Construction assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Construction assignment - Essay Example It overlooks the Thames. It lies between the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul`s Cathedral. It is opposite to the Royal Courts of Justice. It is within five minutes walk of the Covent Garden, West End theatres and Trafalgar Square. The building is a 13 storied structure, and has 4 basement levels. The building is made of concrete and inflexible blockwork partitions. The floor to ceiling height is high. Roofs have valley gutters. Iron cramps have been inserted in masonry to bind the blocks together. Bonding timbers have been used in external brick and stone walls. The facade build-up includes glazed infill cladding. There are windows, and the flooring made of wood. The blockwork is inflexible, requiring extensive works. The facade are worn out. The facade are leaky allowing water ingress and air infiltration. VAV dual duct ventilation with open able windows caused high energy consumption. The environmental performance was poor. There are DDA and fire compliance issues. The top three floors were completely gutted. Access for fire escape and fire brigade was poor. Facade, building services and DDA access were not compliant. Major defects have been included in the table below. The occupants gave a negative feedback regarding the internal environment including noise and air pollution. Routine maintenance includes work that has to be carried out at intervals for keeping the building in appropriate condition. There may be requirements for replacement or repairing an item necessitated by natural deterioration of normal wear and tear. According to Chanter and Swallow (2000), routine maintenance is five yearly external decorations and servicing of boilers. According to the Audit Commission, details of maintenance cycles have to be set with a balance between planned and responsive maintenance. The initial focus must be on replacements that could be expected instead of those considered avoidable. The routine replacement items must be identified at the outset