Architectural Specification Writers, Design Managers and Document Technology Specialists

We are the South African arm of the Davis Langdon Schumann Smith team. Initially founded in the UK, we now have offices in the USA, Australia, the Middle East and Hong Kong, and we became  established in South Africa in 2001.

Davis Langdon Schumann Smith has been established as the world's leading specification consultancy for over eighteen years.

Specifications must reflect both the designer’s responsibility as set out in his appointment, and the responsibilities of the contractor under the terms of the contract. As specification consultants, our role is to:

• support the design team
• prepare appropriate documentation
• assist in the procurement process

We operate as a pro-active member of the design team, attending design review meetings and producing appropriate project specifications that will:

• maintain the architect’s/designer’s intent
• set accurate technical criteria
• set achievable performance criteria
• allow specialist contractors to provide a design response
• reflect the contractual requirements
• form the basis for checking compliance

In conjunction with RIBA Enterprises and Klassidex we have authored NBS Building SA as a South African master specification system. In order to provide structure for the specification work sections, we have developed the Logical Arrangement of Work Sections (LAWS) based upon the trade sections issued by the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors.