What is a project manager
Project manager, building architect and building engineer are three different names for the same regulated profession in Spain: project manager was the original name of the qualification, building architect the name adopted from the 60s onwards, and building engineer the most recent qualification adapted to the European higher education area. All three exercise the same professional competencies, regardless of which specific title appears in their professional registration.
In construction practice, the term "project manager" is still the most commonly used colloquially, although the qualification required today for new professionals entering the field is that of building architect or building engineer.
Functions of the project manager in the direction of construction execution
The main function of the project manager is the direction of construction execution: to supervise and verify that the construction is carried out in accordance with the plans, the technical specifications of the project and applicable regulations. This includes quality control of materials arriving at the site, verification that executed work meets the planned measurements and qualities, and technical coordination of the different trades involved in execution.
In addition to this is the economic management of the project from the technical perspective: preparation and review of measurements and budgets, control of work certificates, and verification that actual executed cost corresponds to what has been certified, a more operational and daily control function than that of the architect, focused on design and the overall technical direction of the project.
Project manager and safety on site
The project manager also usually assumes functions related to safety and health on site, coordinating compliance with preventive measures provided for in the project's safety and health study, although the role of safety and health coordinator can fall to a different professional depending on how the technical management of the particular project has been organized.
This closeness to the day-to-day work, frequent presence on site and direct contact with the trades, is what distinguishes the project manager's role from other technical figures who intervene in a more occasional or documentary way.
Difference between project manager and architect in their responsibilities
The architect drafts the project (design, layout, in many cases structural design) and exercises direction of the work, verifying that what is built conforms to the project from the perspective of design and urban compliance. The project manager exercises direction of construction execution: technical and economic control of the daily work, measurements, certificates and coordination of execution resources.
Both figures are part of the technical management of the work, but with different and complementary responsibilities: they are not the same function exercised at different levels, but two professional competencies differentiated by law.
When it is mandatory to have a project manager
Building regulations require the intervention of a construction execution director, a function performed by a project manager, building architect or building engineer, in works subject to technical design, especially in new construction and renovations with structural impact. In minor works without technical design, this figure is not always required, although having technical supervision remains a good practice even when the law does not require it.
The developer should confirm with their design professional or with the corresponding professional association whether the specific work requires execution direction before assuming that they can dispense with it due to being a smaller work.
How Bloqbase supports the work of the project manager on site
Bloqbase can help the project manager maintain in one place the measurements, certificates and quality controls generated by their work in directing execution, instead of spreading them across different files and site notebooks.
The software does not replace the professional competencies of the project manager or their technical responsibility for execution: the tool facilitates recording and tracking, the technical decision remains theirs.