PRACTICING PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS' ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY FACTORS IN ARCHITECTURAL SERVICE DELIVERY IN ETHIOPIA
Creators: name: LULSEGED LEGESSE NEGASH
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2018
Subjects: architectural practice; professional services; design quality factors; measuring architectural quality; built environment

description: Many stakeholders including practicing professional architects (practitioners) in the construction<br> industry often criticize the quality of buildings and infrastructure in Ethiopia. The practitioners<br> cite a number of factors that impact the quality of construction projects in the country. A significant<br> portion of the factors lie within the purview of architectural service delivery. Some studies also<br> confirmed the correlation of design quality with the success of construction projects. Since<br> architectural service delivery has significant impact on the quality of building projects and on the<br> built environment, it is sensible to identify the possible quality factors in these professional<br> services in Ethiopian context. The objective of this study is to identify, analyze their presence and<br> rank order the quality factors in architectural service delivery in Ethiopia based on the assessment<br> of the practitioners and to suggest workable ideas that can be deployed as measures in addressing<br> the identified shortcomings in the practice. For lack of sufficient studies published on this specific<br> subject in Ethiopia, a workshop was organized whereby a representative group of professionals<br> from different cross-section of the practice, with potentially varying perspective of the problem,<br> have identified continuing professional development; professional integrity; education, training<br> and capacity; service quality standard; programmatic requirements; service fee (compensation);<br> time allotted for design development and documentation; information, communication and<br> technology; the role of a think-tank of architectural practice; regulatory requirements and external<br> influences as factors that have influence on architectural service delivery in Ethiopia. These factors<br> were then analyzed based on the data collected using questionnaires sent to all 328 Practicing<br> Professional Architects (PPARs) currently registered by the Ministry of Construction of Ethiopia<br> (respondents) and whose contact addresses could be identified. Data collected from 68 respondents<br> and analyzed confirmed that indeed all 11 factors identified have various levels of influence on the<br> quality of architectural service delivery in the country and service fee (compensation); education,<br> training and capacity; and professional integrity, in their rank order, are identified to be the top<br> three being the most prevalent. The study recommends Architectural Practices to work closely<br> with AEA to develop standard output rates and minimum fee scale for their professional services;<br> Architects to regularly take up refresher courses to maintain quality of their services and Practicing<br> Architects to conscientiously carryout their unique role in shaping the built environment and<br> strictly uphold their professional ethics.