At the start of 2012, FRLA carried out a survey of the UK’s natural heritage visitor centres to determine, among other things, how satisfied visitor centre managers were with their buildings. A number of intriguing things that come out of this but probably the most interesting is that a number of managers aren’t happy with their centres and it would appear that the method used to procure the architectural services has an effect on the satisfaction scores for the buildings. As is explained in the discussion section of the report, we believe that this has much more to do with the quality of the brief than any fundamental flaws in particular procurement methods (although obviously a procurement method used in an inappropriate way or situation will obviously produce poor results). Do let us know if you would like to discuss any particular aspect of this survey in more detail. Click here to download the report.