Quality management

Quality-management technology solutions are becoming increasingly important for construction companies that want to stay competitive. 

Benefits of Risk Mitigation

"Investing in risk mitigation represents a great opportunity for firms in the construction industry to improve their bottom-line and increase productivity," said Harvey Bernstein, Vice President, Industry Insights and Alliances, McGraw-Hill Construction.

The firms that will have an edge in this difficult construction market are the ones that understand the value of risk mitigation and recognize they can no longer continue business as usual."

See the following link for more information: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-rigorous-risk-mitigation-offers-stronger-profitability-and-productivity-to-construction-firms-but-most-only-assess-risk-135680703.html

Energy savings

 

While the COP17 conference is still fresh in our minds, it is worthwhile to take a look at the efforts made by construction professionals in reducing carbon footprint in a industry which uses high embodied carbon materials.

 

A school in Arizona has recently been completed which actually generates more energy than it consumes! While the footprint may be small, repeat this a number of times and the gains are multiplied. Why couldn't lessons learned here be translated to large more polluting projects? It would serve the South African industry well to seek out greener methods, materials and Maintenance on a wide variety of public and private sector buildings to increase this type of multiplier effect.

 

In a country which is still struggling with energy shortages, reducing the demand side of the equation is a pro-active way of reducing the challenge.

 

It is often too easy to do things the way we did them on the last project. How often does a project team really sit down and review sustainability options willingly because they believe it is the right thing to do, and not reluctantly, because they have to. With a willing pro-active approach, creative solutions can lead to large inexpensive energy savings. If the process is a LEED or GBCSA box ticking excercise, the full benefits of their valuable processes will not be realised.

 

Perhaps it is time for SAICE to include a portfolio for sustainability on each of their divisional committees? In this way each decision and initiative by the committees will have passed through a green vetting process.

Construction groups race for Doha contracts

British construction companies are scrambling to win lucrative contracts in Qatar as the gulf state gears up for the 2022 Fifa World Cup with an estimated $275bn worth of spending.

With Doha planning to invest up to $149bn on infrastructure and a further $126bn on housing, bidding for contracts to build schools, hospitals, shopping centres and rail networks has already started.

Keeping up to speed with green buildings

While awareness of the need for greener buildings is undoubtedly rising in South Africa, our country still lags significantly behind the rest of the developed world in terms of the application of environmental considerations.

A key contributor to South Africa's poor position on the global green building achievement scale is the fact that the incorporation of environmentally sound building principles – whether to new construction projects or the retro-fitting of older buildings - remains largely a compliance-driven consideration in this country, rather than an environmental and economic sustainability imperative.

Changing this perception of green as a 'scorecard item' is a key requirement if we are to eventually achieve a truly 'green' built environment. Such a paradigm shift requires an understanding that so-called green buildings are not just reputational or environmental sustainability requirements, but also potentially significant contributors to long-term economic sustainability.

COP 17 and Civil Engineering

 

Hydrologists beware… the prediction of rainfall amongst other things is based on historical statistics. These may be less reliable due to climate changes which are occurring, according to Mr Jarraud, a specialist on the subject.

"Using statistics based on the past is not (useful) because of climate change. Farmers say rain patterns are not what they used to be, the weather is different," Mr Jarraud said. In addition to uncertainty for agriculture, a changing climate also makes city planning difficult, he said, citing storm surges and the construction of dams.

Learning from the project managers of the past

Frontinus (Late First Century CE) was appointed to the post of curator aquarium, or superintendent of the aqueducts supplying the city of Rome. His methods and ideas were used in some of the most interesting projects developed in Ancient Rome. A new article published in Project Management Journal, outlines the lessons modern day project managers could learn from history.

Civil Engineering and Technology

Civil engineers locally and internationally find themselves in the unique position of providing solutions to the needs of the poulation whilst also managing the impacts their solutions have on the environment. An interesting article in Africa Geographic's July Issue "Too Clever by Half" discusses the positive and negative aspects of technology, something we should all be aware of, especially in the African context.

 

Tied to this is the recent proliferation of Public-Private Infrastructure projects. PPP, or PFI, as it is known in the UK, is a relatively new method (2 decades old) of delivering sorely needed infratructure without burdening the public purse. Articles here and here give recent insight into current thinking.

 

The Shipping News

It seems that Ports and Harbours are an area holding future potential for the South African Civil Engineering community. Recent media reports (and here)  indicate lulls in container shipping, but underinvestment in port infrastructure in South America and Africa.

As part of the logistics chain, ports form a critical point in the transport of commodities, not only from South Africa to trading partners, but from land-locked countries North of our borders.

It is a relief to hear there is no dispute between the city of Cape Town and SANRAL regarding the implementation of new tolled sections of the N1 and N2 near the city. One presumes there have been adequate public participation and Environmental Impact Assessment processes to this point, considering the PPP process is already past BAFO stage after a nine-year development process.

Reports indicate that there are still bones of contention between the two and it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months.

Gautrain Water Problems

Millions of litres of groundwater are pouring into the Gautrain tunnels and causing the train service to be interrupted on a regular basis.

My suggestion, since according to reports the water is not of a bad quality, use it as grey water irrigation for the parks and fountains of Pretoria and Johannesburg! Our winter months are usually brown and most parks and fountains remain unsprinkled, here is an opportunity to relieve the tunnels of water and improve the quality of life for the cities' dwellers, sustainably!

As an aside, a couple of useful project management websites to check out to broaden your perspective... http://www.projectmanager.com/, and http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/.

SAICE PMCD Blog

Welcome to the first - test - posting of the SAICE PMCD blog. The intention of this blog is to highlight and provide comment on current developments in the civil engineering industry as they relate to project and construction management.