General

5 Ingredients in the Constructions of a Road

5 ingredients in the Construction of a Road

Have you ever baked a cake and realised you forgot to add the flour or the baking powder? What tends to happen? Your cake flops or does not rise. Building a road is similar, but a lot more complex. There are so many ‘ingredients’ and important aspects that need to be considered before and during the construction of a road.

The first step to constructing a road would be planning. Your engineer/consultant would come on site and decide what type of road will be built and what materials would be used to construct the road. This will all depend on how much traffic will occupy this road. Even the simplest of roads can take up to months or possibly even years for the planning of the road. The engineer will need to evaluate many factors such as the environmental impact of the road, the availability of materials needed to construct the road, will the road be safe and, the most important factor, the cost of the road. These plans will be written into a final proposal where the consultants will need to evaluate these plans. Meetings will take place with all parties concerned and all the pros and cons will be discussed in vast detail. Without proper planning and careful consideration of all these factors, there is a chance that the foundation will collapse.

Shortly after careful planning and long and tedious meeting’s the plan will either be approved or rejected. We are going to assume that the planning was approved. The next step would be the construction of the actual road.

Ingredients used to construct a road:

1. The standard Foundation:

Bulldozers and graders, which are two types of machinery, will be used to flatten the ground surface. This ground layer will make up the bottom layer of our road

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_engineers_work_on_a_road_construction_project_in_Panjwa%27i_district_at_Forward_Operating_Base_Shoja_in_Kandahar_province,_Afghanistan,_March_28,_2013_130328-A-PV892-022.jpg)

2. Gravel:

The gravel will be added in layers where a roller machine will be used to roll over this surface to ensure that the surface is compact and flattened

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gravel_small_stones.jpg

3. Drainage facilities:

Drainage facilitates play a huge role in ensuring that the road is safe at all times from water backlogs. We are not able to control the weather and for this reason, we need to ensure that the road never gets saturated and water-logged. Firstly it is not safe for drivers on the road and secondly, the road will soon disintegrate and start deteriorating over time. Examples of drainage facilities would be drain and storm water sewers.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Storm_drain_pipe_(crop).JPG

Once the foundation is complete and compact and has been inspected by the consultant, it is time to pave the road!

4. Asphalt / Bitumen

Asphalt uses an oil based substance called bitumen to make sand and crushed rock stick together like a glue-like substance. The asphalt is heated to +- 300 Degrees Fahrenheit (148,88 Degrees Celsius), where it

will be transported to the site where the construction team will spread the mixture evenly across the smooth gravel service. The mixture is rolled over the gravel surface where it will form a solid layer on the top.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AF-asphalt-laying-machine.jpg

5. Concrete Slabs

The finishing touches will be the concrete slabs that are laid on the side of the roads. Workers will pour liquid concrete into a steel mould called forms. A finishing machine is used to shake these moulds to ensure the mixture is distributed evenly for an even finish. The concrete slabs are laid alongside the road where incisions in the road are made to allow the concrete to expand and contract depending on the temperature, this will ensure that the road does not crack

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=Concrete+Slabs&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7xaKyytXTAhVCwBQKHZTXCEIQ_AUIBigB&biw=1600&bih=751&dpr=1#tbs=sur:fc&tbm=isch&q=laying+Concrete+Slabs+for+a+road&imgrc=szGP9Kx5Ii-zkM:

Every day we take our course of life, may it be a trip to the shop or work and take for granted these roads that we drive on. Most people think they just appeared or are set up overnight by machinery. The planning and work that goes into these roads are far more complex than most can imagine.

Sources used:

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-you-build-a-road

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road

About Roxanne Mustard

My Name is Roxanne Mustard and I started working at Leads 2 Business in September 2016. My role in the Leads 2 Business team is as a Regional Content researcher in the Projects Department.

• Mail
|
• More Posts(10)

What is the importance of appointing an architect?

What is the importance of appointing an architect?

What is Architecture?

Architecture is the art of building. It satisfies a basic, universal human need for shelter.

An architect is an artist who designs structures to enclose residential, commercial, or public space. Architects work with construction technologies, building materials, topography, contractors, and governmental regulations within a project budget to satisfy their clients’ wants and needs.

To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings, that have as their principal purpose human occupancy or use.

Professionally, an architect’s decisions affect public safety, and thus an architect must undergo specialised training consisting of advanced education and a practicum (or internship) for practical experience to earn a license to practice architecture. Practical, technical, and academic requirements for becoming an architect vary.

In the architectural profession, technical and environmental knowledge, design and construction management, and an understanding of business are as important as design. However, design is the driving force throughout the project and beyond. An architect accepts a commission from a client. The commission might involve preparing feasibility reports, building audits, the design of a building or of several buildings, structures, and the spaces among them. The architect participates in developing the requirements the client wants in the building. Throughout the project (planning to occupancy), the architect co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists, are hired by the client or the architect, who must ensure that the work is co-ordinated to construct the design

General Points

• Architects are trained to take your brief and can see the big picture.
• Architects look beyond your immediate requirements to design flexible buildings that will adapt to the changing needs of your business.
• Architects solve problems creatively
• When they are involved at the earliest planning stage, they gain more opportunities to understand your business, develop creative solutions, and propose ways to reduce costs.
• Architects can save you money by maximising your investment.
• A well-designed building can reduce your bills now and increase its long-term value.
• Architects can manage your project from site selection to completion.
• In many building projects, the role of the architect includes co-ordinating a team of specialist consultants such as landscape architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, interior designers, builders and subcontractors.
• Architects can save you time.
• By managing and co-ordinating key project elements they allow you to focus on your organisation’s activities.
• Architects can help your business.

• They create total environments, interior and exterior, which are pleasing and functional for the people who work and do business within them.

And hopefully, you end up with a building that is considered both beautiful and functional. Some Architects are hired for their creativity and bold designs, which result in buildings and structures that dominate the skyline. See 30 St Marys Street or more commonly known as The Gherkin. These buildings can often become tourist attractions and works of art in themselves. See Park Güell in Barcelona, which was designed by architect Antoni Gaudi.

Unfortunately, like all art; the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In some cases, buildings can be judged by “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. Some buildings with the striking designs are considered eyesores or worse. Worse being “badly” designed. There are stories of highly polished exteriors of buildings setting fire to people and things when the sun hits them at the wrong angle. See Vdara Hotel, Las Vegas:

Or huge skyscrapers, that apparently were designed and subsequently built with no space left for the elevators shafts and the machinery required for them. See the Intempo Skyscraper in Benidorm, Spain with its 47 storeys:

Hiring an architect can save time and money, and allow you access to expertise and creativity, and results in the art that we live in and experience daily. But ensure you hire the good.

“The space within becomes the reality of the building” – Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architect

http://saia.org.za

http://www.bkia.co.za/for-the-public/why-use-an-architect/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_G%C3%BCell

About Claire Donaldson

I started working at Leads 2 Business in February 2005, and have served as Head of Department of Daily Tenders from 2007 until the present. I oversee both the Daily Tenders South Africa and Africa Departments.

• Mail
|
• Web
|
• More Posts(66)

Ways that technology is helping to build the Construction Industry

Ways that Technology is helping to build the Construction Industry:

As technology continues to progress, it is not hard to see how it spills over into the construction industry. From machinery to apps on your phone and the advances in materials, each has an integral role:

To name a few groundbreaking Construction Projects from all over the world: In 2015, a Chinese company built a 57 story building in 19 days. The Burj Khalifa, the current world’s tallest building at 828m, completed in 2010. In my opinion, one of the most awesome feats of technology: the underwater dining room of the Kihavah Maldives. A house being built by a 3D printer in a record breaking 24 hours. If it was not for technology evolving, these Projects would not be done quickly, or even be possible.

As people, it is in our DNA to be creative, which leads to people continuously developing technology to be bigger, better, smarter and faster. The same applies to the construction industry.

Pre-1904, if you were building a house you would be mixing your concrete by hand. In 1904 Richard Bodlaender patented what we know today as the portable cement mixer, which has since been modified with an engine attachment. 1917 saw the birth of the cement mixing truck, which only reached its full potential in 1957 with the invention of the cement pump, allowing us the capabilities to pour concrete at an incredible rate: this cement pump has micro-evolved since the 50’s. I suppose all methods of mixing concrete are still used today depending on the budget of the project, however, the most effective method would be the use of the truck with a cement pump.

In our lifetime, we have seen “new technology” turned into dinosaurs, like dial-up internet (thank goodness that is gone). We’ve got smartphones, that have come a long way since its brick size predecessor and at the rate we are going, tablets will completely eradicate the entire species of the laptop computer. We have access to apps and websites on our phone, as long as we have a positive credit in our data bundles. Thanks to apps we are able to carry around a set of building plans and specs in the palms of our hands. By adding in a few figures, apps can work out the costs of the project for us. The diary industry (classic quoting system) is slowly eroding as we have our whole world on our phones. Advertising has progressed from newspaper classifieds to flyers/banners to social media (The newspaper is online these days as the world calls for a more paperless society). If you are avoiding social media, you will be left in the dark ages as your online presence is vital to your survival. Which is easier? To Google a phone number from your device or to look for a number in your phone book when you get home later, real world people want real-time answers.

Where does that leave us as South Africans?

We need to move forward, to adapt: Which has more life in it, the river or a pond with no inlet or outlet? To change our marketing strategies, to buy or develop new technology, to be more effective with the little time we have in the day. If we are not developing or inventing our own technology we will always be behind those who do. I think there is plenty of money to be made for those who can think ahead, keep up with technology, invest in development or purchase machinery so we can keep it local and sow into our own economy. Let us not be stuck in our ways, but keep adapting. I’m not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater, but be willing to embrace technology. Most importantly build your online presence.

If you are interested in becoming one of our subscribers, please visit our website.

To view notes with screenshots on how to use our website, please visit our Wiki site.

To view more articles, please visit our blog.

About Eldary Carpenter

I have been with Leads 2 Business for 5 years and absolutely love working for such a dynamic company. I started off as a Content Researcher in the Tenders Department before being promoted to Customer Relations.

• Mail
|
• More Posts(43)