Construction Practice and Management Report - 2019/20 Academic Year

This report analyzes the construction industry, focusing on company structures, professional roles, and ethical standards. It explores various construction professionals, including architects, engineers, and surveyors, highlighting their responsibilities and the importance of ethical conduct. The report delves into different types of construction companies, such as general contractors and real estate developers, and examines the relationships between them. It also discusses different contract types, including design and build contracts, and their suitability for various projects. Furthermore, the report covers the historical development of the industry, the evolution of project organization, and the benefits of professional affiliations. The report further analyzes project management contracts, traditional contracts, and fee-based contracts, with a focus on design and build contracts. It also addresses the suitability of different building structures based on project requirements and site conditions. The report also includes an overview of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and its role in modern construction. The report concludes by examining ethics in construction, including the importance of ethical codes and the impact of organizational structure on decision-making and project success.

Running head: 1
Construction and Built Environment
First Name Last Name
Institution

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Task 1
a) Construction work is a competitive and demanding career. In order to effectively
accomplish the mission, from the point of view of the Company, the company
employs the assistance of many construction professionals to help them understand
their objective, especially from the point of view of the feasibility of completing a
job. Such building professionals typically include architects, mechanical engineers,
interior designers, surveyors, electrical technical engineers, civil technicians, quantity
surveyors and structural technicians (Pellicer, 2014). These building specialists have
various specialties, for instance, and the architect usually take charge of the
presentation and creation of the project, whilst the structural engineer ensure that the
job is structurally sound, and the quantity surveyor may typically take charge of the
project's financial areas.
These professionals are required to create and retain professional limits in order to
improve their integrity and effectiveness within the systemic industry structure. The
requirement for Ethical Standards is usually important to ensure that Engineering
Practitioners successfully communicate with acceptable language, hold details secret
and confidential, never take advantage of and manipulate consumers when working in
their businesses, rather than speculation energy in the workplace (Sacks, 2013).
Owing to the rapidly growing and emerging construction industry, professionals are
required to sustain high standards and to deliver quality work (Arditi, 2012).
Consequently, the position of organizations and associated technology companies will
continue to be sought by their consumers for several years to come in order to
standardize, monitor, sustain the information needed by professionals in industry
(Howarth, 2012). The professionals involved can come up with professional bodies
consisting of individuals within the construction sector. Through the Chartered
Institute of Building (CIOB), the interests of construction management are well
represented and so is the membership with the construction industry council. The
membership is in five stages right from student, associate, corporate, member, and
fellow memberships, examples of such institutions include the Institution of Civil
Engineers ICE, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Association of Project
management, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, etc.

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b) While designs of buildings are carried out by architects and other parts of the
architecture community, the task of the Designers, the project manager and the
required technical support personnel is to be carried out ("Design method and project
management", 2019).
Surveyor is the land details custodian. The scale, topography, position, features on
and below the land on which every construction is centered shall be decided first by
the surveyors. Without this material, no correct, sufficient, efficient and reliable
preparation, design and implementation of construction projects can be carried out
(Castro-Lacouture, Irizarry, & Ashuri, 2014).
The Town Planner shall be charged with the orderliness of the spatial arrangement of
the different land uses including industrial building, factories development layout
relative to the bordering highways and a river(Griffith & Watson, 2004). Master
design, architecture etc. planned by the Town Planner shall generally take into
account community, history, environment, socio-economic, financial, environmental
and other human needs. Town Planner also ensure that the orderliness of the project is
not skewed and that the permission given is strictly adhered to. In collaboration with
other professionals, the town planner will carry out an environmental impact
assessment of the project.
The architect helps the client to articulate his requirements in an easily
understandable format, taking into consideration any compliance requirements that
may exist. This would be beneficial to the client at this point if research of a specific
nature could be seen in such a way as to achieve a clear understanding of design,
nature of materials, size, etc. (Howarth, 2017).
Engineers are very critical stakeholders of the project team whose duties are to help
with the overall design of the project within the framework of their area of expertise.
Engineers including geotechnical, geological, electrical, hydraulic, and so on must
carry out a number of analyzes and measurements until an ideal design approach for a
given building is achieved (Howarth, 2017).
A quantity surveyor plans a cost estimate as soon as the brief is completed, an
estimated expense of model sketches, basic cost checks during design, such that, if

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the value of the company is surpassed, planners will view each aspect of the
construction project in a rational way, allowing it to combine costs as required, within
the overall cost limit of the project. Upon confirmation by the client of the costs and
the plan, the next duty of the surveyor after collection of the architect's sketches is to
prepare the Bill of Quantities (B.O.Q) in compliance with the existing Standard
Method of Measurement (SMM).
The Builder is a specialist in the physical design of houses. In particular, his job in
developing the construction phase is to create the structure. It achieves so by taking
charge of the building site operations through converting plans, job sketches,
schedules and criteria into a functional framework.
Although the obligation for compliance with the standards is squarely imposed with
the contractor, the unspoken presumption is that when the company has an on-site
agent (project manager) to track and oversee the construction, the resultant
framework or building does not conform with the defined quality level (Chinyio,
2013).
c) Design and build contract; type of contracting under which the key contractor is
assigned to design and install the works, as compared to a conventional arrangement
under which the company nominates design contractors and instead the contractor is
selected to execute the works.
Project management contracts are legitimate deals between a company or service
provider and clients. You pick the contract that better fits the project and discuss the
conditions. The contract shall state the responsibilities of each party when the
contract is in effect. It shows you how much money you receive and what your costs
are for that specific work. The conditions of the contract can be set or vary as the
actual cost adjust.
Traditional contract approach under which the contractor (client or project owner)
chooses qualified companies (including architects and engineers) for the design work
and then accepts tenders for the construction work.
Types of contract based on fees include; Time and Materials (T&M) contract, cost
reimbursements contract, cost plus award fee contract, firm fixed price, contract,

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fixed price incentive contract, fixed price contract with escalation, and cost-plus fixed
fee contract.
From the various types of contract presented, design and build contract would be the
most suitable. This is because of the size of the project and easy execution when all
parameters of the project are well defined and a single company was identified based
on competitive bidding.
d) In the early days, client and service set was not well defined. A client would engage
an individual for a certain work with no documented agreement or well-defined
design and pay the laborer when the job is completed. Master mason were in charge
of all civil works with carpenters and other specialties in their respective
craftmanship.
In the modern world, more defined specialization based on training has been achieved
such that we have human resource management, and financial personnel dealing with
human resource mobilizations and agreements as well provision of suitable work
environment. Architects are charged with developing architectural models and
designs while civil engineers execute the designs such that the resulting structure is
structural sound and stable. Geotechnical engineers and soil technologists ensure
suitable ground conditions as well mitigatable steps when otherwise.
In terms of flat structure, industrial building with large spans between columns would
be suitable storey not exceeding two levels. The office block could a Highrise
structure based on the ground stability, availability of space and size of personnel and
staff services as well geographical and safety considerations. Given the site is close to
a busy airport facility, a low-rise building of about four storeys is most suitable in this
scenario.
e) Architecture and design engineers to ensure the project designs are feasible and most
sound based on the client needs, materials and space and types of loading expected.
Soil engineers and geotechnical engineers to examine the suitability of the soil to
support the proposed structure and proposed any remedies to enhance soil bearing
capacity. Construction technologists such as the site engineers, site and safety
supervisor, foreman, masons ensure safe and quality execution of the project. (Sears,
2015).

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Ethics has evolved at both the technical and corporate level in the building industry.
Specialists such as attorneys, engineers and surveyors have ethical codes to follow as
relevant of their occupation, as do companies. Ethics is also assessed by the extent of
credibility and honesty of which companies do operations.
A flat organization applies to an hierarchical system of little to no layers of control
between managers and employees. The flat company oversees workers fewer and
encourages their greater inclusion in the decision-making process.
A hierarchical organization follows the pattern of a pyramid. Each staff member in
the company, with the exception of one, commonly the CEO, is subject to somebody
else in the company. The structure is made up of several people falling to the
personnel foundation, which lies at the bottom of the pyramid. This structure is most
suitable in this scenario to ensure common reference to decisions and reporting of
project prospects.
Task 2
a) i) General Contractors: Such companies are often specialized in either modern
construction or modification jobs. Many construction contractors subcontract a
significant part of their jobs, whereas modification contractors typically conduct
much of the trades with their own powers (Harris, McCaffer, & Edum-Fotwe,
2013).
ii) Real Estate Developer: It is the form of owner-builder (A company constructs
structures entirely on its own, either for selling after construction or for leasing
and service) that, besides building for personal possession, can often construct for
sale before or after project conclusion.
iii) Professional Construction Manager: This can be described as a corporation, an
person or a group of persons who undertake the tasks necessary in the
development of a project as the agent of the customer, yet do so as though the
work had been carried out with the owner's own staff.
iv) Package Builders: These companies enter into a contract for the design and
development of a structure. Some package builders are subcontracting the
construction component to individual architects or engineers (Hartung, 2011).

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Other classifications include; Royal Chartered Companies, Statutory Companies,
Registered Or Incorporated Companies based on mode of corporation; Public
Limited Company, Private Limited Company, partnerships, sole proprietorship
based on membership; Companies Limited By Shares, Companies Limited By
Guarantee based on liability.
The type of construction company in this scenario would be general contractors
and a private limited company in respect to membership. This based on the fact
that the company has been operating majorly on domestic residential building and
now embarking on public works. This relates the company’s experience on
renovation works as well as new constructions as typical with general contractor
b) The type of relationship between companies can typically be defined as sub-
contracting. private limited company having more than 2 and fewer than 50
shareholders and their responsibility is restricted or indefinite based on the form
of investment in consideration. Effective ties with subcontractors, sole traders
such as material suppliers and other essential services and materials, partnership
such as financial systems, management are strongly and beneficially related to the
performance of the main contractor. Long-term alliances, centered on win - win
values, are most likely to benefit all sides in building practice (Klakegg, 2013).
c) Construction company are linked according to the nature of services they provide
hence specific specialties and experts involved. For instance, architects include
specializations in coming up with aesthetic presentation and sizing of a structure,
layout and shape while a civil engineer are specialized on executions of proposed
models based on sound scientific principles without compromising the structural
integrity during its design life. Similarly, mechanical engineers are more invested
in fabrication and fitting in place of steel components and structures, design etc.
while electrical engineers primarily are invested in servicing building electrical
services at suitable capacity and integration.
d) The Arrangement between the client and the Building Contractor specifying out
the conditions by which the work is to be undertaken, the scope of the
compensation, the time period and the penalty, if any, is referred to as the
Building Contract. The tender documents include: the letter of request to tender, the

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tender form, BIM models, tender pricing document, drawing designs, tender return slip,
employee information requirements etc.
Task 3
a) i) Precast Flat Panel System. This form of construction includes the operation
of creating off-site floor and wall components. For this reason, separate
factory outlets and services are needed. When the panel assemblies are built
according to the project design and specifications, they are taken to the site
and installed there. (Kole, 2012). Most pre-cast systems are continuously
being composed of green materials hence a key boost in sustainability
consideration and use in construction works (Turk, 2011).
Use of recyclable aggregates. The method of recycling aggregate means that it
is possible to recover usable concrete aggregate products rather than
destroying them. It prevents the overfilling of dump areas; it it decreases the
amount of renewable materials utilized in the manufacture of concrete.
Modular pod construction. It involves the creation of 3D structures in the form
of off-site parts. They are delivered to the site at the time of deployment and
installed piece by piece. Every modular unit generated is a 3D module hence
the name.
b) The techniques include:
i) Cause and Effect diagrams; Cause and Effect diagrams are often
identified as "fishbone" or Ishikawa diagrams (after the Japanese
professor who originally developed them) which are particularly useful
in project planning for capturing which defining any concerns that may
trigger problems. They help define and recommend approaches to
possible causes of challenges. They are often effective in providing an
quick rundown of the elements of the project in a straightforward
manner that is not complicated by timetables, deadlines and objectives.
ii) Critical Path Analysis. A 'Critical Path Analysis' is a very useful
approach for massive, complicated programs involving a wide range of
operations that must be carried out in tandem and where there are
connections within such operations. It helps to assess whether projects

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may be carried out in tandem, the series of activities needed and their
overall position throughout the project. A low, quick task might have a
really successful one. The Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is focused on a
timetable such that it is often really helpful to illustrate projects that
intersect or align by demonstrating what needs to be achieved and
when.
iii) Gantt Charts. The Gantt chart is the most widely used method for
project preparation. These are used for organizing and tracking
projects, for documenting expenditures and expenses at all levels of
the program, for reporting success and for generating reports. They
demonstrate, on a basic block diagram, the events and costs in an easy-
to-understand manner over time. The project is split down into
different projects, which are displayed in rows on the chart. Through
activity has a timeframe corresponding to the timeframe of the task
displayed as a shaded block. Such shaded time periods can be color
coded if appropriate to display the activities undertaken as well as
progress.
Given that the company is transitioning to large scale non-domestic projects, the
complexity of project requires a technique such as the critical path analysis to
help manage its operations more effectively. For small scale or domestic projects,
a Gantt chart would be sufficient.
c) Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an advanced 3D design-based
framework that offers architectural, engineering and construction (AEC)
experts with information and knowledge to prepare, develop, install and
maintain infrastructure and structures more effectively. The integration of
BIM allows project leaders to streamline communications between various
structures such as mechanical, electrical, plumbing, data processing and
content processing. It also improves coordination between contractors and
project managers in order to ensure optimum performance (Kymmell, 2008).
d) Innovation is a broad concept that interacts with the relevant system-based
organization and manages to establish a suitable interrelation with the BIM

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section. The introduction of innovative concepts and the organized
management of the production and growth organization in the project section
and the special design follow-up always considers the potential reach
(Ottosson, 2016). Integrated system analysis and design-based prediction
allow for careful monitoring and enhancement of access to long-term research
in this field. BIM helps produce sufficient change in the different preparation
practices, increases the productivity of the organization and meets the whole
policy dependent requirements coupled with systematization that generates
correct product know-how (Marsden, 2019).
Task 4
a) The conceptions of health and welfare within the grounds of the building
sector continue to play a significant role. The incorporation of health and
safety in the grounds of the building ventures thus reflects the simple
forms and approaches that need to be learned in order to promote the
facets of the development phase. One of the main facets of health and
safety integration is that it is a highly risky environment that appears to
present a significant danger at work. Activities such as excavation,
demolition and infrastructure maintenance aim to pose a range of threats
easily. The implementation of appropriate health and safety policies will
also be set in practice in an efficient manner ("Construction (Design and
Management) Regulations 1994: practical application", 2017).
b) The existence of government legislation and regulation in the building
sector is probably one of fundamental elements of the law that will apply
in an environment where there is a danger of life and death. Furthermore,
the value of these established policy regulations allows these building
ventures to be able to conform with other areas of design and their work
activities. Government legislation is therefore as follows:
i) it should be remembered that the key item of law impacting the
procurement process is indeed applied to the sector. The Health
and Safety at Work Act 1974, etc., is among such law. This
particular act places a obligation on all project staff to ensure the

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successful enforcement of fair standards in the area of health and
safety as well as the welfare of the working process of all the
employees.
ii) In the area of construction, the 1996 Design and Reconstruction
Act often applies to the principles of health and welfare in the
construction sector and job processes.
c) The existence of collaboration, and the introduction of acceptable forms of
contact, may often be assumed to be essential for maintaining successful
healthy working practices. It should be noted that it is crucial to have a
good working team which helps to establish cohesion in the premises of
the construction work cycle. The following factors should then be found to
be important in the role of teamwork in maintaining healthy working
practices; working together in the building sector tends to enhance the
health of employees effectively. It occurs because, with the aid of
collaboration, the organization aims to enhance communication in an
efficient manner.
d) The specific aspects in which the building sector will profit from the
support of health and safety regulations are as follows: Firstly,
construction contractors ought to make protection a highest concern. Also,
it is necessary to provide the company's workers with thorough training in
an appropriate manner. Finally, with the benefit of input from workers,
building firms can appreciate the degree of which organizations have
continued of implement their health and safety practices.
e) It cannot be ignored that the conceptions of health and safety are perceived
to be a big issue in the building sector. It is also necessary to consider the
effect of health and safety regulation and its advantages and limitations in
the building industry. It can be remembered that the quality of health and
safety in the building sector will be further improved by assistance of
reorienting the wellbeing of staff and the society as a whole. As a

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consequence of the implementation of health and safety regulations, it is
simple and comfortable for workers employed in the building sector to be
able to carry out protective practices in an appropriate way.