Interior design project management is a huge, complex role with a lot of big responsibilities. Whether you're thinking about hiring your own project manager, just starting out, or looking to check in, what we've put together here is a comprehensive guide that's accessible for everyone. We've outlined what it means to be an interior design project manager, what the role involves and the important things to take into consideration, but if there's anything that raises questions, we'd be more than happy to help - get in touch any time.

What Is Interior Design Project Management?

Interior design project management is the functional part that gets your design aspirations of your project delivered from concept to completion. From drawing up the plans, coordinating the different elements throughout and executing the perfect finish. Interior design project management is responsible for coordinating all the design elements, which involves overseeing the design before, during and after.

What Does an Interior Design Project Manager Do?

The interior design project manager is the key player responsible for delivering the creative design of your project. As the client, they're your primary contact for any design related issues; this means that they represent your interests. They work to understand your needs and what you want from the process, then they communicate with the suppliers and contractors involved throughout the duration of the project to maintain a current and accurate dialogue in your interest. You will also decide together how much and which information you'd like for them to feed back to you, when it comes to any design related issues; they're responsible for keeping you in the loop and bringing you any information.

They're essentially the person responsible for the design coordination of the project. From managing the plans, delivering your creative aspirations, directing consultants and contractors, to scheduling specifications and overseeing the execution of the work, it's a sizable amount of work, often over a significant duration. Many projects tend to overlook interior design project managers as they believe the interior designers role should cover this, however in most cases this is not the case. From our experience we find projects we work on as the interior design project manager tend to run a lot more smoothly for the client and team than those projects without one. This is just one of the reasons why you need someone whose job is dedicated to the cause; the duration and scale of the project requires attention, expertise and experience.

Roles and Responsibilities

Ultimately, the role and responsibilities of an interior design project manager looks at aspects of design planning, specification of materials within the budget and executing the design intent. Throughout the process of the project, the interior design project manager has a diverse range of roles, which is why you need someone dynamic and adaptable with excellent communication skills.

Delivers against clients design expectations

The interior design project manager is the person who supports the client and project manager in ensuring that the concept design is realised. Which means they have to have a strong understanding of the clients requirements and design style, whilst also incorporating the realities of the design and construction process, and also making sure that each party involved has the necessary information they need.

Effective Project Communication

It's the interior design project manager's job to effectively communicate and coordinate with the client, project manager as well as sub contractors across the project to ensure deliverables and installations are on time for the project. Effective communication and coordination across a project for an interior design project manager includes:

Ensuring design stage deliverables are met.
Coordinating between the design team and site.
Reporting to the project manager for any design related issues.
Liaising with the client to resolve any design intent issues and reviewing alternative options.
Communicating with suppliers, ensuring relevant lead times work with the overall site programme.
Assisting with value engineering where required.

In addition to coordinating the contractors, they must coordinate with the consultants, so that each party understands the project status and progression and any design related queries can be resolved by the relevant parties.

The Interior Design Project Process

As a client, it's useful to know that your project will be working through a design process, and this will help you communicate with your interior design project manager and feel more involved with your project. Depending on what your project entails and the purpose of the end product, these stages can be adapted to fit any custom needs.

Feasibility
Concept
Development
Technical
Production
Tender
Mobilisation
Construction
Post Completion

These stages are part of the definitive UK model for building design and construction by the RIBA plan of work.

Considerations as an Interior Design Project Manager

We've established how much responsibility sits on the shoulders of the interior design project manager but taking into account some key fundamentals can ensure that the process is as smooth and successful as it can possibly be.

Naturally, the planning needs to be exceptional, which necessitates exemplary organisational skills as well as a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the process that comes from experience and expertise.

Within the design planning process, it's essential to eliminate assumptions by carrying out effective research and establishing clear parameters for every element - in any situation where measurements must be taken or implemented, the importance of accuracy cannot be overstated. Breaking up projects into subsections or smaller chunks is also a key part of an effective process, because it allows for regular deadlines keeping everyone and everything on track and automatically generating an environment of regular check-ins and updates with each subsection. What's more, within the planning process, contingencies are a must. Whilst everything goes to plan in an ideal world, the reality of any kind of project is that there will be variations and setbacks; having preparation and solutions ready to put into place can be the difference between make or break.

Throughout the process, the other fundamental is communication. Making sure that everyone is on the same page is vital, and in practice, this means regular, transparent and informed conversations with the project team, the client and the contractors. The interior design project manager needs to be available to make the key decisions around the design aspects of the project, and any choices they make must be informed by the client's pre-established needs and requirements.

Conclusion

All in all, an interior design project manager is a vital component in the success of any project. Naturally, throughout the lifetime of a project, questions and problems will arise, and there are two best things to do in this case: have strong, flexible plans in place, and have a reliable team of expertise to tackle these things. We're here in this capacity, and our experience and strong pride in our work ensures that you'll only receive the best possible result.

SP3 London is an interior design delivery house, therefore this is a key role we take on as part of all our projects. We believe every project's success comes down to fulfilling clients' design requirements and working closely with the project manager and the rest of the design team.

If you’re interested in knowing more about how SP3 London can support you with Interior Design Project Management, get in touch with us today.