Emerging practices may find it challenging to move upwards onto bigger projects. If a practice wishes to work on larger buildings or masterplans - or perhaps to move into a different sector - collaborating with a big, well-established practice could be a crucial entry point.
Leverage small practices agility
“Small practices can be more agile than large ones,” believes Dennis Austin, director at the five-strong practice daab design. “This is what makes them interesting and useful to big practices.”
He points out that when a large practice wins a major project, resourcing frequently becomes an issue. Such projects may take many years, over which time the number of people required in the team will fluctuate.
“A large practice may find it difficult to redeploy staff, but it still needs to have the right team for the project,” he explains. That's where a small practice can help.
Austin worked at RSH+P, Santiago Calatrava and Rafael Viñoly before founding daab, and so has experienced such collaborative teamwork from both sides.
Do not hesitate to pitch to large practices
How might a small practice interested in collaborating get itself noticed by a large one? Austin urges small practices to be proactive. They should put together a dossier of relevant work and not hesitate to contact practices, letting them know that they are available for partnering.
"Be confident," he advises. "It does not matter if your practice does not have a track record of large projects. Do not be afraid to showcase small residential work."
Demonstrate your strengths and successes, whether they lie in your striking presentations, eye-catching drawings, or in your design and access statements. Show where you have achieved success in winning planning permission.
Large practices, Austin assures, will have some tuned-in staff members who will appreciate such approaches, and who can spot the value in your ideas. They may be working on a framework project for which your practice could be a perfect fit.
Research your potential partner practice thoroughly
You should research your target practice thoroughly: what it does, how it works, and what projects it has coming up. If you are making an approach with a particular project in mind, Austin suggests that an organogram can help: an organisational chart that clearly sets out a road map for how the work could be done, showing precisely who will be communicating with whom.
“With an organogram, you are demonstrating that you know how work is organised and how project delivery works,” he points out. “There is no great mystery to the delivery of large projects. They all go through the same steps at Stage 2, for example. There is just more of it.”
Nimi Attanayake, director and co-founder of eight-strong Nimtim Architects, agrees with Austin’s call to be proactive. She has found that bigger practices can be very receptive to small practices that are demonstrably generating excitement about their ideas. In her case, getting the right message out was enough to bring large practices to them.
Leverage your practice ethos
“Know what you really believe in and be vocal about that,” Attanayake urges. “We refined our message and made it simple and got an amazing response.”
While the usual networking was not an option during lockdown, the practice spent the downtime reflecting on the qualities that drive them, which had brought them success so far. They became much more active on social media.
Nimtim were then approached by several large practices that were on procurement frameworks and in the process of bidding for projects. They subsequently won two projects and were shortlisted on a third competitive bid that gave the practice good exposure.
“We are small and nimble and can apply ourselves to a lot of different things,” Attanayake points out. “We can come into a large practice and question how they do things: this is a quality that those practices want.”
Communicate your added value
The smaller practice has to bring something new to the table. This might be an intimate knowledge of a local area, established contacts, a track record with local planning departments, and good relationships with the community that the large studio may lack.
It might be specialist expertise, experience in a particular building type, or a track record of working in particular sectors. Evidence of generating social value is another factor that many frameworks require, and that small practices may be able to provide. All of this underscores the value of clearly explaining your strengths when reaching out to potential partners.
“But you do not want to find your practice is a token ‘tick in a box’ for a project,” warns Austin. “You should be involved in discussions on resourcing, not just taking the minutes of the meeting.”
The organogram can be doubly useful here: it sets an early precedent. If followed through, it can minimise the risk that the more junior partner is being sidelined. It can support collaboration by facilitating discussions about mutual expectations, roles, and responsibilities, and help formalise a collaborative framework.
Thanks to Dennis Austin, Director, daab design; and Nimi Attanayake, Director, Nimtim Architects.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
RIBA Core Curriculum topic: Business, clients and services.
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Updated: 30 August 2022
