Waurn Ponds Campus Drainage Upgrade Works - Report Example

WAURN PONDS CAMPUS DRAINAGE UPGRADE WORKS Student Course Date WAURN PONDS CAMPUS DRAINAGE UPGRADE WORKS Time schedule and the Bill of Quantities form major components of any Engineering project. The time schedule gives the summary of the time needed to accomplish an activity while the Bill of Quantities gives the summary of the total cost needed for the project as per the provided drawings and tender document specifications. It gives an item or quantity together with the cost associated with that item or quantity. In the tendering process, the times schedule as well as the Bill of Quantities are also the main factors to be considered in the evaluation of the tender to as to determine the winner of the same tender. Therefore, it becomes very important to put into consideration these factors so as to be successful in the tender at hand. The project tendered is the Waurn Ponds Campus Drainage Upgrade Works. Since it is a new project, a number of facilities had to be put in place and were to be included in the Bill of quantities summary. In this case, the preliminary activities that should were carried out included; establishment of the site as well as the access to the site, survey set-out, site as well as office compounds provision, obtaining permits, insurances as well as other works as directed by Deakin. In providing other relevant and essential facilities such as toilets, skin bin emptying, and generators as a source of energy, offices and other facilities, it was necessary to ensure that the local community is not interfered with, that is the site of the facilities was far from homes and other social facilities in the society. The facilities were not to interfere with the sacred places in the society as well as destroying the environment. Pollution of the environment as a result of the facilities was to be checked appropriately so as not to destroy the environment. Generators that could result to the emission of poisonous gases to the atmosphere should also be provided with other air cleaning agents so as to reduce effects of acid rain as well as some traces of global warming gases. The tendering documents therefore, had to be followed closely so as to accurately determine how best to provide these facilities without any inconveniences to the surrounding population as well as the environment. Deakin University is a Public University found in Australia and is established in the Waurn Ponds. Due the increasing population of both students and the staff, a car park is mandatory so as to make movement in the institution easy. Being an institution of higher learning, the tendering process is very rigorous meaning that the contractors to be considered must meet the minimum requirements as provided by the University and must gave the capacity of ensuring that the works are completed in time and it is a quality work. In the tender documents associated with the work, the quantities for each activity are provided. So as to validate the given quantities, the project tender drawings were used to calculate the quantities and compare with the provided quantities. This is very important because there could be an error in the calculation of the quantities which could either lead to an underestimation of the cost or an overestimation of the cost which may lead to incorrect Bill of Quantities and may lead to conflicts between the contractor and the client. Factors like weather, available manpower and machinery would by a great extent affect the duration of the project therefore, depending on the weather at the time of tendering, the number of days of a given activity may be adjusted accordingly to suit the prevailing weather. The major Quantities that were considered in this case were; establishment of the site and the associated quantities, construction Management Plan provision, existing services location, control of traffic and pedestrian, existing pavement saw cutting, existing kerb and channel removal, existing concrete footpaths as well as pedestrian railings and ramps removal, site earthworks and associated quantities, transportation of excess spoil, concrete ramps, railings and construction waste off the site, full depth pavement , asphalt overlay to existing entrance road pavement, additional asphalt to form hump ramps to concrete path, pedestrian layback formation, road cross sections supply and installation of Tactile Markers, topsoil re-spreading over beds of gardens, disturbed garden beds mulching, street signs and posts supply and installations, line marking and guide posts supply and installation and finally clean up of the site works at completion of all construction. The major work came in when coming up with the cost of the Quantities provided in the tender documents. Bearing in mind that the total cost of the project will definitely determine the winner of the tender, it was therefore very necessary to accurately determine the cost of each quantity. in coming up with the final cost, all members of the group were involved and we split the costing into categories which included; A1 to A5, A6 to 10, A11 to 15, A16 to 20 and finally A21 to 24. A1 to A5; The major quantities in this category included; site establishment and preparation, construction management plan provision, existing services location, control of traffic and pedestrian, existing pavement saw cutting. These quantities mark the start of the new project and therefore the cost of each should be accurately determined considering the major components in each. the time sufficient for establishing the office compound was 10 weeks. the amount around as the rate per day in establishing the was arrived at by considering a number of factors including but not limited to the weather, cost of materials to be used, the distance travelled to get the materials, the available man power and technology used as well as the location of the site. Site establishment cost was arrived at by considering factors such as the environment, existing social amenities and the location of the site. The portable toilets to be used were majorly dependent on the available manpower and the materials used for construction as well as the technology used. The rate on generators was arrived at depending on the type of generators used and the fuel in the generators. The temporary fencing, skin pit emptying and industrial waste disposal components majorly depended on the size of the compound as well as the materials used in the components. Since the works were to take place in the Deakin soil, no permits were required. The cost of the Engineer was arrived at depending on the complexity and the amount of work involved. Service locator cost was influenced by the technology used as well as the type of locator used. The potholing as well as the hydro-excavation service rate was arrived at by considering the type of soils, the machine type as well as the technology used in the service execution. The extent of the work, available man power, the tools used in the survey majorly influenced the cost of the survey set-out. The cost of the traffic and Pedestrian management was based on the number of vehicles and road users as well as the methods used in control. All the signs used including the stop sign, give ways sign as well as the pedestrian crossing sign were majorly influenced by the size as well as the materials used for their construction. The labourer’s cost was influenced by the extent of the work as well as the duration with which he could be able to finish the work. The concrete saw rate was majorly influenced by the class and amount of concrete in place. A6 to A10: the major components in this case included the exiting curb and channel removal, saw cutting and removal of existing concrete footpaths and pedestrian ramps and railings, site earthworks, transportation of excess spoil and construction waste and full depth pavement. The major factors influencing the cost these components include; the type of saw used, the technology applied, the fuel used in the machines, the extent and complexity of the work done, the existing concrete characteristics, the type of truck as well as the capacity of thee trucks, the amount of earthworks, and other factors. A11 to A15: the major components in this section include asphalt overlay, additional asphalt to form hump and 130mm thick concrete footpath. The major factors influencing the cost of these components include; the type of asphalt used, and the technology to be used in the asphalt application. The materials used to make the kerb as well as the size of the kerb were majorly used to determine the cost of the kerb in question. A16 to A20: This section had retaining walls, stainless steel stanchion and handrail system, Tactile Markers supply and installation at road crossing location and re-spreading topsoil over garden beds as the major components. the factors influencing the cost of these components include but not limited to the type and length of the reinforcement used, the type of equipment used as well as their operators, the characteristics of the bed material, the material used to make the handrail, the type of Tactile markers to be used, the type of soil and the re-spreading mechanism. A21 to A24: Mulching of all disturbed garden bed, street signs and posts supply and installation, line marking and guide posts supply and installation and clean up of site and works at completion are the major components in this section. The major factors influencing the cost of these components included; the type of mulch, the materials used in the posts and handrail manufacture, the type of works carried out and the waste materials to be carried away. As stated earlier, a time schedule is very important in any project as it gives the time to be taken for each activity so to avoid delays. A well planned time schedule will result to a smoothly running project that will ultimately result to saving time as well as resources to be used in the project. In coming up with a time schedule, the activities to be undertaken, the labour needed for each activity as well as the complexity of each activity has to be taken into consideration. Some of the challenges that hinder the time schedule include weather, breakdown of machinery as well as insufficient labour. These factors cannot be easily determined because they cannot be easily focused. They can be assumed to be inevitable as well as unexpected events. They tend to prolong the time required for a given project thus interfering with the time schedule. This therefore means that in preparing the time schedule, there should be enough floats to cater for these unexpected events. in coming up with the time schedule for the CADET car park works located at the Waurn Ponds campus of Deakin University, the available manpower, the available machinery, the technology employed in the construction, the availability of construction materials, the site location as well as the extent and the complexity of the works were considered. The time allocated for each activity was sufficient enough to cater for the unexpected events such as bad weather as well as machinery breakdown. The sequencing of activities is given in figure 1 below indicating the order in which the works should be carried out so as to avoid mix up in the whole process. Figure 1: Sequencing of works Figure 1 shows the sequencing of works as expected on site. The works must have a order so as to avoid mix up which may lead to delays and wasting of resources. The schedule of activities is given in table 1 below indicating the time to be taken for each activity in the car park construction. Table 1: Schedule of Activities Activity/time(weeks) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 From table 1, shows the schedule of activities and the duration of works for each activity. A1 required the most time because a lot of time is required in preparing the site and compound on which the construction could take place. Before the compound is established, a number of factors have to be considered such as the proximity of the site to the source of water, pollution due to machines on site, availability of ample space and so other factors. Activities A2 to A7 can be sufficiently completed using a week each. From my schedule of activities, the works could approximately take 29 weeks. For easy understanding, I have used different colors for each activity. Some activities such as activity A5 and A6, A15 and A16 and A18 and A19 can be carried out concurrently. The schedule of activities has given the summary of the time needed for the project. However, the schedule of activities can be adjusted appropriately when need arises. Works cited Harris, Frank & McCaffer, Ronald . (1983). “Modern Construction Management”. Granada Publishing, Great Britain. Roy Pilcher, Pricniples of Construction Management, McGraw-Hill Sengupta B & Guha H, Construction Management and Planning, Tata McGraw-Hill Twort, AC, Civil Engineering Supervision and Management, Arnold Read More