a practice of a few people, alone or in a consortium; larger ones come through design contests and consultancy frameworks. Advisory work around retrofit, net zero and building safety is a growing market for small consultancies.
Example
Belmont Town Council, as client, wants a nursery with a works budget of £2,200,000. It first appoints a client adviser for a feasibility and brief writing commission worth £28,000. It then tenders the design team appointment, won by an architect-led team with engineers for a fee of £260,000. The design team prepares the works tender documents in nine packages, which the council advertises on Find a Tender.
Frequently asked questions
Can the contractor also be the designer?
Yes. Design and build is common in the UK, and the client can also appoint the design team and novate it to the contractor. Full separation is a choice, not a rule.
Can a client adviser then bid for the design work?
Only if the buyer can show the earlier involvement gives no unfair advantage. Otherwise the firm must be excluded.
Who pays the contractor?
The client, on payment certificates issued by the contract administrator or project manager.