Construction Practice and Management

This report explores the development and professionalism in the construction industry, specialisms involved in construction, stages of construction, concerns in tender documents, BIM analysis, and factors for selecting local sub-contractors.

Construction Practice and
Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Explaining how the construction industry has developed and encompassed professionalism
within its structures......................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
1. Outlining the ways by which construction would involve the skills and specialisms.............2
2. Stating main stages of the construction...................................................................................3
3. Stating which specialisms would be employed during each of the main stages of the
construction..................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
a) Main concerns that the local council would include in any tender document to select a main
contractor.....................................................................................................................................5
b) Analysing BIM and how it helps the council to select the design of the school including
analysis of progress to completion..............................................................................................6
c) Factors for looking for small local companies who could act as sub-contractors...................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Construction management is a professional service which includes managing the
construction related operations of a site. The procedure of construction management includes
planning, design and implementing the strategies at the construction site (Huang and et. al.,
2018). The main aim of this report is to build an understanding about the different aspects in
construction management and the issues which are faced by service providers while conducting
this procedure. For this purpose, a scenario is given for this report in which a local authority of
United Kingdom wishes to turn a furniture factory into a junior school building.
In this report, construction industry is analysed and how it has been developed overtime.
This report also includes various specialisms in construction industry and how are they
appropriate for the case given. Stages in the procedure of construction are also analysed with the
aim of comparing the main factors which helps to differentiate between construction companies.
In this report, main concerns of local authorities are identified along with the analysis of BIM
(Building information Modelling). Lastly, in this report, role of CDM is discussed along with
health and safety standards in construction industry.
TASK 1
Explaining how the construction industry has developed and encompassed professionalism
within its structures
Construction industry is large sector of United Kingdom which contributes around 6% of the
total economic output in a year. This industry has helped in providing jobs to 2.4 million
individuals. In the given case study, a furniture factory is required to be built as a junior school.
This procedure of construction requires construction industry to work (Jackson, 2020).
Construction industry has been evolved with passing time. In the developing world, where
infrastructure has become one of the necessities of society, it is important to effectively construct
buildings, bridges and other assets in such a way that it can benefit the society. Considering this
development, the whole process of construction cannot be completed by only one company. The
procedure of construction involves various specialists including soil engineering, structure
engineering, design, wood workers, cost management, furniture and fixtures, architecture,
contract management, health and safety management and maintenance. It is not possible for a
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single organisation to be specialised in so many processes due to which construction industry has
been evolved into larger general companies interspersed by smaller specialist units.
This evolution of construction industry has both positive and negative impacts. The positive
impacts of this evolution are that due to this evolution the procedure of construction has become
easier and effective to be conducted as every specialist unit can perform the work in which they
are specialised in. This evolution has helped in raising the level of infrastructure in the world.
Apart from these positive impacts, this evolution has few negative impacts as well. This
evolution has been resulted in un-equal importance to all the units (Lu, Lai and Tse, 2018). For
example: the unit of furniture and fixtures has been given high importance but soil engineering
has given low importance whereas both the units are equally important in construction
management. Also as these units are associated with different organisation, the issue of
communication has become common.
TASK 2
1. Outlining the ways by which construction would involve the skills and specialisms
The construction case which has been given states that a furniture factory is required to be
turned as a junior school. In this construction procedure of junior school, various specialisms will
be involved and each of them will require distinct qualities and skills. These specialisms and
skills are outline below:
 Soil engineering – As the junior school is aimed to be constructed by turning a furniture
factory, it is important to effective engineer the aspects of soil. For this specialism, the
skill of geotechnical is required.
 Structure engineering – A factory and a junior school has varied requirements of structure
due to which it is important to develop an entire new structure for this building. For this
specialism, the skills of numeracy and analytics are required.
 Design – The building and premises of the school will be first designed and then be
developed. For the specialism of design various skills are required which include
creativity, commercial awareness, and analytical skills (Mesároš and et. al., 2018)
 Wood workers – The premises will require extensive wood work to be done. For this
specialism the skills required are understanding of the wood, ability to use sharpen saws,
ability to prep lumber with hand tools and skill to cut a mortise and Tenon joints.
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 Cost management – For a large budget construction project such as junior school, it is
important to manage the expenses. Cost management is a specialism which will require
skills of developing financial statements, numeracy, development of budgets and
analytical skills to analyse cost reports.
 Furniture and fixtures – This specialism requires the same skills as wood workers along
with skills of primary design.
 Architecture – This is the specialism in which the procedure of construction actually
takes place and the skills required for this specialism are mechanical knowledge, strength,
and stamina, design and reasoning skills.
 Contract management – Every construction process requires a valid contract which also
needs to be managed and maintained. For this, the knowledge and skills of laws and
regulations are required.
 Health and safety management – As the construction project is a junior school, it is
important to follow all health and safety procedures and for this, skills which are required
includes ability to identify hidden hazards, knowledge of HSC regulations and awareness
of health & safety equipment (Mendis and Halwatura, 2019).
 Maintenance – This specialism is related with maintaining the building post its
construction for which skills of understanding every aspect of the building is required.
2. Stating main stages of the construction
The construction project of the junior school will be completed in various stages which
will include from tendering to hand over. These stages and sub stages are stated below:
Stage 1 – Pre construction
Stage 2 – Construction
 Sub stage (a) – site works
 (b) – slab down
 (c) – plate high
 (d) – roof
 (e) – lock up
 (f) – furniture and fixtures
 (g) – final touches and completion
 (h) – hand over
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Stage 3 – Post construction
3. Stating which specialisms would be employed during each of the main stages of the
construction
Every stage of construction which has been analysed above will require a specialism to
complete that stage effectively. These stages along with their specialisms are stated below:
Stage 1 – Pre construction: Design, contract management and cost management for
budgeting.
Stage 2 – Construction
 Sub stage (a) – site works: Soil engineering and structure engineering
 (b) – slab down: Architecture
 (c) – plate high: Architecture
 (d) – roof: Architecture
 (e) – lock up: Architecture
 (f) – furniture and fixtures: Wooden workers and furniture manufacturers
 (g) – final touches and completion: Health and safety procedures
 (h) – hand over: Contract management and cost management to identify overall cost
incurred.
Stage 3 – Post construction: Maintenance
Construction companies, contracting and tendering organisations are different from each
other as the roles which are performed by them vary from each other. Construction companies
make sure that the design and structure of the building is appropriate according to the aim of
brief of the construction (Ma and Pei, 2019). These companies also make sure that building is at
a stable structure so that it will not harm anyone in future. These companies actually construct a
building and play all the roles of architecture such as slab down, plate high, completion of the
roof and many more. It is the responsibility of these companies to make sure to follow all health
safety procedures and then hand over the site to its owner.
The role of tendering companies is different from construction companies. These companies
do not construct the building but fill up a tender of the owner. Among various tendering
companies, the company with lowest bid wins and gains the contract of construct the building.
Such company then provide the contract to a construction company.
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Contract company is different from above two types of companies. A contract company is
hired by a tendering company which further procures materials and labour from other
contractors. It must be noted that in some cases contract and construction company can be a one
company (Su, 2019).
TASK 3
a) Main concerns that the local council would include in any tender document to select a main
contractor
According to the construction scenario, local council is keen to encourage local companies
so that the tender of constructing the new junior school can be given to a local company. In the
tender document, there will be various concerns which local council will include to select a local
contractor. These concerns will be:
 The tender with lowest bid will win the tender.
 As the construction building is of a junior school, all the health and safety procedures
must be fulfilled and regulations must be adhered given by HSC of United Kingdom.
 Any law associated with construction and labour must not be ignored and the
construction procedure must be a lawful activity.
 The building must be adequately locked up and all the furniture must be designed for
students of junior school so that no inconvenience has to be faced (Osazuwa and Oke,
2019).
 The junior school will be constructed at the place of furniture factory so all precautions
related to soil and structure engineering must be taken. It must be made sure that the
junior school building is developed from scratch after fully destroying furniture factory.
 The building must be fully equipped with all health and safety equipment such as fire
escape stairs, fire extinguisher and more.
 The design of the building must be developed in such a way that it can attract students
and their guardians.
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b) Analysing BIM and how it helps the council to select the design of the school including
analysis of progress to completion
BIM or Building information modelling is a technology which helps in accurately
modelling a building digitally which is required to be constructed (Wang, 2020). Local council
would have used this technology to design the blueprint of the construction so that further
processes of architecture, engineering and construction can be based on that blueprint. This
model helps in visualised what is required to be built within the time limit. Using BIM, council
would have developed various designs for the construction of the junior school. These designs
can be simulated in various conditions using BIM. This modelling can provide data about which
design will require how much costs and using this data local council can be assisted to select the
appropriate design for the school.
BIM also provides a facility in which entire schedule of construction process can be
created. This schedule provides the overview about which stage will require how much time and
which stage will be preceded after which stage. This facility of Gantt chart and network diagram
will help in analyse the expected progress to completion and will also help in maintaining the
school building post construction.
c) Factors for looking for small local companies who could act as sub-contractors
According to the construction scenario, local council has a concern to promote local
employment due to which they wants to provide tender to a local contractor. There are various
factors which are required to be considered by the main contractor while looking for small local
companies which can act as sub-contractors. The main factor is that main contractor must make
sure that the sub contractor has labourers and workers who are skilled but are also related with
the local region. Another factor is to make sure that the sub contractors has workers who has the
skill of developing brick layers as the exterior of building will be brick layered (Zhao, Zheng and
Gao, 2019).
TASK 4
(a). Take control of the building process and how it will help the councillors to select best design
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is among the most successful current architectural,
engineering and construction (AEC) technologies. A precise virtual model of a building is
electronically built using BIM technology. This model known as the building information model,
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will be used to plan, design, construct and run the facility. This helps architects, engineers and
designers imagine what should be built in a virtual environment to recognize any possible
design, development, or organizational problems.
There are around four stages in the building construction which maintain control over the
business process. All are discussed below and it required analysing by the local authority who
wishes to construct new junior school on a place of furniture factory. Discussions are as follow:
Method to the madness: Since design and construction is a closely interconnected system,
these phases can be designed and performed almost parallel. Now that we understand the
convergence of design and construction, let's examine the forms the cycle can be eased. Believe
it or not, the answer is easy: the technology (Hwang and Low, 2012). By adding new technology
to your workflow such as a punch list mobile app like Defects Pro, they will remove many of the
obstacles you frequently face during the design and construction process. By using latest
technology, organization able to streamline the several stages of construction or deign.
Step to step guide to make building process easy: The technology will help the bridge to
fill gap between these components throughout design and preconstruction, from design reviews
and subcontractor agreements to forecasts and purchase orders. From an architectural
perspective, CAD drawings are revolutionary in a dramatic way, making for more
comprehensive designs before proceeding to the building level. This technology reduces space
for error dramatically down the street. As it comes to online technologies, mobile apps like
Contractor WorkZone for job and project management allow you to connect subcontractors and
workers digitally and to submit instant reports for various jobs more easily.
Construction: If the light goes green on every project, that's go-time, leaving no space for
meets and notifications to catch up. Thanks to technological advancements, a building app such
as Contractor WorkZone helps you to quickly access handwritten notes, site directions, submit
purchase orders and much more; during your project's duration. Wherever you are – in the
workplace, on the road or at a work site – you will still have details about your project at the tips
of your fingers rather than having to dig through papers and records.
Project closeout: A closeout, the final stage of a building, is one of the often-overlooked
stages of construction (Love, Smith and Teo, 2018). It is mainly known for a period when
architects, technicians, construction companies, and subcontractors must perform a final project
analysis, conducting a final squad checklist. When the entire team hasn't been concisely
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communicating, that is where it will reveal the most. Consider implementing snag report
software like Defects Pro, to prevent miscommunication.
By using above mention building process stages, it helps the counsellors to identify best
design along with latest technology.
(b). Help reduce the running costs of the school
There are various benefits of BIM which help the constriction companies to minimise the
cost of school. Some of them are as follow:
 Digital BIM designs allow the sharing, collaboration and versioning of paper drawing
sets that don't. BIM teamwork will occur seamlessly across all areas within the project
through cloud-based tools such as the Autodesk BIM 360.
 Model based cost estimation is help the firms to minimise running cost of the school.
 BIM helps you to properly organize trades and contractors, identify any conflicts between
MEPs, internally or externally before construction starts.
 BIM will save companies money in a multitude of ways, if you need it. Closer
cooperation with contractors will lead to lower bid risk rates, lower car prices, lower total
variability and less litigation opportunities (Ogunde, A. and et.al., 2017). Better project
summary before graduation allows for more construction techniques and eliminates waste
on discarded materials.
(c). Ensure safety and health both during the building and when the building is eventually in use
While several measures are implemented for the health of labours, accidents in the building
industry are not uncommon. Many people get severely injured and even killed in construction
site accidents each year. Let's explore how Building Information Modeling, the advanced
technology in the building industry, also provides various preventive measures to ensure the
health of the construction sector in laboratories. Government funding and the great technological
breakthroughs together allow Building Information Modeling to be effective in providing
security initiatives during construction. Local authority should follow these safety steps of BIM
at the time of constructing Junior School building.
d) Role of CDM in the construction process and examine how companies with good safety
records has helped to ensure a high standard
 Ensure that the company is aware of CDM 2015 customer duties until any work begins.
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 Design, coordinate and track all work done by itself and its staff, considering the risks to all
who may be affected (Zhang and Fang, 2013). So they required the steps to secure them.
 Verify that many of the workers they hire or appoint have or are in the process of acquiring,
the expertise, qualifications, training and experience to perform the job.
 Ensure that all of the staff under their supervision have an effective, site-specific initiation,
unless the principal contractor has already done that.
Above discussed role of CDM in building process help the construction companies to
provide better health and safety facilities.
CONCLUSION
From the above analysis, it has been evaluated that construction practices and management
plays essential role which required making entire process smooth. There are several types of
construction companies in the market. In addition, Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the
advanced technology which used by the companies at different stages. This model also used to
minimise the running cost of construction.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Huang, B. and et. al., 2018. Construction and demolition waste management in China through
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Hwang, B. G. and Low, L. K., 2012. Construction project change management in Singapore:
Status, importance and impact. International Journal of Project Management. 30(7).
pp.817-826.
Jackson, B. J., 2020. Construction management JumpStart: the best first step toward a career in
construction management. John Wiley & Sons.
Love, P.E., Smith, J. and Teo, P., 2018. Putting into practice error management theory:
Unlearning and learning to manage action errors in construction. Applied
ergonomics, 69, pp.104-111.
Lu, W., Lai, C. C. and Tse, T., 2018. BIM and Big Data for Construction Cost Management.
Routledge.
Ma, J. and Pei, Z., 2019. The Construction of Smart College Campus under the Background of
Big Data.
Mendis, M.S. and Halwatura, R.U., 2019, November. Decoding the societal transitions on
environmental innovation under vernacular timber construction practice in Sri lanka.
In 2019 From Innovation to Impact (FITI) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Mesároš, P. and et. al., 2018, November. Comparison of BIM education process in construction
management field at Technical University of Košice and University of Zagreb.
In 2018 16th International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and
Applications (ICETA) (pp. 379-384). IEEE.
Ogunde, A., Olaolu, O., Afolabi, A.O., Owolabi, J. and Ojelabi, R.A., 2017. Challenges
confronting construction project management system for sustainable construction in
developing countries: Professionals perspectives (a case study of Nigeria). Journal of
Building Performance. 8(1). pp.1-11.
Osazuwa, E.M. and Oke, A.E., 2019, July. Relevance of Competencies of Construction Project
Risk Managers to Quantity Surveying Practice. In Construction Industry
Development Board Postgraduate Research Conference (pp. 100-111). Springer,
Cham.
Su, Y., 2019, July. Analysis and Implementation of Shared Data Synchronization Mechanism in
University Information Construction. In International Conference on Frontier
Computing (pp. 961-967). Springer, Singapore.
Wang, Y., 2020, February. The Construction of Off-School Practice Teaching Base for
Investment Major Based on Big Data. In The International Conference on Cyber
Security Intelligence and Analytics (pp. 522-530). Springer, Cham.
Zhang, M. and Fang, D., 2013. A continuous behavior-based safety strategy for persistent safety
improvement in construction industry. Automation in Construction. 34. pp.101-107.
Zhao, W., Zheng, H. and Gao, Z., 2019, December. The Construction and Practice of the Course
Evaluation System Based on the Course of Engineering Drawing. In 2nd
International Workshop on Education Reform and Social Sciences (ERSS 2019) (pp.
99-103). Atlantis Press.
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