Ben SnapeResource planning for architects means matching the work ahead to the people, skills and hours available. A useful plan shows who is working on each project, when key deliverables are due and where the practice has spare capacity or competing deadlines.
Start with the agreed project scope, estimate the hours needed for each stage and assign them to team members. Allow for leave, administration and review time before treating someone’s whole working week as available for project work.
For example, someone with 30 available project hours cannot cover allocations of 20 hours and 16 hours in the same week. Review the six-hour shortfall with the team: redistribute work, agree a different deadline or arrange additional support.
The sections below cover staff allocation, resource management, scheduling and the wider budgets, tools and information needed to support delivery.
Human resource management
Staff allocation and skills matching
Human resource forecasting means you identify the right architects, designers, and support staff for each project based on their expertise, such as urban design, sustainable architecture, or BIM proficiency. With 54% of UK local authorities reporting skills gaps in urban design and architecture, ensuring the right talent is critical.
Workload balancing
Workload balancing means using tools like Mosaic or Deltek to visualize team workloads, avoid overloading staff, and prevent burnouts. This includes forecasting staffing needs for future projects.
Hiring and outsourcing
This includes planning for hiring new staff or subcontracting to address skill shortages, especially for specialized tasks like BIM modeling or 3D rendering. For some projects, you will have to make strategic hires, for others, outsourcing or using freelancers will be enough.
Training and development
Addressing skill gaps through continuous professional development (CPD), as required by RIBA, to keep up with technologies like BIM and modern methods of construction (MMC).
Time and Schedule Management
Project scheduling
Create detailed timelines for each project phase (e.g., schematic design, planning submission, construction) using tools like PlanMan or Smartsheet. This makes sure you are in compliance with UK planning timelines, such as the 8-13 week processing period for planning applications. Check our post on scheduling software to learn more!
Task dependencies
Map out dependencies between tasks (e.g., planning approval before construction) to avoid delays. Software like PlanMan helps track these dependencies in real-time.
Milestone tracking
Monitor key deliverables, such as planning application submissions or building control approvals, to keep projects on track.
Financial and Budget Management
Cost estimation and tracking
Develop accurate cost estimates during the schematic design phase and refine them in design development using tools like CoConstruct or PlanGrid. This includes comparing actual costs against estimates to manage scope creep.
Profit Planning
Create internal budgets and profit plans to ensure financial viability while meeting client expectations. We have a guide on profit planning – check it out!
Funding Opportunities
Review government initiatives, such as the £1.2 billion for home insulation or the Affordable Homes Programme’s support for MMC, to not just look for extra funding, but also forecast trends, get exposure, and publicity.
Material and equipment resource planning
Material Specification
Select sustainable and compliant materials (e.g., BREEAM-rated products) during the design development phase, as required by UK Building Regulations. Tools like 2050 Materials help architects access sustainability data for over 100,000 products. Work with quantity surveyors to get exact estimates for materials and labor – here’s how to get started.
Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
Planning for offsite manufacturing or modular components to reduce waste by up to 90% and lower embodied carbon by 45%, as supported by government initiatives.
Equipment Allocation
Plan your activities and double-check that you have access to necessary tools, such as visualisation software, city planner tools, AI tools, and site analysis, to support your design and construction work. PlanMan can help you keep project stages, files and client communications together.
Regulatory and Compliance Management
Planning Applications
Preparing comprehensive planning submissions with detailed drawings and documentation to meet local authority requirements. Architects often collaborate with planning consultants to navigate complex regulations, such as those in Conservation Areas.
Keep in mind that the UK’s planning system is underfunded, with local authorities facing budget cuts, leading to delays. Considering that, always plan for extended timelines and engage early with authorities to mitigate risks.
Building Regulations
Ensuring designs comply with UK Building Regulations, including safety, accessibility, and sustainability standards. This involves coordinating with structural engineers and other professionals during the design development and construction document phases.
Risk Management
Identifying and mitigating risks related to planning delays, regulatory non-compliance, or budget overruns. A risk management plan, as suggested by BCS ProSoft, is critical for addressing these challenges.
Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication
While doing resource planning for a major project, remember that stakeholder communication requires a lot of effort too. Outline who will run it at your company, and what exactly the competencies will be.
Client and consultant coordination
Engage with clients, contractors, engineers, and local authorities to align on project goals. Effective communication, facilitated by tools like PlanMan, keeps all stakeholders informed and aligned.
Community engagement
Involve local communities and councils in the planning process, especially for contentious projects, to increase approval chances and meet community needs for accessible and inclusive designs.
Pre-application engagement
Conducting pre-application discussions with local planning authorities to gauge project feasibility and address potential issues early, as recommended by Rodić Davidson Architects.
Sustainability and environmental considerations in resource planning
Green Building Standards
You will have to incorporate BREEAM ratings and energy-efficient solutions to meet UK sustainability goals. The government’s target of 600,000 heat pumps annually by 2028 highlights the need for sustainable resource planning.
Circular Economy Practices
Design for material reuse and disassembly to reduce raw material use by 35% by 2035, as part of the UK Net-Zero 2050 agenda. This includes using MMC and sustainable materials to minimize environmental impact.
Nature Restoration
Integrate environmental obligations, such as contributions to the Nature Restoration Fund, into project planning to meet biodiversity and protected site requirements.
Practical tips for architecture resource planning and forecasting
Software
Use integrated platforms like PlanMan to manage resources, budgets, and schedules in one place, to improve collaboration and reduce inefficiencies.
Templates and standards
Use project templates to standardise processes, reduce setup time, and ensure consistent quality.
Risk Mitigation
Develop contingency plans (here’s how) for delays, cost overruns, or regulatory hurdles, and regularly update risk management strategies.
Skills mapping
Skills mapping is a great tactic for resource planning in architecture. Assess your team skills and match them to project requirements (e.g., BIM expertise, urban design, or sustainability). Use utilization rates to balance workloads and prevent burnout.
Create a skills/responsibility matrix to track competencies and use forecasting to plan hiring or outsourcing, especially for post-Brexit talent shortages.
Critical path method
Within this method, Identify critical tasks and dependencies (e.g., planning approval before construction) to create realistic project timelines – see our progress tracking guide for more details.
Cost forecasting
Try to estimate costs early in the schematic design phase and track progress against budget using EVM to measure project performance.
Helps control cost overruns and ensures profitability, which is critical for UK projects facing rising material costs (e.g., 10-15% increases in recent years).
PlanMan for resource planning
Our platform is primarily a cloud-based project management solution designed for UK architects and town planners, but it takes care of most resource planning needs as well.
PlanMan offers client management, document sharing, instant chat, invoicing, and quote creation. The tool integrates with Xero, Stripe, and GoCardless for payments and accounting. Mobile app (iOS/Android) with native notifications ensures access on the go.
Using PlanMan takes care of the administrative tasks so you can focus on chargeable work. Client portal enhances communication, and workflows help manage project stages, ideal for navigating UK planning complexities.