TECHNICAL REPORT & LOG BOOK - Essay Example

To understanding the working of a major part of the industry a small contractor company is selected as a study sample. 2. Alpha Construction Ltd There are mainly two reasons for selecting Alpha Construction, which makes it’s an important representative example of an organization which fits into construction industry. Firstly alpha construction is an ideal example for a SME, Civil Engineering and Building Contractor whose range of contracts value from ?250k to ?5m. Secondly it is a company which is in Hilton Derbyshire which would help us understand the working of contractors in the midlands.

The Alpha construction deals in a wide range of works that include building and civil engineering aspects of electricity generation and distribution, food processing, water, quarrying, chemical processing, infrastructure works, manufacturing and coal production projects. The company’s management includes Rob Smith as Managing Director, and Mark Clarke, Melanie Cartlidge, Ken Durham as Commercial Director, Business development Manager and Contracts Director respectively. It is observed that management have very less experience in Environment and related issues and that’s where the issue exists in the small construction enterprises.

As we are very well aware that now the environmental aspect of each project is critically scrutinized at every stage of the project (Design, construction and operations) and if the project does not conform to the standards and regulations heavy penalty or even the closure of the project can occur. So now with the changing time we have to make a slight change in the structure of the company. After an analysis I have come to a conclusion that the existence of Environmental Management Unit is the need of the hour. 3. Environmental Management Unit The structure of this unit would be a small, so as to match the size of the company, it would include an expert in Environmental sciences/engineering and must have experience in analysis and management of environmental issues related to diverse construction projects.

The experts will work under the Business development Manager and Contracts Director collectively. In the status quo it is very important that there must be no issues raised related to environment in contracts, because it would harm the companies profile making it difficult to get new projects in the current recession. Secondly a certain level of leverage can be acquired from the introduction of Environmental Management Unit, this is because increased awareness of the client for protection and safeguard of environment and can be at times detrimental in the selection of contractors for civil engineering project that Alpha construction normally does.

The main purpose and technical areas of expertise of this unit would be introduce the usage of new green materials of construction and then provide sustainable construction processes and pathways. Bringing in new green construction material is important due to two reasons, firstly an immense amount of construction material is used, it is estimated that about 420 million tones of material is used in construction industry in UK every year (Lazarus, Construction Materials Report 2003). Then secondly it is an area in which very