Civil Engineering Construction Design and Management

All construction projects begin with an idea, resulting from a perception of a need, and in the process of its provision aim to make a profit. First we need funding. This may come from a private or governmental source but in either case some form of study is required to prove demand and viability. Professional help in the form of a Civil Engineer or Architect should be employed to help the Client put together a feasibility study and subsequently plan the project.

Once an idea for a project has crystallised into a detailed design and appropriate contractual arrangements have been made, work can begin on site. Much effort has already been expended by the Client and his advisors to define what is required and it is now the duty of the supervising Engineer and the Contractor to ensure that the Client is satisfied with the final product. That will mean a project which is completed on time, within budget and to the quality expected by the Client. In the previous chapter we looked in some detail at contractual administration of construction; in this chapter we shall look at the management structures which exist on site and how they reflect contractual arrangements. We begin by looking at the staffing structure for Client and Contractor and go on to examine the details of financial control on site. An overview of quality control is followed by a detailed look at the techniques available to site managers to exercise operational control.

The construction industry in Great Britain has one of the worst accident records in the European Community. Although the figures have been falling recently, in 1993/94 65 people were killed and 11,118 people injured. Of the 65 fatalities the causes break down as shown in figure 3.1

Constructing works below ground level is a major part of the work of a Civil Engineer and the ingress of ground water can cause serious problems. Water-logged conditions can slow work considerably and cause safety problems, such as erosion or collapse of the sides of an excavation, or even flooding, and so ground water must be controlled to carry out work effectively. It is not possible to consider ground water control without also looking at ground support methods since many systems have a dual purpose. Such systems will be explained within the text. In general there are two types of water to control.

All civil engineering work will involve some form of earthworks. This work may be a small or a large part of the construction but, however big, some form of mechanical equipment, called ‘Plant’ will be employed to carry out the earth-moving operations. In general earthwork can be classified into four broad categories:

Foundation construction is vital to the success of the project and for this reason much effort is channelled into the foundation design and construction. An important message which must be given to the Client from an early stage is that money spent on the foundations is money well spent. It must be considered as an investment in the structural integrity of the building which will pay dividends well into the future. The consequences of a foundation failure can be huge and even threaten personal safety; for this reason a Chartered Civil Engineer must be employed to gain sufficient information about the ground conditions, design the foundations and oversee the construction.

Much of the work of a Civil Engineer involves opening the ground in a safe way to construct underground structures. Retaining walls can be used to provide support to the ground in both the permanent and temporary condition, but they are expensive to construct, so the Engineer will try to use an embankment or self-supporting slope wherever possible. Only after eliminating this option will a retaining structure of some form be considered. Retaining walls are designed to provide support to otherwise unstable soil surfaces and are often an integral part of basement design. In particular, deep basements may incorporate several storeys of a structure below ground and must be designed with care to resist very large forces from the ground. In this chapter we shall consider the construction and design of retaining walls and deep basements. Looking initially at conventional retaining walls, we shall move on to discuss new developments in this field of construction linking them in to basement and deep basement construction.

The Client will initially appoint an Architect who will produce general layouts of the planned structure and approximate costs for various alternative forms of construction. On the approval by the Client of a particular scheme the Architect will appoint a Structural Engineer to carry out the detailed analysis of the structure. The precise time and brief for the Engineer will vary from structure to structure, but in most cases the Engineer will design all the structural members, and the foundations and prepare a series of structural drawings. These drawings will show the framing layout of structural members showing size of members and connection details. The structural drawings can then be used to communicate details of the structure to the steelwork fabricator or to other specialist suppliers.

Drainage can be roughly divided into two categories: surface water drainage, which is designed to dispose of rain and excess ground water, and foul water drainage designed to dispose of sewage. The design of each is based on the same hydraulic principles. In this chapter we shall concentrate on surface water drainage, indicating the differences between foul and surface water when appropriate. The chapter begins by considering a simplified method of design and goes on to look at construction and some recent developments in trenchless technology. This chapter must be considered as an introduction to drainage design; more detailed information is available from the references made within the text, from the manufacturers and from the Water Research Council.

Roads are essential for the economic and social well-being of our country; 89 per cent of all our freight is moved by road and we spend £6 billion a year on construction and maintenance. The need for reliable durable roads was realised in Britain during the Industrial Revolution and two men were instrumental in their provision, John Macadam and Thomas Telford. Telford’s construction consisted of layers of hand pitched stone, decreasing in size towards the surface. Macadam’s construction was thinner because he allowed for grading of stone in the respective layers, which increased interlock and thereby proved stronger at less cost. Both men realised the need for a foundation or capping layer and both realised the importance of drainage to maintain the strength of the road. With the advent of the motor car, dust proved to be a problem and tar was spread on the surface of the road to bind it together.