Stages of Building Construction

Stages of Building Construction Building a project involves various stages including initial preparation of the clients brief, scheduling and research, specifications and construction development. Plans, designs and changes occur throughout a project, inevitably, therefore there must be a unified desire for communication, understanding and agreement. Design/Planning In order for a project to develop into an eventual success communication, understanding and agreement are essential. Comprehensive consultations concerning desires in terms of design, constructability and practicality are imperative. An insight into the clients personal requirements and expectations will also prove fundamental to sustain achievement. However clients are not always exact about all the characteristics of their requirements; professional teams therefore act as advisors. As opinions change plans will have to be altered consequently to accommodate the new needs (Ashworth 2005). Sufficient planning and designing must be undertaken before any sort of construction commences on any development. Planning consists of the early congregation of information and ideas before a detailed design and construction process is exemplified. During this period parties involved in the development should identify any particular requirements, discuss important issues, resolve any disparities if any and assign tasks amongst other requests. Before advanced designing and development can begin, planning authorities must consent to the proposed project after comprehensive assessment. In some cases warrants must be granted for building work to begin on a site, most contractors require this to demolish or build on a site (Civitelo 2007). As the size and/or scale of a project increases costs will ultimately also go up (Ashworth 2005), therefore the planning team will have to combine the design of the project with cost saving solutions. This may mean making sacrifices in terms of some materials used in the project; this will for example reduce costs and allow the funds to be transferred to building a project of larger magnitude as costs rise. For this reason the planning stage is extremely important as conclusions will have to be drawn as to how much space is actually required for the development, too little and the project could be considered a disaster, too much and it could prove wasteful. There are many standards and legislation in the construction industry; these are set up for the benefit of the client making use of the development. Other legislation on the other hand is aimed at protecting the environment and wildlife. The purpose of legislation is to provide a regulatory body to ensure the efficient build of safe places for work and handling. A forthright view held by many is that legislation and standards add to costs and are not munch benefit at all however these claims need to be carefully dissected. Legislative requirements are aimed at increasing safety and are approved by a professional body having conducted tests and analysis. Projects, however small, are affected by an immense set legislation; primarily because efficient development is profoundly reliant on safe places of work and the safe handling of construction material and plants. As a result of this projects will always consist of a large team including clients, engineers, architects, contractors, government and regulating bodies and labourers (Ashworth 2005). An addition to this team is lawyers. When plans are drawn up for a project the parties involved must agree to contracts containing clauses with regards the development in question. Content of the contract may include articles with contemplation to budget, time and materials amongst other clauses. These need to be carefully examined as they can prove to become the reason for the downfall of a failed project. During the design process planners and designers must outline the function and suitability of materials whilst taking into consideration economic and ecological consequences (Hinze 2010). Architects for example would be most involved in the design considerations of a project, however as some parts of a plan cannot be considered without first finding out about planning consent, because of this a reasonable amount of significant decisions cannot be considered. When designing a project plans submitted must take into account expenses as prices are relentlessly rising. Today, most projects involve an organization which is able to economically forecast costs of not only principal costs but also costs of control services. The establishment also find the most economical ways of ensuring that a development does not run over budget. Before plans are put forward a review must be taken on designs to ensure that the ideas can be implemented in terms of both construction techniques and materials. The aim of these reviews called Constructability Reviews is to minimize the number of changes at a later stage, reduce delays and rising costs (Palmer 2002). Construction Once construction is ready to begin, preliminary work needs to commence to allow initial works to be carried out, these include the clearing of the work site, a ground survey to asses the ground conditions, setting up of sanitary facilities, water/power supplies and offices and storage areas. Sufficient welfare amenities will need to be established on a construction site for use by workers throughout a development, this will need to be arranged by the project manager in advance. Provisions will include rest rooms, toilets, storage rooms, changing rooms and washrooms as well. (Hinze 2010) These facilities will be essential for the length of a project to evade disturbance to a project. In some circumstances however, the project manager may not require some facilities and will instead be able to make use of permanent services available on site. For example, the client may allow the construction team to use toilets already installed on site. This will therefore reduce costs which may have been incurred if the welfare facilities were required. When welfare amenities are required the project manager should aim to locate these in various locations and not a single area, this reason for this is that having them in one area may prove to be an inconvenience. For example if the site is very large, then the project manager may find that time is wasted going to and from the welfare facilities rather than using the time constructively. When the preliminary works have been completed demolition on the site can begin, since the site is located on a 10 ha site of old forest 5 miles out of the town centre; suitable access and transportation will need to be arranged for plant/machinery. The demolition stage will result in the recycling of materials, the forest trees for example can be recycled for timber use during the construction process; this increases the developments sustainable considerations. After the site has been fully cleared, excavation will be completed to create the required ground conditions, be it flat or, according to the design specifications. In many cases the land in which a project is developed can provide difficulties in terms of workability. Loose soil, often at a shallow depth, is an inevitable problem that can be solved using deep foundations; in this case however, shallow foundations will be used as outlined in the brief (Palmer 2002). The excavation stage will also prepare the site for eventual service installation and the construction of the substructure. Excavation will be carried out using various machines, plant is required during the construction process in order to increase production, minimize labour requirements, conduct high standards of constructions and also possibly reduce overall costs (Cooke 1997). During the planning process decisions must be made with regards the availability and use of plants. The substructure will consist of reinforced concrete foundations to allow sufficient support of the buildings by transporting the load to the ground, this will be especially vital for the community hall which will consist of a steel frame and metal cladding roof. Service works will also need to be carried out during the substructure stage to allow for pipes/cable routes to be considered also, drainage and refuse systems will need to be allowed to pass through and leave the various sites, be it below ground or through walls. Services however must not pass below foundations (Hinze 2010). The superstructure on the other hand will require extensive work, relating to the floors, walls and roofs; these will all be subject to the design specifications. Scaffolding will be required when working on raised platforms i.e. first floor levels, roofs etc, these will consist of steel or aluminium alloy tubes. As the development will consist of a 200 home housing estate, the homes will be of identical layout and size, for this reason pre-fabricated timber roof trusses will be delivered and hoisted into position before being placed on the supporting walls. The floors and ceilings in the homes will be timber constructed where as the community centre will consist of a concrete floor and metal cladding roof. The walls in the homes will be brick and block masonry fully insulated cavity walls, these will be plastered inside. Completion of the substructures and superstructures will then allow the services to be introduced to the buildings; these include drainage, pluming, gas and sanitary works. Some services will require installation below ground, specifically in trenches. Service works generally cause widespread disruption to the public, especially to traffic through road works; there should be a significantly lower impact however, since the housing project is being developed on an old forest site. Local authority permission must be granted before work commences, this will involve in the inspection of works carried out already and final tests being conducted. The plumbing works, which are installed above ground, will benefit from construction after the basic structural works have been completed. The finishes relating to the build require extensive organisation to ensure that they are completed accordingly as certain processes cannot begin until others have been completed. For this reason, a larger number of workers should be employed to carry out the finishing works simultaneously when possible, to ensure timely completion. The landscaping with regards this project should not be very costly as the location chosen for the project is an old forest, in comparison to some builds which are built in an area which requires more greenery and trees to be planted. Methods of circulation and travel will need to be established however including roads and footpaths. With regards the community centre security will need to be addressed as a priority as it will be serving the local community, including children for example. The project will not be completed until the site has been fully cleared and inspected. All surplus material and debris will not to be transported and disposed of accordingly or recycled if possible. Plants, offices and huts will need to be dismantled and cleared as well. The site must be left in a very good condition to allow inspection by various teams and bodies to ensure the development is both up to standard, matches the design specification and is also safe for occupation (Cooke 1997).

The Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter The major characters go through many changes due to all of the events that have taken place, but the torture they have to live and die with is all within themselves. Hester Prynn has always been strong, but being isolated from society and raising a child who constantly punishes her for her love affair makes her grow stronger and tougher. Chillingworth, who once was a caring man who loved Hester, shows his darkest side when he sets out to destroy the soul of an already weak man. Dimmesdale becomes weaker when he finds he can't purify his soul from the sin he has committed. The major character changes come from within and are controlled by the characters. Once her jail time had been served, the worst of Hester's punishment had only begun. She had confessed and had no guilt to live with, but society had completely shut her out. Also, aside from the embroidered scarlet letter she had to wear, she also had to live with her child who was a daily reminder of her sin. In order to survive her daily pain, Hester grows stronger and blocks out a lot of her emotions. It is noticed that the tougher she got inside, the tougher her appearance becomes and the more plain she dressed. Once she meet with Dimmesdale in the forest, she told him of Chillingworth, which shows she had grown strong enough to not let him hold her down. When she gained that strength, her beauty was expressed by: Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past. Chillingworth had not been able to harm Hester because of her inner strength. At the end of the book, she is the only one who has survived emotionally. Chillingworth wanted a woman who would love him, but when that failed, he found a new love. His new passion became the destruction of the man who took Hester away from him. He tells Hester of his plans when he says: I shall seek this man…There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine! When Chillingworth moved in with Dimmesdale and controlled his every day life, his whole life was based around Dimmesdale's destruction. Since Dimmesdale had not yet confessed his sin to the town, Chillingworth was succeeding in his plan to destroy Dimmesdale's soul easily.

Attitudes and Behaviors Essay

So let’s start by saying that attitudes have two main components those happen to be beliefs and values. Beliefs are statements while values are judgments. When it comes to persuasion a person might have their own attitude and have it rub off so to speak onto another person or several other people. We tend to use this on a daily basis for things that we want whether that be for ourselves or from other people. When it comes to conformity many individuals will change their behaviors to fit in with other people that they involve themselves with. This could potentially mean that you could lose your own identity and become someone completely different from whom you truly are. When it comes to bias we are all wired to have judgments and prejudice many times people will use this judgment and have a set attitude on people, places and things. Only people can change their behaviors. Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to view things in certain ways. This can include people. Places, issues and events that occur in a person’s life. Attitudes form from the experiences that you go through, they could direct from personal experiences or from the observation of other individuals. Attitudes can be learned in several different ways. Classical conditioning can impact your attitude to different products. Operant conditioning can also help in how attitudes are developed. When someone you like has a different attitude your attitude more than likely will change to be the same as the other individual. Researchers have come to the belief and conclusion that people behave according to their attitudes under a lot of circumstances. Cognitive dissonance is when an individual experiences, psychological stress caused by conflicts from thoughts and beliefs in a person’s everyday life whether that be from work, relationships, money problems. In order to gain back control people often change their attitudes based on actual behaviors. Attitudes can change just like people can. You can turn your thought process around just  like you can with many other things. Classical conditioning can create positive emotional reactions. Operant conditioning can be used to strengthen attitudes and behaviors that you are lacking or that are weak. People can also see how negative people act and decide that they don’t want to be that way and that can drastically change a person’s mind on how they think. Life events such as death, sickness, relationship loses and other important things can make a person realize what they have and what they need to be grateful for but also can help them understand their thought patterns were incorrect and that they need to change that in order to have a better life for not only themselves but the people that they associate themselves with. The theory of persuasion says that people can alter their personal attitudes in two ways. They can be motivated to listen and to think about what is being said to them which can make them open up to different ideas and thoughts or they could simply be influenced by good positive people that they are around on a daily basis. In order to change a individual s behavior you must change your thought process completely. http://www.examiner.com/article/bias-attitude-and-prejudice http://www.cios.org/encyclopedia/persuasion/Aintroduction_4nature.htm http://psychology.about.com/od/socialinfluence/f/conformity.htm

The United States And The Civil War - 1374 Words

After the Mexican War ended on February 1848 when the US and Mexican government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the US had the concept of manifest destiny, belief that the US would continue to spread west with ideas of the advancement in factories and a dispute over the issue of slavery. In that same year, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania composed the Wilmot Proviso, stating that slavery cannot exist in any territory acquired by Mexico, which upset many Southerners leading to events such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Compromise of 1850 on how the issue of slavery would prevent the US from westward expansion and factory production. Eventually, the issue of slavery would cause the US nation to break into two groups called the†¦show more content†¦Even though the Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made slavery a huge issue between the North and the South. To the North, slavery represented a ba rrier from westward expansion and factory expansion. Since the North was focused more on factories than on human labor, slavery can play a huge issue in deciding whether to expand the market by having more people work in factories versus in plantations, allowing the firm to make a profit from the items it sells. However, to the South, slavery represented a white owners’ property on plantations. With more slaves that a white owner could have, the South could increase the supply of cotton and tobacco being grown, causing the demand for slaves to also increase. Therefore, if the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had not been created, white owners in the South would not be able to increase the amount of cotton and tobacco being grown in plantations. Another example of an event leading to the collapse of the Union in 1861 is the Dred Scott Case of 1857. On March 1857, after Dred Scott had accompanied his owner to move from Missouri to Illinois, where slavery was barred by the Missouri Compromise, Dred Scott was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether his move from Missouri to Illinois allowed him to become free or allowed him to remain as a slave. In the end, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney concluded