RIBA Stage 3 sign-off
You approve
Spatial coordination, rev C
Sign by
Friday 17 September 2027
It unlocks
Stage 4, from 27 September
Approver
Dr Anneke Rowsell, COO
What you are approving
The coordinated design at revision C: a 3,164 m² mass timber headquarters and battery materials lab, at a construction cost of £11.84m.
If you sign by 17 September, Stage 4 starts on 27 September, the planning application goes in on 1 October and the structural frame order can be placed in April 2028.
If you don't, Stage 4 waits. Each week of delay moves the frame order by a week, and past 29 October we lose the contractor's early engagement slot and the 2028 site start with it.
The design at revision C
Views from the federated model as of 3 September. Open the live link in the project space to walk it before you sign.
What changed since rev B
Measured against the review of 2 July. The second clean room caused the area and cost increases. The carbon fall comes from replacing the concrete core.
0 m²
GIA, up 64 m²
£0.00m
Cost, up £186k
0
kgCO2e/m², down 38
0
Open hard clashes
What is fixed, and what can still move
Stated per system. Changes to fixed items after signature go through the change procedure in our appointment, with a cost and date attached before any work starts.
Fixed after signature
Structural grid at 7.5 m by 9 m. Floor to floor at 4.2 m on lab levels and 3.6 m on office levels. Core and riser positions. Facade module at 1.5 m. Clean room location and its 450 mm raised floor.
Movable until 14 January 2028
Lab bench layouts, fume cupboard positions within the service spines, equipment loads up to 5 kN/m², and room data sheets. After the freeze on 14 January these become change items.
Movable until tender
Finishes, loose furniture, signage, reception joinery and the planting scheme. None of these touches the coordinated model.
Risks you carry with this approval
Planning. We rate the application as supportable after two pre-application meetings, and no architect can promise consent. The determination period for a major application is 13 weeks. Stage 4 proceeds at risk during that period, and its fee is payable if consent is refused.
Not part of this approval
Consultant appointments stay with you: structural engineer, M&E consultant, quantity surveyor and principal designer under CDM 2015. Planning and building control fees are also yours. Our fee stays as appointed under the RIBA Standard Professional Services Contract.
The two weeks after you sign
Four actions in the two weeks after your signature. Nothing else needs you until the room data freeze.
Rev C locked, same day
Joel Prenderby marks the model as the coordinated baseline and issues it to all consultants.
Consultants instructed, 20 September
Structural engineer and M&E consultant receive their Stage 4 instructions, against the signed baseline.
Stage 4 kickoff, 27 September
A weekly coordination meeting starts, with the clash report published every Friday in your project space.
Planning application, 1 October
Design and Access Statement, drawings and the energy statement go in through the Planning Portal.
Stage 4 and tender
Twenty-seven weeks from signature to contractor's return. The 13-week planning determination runs in parallel and is the one date we can't control.
Planning submission
Determination, 13 weeks
Structural coordination
Facade package
M&E and clean room package
Room data sheet freeze
Tender package issued
Two-stage JCT tender
Signature by Friday 17 September
If anything in revision C is wrong, tell Joel before you sign. A correction this week costs hours. The same correction in December costs a package reissue.
Prepared by
Wanjiru Mwangi Director, Threadgold Mwangi Architects
12 Osney Mead Yard Oxford OX2 0ES wanjiru@threadgoldmwangi.co.uk
For approval by
Dr Anneke Rowsell Chief Operating Officer, Halden Ionics
Project architect: Joel Prenderby joel@threadgoldmwangi.co.uk
Sign off RIBA Stage 3
By signing, you approve the Stage 3 design at revision C: 3,164 m² GIA and a construction cost of £11.84m excluding VAT. You also instruct Stage 4 from Monday 27 September 2027 and the planning submission on 1 October 2027.