BLDG2023 Construction Planning Group Assignment Brief | UNSW

Expectations

This assignment is designed to be completed by a group of 5 students (in the case when the student number is not a multiple of 5, 4 or 6 students may be permitted for 1-2 groups). Students may choose to have fewer members in one group, but need to note that groups with fewer students are expected to complete all the tasks, and will be subject to the same marking standard. This document sets out what is required to be done by each group. 

Purpose 

Working for a construction planning company, your group needs to develop a tender program, a basis of schedule document and associated diagrams and documents for a construction contractor. 

An Institutional building of three levels is to be built for a client. Attached you can find a set of drawings for your use, but the fully detailed working drawings are not available. It means you need to make assumptions about the design where required. (This is a normal occurrence for tendering) 

Your task is to develop the relevant planning suite of documents as follows: 

Contract and Design Assumptions

• The date for site possession is 1st May 2025.
• The building is expected to be completed by 31st October. 2026. 
• The building is designed as a three-story concrete building with a mixture of wall types.
• The structure is a reinforced concrete structure (slab on ground), piling and pile caps integral with ground slab, structural steel framing and roof above level 3.
• Demolition of the existing building will be completed before 26th April 2025.
• Access to the site is available from the west side of the site only.
• There are services (electric and water) presently available on the site.
• Work on the site can only be permitted from Monday to Saturday between 7 am and 7 pm. Make your own assumptions about appropriate working hours and check the local council rules (the working hours can be a shorter period between 7 am-7 pm). 
• Exclude public holidays and RDO from your schedule.

Assignment Approach 

This is a group assignment.

• Students are encouraged to form their own group early in the course, and the latest time you can register a group is by Friday, 7/March/2025, 11:59 pm (students should register the group on Moodle). After this date, students without a group need to contact the course convenor for completing the assignment individually.
• Check Moodle to see your finalised group members/mates after the deadline (7/March).
• Changes to groups are not permitted after the groups are finalised.
• Although students may drop the course before the census day, student groups with committed members are encouraged to start the assignment earlier than the census day. 

Your group should approach the assignment according to the following guidelines and complete all the tasks: 

1. Study the plans/drawings provided. As the detailed design is not available, you will need to establish the approximate dimensions of the site and the approximate dimensions of unspecified building components, compliant with the information given in the attached drawings.
2. You can assume the building is built in any state/council area of Australia, no need to be restricted by the street names provided in the drawings. 
3. Prepare a basis of schedule document including scope analysis, the site dimensions and conditions, local council requirements, local climate and weather information, construction constraints, contingencies, etc.
4. Prepare a site establishment plan that includes drawings of the site at the initial, mid and final phases of construction. You may use any drawing software of your choice. This could be a single drawing or multiple drawings in stages showing: 

• the fence around the site, entry points, vehicular and pedestrian. How will security be managed? 
• construction access, movement of materials, including lay down areas.
• location of the tower crane, and the area it covers.
• pedestrian access around the site - maintaining clear access for pedestrians walking past.
• adjacent building protection from noise, dust, etc.
• Location of site office, lunchroom and toilets initially and then through to the final stage of the project.
• any scaffolding required. 

5. Prepare a Work Breakdown Structure. The WBS should reflect your construction strategy and should show the different stages of construction. A list of typical construction activities is given in the attached file for your reference, but you do Not have to be restricted by it. 

6. Calculate activity durations using work method statements (WMS) for 20 typical activities (refer to class lectures for an example of a WMS). It is recommended that the schedule do not exceed 120 activities in total, but this depends on how detailed your schedule is.