Reflective Essay on Group Project

Personal Reflection

Completing Group Project 3 has allowed me to improve and enhance my transversal skills and act upon identified areas from Group Project 2. (See Personal Development Plan, Appendix 1-2). As with all aspects of life when working in a group a key skill required for success is communication. Within the industry, the use of BIM and other sharing platforms has allowed this skill to become easier to share ideas and communicate. Platforms such as OneDrive and group messenger applications were used to communicate efficiently as a group. These allowed for simple methods to relay material and site information to the architects during real-time on our site visit.

Responsibility and problem-solving within the project were skills that came hand in hand with my role. Being the only quantity surveyor within the group all the responsibility for providing a cost estimate for the project relied upon me, given the idea of multiple buildings within our feasibility study this required more work than first anticipated. This proved to be difficult for me when it came to providing an estimate for areas such as the viewing platform extension and main campus building with limited design information on these. Through research using books Spon’s price books 2020 and NRM1, I was able to construct a cost for these elements. Taking my time to think of a method to help complete this problem rather than going into a blind panic I feel helped me stay calm during this.

Managing my time and working under pressure was pivotal to my role, with constant changes to the designs up until the last minute, this required adapting my figures to relate to changes such as size, function, and materials as they were made. With the main changes taking place after the site visit, this left two weeks to construct accurate rates to adapt to the changes, understanding this would be the case from the start of the project I was prepared to stay calm under the pressure of research before proving critical.

With every group project, conflicting ideas arise leading to disputes and negotiation. In my role, this led to conflicts with design ideas and cost implications. Negotiation techniques took place when designing our main campus building, with ideas originally reaching a GIFA of over 15,000m2. During this, I informed them of the cost implications of constructing at this scale would be. Initial thoughts from the group were to disregard the cost and continue with the design, Through further talks of my experience of a year in the industry I explained that if the cost came out as unreasonable, this could deter the client, resulting in no project. Remaining calm and explaining the consequences this allowed us to reach an agreed outcome to reduce the size without major conflict amongst the group.

Group projects have been one of the key modules each year, given its attempt to emulate real-life scenarios in the industry and allow us to recognize personal skills and improve. First two years, I failed to realize the benefits of group projects but after completing a year in the industry I can now see the relevance it has and the base it has provided for me to work in a team. Personally, the progression from myself has come from being put out of my comfort zone and working in different teams. Taking part in group projects each year has led to constant improvement in teamwork and adapting yourself to overcome challenges. During group projects one and two I was happy to complete my part and not really engage with fellow group members, shyness and unfamiliarity being the cause of this. This year I had no worries about getting stuck in and being involved from the start in a group that clearly was familiar with each other beforehand. Becoming more comfortable with meeting and working with new people has been a key area for me over the group projects.

Looking to the future I will look not to make changes to my behavior but keep improving on current noted skills from reflection over the group projects. I believe one main area will be when to keep professionalism within the workplace and when can calm this down. Acting unprofessional at the wrong times could be costly to my future career prospects and the business working under, this will be something I will look to closely monitor when in the industry. A key point I will take in the future when team working is to understand and take into consideration everyone’s opinion and decisions but to consider this from the point of their role and not just from the perspective of a quantity surveyor.

Technical reflection

From a quantity surveyor’s perspective, there are potential areas to consider improving in the project. My main involvement revolved around producing a cost plan for the feasibility study and providing a full estimate and budget.

To achieve a more detailed and accurate estimate, more detail would need to be considered, including a specification, and more drawings, Understandably with time constraints this would not be possible. The further along the design process the higher the accuracy of the estimate. With this information a full bill of quantities could be prepared, this would account for all items within the construction process. With more detail for a car park, viewing platform extension and for external works in our project, this would’ve led to an estimate for these concepts as opposed to provisional sums.

With the increased use of BIM in today’s industry, software can be used to improve costing, with 2D and 3D drawings, software such as CostX could be used. This software provides electronic measurement with high-level accuracy, This could’ve been to measure exact GIFA within our project, but cost implications affected the use of this product. The ability to recognize changes in revised drawings would’ve automatically changed the rates for me, decreasing the time spent on revisions.

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Considering project cost efficiency, the inclusion of solar panels would've improved this, with high initial costs, this would be paid back in just over 11 years and start showing a profit in the investment, thus also helping the BREEAM rating. (Holmes Media (UK) Ltd, 2010)

To achieve a project with a BREEAM rating of excellent there are further minimum requirements to be met, including an overall rating of 70% or higher. The project’s current score is 56.75% (See Appendix 3). Extra mandatory credits must also be completed (See Appendix 4), the majority of these are covered with our very good rating.

Out of these additional requirements, some have already been credited, these include credits for Management 03, and achieving over 4 credits for Energy 01. To attain an excellent score this requires one credit achieved in Management 05 and in Waste 03. Completing these increases the overall rating to 58.29%, making the project 11.71% short of the desired excellent rating. Figure 1 recognizes the credits I would recommend to reach the BREAAM Excellent rating for the project.

These extra 16 credits increase the project score to 70.66% (See Appendix 5), thus satisfying BREEAM minimum requirements.

From a cost perspective, these extra credits incur an initial rise in costs, the improvements such as energy 05, 06, and 08 will allow for fewer lifecycle costs, and more importantly, increase the life cycle of the project.

In line with The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (The Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974), and complying with legislation from the UK Government a risk assessment must be created before work can take place on-site. (See Appendix 6) (The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999). This has been updated to include specific details to decrease the likeliness and severity of these taking place on our site. With a total cost of £1.2billion in 2017/2018 lost from injury to accidents in construction, these are extra precautions we will look to implement on our site;

Slips, Trips & Falls – In construction around 40% of deaths in the industry come from falls (Roswold, 2014) and 30% of injuries in the last 3 years (RIDDOR, 2018). To minimize the likelihood of this, I would enforce site rules to include regular checks throughout each building and externally, recognizing uneven surfaces, wet floors, or holes below. Where this cannot be prevented, increased signage will be in place, costs are happy to be absorbed to reduce the likelihood. Falls from a height being included under this, providing scaffolding and fencing will be drastically increased when constructing our two-story and above structures such as the Main Campus and Library.

Stress – Stress, depression, and anxiety are leading causes of suicide. Statics show male construction are 3 times more likely to consider suicide than the UK average (Ukconstructionmedia.co.uk, 2018). Using simple low-cost methods such as toolbox talks, and offering help by making them aware of helping bodies can prevent the likelihood on our site. Simple communication between all levels and checking on fellow workers is pivotal and could save someone’s life on our site.

Manual Handling – Between 2016 and 2019, of all ill health in the construction industry, 62% of these were musculoskeletal disorders (HSE, 2019) a direct effect of manual handling. On our site, we will increase the use of machinery to provide heavy lifting, such as more pallet trucks, electric or hand-powered hoists, and lift trucks for when handling can’t be avoided. Manual handling training will also be a requirement to be on-site. Proving in initial extra cost for the project, this machinery could also provide work completed faster whilst ensuring further safety of employees.

References

1. BRE Global Ltd (2018). BREEAM New Construction 2018 (UK). [online] Breeam.com. Available at: https://www.breeam.com/NC2018/ [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
2. Browell Smith & Co Solicitors. (2018). Browell Smith & Co Solicitors. [online] Available at: https://www.browells.co.uk/falls-height-uks-biggest-workplace-killer/ [Accessed 16 Nov. 2019].
3. Exactly. (2019). CostX - BIM and 2D Construction Estimating Software. [online] Available at: https://www.exactal.com/en/costx/products/costx/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2019].
4. ‌Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (2012). Health and Safety Executive Manual handling at work A brief guide. [online] Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/INDG143.pdf.
5. Holmes Media (UK) Ltd (2010). Solar Panel Payback Time | Solar Guide. [online] Solarguide.co.uk. Available at: https://www.solarguide.co.uk/solar-panel-payback-time#/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].
6. Hse.gov.uk. (2019). HSE: Information about health and safety at work. [online] Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2019].
7. Roswold, J. (2014). Construction’s “Fatal Four”: Tips for Prevention. [online] Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys. Available at: https://www.kansascityaccidentinjuryattorneys.com/blog/the-leading-causes-of-death-on-construction-sites.cfm [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
8. Syntegra Group. (2010). BREEAM Consultant/s | BREEAM Assessment Services. [online] Available at: https://syntegragroup.com/m-and-e/services/sustainability-assessment/breeam-assessment/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].
9. ‌Ukconstructionmedia.co.uk. (2018). Mental Health in the Construction Industry - UK Construction Online. [online] Available at: https://www.ukconstructionmedia.co.uk/features/mental-health-construction-industry/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].