Group

09
I. Introduction
II. Building construction materials
III. Site Analysis
IV. Foundation
V. Walls and other Structural Elements
VI. Staircases and Elevators
VII. Doors and Windows
VIII. Defects and Degradations
IX. Site problems
X. Safety measures
XI. Temporary Structures
Sky city residences
Location :
A Few Facts :
 Site is a place that building being built.

In a construction site;
 A Project manager normally manages the job, and a
construction manager, design engineer, construction
engineer or project architect supervises it.

 For the successful execution of a project,

effective planning is essential.
This company is earning profit by selling a developed
property.
The Developer is the Organization that manages the
development from gaining planning permission,
obtaining the land and managing the Contracting of any
ground works and building necessary.

But the builder (Contractors) actually builds the

building,
however some times large developers are also known
as Builders.
e.g. Sky city developers
 Construction company focuses only on the
production of the building
 Usually they don’t perform any of the site development
to bring in utilities to the site itself, it is the job of
property developer
 A Contractor is some one who is Contracted to carry
out some work, usually for the developer, but
sometimes work is subcontracted out over and over
again so there are several levels of Contractors.
 Basic Information
 The site which we visited is a developers site.

 Structural consultant :- Dr. D.T. Rajasekaran

 Architectural consultant :- Harithamothar design

consultancy

 Project period :- 2.5 years

(Commencement 2013 Dec.)
 Basic Information
 14 story building

 Height : 155 Feet (about 48 meters)

 First 3 stories are for car parking other 11 are for

residencies

 Totally 66 residencies (But according to the clients

requirments, sometimes they will join the houses and
make 2 big houses only for the 14th floor)

 03 Elevators and 02 stairways

Perspective of the building
Perspective of the building
Perspective of the building
Naturally
Artificial
available
materials
materials

 Cement
 Bricks
 Aggregate
 Concrete
 Stone
 Timber
 Metals
 Stones used in this site for:

Making in foundation, walls, columns

As ornamental features
In retaining walls to retain soil
Make concrete (coarse aggregate).
They bought river sand from Monoragalla for
this construction

 In this site sand is used for:

• In various construction like masonry works,
plastering, flooring etc.
• To prepare Cement Mortar and Cement
Concrete.
 Uses:
• To prepare Cement Mortar
• In preparing PCC, RCC.

Plain Cement Reinforced Cement

Concrete Concrete
 Itis a mixture of cement, water and aggregate and
any admixture.
 Admixtures are also sometimes added to improve
some properties of concrete.
 Freshly mixed concrete before setting is known as
fresh or green concrete.
 The concrete after setting and hardening is known
as hardened concrete.

Will reduce quantity of mixing water required to

produce a certain slump (here they used fly ash)
 Concrete is prepared by mixing the ingredients in
required proportion with water.

 For example;
 Cement : Fine aggregate : Coarse aggregate = 1:3:5
(Used in making Grade 30 Concrete)

 Mixing can be achieved by two ways:

1. Hand mixing,
2. Machine mixing.
 It’sa major building material in construction
field.

 They are strong and durable.

 It covers 30% of total cost.

Ready-mix
concrete is concrete that is
manufactured in a factory
or batching plant,
according to a set recipe,
and then delivered to a
work site, by truck
mounted in–transit mixers.

The inside of a transit mixer uses a

simple Archimedes' screw to mix
(clockwise) and to lift the concrete
to the delivery chute (counter-
clockwise).
  In this site, They used ready mix concretes.
(Grade 30 for Basement & Grade 25 for above floors)
 They have bought it from SIERRA READYMIX
Pvt Ltd.
Classification Grade Applications

M10 PCC (Plain Cement Concrete) e.g. Levelling course, bedding for footing, concrete roads etc.

Ordinary M15

M20
Above
PCC e.g. Levelling course, bedding for footing, concrete roads etc.

RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) e.g. Slabs, beams, columns, footing etc. (for mild exposure)

M25 RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) e.g. Slabs, beams, columns, footing etc.

M30 RCC e.g. Slabs, beams, columns, footing etc.

M35 RCC e.g. Slabs, beams, columns, footing etc.

M40 RCC e.g. Pre-stressed concrete, slabs, beams, columns, footing etc.
Standard
M45 RCC e.g. Runways, Concrete Roads (PQC), Prestressed Concrete Girders,beams, RCC Columns

M50
Basement
RCC e.g. Runways, Concrete Roads (PQC), Prestressed Concrete Girders,beams, RCC Columns

M55 RCC e.g. Prestressed Concrete Girders & Piers

RCC work where compressive strength is required such as high rise building, long span bridges,
ultra-thin white topping etc and constructions in aggressive e.g. Spilways of dams coastal
High Strength M60-M80 construction
 Itis the oldest building material used in
construction. They are regular in shape. Most
of the bricks are made of clay.
 For this construction they have used clay
bricks from Dankottuwa.
 Used for :-
• In masonry work, plastering etc.
• In various construction like beams, slabs,
columns, flooring, and foundations.
 To prepare cement mixture (mortar)
 To prepare cement concrete
 Use in making joints for drains, pipes
 Normal cement (OPC)
This was used in this
construction
(Marine Cement)
 Makingscaffolding,
formworks in concrete works.

 Makingvarious furniture like

cupboards, door, door frames
etc.
 Metals are used for reinforcement of concrete (Steel) and
as frames for windows (Al) in this site
 Reinforcing is to give sufficient tensile strength to the
concrete structure
 In this site they used GTB bars for reinforcement.
12mm, 10mm diameter bars for slabs
16mm, 20mm, 25mm diameter bars for beams
32mm diameter bars for basement columns (&1-4 floors)
25mm & 20mm diameter bars for columns (5-7 floors)
20mm diameter bars for columns (7-14)
Diameters Diameters
Bar benders making the necessary bars
(According to the schedules) in the bar bending
yard which is also in the construction site
Glass is used for several purposes like making
window glass etc.

Ceramics are used for

 Making sanitary fitting.
 Making various tiles.
With the help
of consultancy
Bureau
 In this construction site planning,
Inches, Feet and Perches etc.
Are the units used to measure the elements in
construction process and also in the structural drawing.
So we got all the details in such manner from project
manager…
Cost Estimation

 This is 49.5 perches land which is situated in a

highly commercial area..
 Land value was about 300 million (6 million per
perch in 2013)
 Total estimation of the project is 800 million
(Excluding land value)
 Building Civil Works cost:-
It’s a major building material in
construction field.
It covers 30% of total cost.
What is floor plan?
A floor plan is a visual of a room or building scaled
and viewed from above. The floor plan may depict
an entire building, one floor of a building, or a single
room. It may also include measurements, furniture,
appliances, or anything else necessary to the purpose
of the plan.
Eg:-
typical Floor plan

6 houses per floor

3 Elevators
2 Staircases
 3 bedrooms with 1 attached
and 1 visitors bathroom
 1100 Square Feet
 2 bedrooms with 1 attached
and 1 visitors bathroom
 900 Square Feet
 3 bedrooms with 1 attached
and 1 visitors bathroom
 1315 Square Feet
 4 bedrooms with
2 attached ,
1 visitors bathroom
and maid room with
attached bathroom
 1800 Square Feet
 4 bedrooms with 2 attached ,
1 visitors bathroom and
1 maid room with
attached bathroom
 1850 Square Feet
 3 bedrooms with
1 attached and
1 visitors bathroom
 1150 SqFt
They planned to build 66 residencies in this building.

Above those 3 parking floors there will 10 floors

with this same floor plan but,
Some clients will expect much bigger houses than
these planned houses so they said,
sometime they may join the houses and make big 2
houses in 11th floor
 This building is rested on a weak soil formation which
can’t resist the load coming from this 14 story building.

Here in this site,

Soil type : Gravel + Sand

 So they have did pile foundation for this building

 At first they suck the under water out then they did pilling
for about 72 feet…

Soil test was done and got the approval from Colombo
municipal council and Urban development authority
Pile foundation
Advantages
 Corrosion resistance
 Can be easily combined with
a concrete superstructure

Disadvantages
 Difficult to achieve proper
cutoff
 Difficult to transport
Drawings of pile foundation

Layout of
piles
Drawn by a structural engineer

Compressive
strength

Check
 Weak
soil

Bearing
Stratum
 Transmit most of their loads
to the load bearing layer
(dense sand or rock). Most of
the pile capacity inferred
from the end bearing point.
Structural elements may include external and
internal load-bearing brick or masonry walls, mud
walls or timber-framed walls;

columns of stone, cast iron or concrete;

stone, brick or concrete vaults;

Concrete beams, Steel beams, trusses, girders and

lintels
Column is a vertical structural member.

It transmits the load from slab and beams,

including its self-weight to the foundation.

Columns may be subjected to a pure compressive

load. R.C.C. columns are used in this site
 Elevation of
Columns in floor
plan

 Totally there are

114 columns per
floor

 Column sizes
differs from
ground floor to
upper floors
 When we go floor by floor we can see that size
of the columns and reinforcements have been
changed. Because the forces which affect to a
columns decrease when go up.

 Therefore the reinforcements can be reduced.

 And cross sectional area of columns also

reduced when we go up in this building.
Reinforcement
is reducing
Beam is the horizontal member of a structure,
carrying transverse loads.

Beam is rectangular in cross-section.

Beam carry the Floor slab or the roof slab.

Beam transfer all the loads including its self-

weight to the columns or walls.
 Singly
reinforced
beams

 Doubly
reinforced
beams

These are RCC

beams
 Some beam’s end extends
beyond the wall or column
support.

 Overhanging of the beam

is the unsupported portion
of the beam.

Check
 Overhanging beam used in
the construction of balcony.
 Lintel is a short beam with its ends built into a wall.
It is a horizontal structural member placed over
small openings of the wall for door, window,
ventilator, etc.
Reinforced
cement concrete
Lintel
 In this construction walls were made out of clay
bricks in order to achieve more strength and
thermal comfort

 Stretcher bond was used in these partition walls

and English bond used in main walls
Thickness:-

113mm thick (½ brick thickness) – Partition walls

225mm thick (1 brick thickness) – Perimeter walls,

outside walls of a building or load bearing walls
Partition walls :-
 Will provide the separation

Main walls :-
 To act as a thermal barrier
 To strengthen the structure
 These walls may transfer the
loads coming from above
beams or slabs and wind loads
 1:5
cement, sand ratio was considered in
making cement mortar for wall construction
 Locations of
walls in floor
plan
 Here they used cement bricks to build outer
walls
 Staircases starts from ground floor to
uppermost slab

 Staircases & Elevators are used to access high

elevation of a building

 Generally if a building exceeds 3 stories, then

it should be facilitate with an Elevator which is
convenience for elders
2 Staircases

3 Elevators
1. Medium of travel which
connects two consecutive
floors.
2. Easy and quick access to
different floors with comfort
and safety.
3. These are reinforced concrete
staircases.
4. Dog-legged type stairs
Top View of Staircases

Ten steps for each half so altogether

20 steps between two floors
 4 feet & 3 inches space for
landing area

9” run and 6” rise per steps

The slope of the pitch line is

about tan-1(6”/2”) = 34.5’
 Elevatorsmay act as a strategy
to make more profits as it is
easy than accessing staircases

 Benefits of having 3 elevators

is that they can charge more
while selling houses and have
quit a bit of extra profit

 Butit is really hard to use

elevators during a fire
accidents
Elevator shaft
 Layout of walls
 Locations of doors and
windows in floor plan
 While deciding the
location of the door, the
purpose and function of
the rooms need proper
consideration
These doors,
 Provides good ventilation and easy movement of the
users.

 Controlling the physical atmosphere within a space by

enclosing it, excluding air drafts, so that interiors may
be more effectively heated or cooled.

 Acting as a barrier to noise.

 Used to screen areas of a building for aesthetic

purposes, keeping formal and utility areas separate.
 Timber doors are used mainly in this
building.

 They made doors by mahogany

3x7 5x8
 But the main door of the building will be
as rolling steel shutter door.

 Three types of doors are planned in this

building according to the needed size
Plan view of Door 1
Plan view of Door 2 & 3
 These are the type of casement windows where panels
are fully glazed.

 Windows are held in place by frames, which prevent

them from collapsing in. These frames are made out of
Aluminum

 A window is a transparent opening in a wall that allows

the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and
sound.

 They also have planned 3 types of windows to put in

this building
Plan view of window 1
 Plan view of window 2
 Width of this window is 8 feet.
 At first they decided to make 4 glazing
bar (Sash bar) sliding window but
finally they selected this design
Plan view of window 3
 Itis very rare to find a site without any cracks
or defects.
 In our site, few cracks and defects were able to
observed.
 These failures are mainly happened due to bad
workmanship.
 Cracks due to thermal effects could also be
observed.
Honeycomb Leakage

 honeycomb is a cute word

to describe air pockets or
poorly mixed concrete
 These air pockets form
cavities which water can
easily compromise causing
leakage.
Drying Shrinkage Cracking

 Because almost all concrete

is mixed with more water
than is needed to hydrate
the cement, much of the
remaining water
evaporates, causing the
concrete to shrink.
• Due to poor workmanship
the form work of the column
has been exceeded.
Check
Main problems during the construction of this
building.
1. Noise and vibration from the site

2. Lack of skilled workers

3. Architectural issues

4. Dust emissions from construction

5. Weather problems

6. A problem of material wastage

7. Accidents
During the foundation work. Pilling caused big
vibration so they got lots of complaints from the
neighbor houses.

It is really hard to find skilled experience workers

Setbacks are generally set in municipal
ordinances
Setback is the distance which a
building is set back from road
and other near by buildings

According to that,
69% land space should be open in that land.
So they were not able to make the building plan
so close to the boundary
Caused by lots of construction activities

 Demolition of building. (Bulldozing)

 During the digging (foundation) process

 During the general construction

This may cause lung illnesses and ashthmatic

diseases in workers
• Masons can't put up bricks and mortar when it's
raining because if these absorb water then it may
crack the elements after they being dried.

• While thundering they will face lightning

problems also.

• Here they needed to put a temporary lightning

protection system during the construction **
Concrete :- Over Oder, Loss during concreting

Steel :- Cutting

Timber, Bricks :- Cutting, Damaged during

transportation
 Falls from height

 Trapped by something collapsing or

overturning

 Struck by a moving vehicle

 Contact with electricity or electrical

discharge
 Struck by a falling object during
machine lifting of materials

 Contact with moving machinery or

material being machined

 Exposure to a hot or harmful

substance
 Allaccidents, illnesses, property damage and
pollution are avoidable and are to be prevented

 Nojob is so urgent or demanding that it can not be

done safely

 Theyhave made lots of safety measures to prevent

from accidents
Displaying ISO standard safety symbols International
organization for
standardization
 Symbols are displayed everywhere in the
site to get people noticed about safety.
Some safety requirements in construction site
 Hard hat (Helmets)
 Safety Boots
 Hi-viz jacket
 Safety Glasses
Security office (24 h) Safety symbols

24 hours CCTV camera

protection
 Using safety nets around the building

This safety net

doesn’t allow to
fall materials
outside of the
building..
Safe Ladders (Ladders kill a lot of people)
 Only one person climbs at a time
 They use tool belt to carry objects
 On a firm base and footing 4 up – 1 out
 Check the strength of scaffolding before putting
the ladder
Goods Hoist
 Installed by a competent person
 Rated capacity clearly marked

 Current examination and inspection report

 Suitable base enclosure to prevent people

being struck by moving part of hoist

 Landing place kept shut by a timber box

except when platform is at landing
Electricity
Every week they used to tell to the workers
how to handle electrical instruments safely.

They check constantly that cables are not damaged or

worn
They keep trailing cables off the ground and away from
water

TheyNever overload or use makeshift plugs and fuses

Fire
 FIRE is a big hazard at construction site, it kills and
injuries people, destroys property and may seriously
disrupt production and the construction process.
 Regularly they conduct meeting and discuss the
following with workers;

1. Locations of extinguishers in
their area and How to use

2. The location of FIRE

ALRAM & How to raise the
ALRAM
Fire

3. The department / Area emergency procedures and

evacuation routes / Fire Exit.

4. The local Emergency Contacts

FIRE, Ambulance – 110
Police-011-2433333

5. The location of assembly point

 Therewas a first aid box in project
managers room

 Ithelps them to solve minor

accidents (like small scratches)

 Alsoit needed to manage an

emergency medical situation until
ambulance arrives
The temporary structures seen at the site are,

• Scaffolding
• Formwork
• Store
• Bar bending yard
• Site Office
• Toilets
• Kitchen
• Water tank
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to
support people and material in the
construction of buildings.
Formwork
Formwork is a temporary mould into which
concrete is poured. In the context of concrete
construction, the formwork supports the shuttering
moulds.

Timber is used as formwork material in this

construction.
Here they use mold oil to
remove formworks from
concrete works
So they can reuse the timber
(3 times) for the next 2
floors because it won’t be
efficient after 3 uses..
(moisture content would
increased)
Store
 The stores help keep the material and instruments
needed to be stored at a place close to the site.

 This reduces the time lag due to transportation.

 This also provides the necessary safety for the

material and instruments from adverse weather
conditions.
Bar bending yard
 Bending work is going on

 Yard is in the same place because to reduce the

transportation cost
Steel bars and bended bars are kept in stores for
future uses Reinforcement
Blocks
Site office

 Here this is established for site engineers and

project manager.
 There is a lot of administrative work that needs
to be done by them
 Project manager can control the work by
watching CCTVs there.
 After completion of that building, they have
planed to change the office room as transformer
room for that building
Water tank

 Water is necessary in all Pump

masonry works.

 Here we saw a water tank in the

8th floor (res 5th floor)

 Carrying water to the upper

floor is very difficult so they
have a temporary water tank.
 There was a kitchen for workers.
 During the lunch time officers provide lunch packets
for the workers.
 So they can get good healthy food their
 We learned a lot by seeing the building being built
and how it is made in real life.
 We went to the site on 15th of last month but
unfortunately that day they were making concrete
slab for 6th floor so everyone was busy with their
jobs so we just took some photographs and came
back
 The following day we went their.
 That day project manager came with
us and describe all the things of that
building
 So we got the opportunity to observe
each and everything in detail.

 They usually
take 21 days to
complete the
work of one floor
Group Members:
Siraj K.M. Special thanks to,
Sasitharan K. Dr. Rangika Umesh Halwathura
Shehara P.L.A.I. Mr. Vanojithan Raseetharan (Project manager Skycity res.)
Silva K.K.
Sivathas T.
Srimanga D.V.
Suloshini S.
Suthakaran T.
Tharshigan T.
Thejonayanan A.
Thennakoon T.M.C.P.K.
Thuvaragan S.
Vidanapathirana L.P.