SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

BACHELOR OF QUANTITY SURVEYING (HONOURS)

AUGUST INTAKE 2014

SEMESTER 1

[QSB 60104] MEASUREMENT 1

-Sr. Ang Fuey Lin

[BLD 60104] CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY 1

-Pn. Azrina Md Yaakob

[BLD 62003] BUILDING MATERIALS

-Pn. Myzatul Aishah Kamarazaly

CONSTRUCTION SITE REPORT

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Yong Seen Yee (0315883)

TABLE OF CONTENT

No Title Pages 1. Cover page

2 Table of content

3. Introduction and objectives of the assignment

4. Content/ Technical observation

5. Photos and descriptions

6. Learning outcome / Conclusion

Introduction

In this assignment, we were required to produce a report on the construction site visit for

combination of 3 subjects which are Measurement 1, Construction Technology 1 and Building

Materials. It was organized by our Measurement 1 lecturer, Sr. Ang Fuey Lin. The building is

named as D’Latour, developed by the Penang-based DK-MY Properties SDN BHD. The location

of this building is located next to Taylor’s University lakeside campus. The address of the

building is No.4, Jalan PPU3, Taman Perindustrian Puchong Utama, 47100 Puchong, Selangor,

Malaysia.

On 21 November 2014, about 45 students attended the site visit. We were to be divided into

two groups. Group one contains 22 students where everyone needs to be there outside the site

at 9am sharp whereas group 2 contains 23 students where everyone needs to be there outside

the site at 10am sharp. We were required to wear safety helmet, long pants and sport

shoe/safety shoe while visit the construction site.

When we started our site visit, we were given a brief talk about the safety and rules at the site.

Then we kicked off our site visit. Our site visited was leaded by a site contractor. He explained

information of the building briefly and clearly.

This building consists of 2 towers. Tower 1 is consisting of 629 units with 23 storeys of Duplex

Design Soho and Tower 2 consisting of 332 units with 23 storeys of Service Apartment. The

distinctive design features of D’latour include vertical garden city concept, internal void area for

better natural ventilation, elevated infinity swimming pool with waterfall feature,

environmental friendly Sky Garden at various floors, Roof Top Sky Hub and distinctive

“Welcome Home” lobby.

Objective

The objectives of the site visit are:

To let us experience the actual working environment and learn more about the life of

being an Quantity Surveyor on site

To enable us to understand the building structure and the sequences of constructing a

building

To allow us to have a better understanding of the types of the building materials

involved in the construction site

To aware the important of taking care of personal safety and the safety precautions that

may lead to accident

To gain more construction technology knowledge that are new to us

To understand the basic of the construction process

To make us understand the important of teamwork and communication skills while

working together with the construction team such as engineers, project managers,

contractors and workers.

To observe the usage of the construction equipment on site such as crane and bar

bending machine

To make it easier for us to get clearer image of how the structures look like in real life

Content/ Technical Observations When we reached the construction site, I saw a project information board that was placed

outside the fence. The function of the project information board is to state the role of each

constructor involved. Moreover, there are a few temporary works installed at the site which are

accommodation for workers, material storage, security and scaffolding. The whole area of the

construction site is fenced by vertical hoarding. It is a close- boarded fence to prevent

unauthorized persons access to site. It can also be used to resist wind loads and fixed by stays

to external wall. Besides that, the entrance of the site is guarded by a guard house which is built

using timber and enclosed with zinc roof. The role of the guard house is to record down the

identity of people who intended to get access to the site or for trucks that are transporting the

needed building materials into the site. There also exists an accommodation for workers which

are located near to the entrance and a canteen located beside the accommodation of the

workers. Furthermore, a temporary material storage can also be found at the basement to

store materials. In addition we also came across a tower crane, mobile crane, truck and an

excellent silent generator first hand on site. It will give us firsthand experience on how this

machineries function in real life.

Around the surrounding area of the structural buildings, there exists a few independent

scaffolding with safety net cast around it to protect people from falling down by limiting the

distance they fall. It is used to support people and hold materials that are to be used for

construction or repair of buildings and other structures. It aided the safety of the workmen and

allowed easy access to areas that are difficult to reach. They are constructed by using metal

tubes with metal platforms. Besides that around the inner part of the scaffolding, they have

cleverly installed a series of stairs for the purposes of easy movement of workers up and down

the building structure. Not to mention there are also a few mobile access towers sighted for the

workers to use when working around the basement of the site. This is to bring a more

comfortable working environment for the workers to work in.

The three types of formwork that can be seen around the site are beam, column and slab

formwork.

A) Beam /Slab formwork

-It consists of

Sole plates

Wedges

Props

Head tree

Planks

Batten

Ledgers

-Beam formwork rests on head tree

-Slab formwork rests on battens and joists

-If prop height are more than 8’ provide horizontal braces

B) Column formwork

-It consists of the following

Sides & End Planks

Yoke

Nut & Bolts

-Two end & two side planks are joined by the yokes and bolts

Furthermore, the surrounding area of the building is supported by table formwork which is

widely used. It is a type of formwork that offer quick mobility and installation which is highly

recommendable to flat slab, beam and slab layouts. Not only that is can be easily install or

disassemble in a matter of moments to be reused once the concrete has set in to its desirable

grade by the use of crane.

There are three types of material formworks which are being used on site which are table

formwork, plywood formwork and steel formwork.

The advantages and disadvantages of table formwork are as listed below

ADVANTAGES

• Fast construction for large floor layouts.

• Fully assembled units can be maneuvered quickly into place.

• Using appropriate quality control, high quality surface finishes can be achieved.

• Reduced long-term workforce requirement on site.

• The need for infill areas and decking joints is minimized.

• Individual components of the formwork system can be precisely adjusted.

• Repetitive nature of the work makes it easier to plan construction activities.

DISADVANTAGES

• Cost of raw materials and cranes are expensive

The advantages and disadvantages of plywood formwork are as listed below:

ADVANTAGES

• Increased stability

• High impact resistance

• It remains stable under changes of temperature and moisture

• High strength to weight ratio

• Chemical resistance

DISADVANTAGES

• More expensive than timber

• More difficult to clean after use (than timber)

The advantages and disadvantages of steel formwork are as listed below:

ADVANTAGES

• Very strong and able to carry heavy load

• Easy to be fixed

• Uniform size and surface

• Can be used for a very long time

• Span longer than timber

• More durable than timber formwork

DISADVANTAGES

• More expensive than wood

• Limited size or shape

• Excessive loss of heat

• A very smooth surface will be produced which would give problem for finishing process

• Limited fixing

• Steel dents relatively easy

Furthermore as we wandered around the site, we would be able to come across a few basic

materials on site that we can more or less be able to distinguish most of which we had learnt in

class. For instance, we are able to come across a few heaps of PVC pipes, bars, stirrups, links

and bags of concrete lying around here and there. Most probably used for other types of

specific functions to the building that will shape the way how they wanted it to be. That how

the material storage will come to be handy as inside of it will most probably contain all of this

aforementioned materials.

Along the basement of site, we are able to witness a few telescopic props and columns properly

construct to act as a support for the loads above. This is to accommodate the micro pile type of

piling being used underneath. It is a sort of pile which acts as a supporting structure to transfer

the load from the building to the ground. Micro-pile is specifically used to meet the demands

for low noise and vibration regulations especially in congested environments around the site.

Furthermore, the most common used of concrete apply to the construction building is grade 40

concrete. This type of concrete is used because it offers greater strength than other types of

concrete grades. The advantages of using Grade 40 concrete are the size of the structure can be

reduced and therefore the amount of concrete required is consequently reduced, this can

result in cost savings. Besides, it can be extended life cycles and it has relatively high

compressive strength. The disadvantages of using Grade 40 concrete are the surface of the

concrete is very hard, it is more expensive than Grade 30 concrete because Grade 40 concrete

is designed concrete and concrete do not retain heat very well. The surface of the concrete will

be cold during the winter.

In addition the concrete is to allow provide sufficient and support strength to the building.

However grade 15 type of concrete is applicable to the column of this building and concrete

grade 25 for the slab found. Regardless of the usage of concrete grade 40, another alternative

to it is concrete grade 35. The advantages of using Grade 35 concrete are it is cheaper than

Grade 40 concrete, more common used in construction area, better resistance to fire and long

service life with low maintenance cost. The disadvantages of using Grade 35 concrete are low

compressive strength as compared to Grade 40 concrete and it will easily cracks under service

load

Photos and descriptions

Figure 1.0: The view of the construction

building from outside

Figure 1.1: Temporary works –

Accommodation for workers

Figure 1.2: Safety precaution signs found

at the entrance of the site

Figure 1.3: Temporary works – Security –

It is vertical hoarding (close-boarded

panels to resist wind loads; free standing)

Figure 1.4: Project information board

Figure 1.5: Temporary works –

Scaffolding – Independent scaffold (2

rows of standards at about 1m apart

which tied by cross-members –

transoms, it doesn’t rely upon

building for support)

Figure 1.6: Table formwork-it is a

kind of formwork specializing in floor

concreting and is widely used in high

rise buildings and skyscrapers

Figure 1.7: Exposed starter bars 42d

from slabs

Figure 1.8: Tower crane on the site- to lift

up the loads to a higher level of the

building

Figure 2.0: Temporary works – Guard

house (To prevent unauthorized

person from accessing to site)

Figure 1.9: Independent scaffold with

safety net – safety net is to protect

people from injury after falling by

limiting the distance they fall

Figure 2.1: VSL- Use for construction

of concrete containment structure,

anchoring in rocks and soils, structural

strengthening and repair, lifting and

sliding of heavy load

Figure 2.2: Flat anchorage – it is

designed to be installed in thin

members such as transverse post

tensioning of the top slab of box-

girder bridges and pre-stressed flat

slab

Figure 2.3: Material found around the

building - Telescopic steel prop

Figure 2.4: Material found around the

building - Reinforcement bars

Figure 2.5: Post tensioning

Figure 2.7: Fines imposed from breaking

the safety rules

Figure 2.6: White board - to record

important information

Figure 2.9: Polymix - Fine Mortar Base

(White)

Figure 2.8: Concrete slab

Figure 3.3: Material found around

the building- PVC pipe

Figure 3.0: Polymix - Plaster Finish

(White)

Figure 3.1: Telescopic steel prop- Used

to support formwork shuttering, the

Prop is an infinitely reusable product.

Its telescopic function allows speedy

erection and dismantling without tool.

Figure 3.2: Starter bars- a steel

reinforcement bars embedded in the

concrete and projecting through a

construction joint to bind adjoining

masses of concrete together.

Figure 3.4: Column- To support the

building

Figure 3.7: Sand Block

Figure 3.5: Excellent Silent

Generator- To prevent disturbances

to the workers while working

Figure 3.6: Material found around

the building - pipe

Figure 4.1: Linker

Figure 3.8: Piping- a system of pipes

used to convey (liquids and gases)

from one location to another

Figure 3.9: Sawn formwork- it is

formwork for concrete structure

that needs to have plaster and paint

finish

Figure 4.0: Rebar with stirrups- to

strengthen up the structural beam

Figure 4.4: Water Tank- to store

water

Figure 4.5: Material found around

the building - Stirrups

Figure 4.3: Crane- To move

heavy objects

Figure 4.2: Wiring

Figure 4.9: Reinforcement bar

Figure 4.8: Dump truck- used to

transporting loose materials

Figure 4.6: Material found around the

building – Reinforcement bars

Figure 4.7: Mobile access tower

Figure 5.2: Temporary works – Material

storage

Figure 5.1: Disposal materials on site

Figure 5.0: Crane truck

Figure 5.3: Students are listening to

the explanation of the safety rules

and regulation.

Figure 5.5: Group photo for group 1

Figure 5.4: Bar bending machine

Conclusion / Learning outcome

After the meaningful construction site visit done by us on the 21 November, there are countless

of valuable information of knowledge gained by me after the visit. Besides, I had the

opportunity to learn something that I couldn’t learn from the lectures and textbook. I have

better understanding about how a construction site works now after the visit.

I had seen and explored various materials and tools used during the construction period. This is

an eye opener for me as I have never had the chance to see it with my own eyes. Besides, I was

taught by the site contractor about the various professional construction technique used and its

application.

Most importantly, I had the chance to witness how much they emphasize on safeties in the

construction site. They demand every worker to have their proper safety equipment on when a

construction is going on. Even we, the visitors have to wear safety helmet just like other

workers to guarantee our safety during our visit since there might be bricks or rocks that might

fall form high ground and might hit our head. Moreover, safety precaution signboard were seen

everywhere to always remind their worker to emphasize on their own safety.

Moreover, I can see that cooperation between workers is very important through this visit.

Every worker at the construction site is cooperating with each other in order to accomplish the

task given. This shows that cooperation is very vital in doing something important.

Besides, construction site manager also plays a very important role. As I can see during the visit,

the construction site was well planned. There was a site to throw all the domestic waste, and all

the materials or tools were kept safe and sound to ensure their stability and secureness when it

is being used in the future.

In conclusion, this visit has greatly enhanced my knowledge about construction site. I am very

grateful to have a chance to visit there as I have gained a lot of knowledge. I wish that I could

have more chances like this in the future as in really benefit me a lot.