Guide

A designer's specification checklist for bespoke stone sculpture

A staged brief — quote stage, pre-production and pre-dispatch — so suppliers can quote bespoke stone sculpture on a comparable basis, with responsibilities and approvals.

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A useful stone-sculpture specification separates what is known at enquiry from what must be approved before production, dispatch and installation. Use the checklist below as a project record, not as a substitute for the contract, structural design, lifting plan, planning advice or customs declaration.

For every field, mark:

P — provisional and allowed to change;
F — fixed by an identified approval;
N/A — not applicable, with a reason; or
TBC — owner and due date recorded.

RIBA's Plan of Work uses staged outcomes and information exchanges to stop decisions being fixed at the wrong time.¹ This checklist adapts that discipline to a standalone sculpture; it does not claim that a sculpture commission is itself a RIBA building project.

A. Enquiry and comparable-quotation checklist

Purpose and scope

Project and piece identifier
Intended use and desired response
Quantity and whether units should match, mirror or vary
Interior, sheltered or exposed setting
Sculpture-only, delivered or installed quotation boundary
Client, designer and decision-maker contacts
Budget basis and tax status
Desired completion date and any genuinely fixed dates

Site and context

Site address and jurisdiction
Main viewing directions and distances
Site photographs with date and viewpoint
Existing building, landscape, wall, pier, plinth or slab information
Planning, conservation-area, listed-building or registered-landscape context
Public access, foreseeable contact and security considerations
Weather, irrigation, salt, pollution and water-collection exposure
Inspection and maintenance access

In England, listed-building consent is distinct from planning permission, and works affecting a listed building's character require consent; designated historic landscapes are also considered through the planning system.² Confirm the actual position with the relevant authority. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different legislation and bodies.

Geometry and references

Approximate overall H × W × D in millimetres
Maximum envelope and minimum clearances
Preferred orientation and pose
Required inscriptions, emblems or applied elements
Reference images labelled inspiration, requirement or do not copy
Reference hierarchy stating which document governs
Known copyright owner and permission status for each third-party reference

Commissioning a work does not automatically transfer copyright. GOV.UK guidance says the creator is normally the first owner unless otherwise agreed in writing.³ Record licences, reproduction, photography, credit, alterations and future-copy rights in the contract.

Information required with the quotation

Assumptions and exclusions
Design-stage deliverables and revision allowance
Proposed material route and stated limitations
Samples, models or prototypes included
Production, packing, delivery and installation boundaries
Information required from the client or project team
Quotation validity and change-control basis
Proposed approval and payment milestones

Do not compare headline prices until these boundaries match.

B. Design and pre-production checklist

Approved design information

Drawing, model or maquette identifier and revision
Overall and critical dimensions
Unit breakdown and joint locations
Datum, orientation and setting-out points
Visual priority areas and intentionally simplified areas
Agreed project tolerances — no universal carving tolerance assumed
Conflict rule between drawing, model, render and sample
Named approver and dated approval

An approved render does not approve an unseen fixing, joint, tolerance or natural-stone marking.

Stone identity and evidence

BGS defines dimension stone by geological source and use, and its laboratories test properties including density, porosity, water absorption and strength.⁴⁵ The project team should identify which evidence is relevant; this checklist supplies no generic pass value.

Stone Federation GB recommends range or control panels that show the expected geological characteristics of a selected bed or available blocks.⁶ A small colour chip is therefore an indicative reference, not a promise that every surface will be identical.

Interfaces and responsibilities

The sculpture drawing should coordinate with the engineer's design; it should not be mistaken for that design.

Production release

All approval documents listed by identifier and revision
Open items either closed or expressly accepted as provisional
Material and finish approvals signed
Change process, authority and cost/programme treatment agreed
Progress evidence and inspection points agreed
Non-conformity and disposition route agreed
Production release signed and dated

C. Pre-dispatch checklist

Identity, dimensions and condition

Piece ID and approved revision
Key actual dimensions recorded
Unit count and joint match checked
Finish checked against the approved reference
Required views photographed with scale and date
Visible condition and accepted natural features recorded
Interfaces, orientation marks and loose components checked
Exceptions recorded with disposition and approval

Packing and shipment

Crate ID, contents and unit-to-crate map
Net and gross mass
External crate dimensions
Lifting, fork-entry and centre-of-gravity markings where applicable
Protection and restraint record
Packing photographs
Shipping marks and delivery contact
Insurance and transit-risk point confirmed in the contract

For solid wood packaging entering Great Britain from another country, GOV.UK requires ISPM 15-compliant material and a legible mark; a certificate does not replace the mark. Northern Ireland rules differ.⁷

Imports, where applicable

Importer and declarant identified
Appropriate EORI confirmed
Commodity code confirmed for the actual goods
Customs value and origin evidence
Licence, certificate or restriction check
Duty, VAT and clearance responsibility
Commercial invoice and packing list

GOV.UK's import process requires the importer to address EORI, commodity code, value, licences or certificates, declaration and record-keeping.⁸ This checklist deliberately gives no fixed commodity code or duty rate.

D. Delivery, installation and handover checklist

HSE states that lifting operations involving lifting equipment must be planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely.⁹ Mass, dimensions and interface data from the sculpture supplier are inputs to that plan, not the plan itself.

Handover

Condition on arrival recorded before unpacking and after installation
Installation and fixing records supplied by the responsible parties
As-built information and final mass/unit schedule
Material and finish record
Inspection, cleaning and maintenance guidance
Limitations and escalation contacts
Copyright, photography and credit permissions
Contractual certificates or warranties actually due
Owner and date for the first inspection

Responsibility schedule

Do not leave a risky item under "by others". Name one lead party and the information it needs.

Item	Lead party	Input required	Approval or record
Design intent	Client/designer	Brief and references	Design approval
Stone and finish	Designer/material adviser	Source evidence and range samples	Material approval
Foundation and fixing	Structural engineer	Mass, interfaces and site survey	Engineer's design
Permissions	Client/planning adviser	Site and proposal information	Decision or written advice
Packing and transport	Contract-named party	Unit/crate schedule and route	Packing/shipping record
Lifting and installation	Competent lift/installation team	Mass, centre of gravity, interfaces and site	Lift plan and installation record
Inspection and care	Owner/facilities lead	Handover guidance	Inspection log

Final issue check

Before issuing the specification, confirm that:

every factual requirement has an owner;
every approval names a document and revision;
every provisional item has a due date;
material appearance and technical evidence are separate approvals;
design approval does not waive rights or hidden defects;
customs and lifting duties are not assigned by assumption; and
the contract, drawings, samples and responsibility schedule do not contradict one another.

The checklist is ready to copy into a project document. Adapt it to the contract, procurement route, jurisdiction, site and risk; delete nothing merely to make the brief look complete.

Sources

All sources accessed 20 July 2026.

Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA Plan of Work. ↩
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, GOV.UK, Conserving and enhancing the historic environment. ↩
Intellectual Property Office, GOV.UK, Ownership of copyright works. ↩
British Geological Survey, MineralsUK, Building Stones Database for Scotland. ↩
British Geological Survey, MineralsUK, Stone collections, data and testing. ↩
Stone Federation GB, Stone sample panels — what you should be looking for. ↩
Forestry Commission, GOV.UK, Wood packaging material for import and export. ↩
GOV.UK, Import goods into the UK: step by step. ↩
Health and Safety Executive, Lifting operations. ↩

Next step

Turn guidance into a brief

If this guide helped you frame a decision, share the setting, approximate scale and project stage for a project-specific discussion.

Discuss your project Back to the journal

An enquiry is not an order. Feasibility, scope, price, programme and delivery terms are confirmed in writing before either party makes a commercial commitment.