CCMAS Course Search

This course details processes, methods and materials for more complex construction elements like deep excavations and cofferdams caissons. It will introduce the students to the basic principles and techniques for the adoption and successful application of these methods in construction.

This course is an introduction to industrialized proprietary building systems for different building types and conditions. Mechanical and electrical systems and their installations. Mechanical plant on site. Refuse disposal. Large open roof system. Piling system. Basements, retaining walls and swimming pools. Case studies on building failures. Roads, paving and slabs.

Technology options for various design solutions. Examination of local technology, intermediate technology and examination of technology involved in other parts of the world. Construction methodologies to be explored by the registered Builder for various design solutions are explored. Hypothetical or real-life project scenarios.

Definition of buildability, alternative name of constructability, development of concepts and principles of buildability, stages of consideration, benefits of good buildability, support for buildability, barriers to implementation, the need for buildability, project aspects influencing buildability, the construction process, conceptual planning for buildability. Information for preparing buildability analysis; responsibilities. Techniques of assembly, personnel organisation, site organisation and layout. Project communications, operational control, availability of skills and labour resources. Maintainability analysis: a total process approach, the requirement for maintenance and repair, condition – based maintenance management. Preparation of buildability and maintainability analysis by Registered Builders; cost and construction implications of design variables.

Introduction to building physics, thermal comfort, lighting, acoustics, heat transfer in buildings. Acoustics: nature of sound, sound pressure, intensity and power; the Decibel; Sound level meter and weighting scales; Transmission of sound and vibration in buildings; Transmission loss, Maximum acceptable noise levels; Means of noise and sound insulation; Room Acoustics – Room Acoustics criteria, acoustics principles, Geometric design techniques; Sound absorbents – Case studies of some acoustical buildings, Types of auditorium; Noise – Effects, noise limiting curves, hearing risk, construction site noise, noise control; Reflection, types of reflectors; panel, curve; echoes, Absorption, absorption coefficient, types of absorbers; porous, panel, cavity; Reverberation, reverberation time, calculation of reverberation time. Light: Nature of light, Electromagnetic radiation, Elementary Physiology of the eye, accommodation, adaptation, colour sensitivity; Basic units of measurement – luminous flux, solid angle, luminous intensity, luminance; Behaviour of light on surfaces; Introduction to main criteria in lighting design – acuity, glare, modelling appearance and costs.

Statutory and Local Authority requirements. Site preparation: Clearing of bushes, grubbing up roots, top vegetable soil excavation, reduced soil excavation, reduced level excavation, dewatering, extermination of termite nests. Types of engineering soils: Importance of soil investigation. Sequence of building operations. Setting out of a simple building, using builders square, 3-4-5 Method, and checking the accuracy of setting out. Classification and properties of building materials, survey of current types of materials and methods used in building construction, concrete (cement, aggregate, water), timber, plastic and steel framing systems; masonry construction; interior and exterior finishes. Students are introduced to preliminary and basic construction processes in the construction of buildings. Types of foundation (strip, pile, pad and raft), functional requirements of foundations, trenching excavation and support, types and functional requirements of floors such as solid ground floor and raised timber ground floors.

Detailed study of materials and their performance in construction. It will seek to increase the students’ knowledge of the processing of different building materials, current byelaws, and issues of materials specification, builder’s tools and equipment. Further tests on hardened concrete, asphalt, wood and masonry and contemporary materials; types of doors and windows, (timber, aluminium, steel, plastics), their fabrications and installation.

A comprehensive study of construction contracts including conditions of agreement and modifications. The students will also be introduced to related laws of agency and tort. Nature of building contracts, formation of contracts, construction contracts and rectification, conditions of contracts: standard conditions of building contracts FMW version (latest edition), JCT, FIDIC. Rights, and duties of various parties, interrelationships of the various consultants and the contractor, relationship between main contractor and nominated sub-contractors, principles of domestic sub-contracting. The right to payment at the time of completion, varied work. Contract types (lump sum, cost plus, PPP); conditions, and disadvantages, standard contract documents, articles of agreement for building contracts, general principles of tort, tort affecting land and negligence, nuisance, trespass, strict liability, liability for animals. Meaning of arbitration and its contrast with other legal proceedings, basic ingredients of agreement to submit to arbitration Vis a Vis conditions of contract, Arbitration decree 1988 (and previous Acts), Arbitration as it relates to construction industry disputes, appointment and duties of arbitrator/umpire/referee: multi-door court houses, arbitration proceedings: procedure prior to hearing. Hearing – preparation of cases, award, costs/fees, evidences, valuation, point of claim and defence, other particulars.

Practical procedures for building construction estimating of most major trades; analysis of factors and methods affecting construction costs; bid strategies; preparation of preliminary budgets and complete working estimates with quantities and costs of materials, labour and overhead, how computer applications are explored in building constructions and the economy, managing the macro economy, environmental economics, economic system of resource allocation, market mechanisms in construction. Costs of construction materials, theories of demand and supply. Types of market structures in construction industry. Cost planning: introduction to cost criteria, planning and process of cost planning, cost centre and design economics; cost data, indices analysis and research. Cost Benefit Analysis; cost checks and reconciliation, construction cost (cost implication of construction methods, practical application of cost control during construction process). Review of measurement of building works and estimating within professional offices; economics and the construction industry.

An introduction to and interpretation of architectural, civil, structural, and electrical drawings. Application of freehand sketches in graphic communication in building for construction details and sections, manual construction drafting, scaling, lettering, presentation and working drawings, standard scaling, development of simple surfaces, plotting loci, modelling, ellipse and other geometrical figures.