Index:
Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS)
Specification Groupings
- A Preliminaries/ General conditions
- B Complete buildings/ Structures/ Units
- C Existing site/ buildings/ services
- D Groundwork
- E In situ concrete/ Large precast concrete
- F Masonry
- G Structural/ Carcassing metal/ timber
- H Cladding/ Covering
- J Waterproofing
- K Linings/ Sheathing/ Dry partitioning
- L Windows/ Doors/ Stairs
- M Surface finishes
- N Furniture/ Equipment
- P Building fabric sundries
- Q Paving/ Planting/ Fencing/ Site furniture
- R Disposal systems
- S Piped supply systems
- T Mechanical heating, cooling and refrigeration systems
- U Ventilation and air conditioning systems
- V Electrical systems
- W Communications, security, safety and protection systems
- X Transport systems
- Y General engineering services
- Z Building fabric reference section
© CCPI 1987 & 1998
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianSpecMan aka BrianSpecMan
6th January 2013 – 30th December 2015
Links checked 30th December 2015
Index:
Other Issues Index
STRATEGIC ISSUES
- Community
- Land and Ecology
- Transport
- Health and Well being
- Management
- Pollution
- Materials
- Energy
- Water
Moving sustainable-design towards greater commercial feasibility Commercial Green is promoted by multi-disciplinary engineers Gifford.
Applying existing sustainability standards in a coherent ‘one stop shop’ way.
Natural Step is addressing the tendency to ignore the current environmental issues until they reach crisis point. Which manifests itself as the industry continuing to use materials and methods which will result in less choice as time progresses, until we reach the point where there is no longer a choice, to avoid oblivion the most draconian methods will have to be adopted, until the planet can recover.
BREEAM, Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method for Offices, Retail warehouses, Industrial, Retail developments, Schools.
Apply principle to all buildings in the absence of a formal scheme, develop bespoke solutions and give something back to the industry.
EcoHomes (BREEAM for Homes in Scotland)
Since an EcoHomes ‘Pass’ can be achieved for no financial outlay and is easy to achieve what is its purpose, always aim for ‘Excellent’ or higher.
Choice of materials to achieve EcoHomes rating is on an ABC scale A being the best, but it only classifies the greener end of conventional materials available and the scope does not address many sustainable, renewable, natural, recycled materials, yet.
ADAPTABILITY & FLEXIBILITY OF USE:
Lifetime Homes:
Accommodate changes in families from young couple, add children and into old age
Model:
Greenwich Millennium Village housing flat layouts, slide away acoustic walls, between bedrooms and living rooms, fold up beds into wardrobes, allow opening up of the house during the day.
The plan also allows the family to grow to have one then two bedrooms, then one bedroom again, the bedoom that is not required to be a bedroom can become a work room or just more living space.
The flat plan can also become 3 bedrooms and one living/kitchen/dining room in a flat-share arrangement.
BRE’s Integer House has partitions between two bedrooms hung on tracks to allow lateral movement to change room sizes, the partitions can also swivel in vertical axis to allow ways through between rooms.
Provision or adding or updating new technology in the future:
Model: BRE’s Integer House: services run behind removable skirting, Architraves, etc. to allow rapid rewiring or additions of services
BedZED services run behind hollow skirting, dado, movement joint covers, etc.
Access and independence: Controls (disabilities)
Door openings minimum 900 mm. corridors minimum 900 mm
Flush threshold front and rear.
Building Regulations Approved Document M (BRAD M) Entrances, doors, halls, rooms, toilets, bathrooms, kitchens, electrics, gardens.
Design for location as much as the building brief, avoid over design.
Positive approach: do not over design to meet specific requirements of the brief that if the Client moves out the building become redundant because no other users can occupy the building
Negative approach: design an ice rink as a factory to revert to a factory use if the Ice Rink use fails
SOCIAL ISSUES:
Privacy and community
Health, Safety and Wellfare
Build tight, Ventilate right
Poor indoor air quality if high performance windows and doors and air-tightness improvements without adequate purposeful ventilation
Choice of materials:
Less synthetic paints,
less materials which off-gas when new or for longer,
less solvent based paints, but be careful low VOC paints can have harmful chemicals added to ensure performance of water based paint is similar to solvent based.
Children’s play and interaction
Noise impact
Daylight
Housing: Secure by Design (Police Commissioners)
Affects doors and windows construction, e.g. internal glazing beads,
Limit number of flats to one stair core,
Building for Life
Access and independence: Controls (disabilities)
Door openings minimum 900 mm. corridors minimum 900 mm
Flush threshold front and rear
BRAD M Toilets with grab bars
Decent Homes:
Upgrades need to consider sustainability and adopt EcoHomes standards
Consider the significant issue of waste generated and need to divert from landfill.
ECONOMIC FACTORS:
Lean Construction seeking efficiency and waste reduction in all management activities
Co-ordinated Project Information to minimise Quality Related Events and reduce defects and waste
Reduced running costs (Energy & Utility services)
Retire to no domestic services bills
Understanding whole life costing
Integrating Best Value approach
Supply chain management:
Addressing: materials choices, minimising packaging waste,
Take-back (off-cuts) schemes: British Gypsum for plasterboard, Kingspan for foamed insulation,
Take-back for refurbishment: Interface Europe and Milliken carpets
Take-back for packaging: Crown take back clean empty plastic paint cans
Use or return to stock: Some speculative housing developers have supply chain partnership arrangements which require surplus to requirement materials are take back into stock by the supplier
Take-back for packaging: Algood Ironmongery produce simple recyclable packaging
uses of recycled materials
Local sourcing reducing transport miles for materials
Use of builders merchants for transporting of materials between manufacturer and site
Consider secure external storage provision for Internet shopping anytime delivery
SUSTAINABLE CONTRACTING
OPERATIONAL CONSTRUCTION ISSUES:
Soil/ground conditioning
Impact on neighbourhood, Adopt Considerate Contractor Scheme methods
Site Canteen
Waste minimisation and management
Recycling paper and segregating plastic bottles and tin cans etc
On-Site canteens to reduce journeys and traffic concentrations around lunchtimes
Efficiency in mass production of hot food
Efficient waste management in kitchens and food areas
Preliminaries:
Social Issues
Require the recruitment of labour from the communities local to the site (Bovis Lendlease and Carrillion examples)
Work with the Local Employment Office to set up recruitment office at site boundary on larger projects.
Require the adoption of the Considerate Contractor Scheme by Contractor
Resources
Require the adoption of the Site Waste Management Plan (DTI and Constructing Excellence)
Require the adoption of one of the SMARTWaste monitoring schemes
Require waste reporting based on the KPI Key Performance Indicators (Constructing Excellence)
Maximise the use of local/regional materials and products used on the project.
Aim to make the site autonomous in respect of materials, especially in respect of landscape materials and to a lesser extend building materials.
Substitution
Control and limit Specifications Substitution on site (NBS reported substitution to be 30% of materials Aug 2004)
Economic
Purchase local materials to minimise transport costs and emissions.
Waste reduction can save 3% of build costs (DTI at SWMP Launch July 2004)
Waste reduction can same 20% of materials costs (DTI at SWMP Launch July 2004)
Environmental
Require the site to use a green tariff electricity supply for the duration of the construction
GENERAL ISSUES: BUILDING ADAPTABILITY
Set out to achieve consistent component life equal to design life
Alternative:
Design a long life durable structure with replaceable shorter life building fabric and secondary components
Design shorter life components to be robust enough to dismantle and reassemble,
Allow for sizing and operation of current and foreseeable lower carbon energy systems and appliances
Renewable compliant/renewable ready:
Make provision for additional services in future, on roofs, in the structure, roof upstand, etc
Design easy access to services to allow simple additions or replacement of system wiring
Specify reversible fixings for internal walls, fittings and services
Specify layering of building and services to minimise penetrations through vapour barriers, air tightness layers, damp proof membranes and gas proof membranes, thermal and acoustic insulation, etc
Specify modular components and make assemblies multiples of units
Specify easily replaceable external wall components: Segal method
Adopt wireless networks with caution since radiation from mobile phones is an issues the same may apply to wireless networks which are often left on all the time 24 hours a day 356 days a year.
Greenwich Millennium Village adopted 1956 Parker Morris Standards for Housing (set minimum space standards for house, room and storage floor areas); included moveable internal walls – reduces need for extensions, improves quality of life.
Lifetime Homes standards (adaptability through whole life of family through 3 generations)
Integer House Projects: services run behind skirtings fixed for easy removal
300 mm. wide doors into services ducts to allow access for adaptation and additions
BS 7543:1992:Guide to durability of buildings and building elements, products and components
Component Life Manuals:
HAPM Component Life Manual (published by SPON)
Building Performance Group Building Fabric Component Life Manual (published by SPON)
BLP Services Component Life Manual (published by Blackwell)
Link: http://www.________
CONSTRUCTION PLANNING AND LOGISTICS
There is a big potential obstacle to our minimising carbon approach:
To lower embodied carbon we may need to source emerging products which are only available from abroad (cf. most of Construction Resources’ products are imported)
This therefore pushes up carbon significantly and, in our terms, unsustainable
We need a robust methodology to assess the carbon emissions of any action carried out on the project – an applied and flexible Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Does one exist, or could developing one be part of the unique value of the project?
Offsite prefabrication and use of standard size components to minimise waste
Store materials to prevent deterioration and unused materials for snagging, 12 month defects inspection and ongoing FM (Facilities Management) maintenance of building
Return of palleting and packaging to manufacturer or third party specialist
Segregation of waste to allow return to manufacturer under take-back schemes
MATERIALS
Increase the use of the following:
Product Quality marks (BSI Kitemark, BBA, etc) 3rd party accreditation
Durable materials, long Component Life
Recycled primary materials
High Recycled content
Use of materials made from secondary materials: aggregates
Reuse and recycling of construction or demolition waste
Natural and renewable materials (wool, timber, non-food crops, etc.)
High Natural content
Manufactured renewables (e.g. biopolymers, biotechnology-manufactured materials)
Appropriate advanced materials e.g. self compacting concrete
FSC certified timber sources and timber based materials, See Z10
FSC Chain of custody from forest to site. See Z10
ZODP Zero Ozone Depleting Potential materials, See Z50
Reduced carbon impact as well as ozone and health benefits
Low Greenhouse Gas Potential materials, (reduced carbon impact as well as ozone and health benefits)
Use of materials with Hygroscopicity, for less risk of condensation and degradation due to moisture, and no loss of performance if wet or in humid conditions
CONSIDER: Life Cycle Analysis and Costing
Use of on-site as-found Materials
On site storage for excess for future maintenance
Allergy free materials
Toxicity-free
Reduce use of the following:
Fossil fuel-based materials, petrochemicals, plastics
Materials containing halogens, formaldehydes and other VOCs, See Z12 and M60
Materials containing Chlorine, PVC, CFC, HCFC, HFC, CPE, See Z50
PVC (Polyvinylchloride) See Z50
CCA (Copper Chrome Arsenic) Treated softwood, See Z12
Creosote treated timber See Z12
Deleterious Substances listed in European Waste Catalogue See A38 APP
Shell:
In addition to items in General above, consider use of:
Unfired clay products: bricks, blocks, plasters, paints, (for their breatheability and humidity control value)
Geopolymers, at least for low risk uses such as:
Internal walls, floors, ceilings, fixtures, fittings etc
Use paints and other coatings without hazardous chemicals;
CONSIDER natural paints
External features:
Porous car parking, drive, path, sports surfaces, using recycled materials,
Purpose made pavers with drain channels and slots
MOT type 1 minus the fines to create interstices for water storage
with or without waterproof membrane below sub bases.
METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION:
Offsite prefabrication:
Construction Industry skills shortage encourages more factory production
On-site temporary factory production, aiming for factory conditions and better quality work and less waste. benefits: less vehicles to deliver materials.
Set up on-site factory production under weatherproof enclosure on solid base and thermally comfortable conditions, insulated to avoid wasting heat.
Use of standard size components without cutting, to minimise offcuts and waste,
Balance with avoiding transporting large volumes of air,
Panelisation in preference to volumetric, unless fully equipped and heavy,
Airtightness layer, Breathing wall, hygroscopicity, moisture uptake and release
As opposed to vapour resistant barrier, punctured by services, vapour transfer, susceptible insulation, water held against timber sections and breather membrane
Breathing Walls and Roof construction acknowledged and confirmed by BRE
Layering of building and services to avoid complexity and puncturing of DPC, DPM, GPM, VB, BM, ATL, etc
Making assemblies multiples of units, minimising waste, using left over pieces until all gone
TRANSPORT ISSUES
Transport movements
23rd Mar 2005 Working Time Directive requires new working practices which will mean that overnight the UK will be 112,000 HGV drivers short of requirements
(Aggregate Industries MasterBlock Logistics information)
A good incentive to start taking rail freight and canals more seriously.
Use local materials, manufacturers, suppliers and sub-contractors where possible, to reduce travel.
Contractor’s staff and Sub-contractors travel daily from base unless using local accommodation, potentially a bigger impact than materials transport travelling once.
France’s Minitel has been used by lorry drivers to ensure they rarely travel empty
The internet has the potential to address this issue in the UK.
Minimise transport movements – consider use of logistics software, GIS/GPS, car-share, lift-share Websites, car-pools
Alternatives to the car:
Pedestrians and cyclists; busses, trams, trains, but only if public services are well used
Alternative cars (renewable electricity charged: Photovoltaic charged, multi-fuel, LPG, Bio-fuel, hydrogen cell)
Internet shopping anytime delivery, secure storage provision and electronic logging
Local and on-site food to avoid transport miles and packaging
Transport vehicles – consider staff bus,
fuel used in bus, for non-local items delivery by rail?
Just in time to prevent double handling and controls for avoiding over-ordering
Refrigerated vehicles: Photovoltaic roof to cool contents
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianSpecMan aka Brian Murphy
2nd February 2013 – 30th December 2015
See also:
GBE GreenBuilding Specification
GBE Jargon Buster
© GBE NGS ASWS BrianSpecMan aka BrianSpecMan
7th January 2013 – 30th December 2015
Links checked 30th December 2015
