Insights, Education and Risk Guidance for Architects, Designers and Consultants

In 2025, the team at informed by Planned Cover continued to support architects, engineers and designer consultants through a year marked by significant regulatory reform, shifting sustainability expectations, emerging technologies and complex project challenges. Through our webinars, updated Practice Guides and industry leading articles, our focus remained constant: helping practices anticipate risk, strengthen defensibility and operate with greater clarity and confidence.

Strengthening Foundations: Documentation, Records and Professional Standards

The year began by addressing one of the most critical components of professional risk management—accurate, defensible documentation.

In our opening webinar, Records You Can Rely On, Risk Manager Lisa Wastell-Anthony, supported by informed Lawyers (ACN 635 862 145) Wendy Poulton, explored how good records reduce disputes, strengthen legal defensibility and protect whole project teams. These conversations echoed the themes of our early-year articles, including our piece on Social Media and Digital Footprints, which reminded practitioners that anything written, shared or posted can resurface as evidence.

Our articles on Standard of Care at Law further reinforced the importance of clear documentation, professional judgment and accurate certifications—key areas where consultants’ actions are regularly scrutinised.

At the same time, our February 2025 update to 13 Practice Guides — from Dispute Resolution to Substitutions and Tender Submissions—ensured that practitioners had practical, up-to-date guidance on the documentation and administrative processes that underpin project success.

This message tied directly into our end-of-year webinar, Spotlight on Specifications, where Wendy Poulton and Felicity Dixon explored the legal, technical and insurance implications of specifications and demonstrated how clear, consistent documentation can reduce claims and performance disputes.

Responding to Reform: Regulation, Compliance and Emerging Obligations

Regulatory change was a defining theme in 2025. In our webinar Reform Around Construction, building regulation expert Bronwyn Weir provided a national overview of reform activity, including shifts occurring in response to the Building Confidence Report. This discussion complemented our article on the DBP Act Update, which highlighted the growing regulatory focus on remedial works and the expanding obligations for registered design practitioners in NSW.

These topics also intersected with increasing responsibilities emerging around design compliance declarations, certifications and practitioner accountability—areas explored in our articles addressing personal liability and insurance coverage – Can Employees Be Sued Personally?.

Understanding how these reforms interact with everyday practice led to strong engagement in our Contract Administration Q&A with Paul Trotter, which addressed friction points such as variations, ground conditions and certification of stages—common areas where compliance and contractual duties overlap.

Navigating Complex Project Environments: Novation, Modular Construction and Technical Risks

Consultants continued to face evolving procurement structures and technical challenges across projects.

In Survival Tips for Novation, Wendy Poulton broke down recent case law and clarified what “complete” documentation means post-novation—an area where uncertainty often heightens liability exposure.

Meanwhile, the rise of prefabricated and modular construction—accelerated by federal funding—prompted our session Stacked Up: Modular Risk in Practice with Isla McRobbie. This webinar provided clarity on contractual structure, design liability, IP rights and interface risks unique to modular procurement.

Technical risk also dominated conversations in our session Tackling Mould Risks, where Tim Law analysed the causes of mould-related disputes and offered design strategies to reduce exposure. Combined with the year’s article updates, practitioners received consistent reinforcement on how technical decisions, material selection and documentation all play a role in risk mitigation.

Designing for the Future: Sustainability, Materials and Innovation

As climate responsibility continues to reshape our industry, we delivered two major sustainability-focused webinars that built upon one another.

In Designing for Tomorrow, architect Lucy Humphrey challenged the industry to shift from conventional sustainability towards regenerative, place-based design. She explored embodied carbon, circularity, biodiversity and architecture’s evolving role in addressing climate emergency.

This set the stage for Greener by Design, presented by ARUP engineer Sam Chen, which translated sustainability principles into practical actions. He explored material innovations, supply-chain constraints and real-world examples of firms successfully integrating sustainability into design and procurement.

This year’s Practice Guide updates—including significant revisions to Specification & Product Selection—further supported consultants navigating the rising expectations around environmentally responsible design.

Emerging Technologies and New Frontiers: EV Safety and Generative AI

The rapid emergence of new technologies brought new risk considerations.
Our EV Safety in Focus session with Richard Choy and Marianne Foley addressed the fire and safety challenges associated with EV and light electric vehicle storage, unpacking NCC requirements and documentation obligations—critical knowledge as EV infrastructure becomes standard across building types.

This aligned with our article on Generative AI, Liability and Insurance, which examined how AI tools reshape professional risk, including questions of authorship, confidentiality, and PI insurance coverage. As more practices explore AI-assisted design, this guidance helped firms understand the legal and insurance implications of allowing AI tools to learn from project data.

Continuous Guidance: Practice Guide Enhancements and Legal Insights

Throughout the year, our team continued refining our Practice Guides to align with emerging risks and market conditions.

Updates such as the rewrite of Fast Track Projects into Time, Program and Delays and expanded guidance on limitation of liability clauses ensured that clients received clear, actionable tools to strengthen their contracts, manage programs and navigate negotiations.

These resources, combined with our webinars and articles, created a consistent thread across the year: helping practitioners navigate complexity with clarity, foresight and confidence.

Looking Ahead

2025 highlighted the increasing need for informed, practical and legally grounded risk guidance in a rapidly evolving built environment. Across all our education and publications this year, one message underpinned our work: architects and designers face growing expectations—and we are here to support you every step of the way.

Thank you for joining us throughout 2025. We look forward to continuing to deliver relevant, timely and practical risk guidance in 2026.

 

Felicity Dixon
Senior Risk/Engagement Manager, informed by Planned Cover

Disclaimer

This article is only general advice in respect of risk management. It is not tailored to your individual needs or those of your business, nor is it intended to be relied upon as legal or insurance advice. For such assistance you should approach your legal and/or insurance advisors.