General planning signifies the renaissance of the master builder, in the sense of a building manager with overall responsibility, who brings all the lines of work together. In an engineering office that practices general planning, all the important specialist engineers cooperate with architects from the very beginning of the project, as partners on an equal footing. This can reduce conflicts of interest and liability risks, especially when applied to complex large-scale projects, such as hospitals, schools and industrial buildings, and it facilitates coordination for the owner of the building. However, there are two even more important aspects: firstly, the benefits for the owner of the building, resulting from having a general planner and from the synergies that occur when the project team develops integrated solutions with regard to the planning objectives. Secondly, general planners can work more economically and flexibly than a general contractor.
This book documents aspects of the qualitative and economic added value afforded by general planning, through 20 expert contributions featuring examples of buildings realized successfully by agn niederberghaus & partner gmbh.