1.As per the Demolition and Building Work Policy of the council, it is required that all the work pertaining to building and demolition is to be carried out in the safest method that is possible and at the same time all the legislative requirements are met with. The Occupational Health and Safety requirements have been followed as per the regulations set forth in OHS&W Regulations, 1995. All personnel involved in the process of demolition are well averse with the OHS&W Regulations and Building AS2601-2001 and have proven themselves competent enough to undertake the demolition work (Cooke, 2007). Since the building under consideration is a medium rise building i.e. it is over 6 meters in height a work permit has been sought for and issued successively by the SafeWork SA.
The SafeWork SA has also been notified of the mechanical devices and explosives that shall be used for the demolition process and has granted the necessary permissions for use of such equipment and materials. Before the demolition work was undertaken the Demolition Checklist as obtained from AS2601-2001 was completed and submitted as an official statement to the Council along with the workplan to the SafeWork SA. It has to be noted that before the demolition process was initiated a meeting had been conducted with the Development Services Department of the Council (Allen, Allen and Iano, 2014). It is also pertinent to mention that the demolition work of the building had not been initiated until a proper risk assessment was conducted.
A capable individual carried out the risk assessment during all the different phases of the demolition process as well. The demolition plan containing the site plan in details, the original design and the specifications of the structure standing therein, the calculations made by an engineer on its ability in supporting machinery and details pertaining to the method that is to be followed in the demolition process was also submitted to SafeWorks SA, which was approved by the same. The guidelines stated in Australian Standards AS2601-2001 was referred to by a councilman and as per the suggestions stated by the Building Assessments Officer, the following Australian standards were incorporated in the demolition plan i.) Hazardous Substances, ii.) Health and Safety, iii.) Protection and iv.) Plant and Equipment, all of which falls under Section 1 of the Australian Standards. Section 2( Planning and Execution) of the Australian Standards consisting of 1.) General Requirements, ii.)Work Plan, iii.)Investigation, iv.) Explosives and v.) Execution was also considered. It is also pertinent to mention that a complete checklist was created and completed before the start of the demolition process on the medium height building.
As per the guidelines provided in “DEMOLITION WORK Code of Practice” SafeWork Australia, the demolition process that has been undertaken by following safework practices to oversee a risk free demolition.The Code of Practice is provided for the management of the risks to the health and safety of an individual involved in the demolition work. The regulations in the said code has been approved under the Section 274 as given in the Work Health and Safety Act. As per the regulations stated in the WHS, the duties involving the creation of a Safe Work Method Statement for the demolition, a capable individual carried out the work. Since the building did not have a proper Asbestos Register, the demolition of the building was not initiated.
A thorough inspection of the building was conducted for determining whether ACM or asbestos was present within the said structure. Since the inspection stated that ACM was present within the said building, proper work permit was obtained from the Safe Work Australia for the demolition procedure. It was ensured that the majority of the asbestos was removed, as far as possible, before the start of the demolition procedure. Based on the Code of Practice, hazards pertaining to the demolition work was pre-identified based on the amount of demolition to be done and the equipment that were in use for the demolition (explosives). It is pertinent to mention here that proper consultation with the demolition workers were conducted on periodic basis to assess the best method of demolition, understanding the different measures for controlling the risks, understanding the statements issued in the Safe Work Method and for development of procedures to deal with any kind of emergency (Cooke, 2007).
Proper risk management was conducted for identification of the hazards involved with the demolition process (Allen, Allen and Iano, 2014). The risks that were identified are accidental collapse of the structure, falling debris and objects, falls from a level to the next one, the location of the different essential services both above ground as well as below, the level of exposure to the different hazardous chemicals obtained from the demolition site and the closeness of the structure that is to be demolished to other buildings and structures in the area. Based on the report of the Risk Assessment, it was our aim to eliminate any type of hazard within the demolition site. The risks involved in the demolition process could be minimised by one or a convolution of the following methods.
It is to be noted that any structure is consisting of various members or parts. Each member or part acts in their own way and is different from each other. It is pertinent to mention here that the way the different members in a structure act are dependent on the load and the forces that are acting on the said members. The structural members are considered as the main components of any building that bears the primary load of the building. 30% of the total cost of the building is spent on developing and constructing the structure of the building. The different structural members for any structure are: beams, columns, roof trusses, wind bracing, concrete slabs and retaining walls. A primary structural principle is the load. It is to be noted that the building structure has the task of keeping the shape of the entire building even when subjected to different kinds of forces.
The building has been designed in a manner such that it is safe and can be subjected to the harshest of combination of different forms and types of forces and loads that are presumed to be applicable during its life cycle. It is to be noted that the building has been designed by taking an assumption of the loads as described in the “Loading codes” of the Australian Standard (AS 1170). The second structural principle considered during the construction and design is Forces. The stability and the strength of the building overall along with the different components used in its construction are to be considered.
This process consists of structural calculations for working out the various effect that the different forces, acting on a point or on the entire structure, would have been successful for this very purpose the forces acting on the system were resolved and the calculated to obtain the overall effect. Hence it helps us in making a design capable of withstanding large amount of force. The third structural principle is the properties. This principle states that the material that is being used in the different structural members along with their shape and type is also having a significant impact on the effectiveness of the structure of the building overall.
It is to be noted that any structure is consisting of various members or parts. Each member or part acts in their own way and is different from each other. It is pertinent to mention here that the way the different members in a structure act are dependent on the load and the forces that are acting on the said members. The structural members are considered as the main components of any building that bears the primary load of the building. 30% of the total cost of the building is spent on developing and constructing the structure of the building. The different structural members for any structure are: beams, columns, roof trusses, wind bracing, concrete slabs and retaining walls. A primary structural principle is the load. It is to be noted that the building structure has the task of keeping the shape of the entire building even when subjected to different kinds of forces.
The building has been designed in a manner such that it is safe and can be subjected to the harshest of combination of different forms and types of forces and loads that are presumed to be applicable during its life cycle. It is to be noted that the building has been designed by taking an assumption of the loads as described in the “Loading codes” of the Australian Standard (AS 1170). The second structural principle considered during the construction and design is Forces. The stability and the strength of the building overall along with the different components used in its construction is to be considered. This process consists of structural calculations for working out the various effect that the different forces, acting on a point or on the entire structure, would have.
For this very purpose the forces acting on the system were resolved and the calculated to obtain the overall effect. Thus helps us in making a design capable enough for withstanding the large amount of force. The third structural principle is the properties. This principle states that the material that is being used in the different structural members along with their shape and type is also having a significant impact on the effectiveness of the structure of the building overall. The different structural members that are being used in the construction of the said structure are beams, which are used for providing horizontal support to the vertical forces that acts upon the structure of the building. The columns that are being built in the structure are put under compressive loads and these are considered structural components that provide vertical support to the structure.
It is also to be noted that the building that is being built has a structure that is strong enough in supporting the different vertical loads that will be formed by the live and dead loads. Yet, there is a need for the building to resists the lateral load that shall be subjected on the structure by the wind loads. The method for overcoming the problem is to use diagonal bracing structure, which can be stated as knee bracing, k-brace and cross bracing. Bracing is used for stabilising the structure. Finally, the structure has been built on a base structure of concrete slab. The slab has been made 300 mm deep and sufficient measures have been taken to avoid any movement of the base concrete slab. The concrete slabs have also been utilised in this multi-storied building as roof systems.
The base slab or the ground slab has been formed by directly pouring concrete onto trenches that had been excavated in the construction area. It has to be noted that the slabs have the capacity of bearing a minimum bearing of 50kPa. It is to be noted that the concrete slabs forming the roof system of the entire structure are 150 mm deep and has been formed by pouring down concrete into a formwork present on-site of the construction.
For setting out the foundation of the building there is a necessity of checking the process and re-checking the same multiple times. Some of the tools that has been used for setting the building foundation are long tape measures, timbers for profiles, string lines and stakes. Once the construction site has been completely cleared out, were ready for setting the build of the building. It has to be noted that there is a necessity of placing the building in the same manner and position as represented in our development plans.
This is necessary since an inspection by local civic bodies later on can lead to complete relocation of the said building due to inappropriate placement or positioning of the building (Cooke, 2007). The first stage of the process is for establishment of the excavation point. It must be mentioned that the size of the excavation is larger than the size of the structural wall that has been specified. This is due to the fact that more concrete can be poured in for getting a better bearing. It is pertinent to mention that the wall has been centred on the concrete that has been poured in the excavation. After this we established the parallel lines for the said structure/building. The lines were marked by the use of stakes at either end and the lines were fixed at particular points. It was made sure that the lines were very tight so as to avoid any false reading due to the weather being very windy.
After the pins were marked and established on the surface, thus representing the area out of the area to be dug out. A straight line was drawn using spray paint, thus allowing the excavator in digging up the ground within the marked area in a straight line. It has to be mentioned herein that the excavation was initiated at a point 500mm away from the line marking the area of the structure. The excavation was done till a level of 300mm from the surface. After the completion of the excavation the various areas such as the “outside dig” or “outside wall” or “inside wall” were marked. It is pertinent to mention here that before the excavation process within the construction site, a proper understanding of the substrata soil was made. This helped us in establishing the conditions of the ground on which the structure is being built. It is to be noted that based on the structure of the building, the foundation shall be made accordingly.
The entire construction zone was checked for any trees whose roots could affect the soil near the foundation of the building. The construction site was also checked for any drainage system nearby, as presence of the drainage systems would adversely affect the soil nature and thus we would have to relocate the drainage lines. Since the construction site had trees nearby, through consultation it was decided that we would be using the trench fill foundation for the proposed building (Allen, Allen and Iano, 2014). In this foundation method the entire foundation is completely filled with concrete. This is necessary as the soil surrounding the construction site is loosely packed.
A foundation, which is also known as a base is the member function of any architectural structure, which connects the structure of the building with the ground. It helps in transferring the load from the building structure onto to the ground. It has to be noted that the foundations are considered as either deep foundation or shallow foundation. It is pertinent mention that the different foundations have been designed for having adequate capacity for load based on the soil type that is supporting the foundation.
A geotechnical engineer was employed to design the footing, while an employed structural engineer designed the structure of the same. The designs of the footing are primarily concerned about the bearing capacity and the settlement. IT has to be understood that a footing is an important and primary part of any foundation. The footings are composed primarily of concrete along with rebar reinforcement, which has been poured in a trench. The trench is being excavated in the construction site after careful setting out the foundation. It has to be mentioned herein that the excavation was initiated at a point 500mm away from the line marking the area of the structure. The excavation was done till a level of 300mm from the surface.
It is pertinent to mention here that before the excavation process within the construction site, a proper understanding of the substrata soil was made. This helped us in establishing the conditions of the ground on which the structure is being built. The geotechnical engineer through proper inspection and test concluded the nature of the soil to be loosely packed due to the presence of different trees around the construction zone. Based on the input provided from the geotechnical engineer proper design was drawn up by the structural engineer for the footing of the foundation and applied the trench fill foundation for the proposed building. In this foundation method the entire foundation is completely filled with concrete.
For setting out the foundation of the building there is a necessity of checking the process and re-checking the same multiple times. Some of the tools that have been used for setting the building foundation are long tape measures, timbers for profiles, string lines and stakes. Once the construction site has been completely cleared out, were ready for setting the build of the building. It has to be noted that there is a necessity of placing the building in the same manner and position as represented in our development plans. This is necessary since an inspection by local civic bodies later on can lead to complete relocation of the said building due to inappropriate placement or positioning of the building. The first stage of the process is for establishment of the excavation point. It must be mentioned that the size of the excavation is larger than the size of the structural wall that has been specified. This is due to the fact that more concrete can be poured in for getting a better bearing.
It is pertinent to mention that the wall has been centred on the concrete that has been poured in the excavation. After this we established the parallel lines for the said structure/building. The lines were marked by the use of stakes at either end and the lines were fixed at particular points. It was made sure that the lines were very tight so as to avoid any false reading due to the weather being very windy. After the pins were marked and established on the surface, thus representing the area out of the area to be dug out. A straight line was drawn using spray paint, thus allowing the excavator in digging up the ground within the marked area in a straight line. It has to be mentioned herein that the excavation was initiated at a point 500mm away from the line marking the area of the structure. The excavation was done until a level of 300mm from the surface. After the completion of the excavation, the various areas such as the “outside dig” or “outside wall” or “inside wall” were marked.
Damp coursing or damp proofing in any kind of construction is considered as a form of moisture control that is applied to the walls and floors of the building for prevention of moisture from passing onto any interior space. It has to be noted that the process of damp proofing of a building can be obtained in multiple manner. Firstly the construction of a Damp-proof Course is a barrier all through the structure by the use of capillary. This is considered as a phenomenon known as the rising damp. The effect of Rising Damp is due to the water rising from the ground level inside the structure of the building. It has to be noted that the damp proof course can either be vertical or horizontal. Pertinent to mention here is the fact that a damp proof course wall/layer is generally laid under the entire masonry wall, irrespective of the fact whether the wall bears any load or it being a partition wall.
Second, construction of a damp proof membrane, which is a membrane made out of materials that are applied for the prevention of transmission of moisture. It is to be noted that a DPM such as polythene sheeting is often laid out under a concrete slab for the prevention of moisture seeping in by capillary action. Third, Integral damp proofing, where waterproofing reagents are added in the mixture of the concrete so as to make the concrete itself waterproof in nature. Fourthly, Surface coating is actually coating the concrete with a cement sprayed layer such as shotcrete which has the ability of resisting water even under pressure.
Every building along with the building materials and the contents of the building over a period of time has to face a number of hazards all through their useful lifecycle. One of the potential hazards that any building or building material has to face is that of the termite attack. It is to be noted that there are two types of termites, one dry wood termites that does not have any contact with the ground and two, subterranean termites that requires a physical contact worth the ground surface or any other source of moisture. Thus to protect the building against this kind of hazard the following steps were taken. First, construction of termite barriers as per the provision in compliance with AS 3660.1 is for the protection of entire building or structure against any form of termite infestation.
Second, construction of structural elements of the said building by use of materials that is termite resistant in nature. It is also pertinent to mention that chemical barriers under slab have been reticulated as well as hand sprayed as per the latest provisions and amendments in the Building Code of Australia. Furthermore, a chemical barrier at the perimeter is being protected by a concrete strip measuring 300mm in width and 50mm in thickness. It is also necessary to state that the materials that are resistant to termite infestation have been used as “stand-alone” option and as such there is a need to make the other available structural elements of the building termite resistant as well.
Firstly, construction of a Damp-proof Course which is a barrier all through the structure by the use of capillary. This is considered as a phenomenon known as the rising damp. The effect of Rising Damp is due to the water rising from the ground level inside the structure of the building. It has to be note that the damp proof course can either be vertical or horizontal. Pertinent to mention here is the fact that a damp proof course wall/layer is generally laid under the entire masonry wall, irrespective of the fact whether the wall bears any load or it being a partition wall. Second, construction of a damp proof membrane, which is a membrane made out of materials that are applied for the prevention of transmission of moisture. It is to be noted that a DPM such as polythene sheeting is often laid out under a concrete slab for the prevention of moisture seeping in by capillary action. Third, Integral damp proofing, where waterproofing reagents are added in the mixture of the concrete so as to make the concrete itself waterproof in nature. Fourthly, Surface coating is actually coating the concrete with a cement sprayed layer such as shotcrete which has the ability of resisting water even under pressure.
Thus to protect the building against a termite hazard the following steps were taken in compliance with the Building Code of Australia and the Australian Standard as set forth in the code.. Firstly the construction of termite barriers as per the provision in compliance with AS 3660.1 is for the protection of entire building or structure against any form of termite infestation. Second, construction of structural elements of the said building by use of materials that is termite resistant in nature. It is also pertinent to mention that chemical barriers under slab have been reticulated as well as hand sprayed as per the latest provisions and amendments in the Building Code of Australia. Furthermore, a chemical barrier at the perimeter is being protected by a concrete strip measuring 300mm in width and 50mm in thickness. It is also necessary to state that the materials that are resistant to termite infestation have been used as “stand-alone” option and as such there is a need to make the other available structural elements of the building termite resistant as well.
Over years of research and experience, it has been noted that there are some structural systems are known to perform better in any situation especially an earthquake scenario. The different structural systems are classified based on the construction material that is being used, the method through which the lateral forces are being induced by the earthquake is being resisted by the structure and by relative quality of the design being seismic-resistant and detailed. For testing the conformity of the structural design and the structural materials that are being used in the construction process there are various existing schemes that guides procurers such as us on the best possible practice in the industry.
The conformity tests for the various structural elements had been conducted by appropriate bodies so as to meet the standards as set forth in Australian Standards. The structural steel used in the construction process has been tested for conformity and quality y the Australian Steel Institute and Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels under AS 1163, AS 1594, AS3678, AS4671 AS 3679.1 and 3679.2. The concrete that is being used for the construction process has also been conformed for quality by Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia and Cementations Materials registration Scheme under AS 3972-2010 and AS 3582 Parts 1, 2 and 3.The wooden products in the construction process have been tested for quality and conformed for use by Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia.
For testing the conformity of the structural design and the structural materials that are being used in the construction process there are various existing schemes that guides procurers such as us on the best possible practice in the industry. The conformity tests for the various structural elements had been conducted by appropriate bodies so as to meet the standards as set forth in Australian Standards. The structural steel used in the construction process has been tested for conformity and quality y the Australian Steel Institute and Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels under AS 1163, AS 1594, AS3678, AS4671 AS 3679.1 and 3679.2. The concrete that is being used for the construction process has also been conformed for quality by Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia and Cementations Materials registration Scheme under AS 3972-2010 and AS 3582 Parts 1, 2 and 3. The wooden products in the construction process have been tested for quality and conformed for use by Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia. As already stated herein before the structural elements were tested and quality proved before being used for construction and inspection by competent authority is being carried out at all stages of the construction to ensure proper implementation of the work plan as approved by the Council.
It has to be noted that there are appropriate allowances for electrical conduits and plumbing lines to be installed in the building that is being constructed. The walls have been cut as per the norms to allow for placement of electrical switchboards and for laying electrical pipelines (Cooke, 2007). It is pertinent to mention that the electrical lines shall be travelling through the walls of the building and as such the walls are made thick enough to support such electrical pipes. Plumbing area for each section of the building has been pre-set during the planning period and as such plumbing lines have been laid out as per the initial designs of the buildings (Cooke, 2007).
All electrical products that are being used in the building has been tested for quality and is in compliance with the regulations of The Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council and falls under the conformity schemes of Approved Cables Initiative and Electrical Equipment Safety System (Allen, Allen and Iano, 2014). The plumbing lines have been laid out based on the legislations and regulations set forth in Plumbing Code of Australia with a direct reference to the Australian Standard of AS 3500. All the plumbing products that are being used in the construction meets the basic requirement as set forth in the PCA and all plumbing equipment have the necessary Watermark Certification logo.
As it is widely known the work that is carried out in a construction zone is not always guaranteed to work smoothly as per initial plans. Similarly, the construction of the said building also had its fair share of hiccups on its way to completion. The first problem arose while laying out the foundation of the building. Initially inspections revealed the soil to be tightly packed. Thus, it was accepted that it would provide good support to the foundation of the building. However, during the process of excavation it was found that the soil layer was falling apart. Further careful examination showed that roots from the nearby trees were interfering with the soil quality.
As a result the method of laying the foundation was changed to trench filling and revisions had to be made to the foundation structure so as to spread out the differential strain on the foundation due to the loosely packed soil. Secondly, during the later stage of the construction it was found that the cement that was being provided by the supplier was not the same quality as that it was providing during the initial stages of the construction as a result, it was not mixing well with the water proofing reagent. Thus we had to demolish the part that was built using the new cement and was completely redone after the supplier provided the cement that was initially being used for the construction process.
References
Allen, E., Allen, E. and Iano, J. (2014). Exercises in building construction. 1st ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Cooke, R. (2007). Building in the 21st century. 1st ed. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Pub.
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