Publications

The Activity-Based Working Practice Guide

BriefBuilder is the proud sponsor of the Activity-Based Working (ABW) Practice Guide, which is an eminently practical book about how to create efficient, flexible, attractive work environments. The book has been called ‘The most comprehensive review of activity-based working ever’ and ‘A great and very usable book for everyone who wants to have a better understanding of activity-based working’.

Why has BriefBuilder sponsored this book? Well, in ABW projects, construction clients and their design teams must deal with a multitude of requirements, concerning matters such as indoor climate, acoustics, flexibility, hygiene and ergonomics. BriefBuilder helps you to manage these requirements in a systematic way. This is highly relevant because all too often ambitious ABW projects fail to deliver on common-sense matters such as good acoustics or easy-to-reach power sockets. Having a clear set of requirements, combined with systematic design verification, helps to avoid such problems.

Please note: for BriefBuilder users there is a free ABW requirements template available, containing all the requirements that are featured in the book. You can contact your account manager or sales contact for this.

Briefing For Buildings

We don’t just make software for construction briefing—we also write about it. Our co-founder Juriaan van Meel has written an influential book about construction briefing, together with Kjersti Bjørkeng Størdal from Gottlieb Paludan Architects.

The book’s premise is that every construction project should start with the development of a good brief. A good brief clearly defines what the construction client wants from the project. It provides the design team with the information and inspiration they need to design a successful solution. Moreover, the brief functions as a framework for quality management during the project.

BriefBuilder is mentioned in the book, but only briefly. Juriaan and Kjersti take a broad approach and discuss briefing techniques, different types of briefs, the organisational aspects of briefing, the interrelation between briefing and design, and the various topics that can be covered in a brief. Thereby, the book provides all the guidance needed to develop high-performance briefs.

Please note: the book is explicitly about building projects. We believe however that the basic principles that are being discussed in the book can be applied to any kind of AEC project.