Construction Practice and Management

This course provides an overview of the construction industry, including its history, current trends, and future prospects. It covers the various aspects of construction, including planning, design, construction, and management. The course also explores the role of technology in construction and the importance of health and safety in the industry.

CONSTRUCTION PRACTICE AND MANAGEMENT

Contents
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1.................................................................................................................................................3
P2.................................................................................................................................................3
P3.................................................................................................................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P4.................................................................................................................................................6
P5.................................................................................................................................................7
LO3..................................................................................................................................................8
P6.................................................................................................................................................8
P7.................................................................................................................................................9
P8...............................................................................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
P9...............................................................................................................................................11
P10.............................................................................................................................................11
P11.............................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

LO1
P1
These days construction is not just about dangerous, dirty sites having hundreds of workers with
yellow safety caps standing around a building construction. Nowadays, construction involves
utilizing technology in planning in virtual development, testing of scenarios which may impact
the operation, construction and creating components off site too in order to minimize disruption
and ensure quality.
Virtual Engineering – it has been a great adaptation in construction. It creates the idea of the
project in a way that it can be tested and made calculations over without actually digging the
ground. The prototype prepared completely shows the full scheme and also allows to co-ordinate
the same on screen without utilizing the site physically.
Modular construction – this results in less disruption of environment, less space requirement
from materials, and less delivery issues. It also has major sustainability benefits from less
wastage and also less vehicles requirement (Woodward, 2014).
Professionalism in Construction industry – the construction industry has always been seen as a
corrupt industry, bad business attitude, unethical behavior, irresponsible and failing supply
chains etc. Against such an issue many countries have made plans and regulations to ensure this
scenario is rooted out of the system. The practices followed regarding this are adopting
international conventions, amendments in labor laws, more healthy and strong enforcement
mechanisms, programs like multi-stakeholder program, CoST etc. Other than that introducing
transparency into different levels, better laws, capacity building and awareness building are some
other ethics which are now followed in order to have professionally effective industry (Egbu and
Ofori, 2018).
P2
The parties involved in a construction organization are majorly these three:

 Owner – the party who’s obtaining the work or say the final output of the project. This
party finds a contractor feasible and appropriate for their building or project. And then
assigns this project him/her. He is the one who can intervene at any moment and may ask
to apply some changes to the ongoing work and also may stop it.
 Contractor – The contractor is the service provider or say shopkeeper serving the clients
or the owners. He chooses projects he/she can be able to work upon and are causing him
a fine profit. Then this contractor engages the sub - contractors who carry out the separate
project parts and complete them. The contractor may or may not divide his contract into
further sub – contractors and get it all handled by him/herself.
 Designer – Designer is the architect or engineer who is in-charge of creating the drawings
of specifications and plans for implementing the development. The designer is chosen by
the contractor he or she may belong to the same organization as the contractor or not.
 Other than these three common parties there are other parties involved too, but they are
not as primary as the above three and are considered as secondary. They are:
 Financier – This includes the banks, loaning parties for e.g., government is the financier
when there is urban regeneration is taking place. These provide the essential finance to
the employers for the development of the project. If the project is huge there are a
number of banks involved for small ones just one does the work.
 Consultant – this party provides professional assistance to the owner, engineer, architect
or contractor for some particular work aspect. For e.g., an architect may hire an engineer
with some specialty, a contractor may hire consultant for remediation, a design builder
may hire an engineer with multi talents etc.
 Supplier – supplier is the shopkeeper in this process, one needs a tool or some
construction material he or she is the party one would go to. The supplies are generally
wood, steel, cement, plumbing and electrical fixtures, tiles, glass etc.
 Reviser – the project is to be checked regularly by someone, and reviser handles that job.
A reviser may or may not be the part of the project’s development (DLA Piper
REALWORLD, 2016).

P3
The various possible types of tenders taken by contractors
 Open Tender – this is the major tendering procedure undertaken by both private and the
government sectors. What happens here is that the client puts up a newspaper
advertisement with the offered price and some key details about the work with his contact
details to invite contractors. This advertisement is put up legally to invite suitable
contractors who provide their bids and offers to get the job. Sometimes, caution money is
also asked in such advertisements to filter or eliminate the number of applications,
although price is very important topic to be discussed in such scenarios.
 Selective Tender – this was introduced to minimise the limitations of open tenders as an
alternative. In this tendering a contractors are shortlisted in order to improve the bids
quality. Such short listing may be undertaken by the help from some professional advisor.
It reduces the tendering cost.
 2-Stage Selection Tender – it combines the elements of negotiation and competition into
a single formula where the client can utilize the expertise of contractor at an initial stage
and hence maximizes innovation, quality and ingenuity and simultaneously optimizes
resource, cost and time input. One contractor is selected in the designing process
competitively early. And as designing proceeds, the last tender is made using the price
and cost data provided with the first tender. This is different from selective tender as it
has two stages called as: Selecting a suitable contractor and Determining Contract price.
 Negotiation tender – this one is extremely used till there is some dispute and continues
till that dispute resolves. It involves three steps, first, identifying a suitable contractor for
negotiation, second, the contractor is apprised with the workspace and third, detailing the
contractor with scope of assignment, drawings, designs, or any other important
information and documents the contractor must take care of (UKEssays, 2018).

LO2
P4
On the basis of the job performed the different kinds of construction companies available in the
market are as follows:
 Small Renovating Contractors – these construction companies generally work for jobs
requiring less amount of capital and those works which do not require huge estimations
or large organizations of construction.
 General Contractors – are those companies who are experts in new building and or work
where alteration is required. They are usually dealing with public sector works.
 Owner Builder – these companies builds only for their self ownership whether the
objective is to sell the building after construction or to rent it and operate.
 Real Estate Developers – they are one type of owner builder companies which not only
builds building for their own but also sell the work after and before the completion. They
are further categorized into one-family and two-family builders.
 Professional Constructing Manager – they are those companies or individuals or a group
of them who undertake the operations needed in creating a project being the agent for the
owner, and do their work as is they are the client’s own employees.
 Program Manager – these companies expand servicing by undertaking management for
programs. The services may include demolishing the existing buildings at the site,
planning and providing economical analysis for new buildings.
 Package Builders – These companies get a contract with both designing and constructing
a building. Their role also includes acquisition of lands and financing the projects.
 Sponsor Builder – they are usually chosen for public sector buildings. They provide
design plan, construction, management, rental and maintenance. The sponsors guide a
project throughout the processing and designing stages (Mishra, 2018).

P5
In completing a construction many organizations are involved. The organizational structure with
their relationship is as follows:
 Client, the initiator – the project starts with the owner or client who decides if he needs a
building or project constructed or not. If not then there is no project to be worked upon
and hence no further relationships. That is why the client is the first and the most
important organization in any construction project.
 Client to consultants – The clients start the procedure with hiring consultants, who are
there to advice on almost all matters like designing, cost and regulations if any. The
consultants that can be there to advice may include architectural support; cost
consultancy; structural, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering support etc. After all
that the consultants then decide to choose or reject some contractor by their bidding and
the work they have done in past.
 Consultant to contractors – as the consultants decides which contractor will be give the
project to he or she also ensures that the constructor starts working towards the same in
due time, with the agreed terms of quality and also with the agreed budget.
 Constructor to sub contractors – there are times when a work needs more skilled minds or
hands that’s when subcontractors come into existence. The contractors lend that part of
work to those subcontractors.
 Contractors and Subcontractors to employees – the job roles performed by the employees
include, working on the sites, overnight works (dependent on project), site managing,
quality surveying, trading craft people etc. (TARGETcareers Futurewise, 2019).


LO3
P6
The modern construction sequences and processes are as follows:
 Volumetric Construction – It involves production of three dimensional units in factories,
fully fitted in before transportation to site. These productions are carried out from steel
frames, concrete, timber frames and composites. Sometimes they are used alongside
ready-made walls or panels too. Examples – Factory fitted kitchens and bathrooms made
out from steel frames and concrete inside a singular structure.
 Panelized Construction – In this panels are or flat panels are made in factories and are
transported to the sites for assembling into three dimensional structures or to be fitted in
existing structures. The systems made out can have roof, floor, and wall panels to make a
complete shell. These factory-made roof and floors panels are called “Cassettes”.
Furthermore the panels are divided into Open Panels, Closed Panels, Concrete Panels,
Composite Panels, Structured Insulated Panels, etc.
 Hybrid Construction – These are the combination of volumetric units and panelized
systems. The wide usage of this construction is in kitchen and bathrooms as they can be
made using volumetric units with the dwellings being made out of panels.
 Sub assembling of components – this construction technique doesn’t involve full-
housing, they are factory made and sometimes site-assembled. The examples of the
assemblies are: Floor cassettes, roof cassettes, pre fabricated foundations, pre assembled
roofing structures, wiring looms, timber 1 beams etc.
 Site based modern construction – in this there are several methodologies present which
have been adapted by the construction companies. These innovative and sustainable
methods are comprised of: Insulating formwork, Tunnel-form in situ concrete, Aircrete,
etc. (Ross et al., 2006)

P7
Micro planning technique –
Micro planning of a construction project involves the organizing the project resources in order to
complete the project. These resources may vary from equipments, capital, human capital etc. In
Micro planning the project team is the most useful resource as it is that source on which all other
resources depend upon. Micro plan is often known as partly construction, means the construction
is done in parts. The micro planning involving construction of smaller segments of a whole big
project, a constructor may assign his assistant or sub constructors the different parts of the
project for example, a building needs to have the toilet area made, the constructor assigns this
task to sub contractor and then the sub contractor deals with it. Once the area is done it is put as a
part of the whole project. Hence, micro planning involves construction of specific part of any
project, be it fitting a boiler room or the toilet areas. The plan is short termed and lasts for days
or weeks at max.
Macro planning technique –
The macro planning technique is one complex method. It takes place before the construction
begins and involves major decisions to be taken such as reviewing designs, planning of
construction paths, arrangement of primary means, planning of important sites, methods and
sources for work packages. The important part in macro planning is the making of project
schedule. This schedule puts the tasks into sequential and logical order. The macro plan of many
projects depends upon available sources and market demands. This planning sets the schedule
and priorities for the targets to be met. The key points a construction engineer or constructor
must look into and take care of are as follows:
 Integration – he/ she needs to ensure that the various components of the projects are
coordinated effectively.
 Scope – in order to make sure that only the needed work is included in the plan.
 Time – it is very much important to complete the project in time with proper milestones
at each step.

 Quality – in order to make sure all the functional needs and requirements are taken care
of.
 Communications – in order to ensure that the employees are well coordinated.
 Risks – analyzing and mitigating all the probable risks.
 Procurement – to get necessary sources form various external resources (Gakuu, 2018).
P8
BIM or Building Information Modeling deals with creating a virtual three dimensional model of
a building by constructors and designers which can be shared with the entire project team later
and helps in understanding the project. The impacts of including BIM in construction are as
follows:
 Higher quality – Building Information Modeling allows the flexibility in changes and
exploration of project documentation and design processes at any given time without a
single hassle for designing team. This enables to shorten coordination time and manually
check-ups time.
 Greater Speed – Building Information Modeling enables for documentation and
designing to be taken out concurrently rather that one after other. Diagrams, schedules,
value engineering, drawings, planning, estimating, etc works are made dynamically
during work progress. BIM permits adapting the original model in order to introduce
changes in scenarios like site conditions or planning.
 Lower Cost – BIM allows to do more work in smaller teams. Hence, minising costs and
increase in communications. Time and money are saved in this administration and
processing as a result high quality document and planning is carried out.
 Future Possibilities – BIM can provide consequential opportunities for increasing the
quality and content of construction industry to heights. It will add value to a lot of terms
including improvement in visualization, improvement in productivity through easily
retrievable information, reduction of overall costs, and increase in delivery speed
(Goubau, 2018).


LO4
P9
Health and safety is one topic which has become very prominent and important in construction
industry. In countries like UK where the fatality rate in construction industry is about four times
more than any other industry’s rate, it’s very vital to look at the aspects of health and safety and
take them as seriously as they can be. Constructions being an industry with large number of
people it seems quite obvious that fatality rate would be high in there, but that’s not the issue it’s
the work those people do which has caused such a gap in fatality rates. Construction work
involves with working on machines, heights, dirt, and an environment which might affect
anyone, hence leading to a place which is not easy to work at. For such issues construction
industries have adopted some do’s, they are:
 Advisory committees have been made for advising the good practices.
 Risk assessment processes, where each risk is measured and avoided carefully.
 Using safety tools like masks, ear defenders and visors.
 Communicating with the staff about the hazards and emergency protocols.
 Training the employees to follow the safety protocols.
 Putting up a responsible team in the company (Lawson West, 2017).
P10
Even though construction has been a disappointment while looking the fatality rates but since the
world is changing that scenario is changing too. There are many countries which have followed
some guidelines by some health organizations. Following are the details of one such act which
has aimed at improving the risk scenarios in construction industry.
The health and Safety at work – the HSWA act came into existence in 1974. It has placed a duty
over all employees as “ensure health, safety, and welfare at work”. This act was enforced as a
primary legislation by the Parliament. It also allows the minister to perform secondary legislation
which included Statutory Instruments referred as “regulations”. This act also established the HSE
(Health and Safety Executive). This became prominent in the friendship of European Union and

the United Kingdom. The approach of the SIs or Regulations was based on the following
prevention principles:
 Avoid where there’s a possibility
 Analyze the risks, if the danger is unavoidable
 Then either detail the risks at their source or adapt methods to minimize them.
The mantra of the Health and Safety Executive or the HSE was to Plan, Do, Evaluate or check,
and then Act. This mantra worked very much efficiently in reinforcing the precautions for risk
management and profiling (Finch, 2017).
P11
Communication plays an important role in ensuring safety in work practices. In construction
participants and teams at the site communicate via face to face meetings, schedules, paper based
drawings, written statements which have been into the industry since the beginning. But now the
industry is focusing on newer and more advanced ways of communication among the employees.
The use of mobile phones, walky-talky, etc. has been helpful in that. The need of this
communication is that it should be there in order to detail every other working arm in the
company about every little thing, whether it is some changes, or some risks, or some precautions.
Communication hence has a major role in ensuring the safety of the employees (Ganah and
Godfaurd, 2014).
Collaboration also is an important aspect in construction industry to ensure safety. The impact of
collaborations is as follows:
 Improvement in work safety – clear and quick communication makes the employees
informed all the time about any hazard.
 Improvement in emergency response – it allows faster response among the team. If one
spreads a word quickly, he or she can help escape injuries or loss.
 Reduction in disputes – removing potential disputes saves more time for focusing on
project (Riddell, 2017).

References
DLA Piper REALWORLD (2016) Parties to a construction or engineering contract around the
world. Dlapiperrealworld.com. Available at:
https://www.dlapiperrealworld.com/law/index.html?t=construction&s=forms-of-contract-
procurement-methods&q=parties-to-a-construction-or-engineering-contract (Accessed: March 6,
2019).
Egbu, C. and Ofori, G. (2018) International Conference on Professionalism and Ethics in
Construction. Available at:
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/136021/International-Conference-on-
Professionalism-and-Ethics-in-Construction-final.pdf (Accessed: March 5, 2019).
Finch, R. (2017) Legislation in the construction industry | Croner-i, Croneri.co.uk. Available at:
https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/legislation-construction-industry (Accessed: March 7,
2019).
Gakuu, Christopher. (2018). Influence of Project Macro-Planning Process on performance of
Gated Community Housing Project in Nairobi, County Kenya.
Ganah, A. and John, G. (2015). Integrating Building Information Modeling and Health and
Safety for Onsite Construction. Safety and Health at Work, 6(1), pp.39-45.
Goubau, T. (2018) What is BIM? What are its Benefits to the Construction
Industry?, APROPLAN. Available at: https://www.aproplan.com/blog/quality-management-plan-
construction/what-is-bim-what-are-its-benefits-to-the-construction-industry (Accessed: March 6,
2019).
Lawson West, J. (2017) Why health and safety is so important in construction. Building 4
Education. Available at: https://b4ed.com/Article/why-health-and-safety-is-so-important-in-
construction (Accessed: March 6, 2019).
Mishra, G. (2018) 8 Types of Construction Companies, The Constructor. Available at:
https://theconstructor.org/construction/construction-companies-types/6387/ (Accessed: March 6,
2019).

Riddell, T. (2017). 6 Reasons Why Collaboration is Key to Successful Construction
Management. eSUB Construction Software. Available at: https://esub.com/6-reasons-
collaboration-key-successful-construction-management/ (Accessed: Mach 7, 2019).
Ross, K. et al. (2006) A guide to modern methods of construction. Bracknell, England: Ihs Bre
Press On Behalf Of Nhbc Foundation.
TARGETcareers Futurewise (2019) How the construction industry works: a beginner’s guide |
Targetcareers.co.uk. Available at: https://targetcareers.co.uk/career-sectors/construction-and-
property/228-how-the-construction-industry-works-a-beginner-s-guide (Accessed: March 6,
2019).
UKEssays (2018) Types Of Tenders And Tendering Process Construction Essay. Available at:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/construction/types-of-tenders-and-tendering-process-
construction-essay.php?vref=1 (Accessed: March 6, 2019).
Woodward, A. (2014) Evolution of construction, Raconteur. Raconteur Media Ltd. Available at:
https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/evolution-of-construction (Accessed: March 5,
2019).