RIBA's Plan of Work gives visualisation a different job per stage

The picture

The RIBA Plan of Work 2020 Overview, published by the Royal Institute of British Architects, organises a building project into eight stages: 0 Strategic Definition, 1 Preparation and Briefing, 2 Concept Design, 3 Spatial Coordination, 4 Technical Design, 5 Manufacturing and Construction, 6 Handover, and 7 Use. Each stage carries a stated Outcome and Core Tasks, and the RIBA's own Plan of Work page, retrieved 16 September 2026, confirms the 2020 edition remains current, supplemented by overlays on sustainability, inclusive design and smart buildings rather than superseded by a later edition.

What the documents show

The Overview states Stage 2 'sets the Architectural Concept for a project' through Design Reviews that seek client comment, calling it a matter of 'rules of thumb' rather than detailed analysis. By Stage 4, the task is 'developing the information required to manufacture and construct the building', drawing on the federated model to produce, in its own phrase, 'cutaways and extracts derived from the BIM model to explain design'. The Plan of Work page adds that the framework carries overlays, including a Smart Building Overlay, applying across all eight stages rather than replacing the stage structure; neither document claims the Plan of Work uses this site's own class-and-authority vocabulary, a separate reading applied here.

What it is allowed to decide

Read against the decision-class ladder, a Stage 2 concept visualisation can plausibly support Class 2 Creative approval: the Overview describes it as testing look and feel against a brief, not a construction-ready document. A Stage 4 output, built from a federated model, can plausibly reach Class 5 Technical execution, since the Overview ties it directly to manufacture and construction information. Neither document states any stage's visualisation carries Photometric or Physical authority; the language is about model coordination, not verified light or material behaviour. The Overview supports Auditability at Stage 4, since extracts are explicitly derived from a federated model that stage reports track.

The disclosure label

A Stage 4 visualisation under the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 would carry a label reading, in substance: this image is derived from the Stage 4 federated design model; it can support Class 5 Technical execution; it holds Auditability authority because it is traceable to a tracked, versioned model; it does not hold Photometric authority, since the Plan of Work does not require verified lighting data at any stage; dated 16 September 2026. The lead designer coordinating the Stage 4 Design Programme, a role the Overview names directly, would plausibly assert it.

• Which of the eight stages produced this image, and does its Outcome match the decision being asked of it?
• Is a Stage 2 concept image being used to support a Stage 4-level construction decision?
• Is the image traceable to a federated model, or a standalone rendering with no stated model source?

The Plan of Work's stage boundaries are a process discipline, not a visual-authority standard, but its insistence that Stage 2 and Stage 4 outputs answer different questions checks against treating any single rendering as good for every decision on a project.