Where bespoke work sits in the RIBA Plan of Work

At a glance

The RIBA Plan says what each stage achieves, not who does the work: your Responsibility Matrix, appointments and contracts decide. ‘Who usually leads’ is our reading of common practice. Stages 0, 1 and 7 sit outside this sheet.

What the Plan says, in brief

The RIBA Plan of Work 2020 organises briefing, designing, constructing and operating a building into eight stages, numbered 0 to 7: Strategic Definition, Preparation and Briefing, Concept Design, Spatial Coordination, Technical Design, Manufacturing and Construction, Handover and Use. Bespoke furniture, joinery and metalwork matter from Stage 2 to Stage 6, the range this sheet covers.

Two points from the RIBA’s own Overview shape what follows. First, the Plan is not a contract: it sets out what each stage should achieve and does not say who should carry out the tasks (Overview, PDF page 7). Who does what is recorded in a Responsibility Matrix, prepared at Stage 1, and in the appointments and contracts. Second, that matrix settles, for each building system, whether the design team will issue prescriptive or descriptive information at Stage 4 (PDF pages 57 and 104). For a bespoke item, that choice decides who designs the detail.

The Overview does not mention samples, prototypes or shop drawings for furniture or joinery by name. The drawing below is therefore our mapping of common bespoke milestones onto the stages, not a RIBA diagram and not a programme.

Stage 4 is where the maker’s information belongs

The RIBA is direct about where specialist design work sits. Stage 4 is about developing the information needed to manufacture and construct, and the Overview says that specialist subcontractors’ design work, and the client team’s review of it, belongs in Stage 4, not Stage 5 (PDF page 26). Stage 5 is manufacturing and construction, with no design activity except resolving site queries (PDF page 28). On most projects Stages 4 and 5 run at the same time, with a contractual ‘firewall’ part-way through Stage 4.

For bespoke work that means a maker’s shop drawings, control samples and prototype approvals are Stage 4 deliverables, even though the making is Stage 5. The sooner they are issued, reviewed and signed, the less design change reaches the workshop once manufacture is under way. NBS observes that suppliers’ shop drawings are in many instances not issued back to the design team for comment (Dale Sinclair, 17 June 2020), so make the return a written step: see the shop drawing approval checklist.

The procurement route changes when this happens, not whether it does. Under a traditional contract the design team’s information goes to tender and specialist subcontractors design after the building contract is awarded; under design and build the lead designer or the contractor’s design manager programmes when each party’s information is produced (PDF pages 92 and 93). The Overview’s own examples of things a design team may want to fix by prescribing include the balustrading, doors and finishes in an entrance lobby (PDF page 104), which are the kind of items a bespoke package often contains.

Prescriptive or descriptive? Prescriptive information states exactly what is wanted and can be built from. Descriptive information states what the result must achieve and leaves a specialist to design it. NBS says that under a descriptive approach design responsibility lies with the contractor and is likely to pass to a specialist subcontractor carrying professional indemnity insurance, and that the choice should be made at the outset. For a bespoke item, say line by line which one you mean: see the joinery specification checklist and why bespoke quotes differ.

Who produces what, from Stage 2 to Stage 6

One row per deliverable, in the order it usually appears. ‘Produced by’ and ‘Approved by’ show common practice. Replace them with what your Responsibility Matrix and appointments say.

Stage numbers are RIBA Plan of Work 2020. Where a row spans two stages, the overlap is deliberate: the Overview expects Stages 4 and 5 to overlap on most projects.

How the studio’s process lines up

Make Bespoke Studio coordinates bespoke work through its partner workshops, from concept or technical drawings to installation and snagging. Our How We Work page sets out five stages. Laid beside the RIBA stages they fall roughly as follows, and where the studio joins a project depends on what drawings exist when it is asked. See also design development, sampling and production.

Our development page says development closes with a drawing set signed by the client and designer, with the control samples filed beside it, so that production has no open questions. That sign-off is the Stage 4 gate on the drawing above.

Information to give, and to ask for, at Stage 4

The design team gives the maker:

• Design-intent drawings with revision letters, and the final specification, marked prescriptive or descriptive for each item.
• Finish references and the approved samples they refer to.
• The FF&E schedule row for each item, with its code (see the FF&E schedule template).
• Interface information: structure, services, adjacent finishes, and the site survey.
• The date drawings must be returned for approval, and who approves.

The maker returns:

• Shop drawings with dimensions, materials, joints, fixings, hardware, finishes, tolerances and site joints.
• A list of assumptions and queries, so that nothing is decided silently.
• Packed sizes and weights, for the delivery access survey.
• The control sample, and a prototype or first article where one is agreed.
• References to the fire, timber and test evidence the specification calls for.

Rules that hold the stage together. One approval route. Release for manufacture is a written instruction. After release, change comes only by written variation stating its effect on cost, programme and approvals. Resolving a site query is not a design change.

By [date] the design team will issue, for each bespoke item: design-intent drawings [refs and revisions]; the specification [ref]; finish references and approved samples [refs]; the FF&E schedule row [item code]; and the interface information the item depends on (structure, services, adjacent finishes) [refs]. Information for [item] is [prescriptive / descriptive]. The Responsibility Matrix [ref] records who designs and who checks each item.

[Maker] will issue shop drawings for [item] showing dimensions, materials, joints, fixings, hardware, finishes, tolerances and site joints, for approval by [party] before manufacture is released. Shop drawings carry a revision letter and are returned marked [approved / approved as noted / revise and resubmit] within [ ] working days. No manufacture of [item] starts before approval is recorded in writing.

Control sample [S-nn] is signed and dated by [party] and held by [party] and by the maker. A [prototype / mock-up / first article] of [item] is approved by [party] before the production run is released, by written instruction dated [date]. Stages 4 and 5 may overlap [yes / no] for [package]. After release, design changes are made only by written variation stating the effect on cost, programme and approvals; resolving a site query is not a design change.

Standards and sources

• RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview (RIBA, 2020): read in full as the published PDF on 5 Nov 2026; page numbers on this sheet are PDF page numbers; text is paraphrased, not reproduced. Copyright RIBA.
• NBS: RIBA Plan of Work 2020 and specification (Dale Sinclair, 17 June 2020): prescriptive and descriptive information, design responsibility, shop drawings (read 5 Nov 2026).
• BIID: RIBA Plan of Work and interior designers: stage names; the RIBA/BIID interior design contracts used the Plan as their foundation (read 5 Nov 2026).

Questions we are asked

Where do shop drawings fit in the RIBA Plan of Work?

In Stage 4, Technical Design. The RIBA Overview says specialist subcontractors’ design work, and the review of it, belongs in Stage 4 and not Stage 5. A maker or specialist normally prepares the shop drawings and the design team reviews them. NBS notes they are often not issued back for comment, so make the return a written step.

At which RIBA stage do samples and prototypes belong?

The Overview does not name samples or prototypes for furniture or joinery, so this is our reading of practice. Option samples help choices in Stages 2 and 3. The control sample is signed in Stage 4 before manufacture is released. A prototype, mock-up or first article is made late in Stage 4 or early in Stage 5 and approved before the production run starts.

Is manufacturing joinery Stage 4 or Stage 5?

Making is Stage 5. The design information needed to make it, including the maker’s drawings, is Stage 4. The two overlap on most projects. Apart from resolving site queries, the Overview says there is no design activity in Stage 5.

Who owns the design of a bespoke item, the design team or the maker?

It depends on whether the specification is prescriptive or descriptive and on the contract. NBS says that under a descriptive approach design responsibility lies with the contractor and is likely to pass to a specialist subcontractor with professional indemnity insurance. The Responsibility Matrix should record the choice. Take legal advice on the wording.

Does the RIBA Plan of Work cover FF&E and interior design?

Only in passing. The Overview notes that some projects have a separate building contract for FF&E, and that items outside the building contract still need their cost managed. BIID says its RIBA/BIID interior design contracts used the Plan as their foundation, but a designer’s own appointment may number or name its stages differently, so check the stage list in yours.

Do Stage 4 and Stage 5 overlap?

Yes, on most projects according to the Overview, with a contractual ‘firewall’ part-way through Stage 4. The route of procurement decides how much of the design is finished before the building contract is signed.