ACCRA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT REPORT

GREEN URBAN- DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

NAME: MINGLE, JOSIAH KPAKPO

INDEX NUMBER: O1204897D

DURATION: FROM 14TH SEPTEMBER TO 10TH OCTOBER, 2021.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank God for the gift of life to be able to carry out this internship program with no form of injury.
My sincere thanks to Mr Gilbert Swanzy and Ernest Attuquaye Armah for their advice and
knowledge imparted to me during my 4 weeks training. It has reshaped my way of approaching
aspects in the building industry.
I thank the staffs and management of Green Urban for receiving and assisting me with all the
necessary information I needed. Special thanks to Mr Nsiah for your patience and effort.
Finally, I say thanks to my fellow intern and friends for their assistance and support. God bless us
all.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS PAGES

CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT......................................................................4
1.3 THE ORGANIZATION.............................................................................................................................4
1.3.1 Brief History.........................................................................................................................................4
1.3.2 Vision/Mission Statement....................................................................................................................5
1.3.3 Department/Unit/Section.....................................................................................................................5
1.3.4 Major Activities...................................................................................................................................5
 Architectural Drawings: The Architect is responsible for;...................................................................5
 Civil/Structural Engineering: the Civil and structural engineers are responsible in this unit for;........5
 Quantity Surveying: They are responsible for;.....................................................................................5
 Construction: They are in charge of;.....................................................................................................6
CHAPTER TWO..................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURE OF WORK AT THE SECTION ASSIGNED.......................7
2.2 DETAILED ACCOUNT OF WORK PERFORMED..............................................................................7
2.3 GENERAL OBSERVATION (NEW KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ACQUIRED)......................................8
CHAPTER THREE...........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 NEW KNOWLEDGE/SKILL ACQUIRED...........................................................................................10
3.2 CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED.........................................................................................................10
3.3 CONTRIBUTION BY STUDENT TO IMPROVE THE ORGANIZATION (VALUE ADDITION)11
3.3.1 General Observation..........................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER FOUR..............................................................................................................................................12
4.1 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................12
4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................................................................12
APPENDIX.........................................................................................................................................................13

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 CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
As part of the academic curriculum of the Accra Technical University, students assigned to have
Industrial Attachment during vacations with any company of their choice. This training is geared
towards giving students the real world experiences of what is been taught in class and to have a hands
on training in order to be productive and effective in their career. The industrial training is included in
accessing student by the end of their program.
This report gives a detailed account of my industrial attachment with Green Urban for a period of one
month. It seeks to look at the work done challenges encountered and new knowledge acquired during
the training.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT

 To familiarize with proper planning, design and field operations
 To improve skills, confidence, competency in areas related to the academic curriculum or
particular area of career interest.
 To get exposure with the management and communication functions performed within a
construction project
 To expose student to the use of modern construction equipment.

1.3 THE ORGANIZATION

Green Urban- Design & Construction

1.3.1 Brief History

The company set up on the 16th day of October 2015 is located at Dzorwulu Nako building on the N1
road.
The company is a team of professionals with varying degrees of experience in various professional
fields of both the public and private sectors of the Construction Industry in Ghana and beyond. They
provide services from Design and, through Engineering and Construction to General Building
Maintenance – and unrivalled and rich option for the Customer to obtain A One-Stop Service Delivery
Point in Building Works and Services.
GREEN URBAN assembles the best project team for a particular project based on the requirement and
expectations of the client. The team comprises of Architects, Civil / Structural Engineers, Quantity
Surveyors, Mechanical / Electrical engineers and Project managers. Project execution falls under
Pre-Contract Services and Post Contract Services.

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1.3.2 Vision/Mission Statement
The mission of the company is having a system of continuously striving to enhance our processes
through Customer Input, Workforce Development and Periodic Self-Evaluation.
The main vision of GREEN URBAN is to become an invaluable partner in the Building Service
Industry. The Concept of Consultation and Customer Involvement underpins the current drive for “Best
Value”. Listening to and involving users of Services in making improvements, setting standards and
reviewing services is fundamental to our work.

1.3.3 Department/Unit/Section
i. Architecture
ii. Civil/Structural Engineering
iii. Quantity Surveyors
iv. Construction

1.3.4 Major Activities

 Architectural Drawings: The Architect is responsible for;

i. Mobilization, field survey and data collection, analysis and project packaging
ii. Project development and Scheme designs, specifications
iii. Final project report comprising working drawings and final documents
iv. Project completion report
v. Supervising bidding process

 Civil/Structural Engineering: the Civil and structural engineers are responsible in this unit
for;
i. Engineering design and analysis of static and dynamic loading
ii. The design, construction, and maintenance of roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings
iii. Site supervision of project

 Quantity Surveying: They are responsible for;

i. Establishing the cost of construction installation, materials and workmanships.
ii. To prepare contracts for projects
iii. Preparation of tender documents
iv. Project cost monitoring

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  Construction: They are in charge of;
i. Executing project
ii. Evaluate project from start to finish according to specifications

1.3.5 Organizational Structure

The organization structure of the company in the figure below;

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 CHAPTER TWO

ii.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURE OF WORK AT THE SECTION ASSIGNED

The Architectural unit and construction team were the section assigned to me during my attachment.
With the Architectural unit, which comprises of the Architects and Draftsmen, their work was basically
designing, drawing, the use of building drawing software such as AutoCAD, ArchiCAD. In this
section, they were also into field survey and data collection from clients as well as site.
In the Construction Unit, it comprises of the site engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer. It
involves the highest working force as compared to other unit; that is involves the laborers (masons,
carpenters, painters, etc) under the supervision of the site engineer. This section focuses on executing
project from start to finish paying attention to the building document, which contains the specifications.

2.2 DETAILED ACCOUNT OF WORK PERFORMED

On the first week of training, I worked with the Architect. I joined him to meet up with the Branch
Manager of Hollard to make discussion on an upcoming renovation of the office (Interior only).
Information gathered by the Architect included the space and its purpose, tiles that needed to be
changed and the timeframe of when the project completes. With the help of my fellow intern, we took
measurement of the building including the windows. For the first time I was introduced to the laser
measurement tape. It gave precise measurement with less effort.
There was a site measurement at Trade Fair junction. Upon arrival to the site, directed by the Architect
we took measurement of the site but due to the nature of the site, we had to take measurement from the
fence wall because it was bushy and we had no cutlass. The fear of snakes and other animals caused us
to do so.
We journeyed to Kpong Muncipal Assembly to obtain building permit applied for months ago. Failed
to acquire the permit due to delay and land ownership by the Chiefs. The Architect made mention that,
one major problem of the building industry in Ghana is the headache in acquiring building permit, but
laws have been implemented to permit contractors to start building after 3 months on applying for a
permit.

On the second week of training, we met up with some officials of the Police service to discuss work on
renovation of the Police Headquarters cafeteria. With the help of fellow intern, under the supervision of
the site engineer, we took measurement of the building both interior and exterior.

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Inspection of a site for a residence building at Tabora-Alhaji. I observed that the pillar was
tilted/slanted to the far right from the foundation. The Site engineer explained that on pouring the
mortar the pillar was not fashioned straight in position.
Procurement of building material; 100 pieces of block was purchased and sent to site to be used by the
masons for construction. I recorded and made sure it was up to the number and assisted in offloading it
from the truck.

On the third week, an awarded contract to build a three-storey residence building initiated on the site at
Kasoa. I assisted in clearing of the site by lighting up fire to the dried weeds. I took part in procurement
of materials used for setting out which includes board, pegs, iron rods and rope. On the site, markings
(pillar) on the end of the site. The site engineer had to transfer measurement from the site plan on the
site to define the site.
On the final week of the attachment, I assisted in the administrative work at the office, which included
printing, photocopying of documents and typing. Not only that, Mr Nsiah the Draftsman introduced me
to the use of AutoCAD and I was made to watch tutorials on how top architects and builders employ
the use of the software.

2.3 GENERAL OBSERVATION (NEW KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ACQUIRED)

On acquiring the building materials, that is the wood and pegs, the Engineer rejected all boards that
were cracked and warped as well as pegs bent and light in weight. The reason he mentioned is that,
with the bad pegs, the chance of it breaking up upon hitting with the hammer is high and the warped
boards are a bad choice when doing a good construction work. It is important in the choice of building
materials.
In negotiating with clients, I observed good communication skills from the team of professionals as
well as presentation of the works for comment and feedback.
Concerning land issue in the country as a whole, pillars positioned at the four corners of the land to
show ownership on the site two could not be located. Due to that, the site engineer and the team had to
find a solution to it whether to build without locating the two pillars or to transfer what is on the site
layout to the ground. I observed in the situation that they managed to find an immediate solution to the
problem on site because the landowner did not know what to do when she was informed. The ability to
solve a problem on site was key.
I observed on site that even though with the knowledge and experience the architect had, he gave
listening ears to what the steel bender and other artisans had to say in their line of work. He was ready
to learn from everyone on site irrespective. He mentioned that one person does not know everything
and everyday one has to learn.

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 CHAPTER THREE
3.1 NEW KNOWLEDGE/SKILL ACQUIRED
My internship attachment with Green Urban has imparted knowledge and skills both in the office
and on site that goes beyond the class work. They include:
 Being time conscious when dealing with clients. Time they say is money so in the building
industry when time and date agreed on, as a professional you must be on time. It speaks
well of you as a professional he added.
 I learnt the term “fan light” window derived in the old days as the window above that allows
air and light into the room. In the era of technology advancement, glass window has
replaced that. With the glass, there is light in the room but deprived of air.
 In dealing with corporate institutions when it comes to estimating, the Quantity surveyor
mentioned that they mostly look out for cheap but good services so he advised to be
reasonable when dealing with such entities.
 I acquired basic AutoCAD command keys in order to be effective in using the software.
 Reading and operating of the levelling instrument and the use of advanced equipment such
as the laser measuring tape. Having a personal challenge with unit conversion and
measurement, during the attachment, I improved much better with frequent use of the
measuring tape.

3.2 CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED

During my attachment some of the challenges I faced was;

 Finding it difficult to relate with the term used by the professionals in communicating so I
ask when I did not understand. For instance, the Quantity Surveyor made mentioned of
contingencies when he was having a talk with the site engineer. Upon asking, I came to
understand it was a term used to describe an amount of money set to cater for unseen
situation during the project and it sometimes returned to the client if not used.
 Poor communication between Clients and the Architect. Some client terminated contract
after design work was completed.
 Delay in the acquisition of building permit from the Kpong Municipal Assembly to allow
for the commencement of the project.
 On one of the sites, there was a challenge with access and storage of water. The site
caretaker raised concern of high number of theft cases on mentioning of acquiring
polytanks.

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3.3 CONTRIBUTION BY STUDENT TO IMPROVE THE ORGANIZATION (VALUE
ADDITION)
With the knowledge I had acquired in the classroom and on the job I was able to contribute to
the improve the company by;
 Taking a correct and precise measurement to be used in drawing the as built by the
architect before designing the renovation of the Police Headquarters cafeteria.
 I assisted in procurement of goods on site; that is, in the acquisition of building
materials I recorded all materials purchased and drew the attention of the contractor
when a bad block (cracked) added when purchasing for blocks for a site at Weija was
replaced.
 I employed my driving skills where I conveyed workers to site when the driver was
out of the office.
 In undertaking administrative assistant role, I employed the skills I have in Ms Excel. I
used it to draw schedules printed for site works.

3.3.1 General Observation

During my internship, I observed that
 Some site workers do not pay attention to details; they do as pleased when they are not
under supervision
 The team is always striving to be the best; learning new things each day.
 The staffs are time conscious
 The Architects and Site Engineers relate well with the site workers. They listen to their
opinions and suggestions.

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 CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 CONCLUSION
The industrial attachment was full of knowledge and skills acquired to help in our line of our in our
future career path. I have acquired skills in relating to workers and how to deal with situations
encountered in line of work. I was able to familiarize with proper planning, design and field
operations. I have come to understand better the theoretical aspect of class lectures in real life and
gain hands on experience in various section of the company. It was fun and educative as a whole.

4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS
Having a month of industrial attachment, I recommend that:
 The duration of the attachment increase to at least a period two month of training to expose
students to the practical aspect for a long time.
 Companies in which student have their attachment, should provide some incentives in a
form of lunch or cash to support students since they also contribute one way or the other to
the company whilst gaining knowledge.
 School based supervisors should communicate to contact persons in the company since some
may visit the company for check whilst the student could be on site.
 Companies where student gain some practical knowledge should be considered for
employment after school if there is vacancy.

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APPENDIX

Fig 1.

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