Architectural Support

What architectural support includes

• adapting architectural and engineering solutions when technologies, materials or equipment change;
• reviewing solutions against the budget without losing the design intent;
• coordinating decisions down to the details: interiors, landscape architecture, lighting, wayfinding and visual identity;
• revising the design documentation when changes go beyond the approved design.

The scope of support — how often the team visits the site, which meetings it attends and which sections it covers — is set by the contract.

When support matters most

Support matters most on reconstruction and restoration projects, where, once structures are opened up, the building may differ from the survey and decisions are refined on site; on buildings with extensive building services, where replacing equipment leads to changes in related sections; and wherever the design relies on details — interiors, lighting, wayfinding.

Revising design documentation

The Procedure for Developing Design Documentation for Construction, approved by Order of the Ministry of Regional Development No. 45 of 16 May 2011 (Procedure No. 45), defines revising design documentation as making changes to an approved construction design on the basis of a revision brief (paragraph 1). Under paragraph 15.5, changes are made:

• when new building codes come into force or existing ones are amended; once the right to start construction works has been obtained — by decision of the client;
• when circumstances that could not have been foreseen during design change the main design decisions or the quantities of work in a way that cannot be accommodated within the approved documentation and alters the technical and economic indicators;
• for buildings funded from the budget, by state and municipal enterprises, institutions and organisations or with loans under state guarantees — also when the cost estimate is out of date, the funding limit in the consolidated cost estimate has been exhausted or the cost of resources has justifiably risen beyond what the allowance for inflation covers;
• in other cases — by decision of the client, in line with the law.

A change of client during construction is not grounds for revising the design.

Who agrees the changes

Under the Law “On Architectural Activity”, changes to an approved design are made only with the consent of the author of the project; where they depart from the technical specifications, they must also be agreed with the organisations that issued those specifications and with the client. Changes caused by amendments to codes and regulations are made with the client’s consent, unless the law provides otherwise (Parts 7 and 8 of Article 7).

If the revision is carried out by a firm that did not develop the project, the revised documentation must be agreed with the original designer, unless the author’s economic rights have been transferred to another person (paragraph 15.4 of Procedure No. 45). When the original designer makes the revision, the approval under paragraph 15.4 is not needed; the other approvals and, where required, expert review still apply.

Is a new expert review needed?

If the design went through mandatory expert review (paragraph 10 of Procedure No. 560), decisions that do not match the approved design are subject to expert review as well. After a revision, the review covers only the changes if it is carried out by the same expert organisation as before, and the whole design if it is a different one (paragraph 11 of Procedure No. 560, the Procedure for Approving Construction Projects and Conducting Their Expert Review, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 560 of 11 May 2011). If the changes move the building into a higher consequence class — from CC1 to CC2 or CC3, or from CC2 to CC3 — expert review is mandatory (paragraph 15.5 of Procedure No. 45). The design stage (P) page explains when expert review is required in general.

Registering the changes and notifying the authorities

The revised documentation is entered in the Register of Construction Activity of the Unified State Electronic System for Construction — when it is submitted for expert review or, if the revised documentation has not been reviewed, before applying to register changes to the information on the right to start construction works (paragraph 15.5 of Procedure No. 45).

If the design is revised during construction, the client notifies the state architectural and construction control authority within three working days; where the works are carried out under a construction permit, they may not continue without this notice (Part 6 of Article 36 and Part 7 of Article 37 of the Law “On Regulation of Urban Development Activity”).

How construction documentation is revised

A revision is any correction, deletion or addition in a document already issued to the client, without changing its designation. It is made on the basis of a revision permit approved by the head of the organisation that developed the documentation or, on their instruction, another official; the revised and new sheets, together with the updated general data of the set, are sent to everyone who received copies before (section 8 of DSTU 9243.4:2023). See the construction documentation stage page for details.

Support and architectural supervision

Architectural (author’s) supervision is a statutory procedure under the Procedure for Author’s Supervision (Resolution No. 903): the author of the project or other members of the design team check that the works follow the approved documentation and record deviations in the supervision log, together with proposals for correcting them. Support is a broader format: the team not only records deviations but also helps make new decisions when conditions change. See the architectural supervision page and the architectural supervision and support page.