Free tool

Write a clear brief for your building project

Your project set out as a professional brief, ready to print or send to a designer.

Client name

The client is the person or organisation having the work done.

Site address

The address of the property, or just the area if you would rather not say.

What type of property is it?
Roughly when was it built?
Who occupies the building, and how is it used?
What is not working now?
What are the project objectives?

What you want the project to achieve. Choose any that apply.

What other objectives do you have?
What accommodation do you need?

Accommodation means the rooms or spaces you want, with rough sizes if you know them.

Styles and materials you like

Words or links to pictures are both fine.

What known constraints are there?

Anything that could limit the work. Choose any that apply.

Why this matters
Listing and conservation areas change which permissions you need. A listed building is on the national list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest, and needs listed building consent for any works that would affect its character (Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7). A conservation area is an area the council has designated for its special architectural or historic interest (section 69 of the same Act).
Anything more about those constraints?
What existing information do you have?

Drawings, surveys and documents about the property. Choose any that apply.

Why this matters
A measured survey records the building as it stands, to a stated accuracy: plans, sections and elevations with wall thicknesses, openings, ceiling heights and floor levels. The design, the planning drawings, the structural calculations and the contractors' prices all depend on it. Older drawings are useful, but may not show the building as it is now.
Planning reference numbers, if you have them
What is your construction budget?

The construction budget is the amount for the building work itself, excluding professional fees, surveys and loose furniture.

Does the construction budget include VAT?
When would you like work to start on site?
When do you need the work completed, and why?
Which professional services do you need?

Choose any that apply.

Why this matters
The Building Regulations set the legal requirements for building work in England, from structure and fire safety to energy use. Tender is asking contractors to price the work, and the contract administrator is the consultant who administers the building contract: instructions, valuations and certificates.
How involved do you want to be?

About this tool

A project brief sets out what you want from your project, for a design team to work from. Answer what you can; every question is optional. Your answers are set out under the headings a design practice works from, ready to print, save as a PDF or send to Parallel from your own email program. This page stores nothing and sends nothing: your answers stay in this browser tab and are gone when you close it.

Jurisdiction
England
Last reviewed
29 September 2026
Tool version
1.0

Made and maintained by Parallel Architecture, a director-led architectural design practice working from Bristol and Brighton. It applies no rules of law: it sets out your answers as a brief. How we write the guides and tools.

A way to set out your own brief, not advice on your project. Website terms.

What this tool is doing

It writes nothing for you and judges nothing. It puts what you know in order.

  1. It sets your answers out as a project brief under six headings, in the order a design practice uses to understand and price a project: project; project objectives; known constraints and existing information; construction budget; programme; and professional services required. Parallel's own fee proposals take their information in the same order. Anything you leave blank is listed as information still required, so you can see what a designer will ask next.
  2. Listed buildings and conservation areas come first among the constraints, because they change which permissions are needed. A listed building needs listed building consent for any works that would affect its character (Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7).
  3. The construction budget is for the building work alone. Professional fees, surveys and loose furniture are separate, and the brief records whether your figure includes VAT.
  4. Nothing is stored or sent. The page sends nothing anywhere: your answers stay in this browser tab and are gone when you close it. The email button opens your own email program with the brief filled in, addressed to [email protected]; you choose whether to send it.
  5. An email link can only carry so much. When the brief would make the link longer than about 2,000 characters, which some email programs cannot open, the email carries a shortened version and says so, and the full brief stays on screen to print or save as a PDF.
  6. A link to your brief carries only the choices you made, never your name, your address or anything you typed.
  7. A brief like this is where the preparation and briefing stage of a project starts. The RIBA Plan of Work 2020, a published framework that divides a building project into stages, calls it stage 1, Preparation and Briefing.

Key rules

What a project brief is

A project brief is the client's written statement of what a building project must achieve: the site, the objectives, the accommodation, the budget, the programme and the known constraints. A design team works from it, and it is the measure a design is checked against.

In the RIBA Plan of Work 2020, a published framework that divides a building project into eight stages, the project brief is prepared at stage 1, Preparation and Briefing, before concept design begins at stage 2. On a home project that stage usually also brings a measured survey, the appointment of the design team and a first estimate of cost.

What it contains

Project. The client, the site address and the existing property: its type, roughly when it was built, and who occupies it and how. The address is what shows whether the site is listed, in a conservation area or in a flood zone.

Project objectives. What is not working now and what the project should achieve, such as more space, better light or better energy performance, with the styles and materials the client likes.

Accommodation. The rooms or spaces wanted, with rough sizes where they are known. Even a list without sizes lets a designer test what fits.

Known constraints and existing information. A listed building needs listed building consent for any works that would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest (Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7). A conservation area is an area the council has designated for its special architectural or historic interest (section 69 of the same Act). Other constraints include flood risk, neighbours and shared walls, access, trees and restrictions in the deeds. Existing information includes earlier drawings, past planning applications and any measured survey: an accurate drawing of the building as it is now, on which the design, the planning drawings and the contractors' prices depend.

Construction budget. The amount for the building work itself, excluding professional fees, surveys and loose furniture. A brief should say whether the figure includes VAT.

Programme. When work should start on site and when it must be complete, and why. Planning and Building Regulations approvals take weeks to months, so the dates show what has to happen first.

Professional services required. The help the client wants, from early advice and design options to a planning application, Building Regulations drawings, and tender and contract administration, and how closely the client wants to be involved. It sets the scope of any fee proposal.

Information still required. What is not yet known. Listing the gaps shows what a designer will ask for first.

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