Design Chains: a Handbook for Integrated Collaborative Design

Design chains presents innovative new thinking in supply chain management. Springing from the work of the Integrated Collaborative Design (ICD) research project, a combined industry and academic initiative between Loughborough University and twelve construction companies, it presents a set of key principles and practices that provide a new approach to design management - the design chain. Design Chains describes how design can be understood, managed and optimised to add value to clients. The practices developed through ICD and described in Design Chains provide a timely response to the need to manage design complexity to help collaborating organisations deliver projects that meet client needs.