EN122427 Construction and the Built Environment

How The Construction Industry Impacts On The Environment, And How Changes In The Industry Can Create Broader Social And Economic Benefits

Environmental deterioration has caught the attention of the world and has been among the leading debated topics locally, globally as well as nationally. Researchers have established that the world tends to be in crucial environmental catastrophe with the ever rising human population and the demand for development for instance the built environment has led to depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, and destruction of the ecosystem alongside depletion of the resources (Fellows and Liu, 2015). Construction activities have effects on the surrounding throughout the entire lifecycle of a development project. Such impacts take place from the initial work on-site via the construction period, operational approach as well as to the final demolition when a structure comes to an end of the life. In as much as the construction period tends to be relatively shorter with regard to the other phases of the life of a building, it tends to bear significant impacts on the environment.

The effects of construction activities on the surrounding might be from various sources for instance from personal projects, raw materials demand needed for the completion of the projects, processing as well as production of raw materials besides from the completed construction projects (Jaafari, Kew and Yeoh, 2017). Among the adverse implications of construction activities on the built environment include:

• Misuse of land
• Consumption of energy
• Dereliction of the existing site
• Destruction of habitats
• Possible misuse of natural resources
• Air pollutants
• On-site wastage of materials
• Effluent or waste discharges
• Changes in the landscapes as a result of soil erosion, embankments as well as borrow pits
• Nuisance including construction traffic, road droppings alongside temporary dwellings
• Threat to health as well as safety of the public generally alongside safety of the workers on the construction site
• Threats to forests alongside wildlife due to site clearances, drilling blasting alongside pilling
• Toxic contaminants and proceeding water and air pollution
• Visual disturbances including signs and advertising boards
• Dust from traffic and processes
  
  

How Effective Government Targets And National Statistics Have Been On Environmental Protection

Governments form the political bodies having the powers of enforcement of laws for a given nation, land area as well as people and having the authority of putting into action the strict legislation needed for ensuring the protected areas of the globe remain under protection and the offenders brought to book. legislation centered on protection of the environment are the laws regulating the use as well as protection of land alongside forest reserves within a national tend to be less effective in the absence of political backing of a given government in position of exerting authority in case of non-compliance by various individuals as well as other non-governmental bodies (Švajlenka and Kozlovská, 2018).

The central government has put in place the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which inter alia requires the creation of Protection Regions for wildlife protection as well as provision for preferences of charges or punishment for hunting of certain fauna as outlined in schedules I to IV

The National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-System scheme as well offers assistance to the States for wetland areas management

Banning of the vetenary use of diclofenac drugs which has resulted in exponential decline in the population of some species of birds across the various nations

Wetland Rules 2010 have undergone framing for wetlands protection within the country.

An illustration of how the power of the government has effectively been exercised is the case of the government of brazil engaged in talks for the establishment of proper protection over the existing rainforests via the use of her military personnel upon observations of foreign observers that global action need to be adopted in the preservation of the national legacy (Tighe et al., 2019)

Explore Alternative Construction Methods Which Are Fit For Purpose In a Given Context

Development Of Alternative Construction Methods Using Historic Precedents

Human shelters in the past were initially quite simple and may be lasted just few months or even days. The temporary structures underwent evolution over the time resulting in the formation of significant refined forms for instance the igloo. More durable structures gradually began to set in place specifically upon the advent of agriculture when people started staying in a single region for a relatively long time (Sánchez-Garrido and Yepes, 2020). The initial shelters were more of dwelling even though other functions later came in for instance storage of food as well as ceremony being housed in different or separated structures.

The history of buildings is denoted by numerous trends. One of such is the increase in the durability of the used materials. Early construction materials were mostly perishable for instance branches, leaves as well as animal hides. Materials with greater durability later emerged for instance clay, timber and stone and at last synthetic materials for instance metals, bricks, plastics as well as concrete came up and there application gained momentum (Jagoda, 2020).

Another trend was the quest of coming up with buildings of greater span as well as heights and such was attained through the development of relatively stronger materials and by the understanding of the behavior of materials and  the way of exploiting them for a better advantage (Yousuf, Sanchez and Shammeh, 2019). Another key trend incorporates the extent of control exercised over the building’s interior environment where there was an increasingly more accurate control of the indoor air temperature, sound levels and light levels, air speed, humidity, odours alongside other factors affecting the level of human comfort. Another integral pattern in the change in the available energy to the process of construction beginning with human muscle power and gravitating toward the powerful machinery that is currently used.

Alternative Construction Methods Which Can Be Used For Commercial Or Domestic Use

Most of the commercial as well as residential buildings are constructed around a frame that offers the structure as well as support for the building. Framing is basically done in two groups including light framing and heavy frame where light framing is often applied in most of the residential buildings. The alternative construction methods applicable include:

Insulated concrete forms which are made up of two expanded polystyrene panels or even extruded polystyrene and are linked using a web molded into the shape which offers an attachment point for exterior as well as interior finishes. The web serves as a stud within a wood wall and the forms thereafter stacked in the same way as masonry blocks, steel reframed and thereafter filled using concrete (oomchalit, Suzuki and Suzuki, 2017).

Precast: This is construction conducted at the factory. The panels are basically cast in the form of sandwiches in such way there is a region for interior as well as exterior insulation between ant two precast. As such product are manufactured within the industry, not without the jobsite and under all the changes in the weather as well as laborers building the panels, the  precast often boast of high quality.

In this method, the formwork is placed on the site and concrete poured within with reinforcement. The insulation can be put at the start of the process or even located on the wall upon erection.

This alternative approach tends to be the same as the one used in precast even though it is not conducted at the factory and instead on the construction site. As such it may be horizontally cast and the panels stood up for construction of a wall upon curing and hardening.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

This method tends to be the same as masonry in the sense the blocks are stacked as well as mortared jointly in as much as panelized versions being available. The benefits include quite light-weight, a wall of high insulation besides ease of installation.

Compare Alternative Construction Methods In Terms Of Effectiveness, Cost And Performance

A study gives a comprehension of the elements that are associated with the costing of development tasks and this was arranged into seven factors that straightforwardly influence the profitability level and execution of the development project in a specific order: project intricacy, mechanical necessities, project data, project group prerequisite, contract prerequisite, contract prerequisite, project span and market prerequisites (Saeba et al., 2018). (Eksteen and Rosenberg 2002) examined what the overhead costs mean for development organizations and can restrict their capacity to offer for development occupations when the development market is blasting, because of the downscaling that must be done during market variances. The creators concur that it would be simpler for huge development organizations that are clear about their overheads and are successful in observing and overseeing them. This paper accepts this wouldn't be the situation for medium and little organizations that can't screen these expense overheads (Atiyeh and Aydin, 2020).

An expense assessment must be dictated by viewing it as a nonexclusive development thing. (Dish and Sidwell 2010) study took care of the entire development expense from fundamentals to outer works and benefits and found that however MMC is respected to be an elective type of development with a ton of advantages all things considered, the expense hindrances analyzed when looking at the exhibition of pre-projected solid cross-divider board with in situ support solid, steel and wood outline (Hamdy et al., 2018).

How Government Policies Have Had An Impact On Building Design

The government is an integral shareholder in the construction industry taking the role of major client, regulating authority as well as development administrators in the construction industry. Government policies alongside regulations tend to be quite rigid external factors influencing the selection of the construction procurement and such can be noted where clients have to abide by the government procedure in selection of a specific route of procurement to a construction project (Molenaar et al., 2019). Government policies provide for zoning which inhibits or promotes construction of certain building types and heights in certain areas and thus limiting the use of buildings in specific regions.

Building might present a large number of potential risks in operation as well as construction. The large and diverse workforce within the construction industry offers invaluable services to the community and success of every country. The major considerations in construction health and safety can be grouped as:

• Falls from heights accounting for about 49% of fatalities as well as 18% of non-fatal injuries
• Injuries when carrying, carrying or even lifting which makes to the tune of 20% of non-fatal injuries (Hardjomuljadi, 2017)
• Slips, falls or even trips on the same level which represents about 25% of the non-fatal injuries
• Being trapped by an objecting that is overturning or even collapsing
  
  

In addition to such highlighted major concerns, construction workers tend to be at risk of increased risk from other serious as well as life-changing scenarios. Conditions for instance chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asbestosis, hand-arm vibration syndrome as well as occupational deafness tend to be among the leading series conditions that can be as a result of conditions on the site (Chernyaev, 2018)

Effectiveness Of Using Computer-Aided Drawing Software And Bim

Computer aided design defines the use of computer in the creation of graphical representations of existing physical objects to aid in the process of design. It might as well be in reference to the use of computers in the preparation of presentational images or even for preparation of production information allowing objects to be made in as much as sometimes this is known as computer aided drafting since it does not necessarily include designing (Mechtcherine et al., 2018). Computer aided design may be used in the creation of representations in the form of either 2D or even 3D and might as well be used in the generation of animations alongside other presentational materials. It might enable the inclusion of supplementary information for instance dimensions, reference to specifications, components descriptions among others. The benefits linked with Computer aided design include:

• Enhancements of the production speed
• Enhancement of the quality of the information that has been drawn
• Reduction of development costs
• Enhancement of accuracy
• Production of visualizations during the process of design to aid in the process of decision making
  
  

Allowing making of changes to be enacted in an easier manner and hence facilitating the consideration of a broader range of options

Enabling generation of drawings at a relatively wide range of scales alongside with inclusion of precise information for instance dimensions

Building Information Modelling

The introduction of BIM enables reduction of errors further and enhancement of the information quality and might enable production of cost estimates, quantities, ordering as well as tracking of information in an automatic way. BIM tends to be a quite wide term describing the process of creation and management of a digital model of a structure or even other facility (ElZomor and Garber, n.d.). 

References

Atiyeh, M. and Aydin, E., 2020. Data for bottom ash and marble powder utilization as an alternative binder for sustainable concrete construction. Data in brief, 29

Chernyaev, A.A., 2018. Alternative engineering of steel girder cages by geometrical methods. Magazine of Civil Engineering, 78(2)

ElZomor, P.M. and Garber, C.P.D.,  

Fellows, R.F. and Liu, A.M., 2015. Research methods for construction. John Wiley & Sons

Hamdy, A., Abdelkader, M., Stait, M. and Samy, S., 2018. Defining the Characteristics of Prefabricated Architecture as an Alternative Sustainable Construction Approach. In International Conference for Sustainable Design of the Built Environment SDBE (pp. 635-643)

Hardjomuljadi, S., 2017.  

Jaafari, A., Kew, Y.C. and Yeoh, C.K., 2017. A  . Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, (1)

Jagoda, J.A., 2020. An Analysis of the Viability of 3D-Printed Construction as an Alternative to Conventional Construction Methods in the Expeditionary Environment.   United States

Mechtcherine, V., Nerella, V.N., Ogura, H., Grafe, J., Spaniol, E., Hertel, M. and Füssel, U., 2018, September. Alternative reinforcements for digital concrete construction. In RILEM International Conference on Concrete and Digital Fabrication (pp. 167-175). Springer, Cham

Molenaar, K.R., Alleman, D., Therrien, A., Sheeran, K., El Asmar, M. and Papajohn, D., 2019. Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 2: Construction Manager–General Contractor Delivery. NCHRP Research Report, (939)

Poomchalit, W., Suzuki, K. and Suzuki, A., 2017, October. The Study of Alternative Wooden House Construction base on People Ability. In International Conference on Engineering and Technology Development (ICETD)

Saeba, A., Mohameda, O., Danuri, M.M. and Zakariac, N., 2018. Critical Factors for Selecting a Neutral to Support Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods in the Construction Industry. Civil Engineering Journal, 4(1)

Sánchez-Garrido, A.J. and Yepes, V., 2020. Multi-criteria assessment of alternative sustainable structures for a self-promoted, single-family home. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, p.120556

Švajlenka, J. and Kozlovská, M., 2018. Houses based on wood as an ecological and sustainable housing alternative—case study. Sustainability, 10(5), p.1502

Tighe, K., Piggott, N., Cacho, O., Mounter, S. and Villano, R., 2019. Determinants of Australian consumer lamb demand: alternative methods of index construction in consumer demand system analysis (No. 2186-2019-1407)

Yousuf, S., Sanchez, L.F.M. and Shammeh, S.A., 2019. The use of particle packing models (PPMs) to design structural low cement concrete as an alternative for construction industry. Journal of Building Engineering, 25, p.100815

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