Structures, Materials &Fire - Coursework Example

• Site condition and constraint

Site condition and constraints play a significant role for the whole construction process and safety of the buildings and their safety as in accordance with the building standards and all their structural designs. The identification of the constraints in the construction and safety of the building are constructive factors at all the stages of the construction process starting from the planning stage through the execution of the plan with all its micro details and subsequently, residential or commercial utilization of the building. The elements like topography with emphasis on the slope of the site and the adjacent area, vegetation along with types of the trees and shrubs, drainage courses and riparian corridors ,septic systems, solar orientation and wind patterns , site surveys , Contaminated land and remediation ,Geotechnical design and soil mechanics and Building on inner city sites are key constraints. Site survey, contaminated land and remediation, Geotechnical design and soil mechanics and Building on inner city sites are extremely important and therefore are discussed below:

• • Site survey

The purpose of the first survey shall be first and foremost to establish the stability of the building. If any damage has occurred that have the potentials for a partial or a complete collapse of the complete building then the occupants must move out immediately until the building has been made safe through necessary safety measures.

• • Contaminated land and remediation

As result of the industrial revolution activities in UK in the past, many hazardous materials including heavy metals such as organic compounds, oil and tar have been left. These materials can represent an actual or potential hazard to the environment and human being or any other target, and many contaminative uses are still in operation, therefore, sufficient control measure and procedure towards this concern is to be implemented for appropriate management with an objective to:

• Reduce the potential risk to the environment and the buildings through their safe use as in accordance with the approved building laws and regulations in safe manner, and
• To maintain and manage the risk within acceptable limits of the tolerance for these hazards chemicals for the promotion and protection of the building and the environment for the maintenance of the affordable level for the specific chemical/substance.

The sources of contamination: The sources of contamination have the potential to affect the following components if remain unchecked for a certain period. These components include: a. Soil b. Groundwater c. Debris d. Soil atmosphere Remediation of a contaminated land can be achieved by one of the following method: Removal or destruction of the contaminates from the contaminated soil for reclamation of the site as contaminant free area; Modification of the contaminates to a less toxic, mobile or non-reactive form with other elements: Isolate the contaminate from the target by interrupting the pathway of the exposure A wide range of remediation methods available but two broad approaches can be distinguished as: 1- Engineering approach; primarily traditional method of excavation and exposal to landfill or the use of an appropriate contaminate systems 2- Process-based technique; these include chemical, biological, physical, stabilization/solidification thermal process.

Landfill involves the three phases: (i). Soil excavation from the contaminated soil (ii). Transportation of the contaminated soil for its effective disposal as in safe and protective manner ,and (iii). Burial (at the landfill site) These three phases aiming to ensure that contaminants are either isolated from the environment or subjected to attenuation processes so that they no longer cause harm to the environment ; these approaches include hydraulic measures, capping, use of break layers and low permeability barriers, amongst others.

Physical processes used in soil treatment are used to remove contaminants from the soil matrix, concentrating them in process residues that require further treatment or safe disposal. Contaminants in the concentrated fractions may subsequently be destroyed or recovered by some other process like chemical or thermal or may be disposed of to landfill. Biological processes of soil treatment depend on the natural physiological processes of micro-organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, to transform, destroy, fix or mobilize contaminants.

Biological processes can also be used to fix and accumulate contaminants in a harvestable biomass; such a process may use higher plants. Chemical processes in soil treatment systems are used to destroy, fix or neutralize hazardous compounds. Many processes in other categories may use chemical processes for the treatment of effluents and gaseous emissions. Stabilization/solidification processes involve solidifying contaminated materials, converting contaminants into less mobile chemical forms and/or binding them within an insoluble matrix, presenting a minimal surface area to leaching agents. 1.3 Geotechnical design and soil mechanics Geotechnical design focus on the engineering behaviour of terrain materials.

It applies principles of rock and soil mechanics in order to explore subsurface conditions and materials, estimate stability of man made soil deposits and natural slopes, find out the relative chemical and mechanical/physical properties of those materials, calculate risks that might be caused by site situations, keep an eye on site situations, earthwork and underpinning construction, and design earthworks and structure underpinnings. On other hand, soil mechanics is the study of equilibrium and motion of soil bodies.

Soil here refers to weathered material in the uppermost layer of the earth’s crust.21. 1.4 Building on inner city sites The construction of buildings on inner city sites has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the site of the building, distance from the main commercial center and executive’s offices, the type of row houses in the site area, linked house. The density of houses in the inner city area has its influence on the design and architecture of the building through an impact on the cost and economy of the construction material and human resources for the construction of the building.

Medium density housing includes a row of identical or mirror image houses which share side walls with the neighboring housing units.