An analytical review of briefing practice in the Hong Kong construction industry

A comprehensive client brief is essential to achieve the target time, cost and quality for a construction project. Although various attempts have been made to improve the current practice of briefing, it is still considered as inadequate by many researchers. In Hong Kong, very limited research work has been conducted to investigate the briefing process. This paper aims to present the key findings of a research, which analysed the practice and associated problems of briefing. Literature review, focus group interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted. The findings point out that a comprehensive framework for briefing should be established for systematic identification and clarification of client requirements, and for precise and explicit representation of these requirements. It is suggested that this framework should include the stages and time frame of briefing, identification and representation of stakeholders involved, systematic approach for identification, clarification and representation of client requirements, change management of requirements, management tools to be adopted in the briefing process and the format of a comprehensive client brief.