Construction Planning, Programming and Control

Brian Cooke MSc MCIOB is a former chartered civil engineer, quantity surveyor and principal lecturer in construction management. He has lectured widely on management and financial topics both in the UK and overseas. He is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Salford. Peter Williams MSc is a former chartered builder, chartered quantity surveyor and principal lecturer. He is currently a writer, researcher, lecturer and consultant with particular interests in contracts and finance, delay analysis and health and safety management.

Preface xi

Introduction

1 The construction industry 3

1.1 Introduction 3

1.2 Industry structure 3

1.3 Industry culture 4

1.4 Construction industry reports 5

1.5 The Latham reports 5

1.6 The Egan reports 8

1.7 The National Audit Office Report 10

2 Construction contracts 12

2.1 Contracts and planning 12

2.2 Contracts in use 13

2.3 The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 13

2.4 JCT Contracts 15

2.5 ICE Conditions 19

2.6 The Engineering and Construction Contract (NEC) 20

2.7 ACA Standard Form of Contract for Project Partnering PPC 2000 21

3 Procurement methods 23

3.1 Procurement criteria 23

3.2 The design process 24

3.3 Procurement options 26

3.4 Traditional procurement 26

3.5 Design and build 31

3.6 Management contracting 35

3.7 Construction management 36

3.8 The role of the project manager 39

3.9 Private finance initiative 40

3.10 Framework contracting 42

3.11 Prime contracting 44

3.12 Partnering 44

Part A Planning

4 Management and organisation 53

4.1 Management principles 53

4.2 Leadership styles 55

4.3 Project teams 56

4.4 Team building 57

4.5 The size of construction firms 58

4.6 The characteristics of firms 58

4.7 The small firm 59

4.8 The medium-sized firm 61

4.9 A business unit approach in a medium–large firm 64

4.10 The large firm 64

5 Tendering procedures 72

5.1 Introduction 72

5.2 Competitive tendering 72

5.3 Establishing contract leads 73

5.4 Tender pre-qualification 75

5.5 The tendering process 77

5.6 Procedures for a traditional competitive tender 78

5.7 Procedures for a design and build tender 80

5.8 Traditional competitive tendering 83

5.9 Decision to tender 83

5.10 Pre-tender arrangements 86

5.11 The site visit report 89

5.12 Tender enquiries to subcontractors and suppliers 91

5.13 Build-up of the estimate 92

5.14 Pre-tender method statement 94

5.15 Preparation of pre-tender programme 95

5.16 Build-up of contract preliminaries 96

5.17 Management adjudication of the estimate 98

5.18 Analysis of tender performance 101

6 Managing the supply chain 103

6.1 Supply chain integration 103

6.2 Lean construction 104

6.3 Fast-track construction 105

6.4 Subcontractors 106

6.5 Types of subcontractor – traditional procurement 106

6.6 Types of subcontractor – management procurement 108

6.7 Work package procurement 108

6.8 Forms of subcontract 113

6.9 Construction Industry Scheme 114

7 Managing risk 116

7.1 Risk in construction 116

7.2 The Turnbull Report 117

7.3 Project risk 117

7.4 Risk management 118

7.5 Risk assessment 119

7.6 Client risk 121

7.7 Contractor risk 123

7.8 Tendering risk 126

7.9 Health and safety risk 127

7.10 Fire risk 128

8 The planning process 130

8.1 Introduction 130

8.2 Lead times 131

8.3 Work breakdown structure 133

8.4 Planning stages 133

8.5 Project planning 135

8.6 Pre-tender planning 137

8.7 Pre-contract planning 137

8.8 Contract planning 138

8.9 Planning a project 139

9 Programming techniques 143

9.1 Introduction 143

9.2 Bar charts and linked bar charts 143

9.3 Network analysis 147

9.4 Relationships between arrow diagrams, precedence diagrams and linked bar charts 150

9.5 Arrow diagrams 151

9.6 Precedence diagrams 157

9.7 Line of balance (elemental trend analysis) 165

9.8 Time-chainage diagrams 181

9.9 Accelerating the project 186

Part B Programming

10 Developing construction sequences 199

10.1 The thought process 199

10.2 Programme considerations 201

10.3 Resource considerations 205

10.4 Achieving continuity of work 205

10.5 Sequence studies 208

11 Method statements 219

11.1 Introduction 219

11.2 Definition 219

11.3 Preparation of method statements 221

11.4 Pre-tender method statement 221

11.5 Construction method statements 226

11.6 Safety method statements 232

12 Planning for safety 234

12.1 Introduction 234

12.2 Definitions 234

12.3 Legal framework 235

12.4 Health and safety policy 235

12.5 Health and safety management 238

12.6 The safety of site operations 239

12.7 Risk assessment 241

12.8 Hazard and risk 244

12.9 Planning the work 249

12.10 The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) 1994 251

12.11 The CDM Regulations 2007 254

12.12 Health and safety training 261

12.13 Measuring performance 263

12.14 Enforcement of legislation 264

12.15 Accidents and incidents 266

12.16 Human factors 267

13 Planning the project 272

13.1 Introduction 272

13.2 Planning procedures within a large organisation 272

13.3 Pre-contract planning 273

13.4 Pre-contract meetings 275

13.5 Placing orders for subcontractors and suppliers 278

13.6 Site layout planning 279

13.7 The master programme 281

13.8 The target programme 283

13.9 Subcontractor programmes 286

13.10 Procurement programmes 286

13.11 Requirement schedules 291

13.12 Contract planning 294

14 Planning cash flow 300

14.1 Introduction 300

14.2 Client’s cash flow 300

14.3 Contractor’s cash flow 301

14.4 Cash flow forecasting 301

14.5 Credit terms in construction 303

14.6 Forecasting contract value 303

14.7 Forecasting the contractor’s income 313

14.8 Movement of money 315

14.9 Working capital 319

14.10 Improving cash flow 319

14.11 Forecast value and cash flow example 322

Part C Control

15 Project control procedures 329

15.1 Introduction 329

15.2 Control procedures within organisations 329

15.3 Definitions 331

15.4 Types of budgets 331

15.5 Preparing budgets 332

15.6 Contract budgets 332

15.7 Labour, plant and preliminaries budgets 333

15.8 Budget control procedures 336

15.9 Importance of site records 341

15.10 Meetings as part of the control process 342

15.11 Key performance indicators 346

16 Controlling time 348

16.1 Introduction 348

16.2 Time for completion 348

16.3 The contractor’s programme 349

16.4 Milestones 350

16.5 Early warning systems 350

16.6 Progress and delay 351

16.7 Progress recording 353

16.8 Delay and disruption 358

16.9 Extensions of time 361

16.10 The ‘as-planned’ programme 366

16.11 The ‘as-built’ programme 367

16.12 Delay analysis 368

16.13 Delay and Disruption Protocol 368

16.14 Delay analysis methodologies 369

16.15 Delay analysis in practice 369

16.16 Project acceleration 375

17 Controlling money 378

17.1 Introduction 378

17.2 Reporting procedures 378

17.3 Monthly cost–value reporting 380

17.4 CVR terminology 380

17.5 Cost–value reports 384

17.6 CVR case study 390

17.7 Interim valuations using S curves 391

18 Controlling resources 394

18.1 Introduction 394

18.2 Labour control 395

18.3 Materials control 401

18.4 Plant control 408

18.5 The control and coordination of subcontractors 410

Part D Case Studies

19 City Road project 425

19.1 Project description 425

19.2 Project details 425

19.3 Site constraints 425

19.4 Tender stage 429

19.5 Pre-contract stage 440

19.6 Contract stage 452

20 Eastlands project 457

20.1 Project description 457

20.2 Project details 457

20.3 Construction details 457

20.4 Organisation structure of the developer/contractor 459

20.5 Project planning 463

20.6 Method statement – tower blocks A and B 463

21 Highway project 474

21.1 General description 474

21.2 Construction strategy 474

21.3 Method statement (simplified) 480

21.4 Clause 14 programme 484

Index 485