Site Conditions and Constraints and the Reuse of Building Plots - Term Paper Example

The construction technique and working faces for excavation are influenced by site accessibility/high overburden conditions, restricting the provision of access tunnels or shafts (Garg & Dayal, 01). Filled and Contaminated Sites When dealing with a filled site, a prospective contractor should consider the uncertainties on how the site filled and what happens when it is later developed. The fill may be needed to provide a level area for parking cars or storing materials or to provide space for a garden or play area.

In some instances, a site is filled to cover up a swampy depression or poor soil, such as peat. Some people mistakenly believe that hiding the problem solves it. The range in the quality of fill is even wider. People take what they get such as loam, silt, wood, ash, building rubble from demolition projects, sometimes even sand and gravel. The homeowners, farmers, and others who do the filling are often unaware that engineering is required or they are unwilling to spend the money to construct an engineered fill.

Most often, the result rarely conforms to good construction practice. A contaminated site is a site at which hazardous substances occur at concentrations above background levels and where assessment indicates it poses or is likely to pose an immediate or long-term hazard to human health or the environment. For an area of land to meet this definition of a contaminated site it must be an identified delineated area of lands (a site) such as a landfill or a transport depot. The contaminated also has an identified contaminant (a hazardous substance) at a known concentration present in soils on the site or discharging from the site.

It also has the identified contaminant in concentrations that are higher than what would “normally” be expected for a non-contaminated site and because of the contaminant’s location and concentration, pose a threat to people and/or the environment.