Sherwood Oaks, Mansfield
Over the previous week I’ve had the pleasure of doing two jobs instead of just one. With my site manager on holiday I was left holding the reins. It was an interesting week with a simple aim, to pour the structural floor slab to block C.
Thankfully being a bank holiday I only had to cope for 4 days. It all started with blustery showers and a sense that all could be achieved if only the weather treated us kindly. I knew that I could cope with having to do both the engineer work and also do enough planning and organising to keep the job progressing.
All I had to do was to tell people to wait and if necessary to stop until I had time for them. This may seem a little odd but I know that I can handle the pressure of multiple tasks as long as I keep in mind the end goal. I tend to treat each task with the same priority unless something is going to lose us time and/or money. This strategy usually keeps me sane and in control.
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Posted: June 2nd, 2009 by Chris
| Filed under Civils
Sherwood Oaks, Mansfield
Today I started a new contract at Sherwood Oaks, Mansfield. We don’t often work so far away from our offices down in Telford, but as times are hard for all in the construction industry we are prepared to do almost anything.
I will have the pleasure of being part of the construction of a ‘Healthcare Village‘ for BAM Construction. We have already got some labour and heavy machinery on site to begin some earthworks before we get fully stuck in. The site will eventually consist of 3 multi-level buildings and car-parking with associated drainage and landscaping. We will have around 4 months to get all 3 buildings complete up to their concrete floor slab including all drainage works.
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Posted: March 24th, 2009 by Chris
| Filed under Civils, Drainage, Roads
Construction Drawings
This is the first in a 4-part series of blogs that will hopefully give some insight into what I do as a site-based Civil Engineer. The posts are broken down into the following subjects:
- Setting up a Contract
- Setting Out and Levelling
- Materials, Labour and Plant
- Quality Control
Before you can begin construction on anything you need to know what you will be building. We get issued construction drawings by the client that define everything we need to know about a contract. These drawings will usually contain an overall plan of the site, a breakdown of new sewers, new ducting and new kerb-lines and paving. Further drawings will show cross-sections and typical details such as inspection chamber construction and pavement construction thicknesses. Not all drawings are correct and it is our job to pick out any errors or vague areas for confirmation by the client as soon as possible, spotting them too late can lead to delays and additional costs to the contract.
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Posted: January 13th, 2009 by Chris
| Filed under Civils
