Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5.1 Site planning to reduce loss and waste
A good site manager, given the resources, can ensure successful materials
storage and handling. But a good site manager without the resources can
achieve very little.
Materials management on an open spacious site is far easier than on a confined
site. Management attitudes to the control of materials varies widely from one
company to another. Often managers on the smaller projects receive little encour-
agement from senior managers who are more concerned about profitability than
reducing waste on site.
It is essential to allocate specific monies in the tender for the costs of managing
materials - no mater which of the preliminaries it is hidden in or included in. Monies
need to be included in a tender bid to provide:
●
hard standing areas for site access and materials storage areas
●
facilities to cover and protect components from the weather
●
timber pallets or crates in which to store materials such as formwork, scaffold fittings
and drainage fittings
●
a storage compound with dedicated material storage areas for the storage of window
frames, lintels, pipes and sheeting etc.
●
lifters or loaders to handle materials onto scaffolds and loading platforms
●
tarpaulin sheets to cover plasterboard and other sheet material
●
racked storage for specialist timber products, trunking and pipework.
The list is endless and often specific to the building programme.
Care must be taken to ensure that over-ordering of materials does not occur.
This applies to materials such as faced or rubbed stonework, insulation materials,
plasterboard linings and cladding trims.
A variety of images are shown of materials remaining on site due to over-ordering
situations - if only the management were aware of these situations!
Waste management systems should be set up that match quantity ordered against
quantity used and bill quantities, and an attempt be made to flag up the differences. This
is of particular importance for ready-mixed concrete items in order to monitor additional
quantities used due to the increased thickness of foundations and such like.
5.2 Bad site practice observations
Here are a series of site images indicating both good and bad site practice in relation
to materials management. The project case studies all include aspects of materials
control and site layout planning situations. Every site situation is different and there
isn't one magical solution to them all.
As the site progresses from foundation work to roofing and external works, different
materials are brought on site for each construction stage. The site layout plan should
therefore be flexible enough to accommodate this ever-changing situation.
Here first is a summary of the various snapshots from miscellaneous sites.
