Construction Project Management and Quantity Surveying Construction Process Management

1. BRIEF

This work is to be carried out individually, both tasks to be completed by all students. Part A and Part B have equal marks allocated.

Part A:

The subject development relates to the construction of 18 timber framed homes in Manchester, see details in the appendix below and at URL:

http://www.hdawards.org/archive/2011/winning_schemes/project_winners/new_is lington.php

Produce a production method statement for the construction of the 18 houses, see below and the appendix for details. The method statement should contain all construction process matters and should have a strong emphasis on health and safety, environmental concerns and innovative production processes. A cost for the houses is not required. The method statement should not be a site health and safety plan and it should not be a site waste management plan, however it may make reference to these two documents.

The method statement should be in written report form; however it may contain sketches, calculations and other techniques for explaining the method of operations. Research should be carried out on best production practices and Harvard referencing should be used to cite all sources. The word count for the method statement should be 3000 plus or minus 200 words.

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For details on Harvard referencing see the Study Skills tab on the Blackboard home page.

Part B:

A production time schedule (programme) is needed for the development.

Your work should include:

a) A production time schedule using Microsoft Project, note that the schedule (programme) will be scrutinized as both a Gantt chart and a network

b) Resources needed to construct the 18 house, resources should be labour, plant, major materials, management but no costs

The production schedule can be completed for individual houses or for blocks of houses. As a guide 50 trade activities per house can be taken as a minimum number of activities.

The plot of land that the houses are to be built on has been cleared and remediated by others, therefore the work will not involve any soil/land movement/work, demolition or ground remediation. Your schedule should include roads and sewers and all mains services will be required.

Concrete strip foundations will support masonry walls up to ground level. There will be a ground bearing concrete ground floor slab. A timber frame built in panels will include the inner skin of the external wall, main internal walls and the roof skeleton. The external skin will be masonry, with either a facing brick or render finish. The roof finish will be interlocking clay tiles on timber battens on sarking felt. Internally all finishes are traditional with wall finishes of water based paint on a plaster skim on plasterboard sheets, fixed to timber framing by drywall screws. Assume that the houses once complete, will be ready for occupation.

IMPORTANT NOTE
The site is a live site and students MUST NOT approach the site or the project

team (designers, clients, contractors) with requests for information or site visits.

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2. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

FORMAT

All submissions should have a cover sheet identifying the module, the date and the student’s name and roll number. In addition to the in-text citations, all submissions shall have a reference list (and an optional bibliography), listing the sources used in the preparation of the report. [The School has adopted the Harvard system (APA 6th) as standard

LENGTH

The word count for the method statement should be 3000 plus or minus 200 words excluding references, bibliography, cover sheet or appendices (if any).

SUBMISSION

This assignment MUST be submitted electronically through Turnitin®
Further information and support for students using Turnitin can be found here:

http://www.salford.ac.uk/library/help/blackboard-and-collaborate

3. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Method Statement

Technology (25%): The method statement should be well presented and should cover all construction production aspects. It should have Harvard referencing to support the research and any reference to external documents. It should record how all the key tasks will be achieved and reveal the overall site strategy, which will be used in producing the programme (Part B).

Health and Safety (20%): The method statement should have health and safety, environment and innovation throughout to support best construction practice. You may wish to identify site wide processes, rather than include these items with every task method.

Programme and Resource analysis-

Programme (25%): The method statement must support the programme and the programme should be demonstrably formulated as a result of the method statement. The network should show a logical flow of activities with an appropriate critical path. The programme should be well presented with clear descriptions; activities should be of appropriate duration with all logic linked arrows in place

Resource Allocation (20%): All resources should be identified and should be summarized, either on the programme or by separate resource histograms. Every attempt should be made to resolve resource conflict issues, whilst taking care to ensure economy of use. E.g. scaffold use.

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Presentation (10%)

Including use of language, clarity of expression, diagrams; structure of response and consistent use of Harvard referencing system

MARKING SCALE

At Undergraduate Level 4, 5 and 6 the following marking scale shall be used:

Outstanding Excellent Very good Good

Fair
Adequate Unsatisfactory Poor
Very poor Extremely poor

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED

90% – 100% 80% – 89% 70% – 79% 60% – 69% 50% – 59% 40% – 49% 30% – 39% 20% – 29% 10% – 19%

0% – 9%

Knowledge and Understanding
On successful completion of the assignment a student will be able to:

•   Scrutinise the operation of a variety of construction processes and make appropriate selections for specific projects.

•   Select, plan, record and organise construction activities to meet project goals

•   Make informed selections of, and practically apply, appropriate planning techniques for a variety of construction processes

•   Consider and select construction resources appropriate for activities, select suitable control techniques and have an understanding of their impact on the project.

•   Identify and carefully review how environmental considerations impact on construction projects.

  Transferable/Key Skills and other attributes
  On successful completion of theassignment a student will have had the opportunity to:

•   Identify and select appropriate solutions for the planning of a range of construction situations

•   Identify and develop individual tasks within a project

•   Sort and sequence tasks into practical construction process arrangements

•   Prepare time-based schedules of tasks using a variety of planning

  techniques

•   Apply resource constraints and calculate their impact on projects

•   Take account of environmental and other constraints on the planning

process

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 Effectively communicate planning outputs to others 5. RETURN & FEEDBACK ARRANGEMENTS

Coursework marks and feedback will be available within 15 working days of your submission and will be loaded into Blackboard.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION I. OBLIGATION TO KEEP COPIES OF ALL WORK

Students MUST keep a spare copy of all work which they hand in as well as the receipt which is issued to them at the time of submission.

II. PROVISIONAL NATURE OF MARKS & GRADES

All marks and grades issued to students are provisional until ratified by examination boards.

III. LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS

Submissions made after 16:00hrs on the fourth working day following submission will be deemed inadmissible and recorded as a non-submission.

IV. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS

If the submission document file up-loaded to Blackboard is corrupt and cannot be viewed – This is classed as a NON submission. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure their submission material can be opened by others.

To ensure your submission can be opened please follow this simple step:

Go back to the submission area and the blue button that was labelled Submit will now be a button labelled View – select this button and what you see upon doing so will be the file/format that your Lecturer can see. If you can open and view the document then so can the lecturer.

V. PENALTIES FOR LATE SUBMISSION

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Where coursework is submitted late, the following penalties shall be applied to the mark:

(a) if the work is no more than four working days late, then five marks shall be deducted for each working day (08:30-16:00 Mon- Thursday or part thereof) , but if the work would otherwise pass then the mark for the work shall be reduced to no lower than the pass mark for the component

(b) if the work is no more than four working days late and marked and the mark is lower than the pass mark, then no penalty shall be applied;

(c) if the work is more than four working days late then it cannot be submitted and shall be recorded as a non-submission (NS).

VI. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

The University takes a serious view of all acts of academic misconduct. Such acts are considered dishonest and as attempts to gain unfair advantage. Acts of academic misconduct can take many forms. They are likely to fall into one or more of the following categories:

1. a)  Plagiarism
   Plagiarism involves taking the work of another person or source and using it as if it were one’s own.

2. b)  Self plagiarism
   Self plagiarism (or double submission) is resubmitting previously submitted work on one or more occasions (without proper acknowledgement). This may take the form of copying either the whole piece of work or part of it. Normally credit will already have been given for this work.

3. c)  Collusion
   Collusion occurs when, unless with official approval (e.g. in the case of group projects), two or more students consciously collaborate in the preparation and production of work which is ultimately submitted by each in an identical, or substantially similar, form and/or is represented by each to be the product of his or her individual efforts. Collusion also occurs where there is unauthorised co-operation between a student and another person in the preparation and production of work which is presented
   as the student’s own.

4. d)  Falsifying experimental or other investigative results
   This could involve a range of things that make it appear that information has been collected by scientific investigation, the compilation of questionnaire results etc whereas in reality it has been made up or altered to provide a more favourable result.

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e) f)

Taking unauthorised material (including electronic devices) into an examination

Contracting another to write a piece of assessed work / Writing a piece of assessed work for another
This involves any means whereby a person does work on behalf of another. It includes assessments done for someone else in full or in part by a fellow student, a friend or family member. It includes sitting an examination for someone else. It also covers obtaining material from internet ‘cheat sites’ or other sources of work. Penalties for this type of unfair means will normally apply both to a student of the University who does work on behalf of another and a student of the University who has work done for him/her.

Copying from, or communicating with, another examination candidate during an examination

Bribery
This involves giving money, gifts or any other advantage to an academic member of staff which is intended to give an unfair advantage in an assessment exercise.

Particular care should be taken in respect of the following:

Getting help from others / helping others

g) h)

VII.

a)

Students are encouraged to discuss and share ideas and information, however those who knowingly assist others to commit academic misconduct whether or not for payment (e.g. by giving another student the opportunity to copy part or all of a piece of work, by providing copies of assessments or by providing bespoke assignments to another student) will be subject to the same penalties as those who use unfair means. Students must ensure that they protect their own work, submit it themselves and do not allow other students to use their memory stick and/or print off work on their behalf.

b) Use of Readers/Note Takers

Students with special learning requirements who require the services of readers or note takers are advised to use appropriately trained individuals. Further advice can be obtained from the Disability Service Team within Student Life Directorate. http://www.advice.salford.ac.uk/disability

c) Referencing

Students using work which has been produced by other people within an assignment will need to ensure that they acknowledge or reference the source of the work. Students should check with their Schools for particular requirements. Marks may be deducted for poor referencing. If poor referencing is extensive throughout a piece of work it could appear that the student is trying to claim credit

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for the work and he/she may be deemed to have committed plagiarism. Guidance on good referencing practice is available from Schools or may be provided through research training programmes, the Study Skills Programme located in Student Life and on-line guidance provided by Information & Learning Services. Some useful resources are: http://www.advice.salford.ac.uk/

Penalties

If satisfied that unfair means has occurred, a penalty will be imposed on the student. Penalties vary depending on whether the matter is referred to the School Academic Misconduct Panel or the University Disciplinary Committee and on the particular circumstances. A range of penalties may be imposed including:

• –  A penalty of 0% for the assessment component attempted using unfair means;

• –  A penalty of 0% for the module affected by unfair means;

• –  A penalty of 0% for the module affected by unfair means and the marks of all other modules at that academic level being capped at the pass mark

  (40% for undergraduates, 50% for post graduates).

  In the most severe cases, where there are aggravating factors (e.g. that this is a repeated case of the use of unfair means by a student at an advanced stage in their studies), a student found guilty of using unfair means may be permanently expelled from the University.

  Further details of the Academic Misconduct procedure are available from:

  http://www.governance.salford.ac.uk/page/student_policies

  Pre-submission checklist

  Before submitting your assessment; ask yourself the following questions, just to be sure you’ve met all the requirements:

•   Have I correctly referenced all the sources which I have used?

•   Have I used Turnitin to check my referencing and bibliography so that my

  tutor knows where I have found all my information?

•   Have I completed the assignment within the word limit and/or stated my

  word count?

•   Have I used a spell checker and proof read my work?