The Building of a Bridge - Case Study Example

Introduction The construction project under study is the building of a bridge. The main construction work will include: Carrying out a quality assurance exercise on the contractors including compliance to the required regulations and standards by BIS, the occupational health and safety standards, sustainability impact of the project; Preparing and checking shop drawings. This will be done in consultation with the designer (since the construction is awarded to one contractor). This is especially important to ensure quality assurance in terms of the design specifications and the client’s requirements; Site inspections and equipment efficiency to ensure accuracy in the work: surveying and lying of structures; Recording keeping and reports. The progress of the project will be closely monitored using wri9tten reports and records. There will also be records kept of all activities completed and these that are due for completion; prospects and any changes introduced in the process; Inspection of materials and inspection of the components: this will include pile installation; checking bearings on materials; review post-tensioning procedures. It is the intention of the project managers to apply modern technology in the construction by using the techniques of post-tensioning, reinforced ground walls, soil freezing (Lomax and Duffy 2013). The materials in use will also be a reflection of the new technology, with the use of plastics and composites materials (Kevin 2010) for sustainability purposes. The construction work will be carried out in integration with all the respective participants and team. This implies that there will be interdependence between all the elements of the system. The system theory implies that the whole bridge system will be considered in relation to the other systems in its execution. This system will include the main system which will be the bridge itself. The main system is the project that it to be undertaken. The project composition will include the various parts of the system: subsystems. This will include the construction of a road, reconstruction of footpath, drainage systems. The system will also have external elements and internal elements which will comprise its environment. The internal environment therefore can be identified as contractors, workers, consultants. The external environment will basically be the user of the completed project which will include the pedestrians and cyclists and motorists. Procurement Strategy The world over has in the recent pat increased their concerns over climate change and the fear of extinct should there be no remedies put in place to stop the damage. This has brought the concerns over the impact of human activities on the environment as well as achieves development. This development and economic growth is largely dependent on the infrastructure of a country. In the UK, the construction industry apart from providing employment to most unskilled laborers, contributes close to 9% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, (HM Government 2008). The industry’s activities also have a great impact on the environment: from the manufacture of the materials to be used, the construction itself to its outputs. The UK depends on the construction industry for the construction of its roads, buildings, houses and the general infrastructure. This dependence and the need for achieving sustainability is what brought the introduction of the Joint Industry and Government Strategy: Strategy for Sustainable Construction. Therefore in order to secure this portion of the UK GDP there need to ensure that the industry achieves sustainable development. The Strategy has outlined the means through which this sustainable construction ‘ends’ can and should be achieved. The means outlined in the strategy include procurement, design, innovation, people and better regulation. The means are meant to achieve the ends: climate change mitigation; reduce per capita water consumption, enhancing biodiversity in construction, reduction in wastage; use of materials with least environmental and social impact (HM government 2008). These are in line with the industry’s 2025 vision here the government seeks to achieve: 33% reduction in construction costs ; 50% time reduction in completion time; 50% reduction in emissions; 50% reduction in trade imports and exports gap of construction materials ( Gardiner 2013). Among the most important process in the achievement of this goal is through the procurement process (Enterprise Europe) in which the UK has committed, through the strategy, to encourage the use of construction Commitment. The procurement process can be instrumental in reducing the costs of construction and improve the efficiency with which the project is taken. It is in this regard that the UK government has in place the Sustainable Procurement National Action Plan. Under this plan, Sustainable procurement is defined as: process where organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a hole basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the Organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimizing damage to the environment. The importance of the procurement process cannot be undermined hence the move from the traditional ways of procurements through tendering to modern ways: design and build; management contracting; partnering and PFI. The issue of concern is whether these modern procurement means are in any way aligned to the government strategy and the vision as set about in the ‘ends’ of sustainable construction. Design and Build This procurement strategy involves the use of one contract to seek the architectural design services and the construction of the project (Pabor and Pennington 2012). The client can either engage a design consultant and the then enter into a contract with a contractor for the construction, who then can hire other consultants in the detailed design and construction process, or have one contractor who will be responsible for coming up with the design and the construction of the design, engaging consultants (Davis et al 2008 pg. 11). Management Contracting In management contracts, the employer contracts consultants that prepare the project design specification and a management contractor who will oversee the construction work to completion. The management contractor is selected based on the specifications that they provide, the pricing and time schedules with which they will use in the execution. Depending on the contract, the management contractor can either have full or partial liability in the construction. . The principle of this strategy is that the employer contracts a team for management purposes in which they are consulted at the design stage and then allowed to carry out the contracting services of all sub-contractors during the construction process. Partnering and PFI This type of procurement strategy is where the client comes into agreement with another firm in order to secure the procurement of certain materials. Essentially, the responsibility of contracting is left upon the private firm. The HM Treasury report on PFI recommends, from past projects, that the procurement strategy is usually a slow, expensive strategy especially for the public sector. Moreover, most of the PFI agreements have been reportedly resistant to changes on its conditions making it hard to align their objectives with that of the Government. The sustainable agenda of the government of UK is essentially to move away from this problems created by PFIs. Since PFIs provide an opportunity to increase costs, increase the project completion time with delays in releasing the required resources and their inflexibility then the strategy does not exactly promote the Government’s Construction agenda. Of all the three procurement strategy, none of them can, with certainty, proclaim to promote the reduction in emissions are required by Construction Industry 2015 agenda. However, the Design Build strategy provides such platform, for which the client can only choose that contractor that can provide an environmentally friendly service. The design- construct procurement strategy aligns with the sustainable development goals to the extent of reducing the completion time and the costs: the construction can begin in parallel to the detailed design of the project early unlike when the contractors have to wait for the design to be completed. The costs included in the project are also reduced since the prices are agreed upon entering onto the contract and the fact that the employer is dealing with only one contractor. Therefore the project will apply the design build strategy. Value Engineering The concept of value engineering is a systematic approach in realizing the best value in a process. Generally value engineering is defined as an analysis by qualified personnel of a program in order to achieve improved performance and quality. Ideally the VE process seeks to attain the best value of a program for which its costs are at minimum (Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg. 39). The focus of VE analysis is the on the function of the program and hence the thought process is on how to improve this function but not reduce its performance. This best value and cost reduction is achieved by providing alternative mechanism in which the performance of the program is nit undermined. The concept of cost reduction is usually applied in the measurement of VE since it can be measured while the value performance cannot be quantified (Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg. 39) with the aim of value improvement not lost in the process .Value engineering can therefore be defined as a structured and analytical process that seeks to achieve value for money by providing all necessary functions at the lowest cost consistent with the required level of quality and performance. The main goal of value engineering is not to cut cost but to improve the value of the process (Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg. 40). As much as VE process is not a cost cutting process, it does incorporate the element of cost reduction. The process benefits the project owners through: reducing costs and completion time; increasing efficiencies; and value addition (Atabay and Galipogullari pg. 40). Value, in the VE Process can be expressed as the ratio of the performance over the overall construction costs. Therefore the only way value can be increased, could be either to increase the performance of the output or reduce the overall costs. These costs can be effectively reduced in the VE process in the evaluation phase where each possible evaluation alternative is considered depending on their advantages and their disadvantages (Federal Highway Administration) and how the alternative with help in costs savings. This evaluation process also includes the elimination of unnecessary costs: costs that do not provide quality, nor use or value to the project. The VE process is applied through the a job plan that consist of 8 phases: selection of projects; investigation ; creative phase for identifying possible alternatives; evaluation phase of each selected alternative; development of the best alternative; presentation of the VE report ( Federal Highway Administration ). The tasks and techniques involved in the functional analysis, creative phase, evaluation phase, development phase and presentation phase would only be successful is carried out in a team(Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg.40) using workshops. This is principally because the VE process requires specialists that can view one problem in different angles in order to exhaust all possible alternatives in solving the VE problem (Choi 2015). It is during the investigation phase where the solution is first identified and evaluated in regard to the elements that need value improvement. It is in the selection of these elements that the Pareto principle of distribution comes in handy. Since VE uses a mechanism in which the unnecessary cost are eliminated while maintaining the quality and performance of the project then the 80/20 rule can be applied. The Pareto principle states that 20% of the invested input is responsible for 80% of the output that is 80% of the consequences are as result of 20% of the causes. The original principle sates that 80% of the wealth is controlled by 20% of the country’s population. In the VE process, the principle can be restated to the Pareto principle of distribution states that 80% of the projects cost will be in the 20% of the work. The VE process is important in very project and if applied efficiently can prove to be beneficial in achieving the desired outcomes of the project. However not all project will realize the full benefits of VE. The process is costly and the investment on VE needs to be realised in the long term. Atabay and Niyazi Galipogullari (2013) recommends that successful VE analysis is carried out on complex projects and projects through which the owner can realize profit and is able to incur this cost of evaluation. The whole goal of the value engineering process is to ensure that the best value is obtained from the construction project at the best possible lowest costs. This implies that the value analysis will essentially take place at the initial stage of the project. It is recommended that the earlier the process is introduced into the construction process the better value is achieved in the long run. The Whole Building Design Guide (Cullen 2010) recommends that VE can be applied in three main stages of the development of the project: planning; design; construction but highest returns are realised if VE is applied at the onset of the project: it would be much easier to save on the costs to be applied at the beginning rather that at the end when all costs have been incurred already and it would be costly to introduce VE changes to the project (Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg. 41). Cullen (2010) asserts that at the planning stage there are numerous benefits to be derived from the VE process where the VE team can be able to assess the functionality of the project, establish the usefulness of the program, determine the value of the project to the owner and review the program as well. The ideal time to undertake the VE based on savings can be represented in the figure bellow: (source www.wbdg.org) Once the ideal time for the VE has been established and it is ready to be undertaken, then the VE team ought to make certain considerations before the VE in implemented. These considerations are usually in regards to the value of the project to the owner and the budgeted costs that re to be incurred in the realization of the project. At the information stage that the VE team tries to answer the questions: what is it? ; What does it do? ; What must it do? ; What is it worth? ; What does it cost? ; ( Federal highway Administration). To answer these questions the team will need to have a background into the project details including the purpose of the project. The purpose of the project is considered as it informs the functionality of the project itself. The VE team also needs to consider the objectives of the owner for the project and the value derived from the project both of which can be derived from the purpose of the project on completion. The client’s need to minimize costs should also be factor to be considered especially in the determination of the value of the project against its functionality. However, the number of employees on the project is not a relevant factor in establishing the value of a project during the VE process except if the cost of employing workers can be established to be a high- cost element in the construction process (Federal Highway Administration). Given all possible alternatives and cost considerations and functionality, the VE process should produce the maximum results attainable. The VE process is an integrated approach ad disciplined procedure to obtain optimality in construction investment. It is implemented through the job plan: the action plan for conducting the analysis. The job plan includes various techniques that are instrumental in determining the best possible optimal value for the project. The Federal Highway Administration asserts that for the VE process to work, and then the tasks and techniques applicable ought to be seamlessly applied. Quality Management It is the intention of the client that quality assurance measures be put in place so that all the planned activities during the execution of the project are fulfilled to the desired qualities. The construction standards of BSI also require that quality assurance be taken on projects. Therefore quality assurance will carried on the procurement process, the materials obtained and the overall activity within the construction site. To ensure quality during the procurement process, the client will provide the possible contenders with their requirements: standard of works, quality of products to be used. Given that the contract to be taken will be competitive design and build, all applicants will be subject to these qualities as required by the client. There will also be a review of the shop drawings with the designer and the client in order to ensure that they have been made to the client’s specifications. The activities of the construction are of importance to the success of the project. Therefore the contractor will have inspection and test plan on each activity of the workers. All equipment will also be tested before use to ensure that the Occupational Safety and health standards will be achieved. The quality control measures will be concerned with the specific activities that will be in accordance to the quality requirements. These activities will be carried out during the construction processes will include: the client will enter into contract with the contractor and all concerned sub-contractors with regard to the requirements specified. Furthermore, there will be signed conditions of contract and scope of work agreements to ensure that all work is done to the satisfaction of the client. To ensure quality in the tendering process, all tenders will be critically looked at to ensure that are per with the requirements. The management will carry out regular maintenance on all plants and equipment, do sampling of all materials on site, ensure quality during storage and ensure ISO certification on all materials (the Constructor). The management will also need to comply to the occupational safety and health standards in the site with regular maintenance and codes of practice. References Atabay S and Galipogullari N Application of Value Engineering in Construction Projects Dec. 2013, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Volume 1, No. 1 (Serial No. 1), pp. 39-48 ISSN 2328-2142, USA Choi E G Feb 2015 Value Engineering can help reduce cost of construction [online] available from: www.qatarconstructionnews.com/value-engineering-can-help-reduce-cost-construction Qatar Construction News accessed 9/11/2016 Cullen S 2010 Value Engineering [online] available from: https://www.wbdg.org/resources/value_engineer.php Whole Building Design Guide accessed 9/11/2016 Davis P, Love P and Baccarini D June 2008 Building Procurement Methods CRC Construction Innovation Report Enterprise Europe Sustainable Construction [online] available from: www.internationaltenders.eu/en/choose_country/united_kingdom/sustainable_construction_ek.htm accessed 9/11/2016 Federal Highway Administration: US Department of Transportation the value engineering (VE) process and Job plan [online] available from: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ve/veproc.cfm accessed 9/11/2016 Gardiner J July 2013 Government Unveils Construction Strategy [online] available from: www.building.co.uk/5057132.article?mobilesite=enabled accessed 9/11/2016 HM Government June 2008 Strategy for Sustainable construction Kevin F April 2010 Bridge Construction –Design Considerations and Materials. Bright Hun Engineering [online] available from: www.brighthubengineering.com/structural-engineering/59647-bridge-construction-design-consideration-and-materials/ accessed 9/11/2016 Lomax S and Duffy T October 2013 the new technology of Bridge Design Structure Magazine [online] available from: www.structuremag.org/?p=760 accessed 9/11/2016 Pabor J and Pennington R April 2012 the growth (and growing pains) of design-build construction [online] available from: www.americancityandcounty.com/contracts/growth-and-growing-pains-design-build-construction accessed 9/11/2016 The Constructor quality Control Measures at Site [online] available from: www.theconstructor.org/construction/construction-quality/quality-control-measres-at-site-16662/ accessed 9/11/2016 Read More

Under this plan, Sustainable procurement is defined as a process where organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works, and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the Organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimizing damage to the environment.   The importance of the procurement process cannot be undermined hence the move from the traditional ways of procurements through tendering to modern ways: design and build; management contracting; partnering and PFI. The issue of concern is whether these modern procurement means are in any way aligned to the government strategy and the vision as set about in the ‘ends’ of sustainable construction.

This procurement strategy involves the use of one contract to seek the architectural design services and the construction of the project (Pabor and Pennington 2012). The client can either engage a design consultant and then enter into a contract with a contractor for the construction, who then can hire other consultants in the detailed design and construction process, or have one contractor who will be responsible for coming up with the design and the construction of the design, engaging consultants (Davis et al 2008 pg. 11).  

In management contracts, the employer contracts consultants that prepare the project design specification and a management contractor who will oversee the construction work to completion. The management contractor is selected based on the specifications that they provide, the pricing, and the time schedules with which they will use in the execution. Depending on the contract, the management contractor can either have full or partial liability in the construction. . The principle of this strategy is that the employer contracts a team for management purposes in which they are consulted at the design stage and then allowed to carry out the contracting services of all sub-contractors during the construction process.

This type of procurement strategy is where the client comes into agreement with another firm to secure the procurement of certain materials. Essentially, the responsibility of contracting is left upon the private firm. The HM Treasury report on PFI recommends, from past projects, that the procurement strategy is usually a slow, expensive strategy, especially for the public sector. Moreover, most of the PFI agreements have been reportedly resistant to changes in their conditions making it hard to align their objectives with that of the Government. The sustainable agenda of the government of the UK is essentially to move away from the problems created by PFIs. Since PFIs provide an opportunity to increase costs, increase the project completion time with delays in releasing the required resources and their inflexibility then the strategy does not exactly promote the Government’s Construction agenda.

Of all the three procurement strategies, none of them can, with certainty, proclaim to promote the reduction in emissions are required by Construction Industry 2015 agenda. However, the Design-Build strategy provides such a platform, for which the client can only choose that contractor that can provide an environmentally friendly service. The design- construct procurement strategy aligns with the sustainable development goals to the extent of reducing the completion time and the costs: the construction can begin in parallel to the detailed design of the project early unlike when the contractors have to wait for the design to be completed. The costs included in the project are also reduced since the prices are agreed upon entering onto the contract and the fact that the employer is dealing with only one contractor. Therefore the project will apply the design-build strategy.

The concept of value engineering is a systematic approach to realizing the best value in a process. Generally, value engineering is defined as an analysis by qualified personnel of a program to achieve improved performance and quality.  Ideally, the VE process seeks to attain the best value of a program for which its costs are at a minimum (Atabay and Galipogullari 2013 pg. 39). 

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