Roles and Responsibilities Through all Stages of a Construction Project
Task 1. Describe the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the planning and design phases.
Owner
An owner is the person who owns the project and has full authority to control the whole project. He is mainly involved in the process for supporting the financial matter for the construction project to go through easily. He has to pay for fees and charges associated with the work. Besides, he has to work together with architect and other consultants to achieve the goal of the construction project
Architect
Architect monitors the construction of the project to assure that construction is in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by the architect and approved by the Owner and Contractor. He has to engage in inspection and completion of the building process for the designing and supervising of the building work which the architect has full control of the proceedings.
Lender
The person or entity engaged by the lender to independently check and verify that the progress of construction conforms to the plans, specifications and Contract Documents in order to permit construction loan payments to the contractor. His responsibility is not to the Owner but to the lender to assure the lender that the lender is paying for true construction costs and to assure lender priority.
Facility Manager
Facility Manager is mainly involving in the development of master plans for facilities and properties as well as budget projections for proposed projects. He frequently serves as lease managers for the owner’s rental properties and is charged with tenant relations. His responsibility might include space planning, utilization studies, and space inventory and allocations. In addition, he might be in charge of minor capital projects in the same location as contracted work and services.
Estimating Engineer
Estimating engineer has the responsibility for pricing building work in accordance with tender documents and to assist management in their submission of a tender to the client or architect. This includes a report on the project in hand and a summary of project details and a note of any matters of concern.
Planner
The builder’s planner is responsible for selecting the most cost and time effective method of carrying out the work, programming each activities of work in a coordinate order so as to provide continuity of work primary for the builder’s operations establishing labour and plant requirements providing details of site requirements such as staffing and the proposed layout of the site.
Ref > CSI Construction Contract Administration Practice Guide
Task 2 Describe the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the construction phases.
Project Manager
Project Manager is the person who has the responsibility for ensuring that the Project Team completes the project. The Project Manager develops the Project Plan with the team and manages the team’s performance of project tasks. It is also the responsibility of the Project Manager to secure acceptance and approval of deliverables from the Project Sponsor and Stakeholders. The Project Manager is responsible for communication, including status reporting, risk management, escalation of issues that cannot be resolved in the team, and, in general, making sure the project is delivered in budget, on schedule, and within scope.
The Quantity Surveyor
The Quantity Surveyor provides the client with advice on building costs and contractual matters throughout the building process, in addition, acts as a consultant to the architect. He also supports for the preparing the tender documentation, receiving and analyzing tenders and preparing the tender report for the client and recommendations for approval.
Consulting engineer
Consulting engineer is responsible to the architect for the design of certain parts of the project and provide information that will assist the quantity surveyor with his financial reporting. He is involved in the work carried out by nominated sub-contractor.
Health and Safety Inspector
Health and Safety Inspector is employed by the health and safety law enforcement agency to ensure that the construction project site has to follow the safety regulations and codes of practice relating to the Health and Safety at Work act are observed on the building sites.
Construction Workers
Construction workers are different according to their different fields. They are a very special breed of worker. They own their specific jobs, duties and responsibilities in the construction sites. They have to follow the client to achieve their functions.
Ref > Construction Project Management ( Peter Fewings)
Task 3(a) Describe the corporate and personal responsibilities of all parties in construction.
Construction Company with shareholders is to make up an important decision they have to hold a meeting with partners. For important projects, the partners vote for the decision and the outcome is carried out by the project manager. Project manager plays an important role in construction business because he is entrusted the goal of project by the board of directors. He has to make small decisions on his own to reach the goal and report the outcomes to the board of director at regular meetings. As for the sole owner, every goals and decisions has to make by himself. And he needs to do all the job as a manager. But the goals and strategies can be changed according to the situation by the owner.
(b) Evaluate the differences between these responsibilities.
Owner
Owner is the one who owns the whole construction site and supports money to build his building with his desire organization. He settles the project completion date which governs the scheduling of work for both the designer and contractor. He should set priorities for the components that make-up the project.
The Design Organization
The design organization assists a design schedule of the owner’s schedule. In the schedule, there is a prioritization of work in accordance with the owner’s needs and should be developed with extensive input from all designers who will have principal roles in the design process.
The Construction Contractor
The construction contractor must develop a schedule for all construction activities in accordance with the contract documents. It should include procurement and delivery of materials to the job, coordination of labor and equipment on the job, and interface the work of all sub-contractors. The objective of the construction schedule should be to effectively manage the work to procedure the best quality project for the owner. The purpose of construction scheduling should not be to settle disputes related to project work but to manage the project in the most efficient manner.
Project Manager
The role of the project manager is the monitoring and controlling the all aspects of a project and the motivation of all those involved to achieve the project objectives on time and to cost, performance and quality. He also acts on behalf of the Client to direct the Design Team and ensure that they have the appropriate information and understanding to effectively execute the project. Besides, he manages the construction team performance of project tasks according to the Project Plan.
Architect
The responsibility of an architect is to prepare construction drawings and specifications. Sometimes, he lodges the planning application and building warrants in co-ordination with the rest of the team. He acts as the leader of the rest of the design team to the client’s requirements design. In addition, he will define client’s requirements, arrange site investigations, establish the preferred solution, develop the design, prepare room data sheets and advice on materials selection, etc.
Structural Engineer
The responsibility of the Structural Engineer is to design the building structure, including the drainage installation. SE must co-ordinate their design to meet the architect’s design and give advice to client on the most appropriate form of structure for the building. Besides, he also supports cost advice to the Quantity Surveyor involving to all aspects of the building structure.
Services Engineer (Mechanical and Electrical Services)
The responsibility of the services engineer is to specify and design all the services for mechanical and electrical according to the client requirements. He has to co-ordinate with the Architect and the Structural Engineer to meet the client requirements. Besides, he also supports the cost advice to the Quantity Surveyor as required to allow cost planning and monitoring. In addition, he provides the advice the client to make best decisions in terms of energy use, sustainability, lifecycle costs and relevant “Green Issues”.
The CDM Coordinator (Health and Safety Adviser)
The role of the CDM Coordinator is to advise the implementation of the CDM regulations to the client for the project. Health and Safety Adviser co-ordinates the Health & Safety aspects of the design work, and co-operate with the other consultants employed on the project. He prepares the Pre-Contract Health and Safety Plan and work with all the other consultants to ensure that Safety is high on the project agenda.
Ref > Guide to Procuring Construction Project
Task 4. Explain the modern technology(computer system) available to designers, planners and builders
Project management Software
Project management software assists the group project in planning their routine job easier by taking over from the main team members the drudgery of manual calculation, insertion, modification, tracking, controlling, and change management.
All of the project management software provides the complex nature of dependency of events and activities and scheduling of manpower for optimum utilization. Besides, it determines the dispensability for the sake of granting vacation and milestones and deadlines with the maintenance ways. Moreover, it keeps the track of critical path and shifting of criticality and generates the reports on project status for circulation automatically.
Photorealistic Rendering
3D/4D model technology can be used for marketing purposes by builder, developer and designer on private projects or to involve in community on public project. Specialist in this technology can offer clear pictures for their customers by wing 3D walkthrough short movie clip.
This kind of technology is used to clemonstrate complex geometic that cannot be demonstrated by two dimension technologies. IT plays important role to improve the quality of meeting between owner and project team because it helps the designer to convey their idea very well.
Cost Estimating
The cost can be estimated by using 3D to generate the quality bills. Moreover, it is possible to make a connection automatically between 3D and cost estimation. Cost Estimating Software needs to update by the user.
Analyzing Construction Operations
In this process, 4D and 3D can be used by project manager to monitor the progress of work at particular time. This technology makes the sequence and schedule of project construction clear. Moreover, it increases the accuracy of construction operations and reduces the errors.
3D and 4D Model Applications
3D and 4D model is one of the useful technologies that is used in construction as per researchers evaluation within educational or industrial settings. Moreover, these technologies play important role in project construction administration. The starting point for construction is to understand how to use 3D/4D model technologies respectively.
Task 5(a) Describe the effect of technological advances on the various phases of construction projects.
Nowadays, technologies stand an important rule to facilitate the project in construction projects. The impact of technologies supports to complete the project with low cost, avoid disputes between contractor and owner and without mistakes. It also leads to enhance the performance of worker, increase the productivity and improve safety. The impact of technologies on communication system will be covered in the research that effects on the successful of completing projects. The technology has no limit to stop and day to day new technology adds value to the word in different aspects. It helps to communication between the people in construction, make the decision with increasing speed and automating functions.
(b) Analyze the usage of computer system and the development of new materials in the construction projects.
Computer Systems
Computer systems stand as an incidental tool for the construction. It supports the design and project management to have emphasized numerical calculations and the use of computers will rapidly move towards the more prevalent and difficult problems of planning, communication, design and management. Besides, computerized transfer of information supports to avoid laborious and error-prone transcription of project information. In addition, CAD develops the drawings of the construction project by automating in drawings. It gives accurate the drawing to the point and saves the designers time.
Global Positioning Systems
GPS surveying instruments measures in 3D (X, Y, and Z planes) that make it easy for the surveyor to take accurate measurements for any point of the area. It receives signals from GPS satellites in terms of longitude, latitude, and elevation (from sea level) along with some other information to give exact measurements. By using the GPS, labor intensive can be reduced in terms of field procedures. GPS is not only useful in surveying but also in setting up of the equipment blades and buckets for the right angel to cut and fill the operations.
Total Station
- A Total Station is a light-weight instrument, integrating the technology of an electronic or digital theodolite, an electronic distance measuring device and a microprocessor in the same unit. It is used for distance and angular measurement, data processing, digital display of point details and data storage in an electronic field book. The digital panel displays the distances, angles, heights and the coordinates of the observed area. A microprocessor applies corrections for the Earth’s curvature and refraction automatically.