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The topic of this paper is the presentation of the Martineau Place Commercial Centre project in Birmingham. Through detailed elucidations of the participants’ role (investor, project team, contractor) particular attention has been paid to the realization process of this significant development. The very complex project of construction value of just under 20 million and realized in the period of increased economic uncertainty in the years 2001 and 2002 has been envisaged within the framework of macro trends influencing its realization. The Martineau Place Project Developer was Land Securities, assessed as the largest British Development and Estate Company in 2002. The building has been developed for commercial purposes according to the free market demands with the aim to be sold or rented to unknown users. The elucidations of the architect’s status and role in Great Britain, as well as the design and realization process of commercial buildings under free market conditions might be of interest for domestic readers, given the transitional business mode of our country. Information is offered as to the architect’s fee and related to it, the role of one of the professional architects’ associations (RIBA) in setting "guidelines" for its members as to the percentage of the fee accounting depending upon the type and scope of the job. In light of Serbia’s engineers’ chamber founding, the British experience is rather valuable. The feasibility study, the design phase furthermore the main project phase, tender, contract and the construction phase are given as the chief design and realization phases of the project. Each of these phases is specific and differs in certain details from our practice. The tender participation procedure and the contract engagement are analyzed. In the construction stage, a large number of highly specialized firms and subcontractors were engaged to supply product and provide services. The way they were integrated in the project is also described. Finally, the renting modalities of the units within the commercial center are explained. By the lease agreements the Tenants are obliged to submit the fit out proposals to the Landlord/Developer's requirements and fit into the overall concept of the Centre.
