'Your part

A common question I receive is what advice I would offer to someone sitting their Part 3 interview. As an examiner, I offer the following advice with a pinch a salt, as they should be carefully adopted as over committing to any of these could potentially cause more harm than good. So, please remember the following:

You can influence the direction of conversation - don't forget it takes two to have a conversation, how you choose to expand or steer from one subject matter to another can set you up in other areas you maybe want to expand on or feel more comfortable in. If you leave it just up to the examiners, it'll be a Q&A interrogation which really doesn't bring the best out of any of you!

Own up to your mistakes - rather than waiting for the examiners to bring up your areas of weakness or highlight questions maybe you struggled on, own up to them. When you walk in and you get the cliche "How did the exams go?" feel free to totally own up and say "Q3 confused me because.... [x,y,z] and with hindsight I feel like I should have raised more... [1,2,3]". The quicker you get these off the table, the more you can focus on discussing things you feel stronger with!

Finally, remember - the interview is there to be a safety net, not necessarily another exam, but an opportunity for the examiners to verify any areas of weakness that may have appeared in your exams or coursework. In this sense, its a second chance with assistance you know better! With this in mind, hopefully its relaxing to know that the examiners are there to be working with you, not against you - so take a deep breath, you'll get there!

Below are example questions that I have asked, my colleagues have asked or have noted on students' coursework to raise within their interviews:

1. Have you had any exposure to the profitability of the various work stages on your project?
2. Can you explain what is present in appointments to protect architects from claims of a disproportionate liability?
3. From the moment you submitted your planning application, can you please explain to us what happened and what other outcomes could have occurred?
4. Talk us through the tendering process on your project...
5. How did the public consultation process take place on this project? Was there a consultant? Did you embrace any significant changes? Was there a positive turnout?
6. What is the difference between a Community Infrastructure Levy and a Section 106?
7. Why did you choose to come to complete your studies in the UK?
8. What drew you to the university of your choice for your Part 1 studies?
9. What other methods of fee calculation are available for you to choose from?
10. What is the role of the Quantity Surveyor (QS) on your project?
11. Can a QS operate effectively if they're being supplied with only 50-70% of the detail design for the project?
12. An Extension of Time (EOT) was issued for 25 weeks in total - can you break down the relevant evens that made up this total?
13. Were you operating as a Lead Designer on your project? What are the responsibilities of a Lead Designer?
14. How is most work procured within your office?
15. What is the role of the Contractor Administrator?
16. Should a dispute arise during works taking place on site, what options are available to you?
17. Why did your Directors continue to use the old RIBA Plan of Work?
18. What are the advantages of having a well-compiled Design Responsibility Matrix (DRM)?
19. Are there any risks associated with an architect producing a cost-plan?
20. If you saw bad health and safety practice taking place on a building site that you weren't involved on, would you say anything?
21. If a discrepancy exists between the drawings and the specifications, which do you think overrides the other?
22. When was Practical Completion issued? What's the importance of this certificate?
23. What's the importance of understanding a contractor's critical path when evaluating Extensions of Time (EOT)?
24. What is the difference between a relevant event, and a relevant matter?
25. What are Liquidated Damages (LD) and how are they calculated?
26. If during your tender a contractor wanted to propose significant changes for the benefit of the project, how can you maintain parity between all other tendering parties?
27. Are you happy with the technical levels of competency you currently have and the creative satisfaction you've been searching for?
28. Do you ever find that sustainability and heritage are opposing forces when working on a project?
29. How do pay-less notices work in reference to Interim Certificates?
30. Why did you choose to have an external Principal Designer on this project? What advantages did it offer you? Why didn't you choose a CDM coordinator?
31. What was the purpose of an Information Release Schedule (IRS) on your project?
32. Can you explain how Party Wall procedures diverged from a typical procedure as you mentioned in your case study?
33. What is a Contractor's Design Portion and when might it be used?
34. What's next in your career?
35. Do you have access to the appointments and fee proposals within your office?
36. What are important qualities to assume when operating as a 'Contractor Administrator'?
37. In order to continue to trajectory of your career development, what CPDs (Continuing Professional Development) have you lined up over the next 12-months?
38. How do you manage changes to a brief with your client? Is this recorded anywhere?
39. What is the purpose of the 'Practical Completion Certificate'?
40. How do you determine how much to invoice each month to the client?
41. How does 'Intellectual Property' protect architects within appointment documents?
42. Who are 'Historic England' and what are their role?
43. What are 'Easements'? Can you give us an example?
44. If you were setting up your own practice, what legal structure would you pick and why?
45. How did your practice come to procure your case study project?
46. Does your practice implement a 'Quality Assurance' System (QA)? What is its purpose?
47. How do Directors within your practice approach resourcing for projects?
48. Why did you opt to 'Selectively Tender' this project, were there any other options available to you?
49. If quality had been the priority, would you have procured this project differently?
50. If the client wanted to minimise their risk, what procurement route might you have been able to advise them on?
51. What is the purpose of a 'back-to-back' clause?
52. What is a 'Collateral Warranty' and what might you do should you find out your project has one?
53. How were you recording progress on site?
54. In the event that the project was not completed at the 'Date of Completion' written within the contract, what steps must the Contract Administrator take?
55. Why might 'Adjudication' be preferred over 'Litigation'?
56. What is the purpose of a 'Party Wall Agreement'?
57. Why is parity important when handling tenders?
58. If the Architect was not operating as the 'Contract Administrator' on the project, who might be a suitable candidate to fulfil this role?
59. Why are timesheets important when recording time within your practice?
60. Why did you choose to submit a 'Pre-Planning Application' for your project?
61. What are 'Reserved Matters' when discussing an 'Outline Planning' Application?
62. What are examples of 'Relevant Events'? What's the difference between 'Relevant Events' and 'Relevant Matters'?
63. Did you assume the role of 'Principal Designer' on your project? And if not, why?
64. What responsibilities does the 'Principal Designer' have during the Pre-Construction Phase?
65. What is a 'Health and Safety File' and who would be in possession of it following the completion of a project?
66. What is a 'Retention Fee'?
67. How does 'Duty of Care' compare to 'Fit for Purpose'?
68. What is the purpose of 'Professional Indemnity' insurance?
69. If an accident was to occur on site, what might you do?
70. What is an Architect's Instruction and when might you use one?
71. What role did an 'Information Release Schedule' play in your programming of the next stage?
72. Are you familiar with the different forms of action that the 'Professional Conduct Committee' (PCC) can take against architects?
73. Whose interests are the ARB trying to protect?
74. Why did you choose to appoint an 'Approved Inspector' over a 'Local Council Inspector'?
75. What risks could you face if you didn't follow the planning permission you had obtained?
76. What is a 'Community Infrastructure Levy' and how do they differ from Section 106 agreements?
77. If you decided to go to appeal the planning decision, what is the process ahead of you?
78. What is a 'covenant' when referring to Land Law?
79. What advantages did 'Building Information Modelling' (BIM) offer your project?
80. Would the presence of a 'Bill of Quantities' (BOQ) assisted your tendering process at all?
81. Talk us through the process surrounding 'Interim Certificates'.
82. In what ways can the Architect monitor quality on-site?
83. What must we be weary of when clients and contractors propose additional clauses to appointments or construction contracts?
84. Do you know what your cost is to practice on an hourly basis and how it is calculated?
85. What is a 'Novation'?
86. What benefits are available in becoming an 'RIBA Chartered Practice'?
87. What methods of obtaining input on construction cost are available to you?
88. What is the 'Final Account'?
89. Who does 'Professional Indemnity Insurance' protect?
90. What does it mean for a contract to be signed 'under deed', would you approach anything differently?
91. Under Construction Design Management (CDM) Regulations (2015), who is responsible for putting together a 'Construction Phase Plan'?
92. What extra considerations did you need to with your involvement on a 'Listed Building'?
93. Does your practice ever sub-contract services? What considerations must you make in doing so?
94. Was a 'Stakeholder Management Plan' utilised at all?
95. How does your practice go about themes such as 'Staff Development'?
96. Does your practice have a 'Marketing Plan'? Have you been exposed to it or strategies and tactics contained within it?
97. How has your practice evolved over COVID? Do you currently have a flexible working arrangement?
98. Why might your pursue 'International Organisation for Standardisation' (ISO) accreditation?
99. What is your practice currently doing on the theme of sustainability? Do you think as an Architect you have a professional obligation to design sustainably? 

1. Why did you come to the this University for your Part III? 
2. You’ve been at [Practice Name] for your entire career to date? Was that calculated? Do you think it’s benefited your or limited your learning on this Part III course in any way?
3. You have interesting soft skills prior to joining architecture, talk to me about how it’s prepared you for the profession?
4. Can you tell me more about your opinion on working culture and the responsibility of studio mentors passing knowledge onto others?
5. You mention how History and Theory helped you understand how the role developed from master mason to architect what it means in the modern construction industry which led to a frustration into what the role and liability of an architect has become. Can you expand on this evolution and frustration?
6. Do you think your expectations of your experiences in practice were valid? Which would you say is at the fault of academia not preparing you enough, and which is where your employer fell short?
7. What lessons did you walk away with from your hands-on experience on site? Did you witness and bad habits that you have made you more cautious moving forward?
8. You mentioned that you took on the role of the Office Manager during your employment. What did this include? Were there any formal changes to your employment contract? How did you manage your time?
9. Does your employer have a Quality Management System in-place? ISO? RIBA Accreditation? 
10. How were the fees for the feasibility studies calculated? You’re critical of the speed of producing these one/two day studies, what would you propose differently?
11. At present, the client is the QS, CA and Main Contractor. But if they weren’t the main contractor, could their operations as QS/CA be a problem? What problems do you foresee?
12. Can you explain all the overlaps in work stages in your timeline? Any risks, problems, do you think this is best practice? When is it recommended for planning applications to be submitted? Why was it submitted at Stage 2?
13. How important are Post Occupancy Evaluations to your practice and design methodology? 
14. What steps would you take if you were approached to sign bespoke appointment?
15. Are there any considerations that should be made if an appointment is a deed?
16. You mention two types of fee calculation, a form of lump sum fee and an abridged unit-based fee, can you expand on the pros and cons of both?
17. Can you give a high-level summary of a typical planning process? What are DRPs and Pre-Planning Applications and what do they offer?
18. What planning conditions did your project have? What do you think is the purpose of planning conditions? Can you explain this scenario surrounding lifts, was this a planning condition? Why was it not coordinated, who made the recommendation to proceed without?
19. Can you explain the key parties and key documents and how and when they are exchanged? Phased Construction Plan, (Construction Phase Plan), whose responsibility? H&S file? Pre-Construction Information?
20. With regards to Party Wall Agreements, what is the legal definition of ‘on’ or ‘near’?
21. Are verbal agreements enough? Would you ever conduct work under a verbal agreement with a client? Or changes to a construction contract verbally?
22. What are the risks of having built something that doesn’t have a party wall award or listed building consent? What repercussions would you expect?
23. You mentioned that as a contract it removes a lot of risk from your employer/practice? How so? Compared to what type of contract type?
24. Why did the subcontractor alter the pre-cast system? How can you avoid this panelised system alteration incident in the future? Was early expertise sought?
25. What role does technology play in Architecture? You’re obviously a big advocate, but I’d like your insights as to the strengths and weaknesses it offers to a project? 
26. How do you reconcile the differences between your initial ambition for craft, while working on such big projects that can span decades?
27. Why did your employer choose to operate as an LLP? What other options did they have also?
28. What does 'Joint and Several Liability' mean?
29. Why do you think that 'Adjudication' was chosen?
30. Why were other procurement routes deemed inappropriate?
31. Your project has lots in terms of documents and guidance, how was this managed and disseminated within the team?
32. Schedule 17 and High Speed Rail Act 2017, how do these differ from traditional planning routes? Please describe both. 
33. What is the significance of 'Practical Completion' under NEC but also typical JCT/traditional contracts? 
34. We all want to revise the Part-systems, how do you reflect on your foundation course? Was it pivotal? Did it provide something that the part system didn’t provide you?  
35. Most incoming work is through referrals, how else does the practice approach marketing and new work? If none, what options are available to them?
36. £300/day assistant? Do you know how this figure is calculated? Can you determine profitability in the absence of timesheets?
37. How do you feel about the appointment of the consultant team during Stage 03 and 04?
38. When did you notify the client about their responsibilities under CDM? Did you charge a fee for undertaking the PD role? Does the submission of the DRA to the contractor days prior to commencement leave them enough time? Doesn’t the Principle Contractor need to produce documentation prior to starting also?
39. If you didn’t want to use an Approved Inspector, who might you approach?
40. You described what relevant events are, can you give me an example of some? Where might you look for an extensive list? 
41. Can you run through the tendering process? What was submitted? Looking back, would you share any other information? Were there any planning conditions imposed on the scheme? Moving forward, if a client insists they have a preferred contractor, would you only tender to one party again? 
42. Are there any alternatives available to Partial Possession Certificates under a different contract?
43. Can you elaborate on the process surrounding practical completion, what would you do in the run-up, what happens after up until the Final Certificate?
44. When is an amendment considered to be a non-material and when is it considered material?
45. What does a BIM Execution Plan entail?
46. How successful was having an in-house design team for the contractor in the end? Would you recommend it to others?
47. how can you better prepare for engaging all these various stakeholders? Do they all have valid authority to provide you feedback that you have to take on?
48. How important is being able to draw and sketch to you becoming an architect would you say? Is it still a prerequisite in education? 
49. ‘The contractor was unable to perform their duties competently which in turn accumulated in additional hours that [Practice Name] has had to resource towards’ - how was the contractor incompetent? How do you assess competency? 
50. How do you feel about having dedicated workforces for planning  and technical delivery within the practice?