1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN
Bachelor of Quantity Surveying (Honours)
March 2015 Intake
Semester 1
Title: Technical site visit to Andes Construction site
YEO DOR EEN 0316224
MEASUREMENT1 [QSB 60104]
MS. ANG FUEY LIN
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY I [BLD 60104]
MS. AZRINA BINTI MD YAAKOB
BUILDING MATERIALS [BLD 62003]
MS. AISHAH KAMARAZALY

2. TABLE OF CONTENT
No Title Pages
1. Introduction and objectives of site visit 3 - 4
2. Content/ Technical observation 5 - 11
3. Photos and descriptions 12 - 15
4. Conclusion / Learning outcomes 16

3. Introduction
This assignmentis a combination of 3 different subjects, Measurementl,
Building Materials and Construction Technology l. A site visit was held on 26
June 2015 (Friday). Itis organized by our Measurementl lecturer, SR. Ang
Fuey Lin. Itis compulsory for all the sem1 students to go to the site. We
are required to write a reportbased on the visit. The location of our site
visit is Andes Constructionsite. Itis located 6km away fromTaylor’s
University Campus. Students are divided into two sections. Firstbus leave
fromcampus at 8.30 amand second bus leave at 9.30 am. Some students
go by their own car sincethere are no enough space in bus for all students.
The agenda of the visitconsists of in-depth explanation by the contractor
and consultants on the operation of the project.

4. Objectives of the site visit
 To providestudents the opportunity to experience the working
environmentin the construction site.
 To understand thebasics of the construction process.
 To understand the practical aspect of construction techniques in
comparison to the theory aspectin books and its application on site.
 To explore and identify various types of building materials and
technology on site.
 Awareness of the importance of safety on site and understanding of
safety problems and site conditions.
 To improveability to communicate with the construction team
members on site and to see the importance of teamwork in building
team.
 To make it easier for students to get clearer image of how the
structures look like in real life.

5. Content/ Technical observation
When we reach the construction site, we havea briefing session with
projectdirector, Mr Tan Hock Lye. He gives us a summary aboutthe whole
construction projectso that we can havea better understanding about the
site before we go for further details of visiting. Fromhis briefing, we get to
know that there are two sections in this construction projectwhich are
Block A and Block B. This project commenced at 5 May 2014. Thereare 353
units and 22 units of Villa which have 3 floors. All these blocks are
apartments for residents. He also makes surethat all the students who
authorizeto enter the construction site mustalways follow the safety rules
to prevent any accidents and injury happens. Wearing helmet and covered
shoes is a mustin construction site.
After that, students are separated into three groups. My group is
leaded by En. Khareel Azwan, oneof the experienced supervisor. Wefollow
him to observeevery parts of the construction.

6. We can see that the workers in the projectsite are doing site
clearance, earthworks, construction of bored piles and pile cap works. We
follow En. Khareel to sub-structureconstruction site. Wecan see how the
reinforced bars and links in the column looks like before formwork is added
and concrete is poured. We also get to know the real image of a concrete
cover. Along the journey, wehave the chanceto see timber formwork,
scaffoldings, water tanks, pile caps, bored piles and some equipments or
machineries that we never seen before.

7. One of the tool I learn fromthe site is called Plumb. Itis used to
providevertical datum lines for the building measurements. In Andes
construction site, it is used to make surethe formwork builtis vertical but
not slant.
Formworks used in the site are mostly timber formworks. Timber
formwork is the mostcommon traditional formwork. Thereare many
advantages by using timber formworks. Itis flexible, light, easily available,
easily cut into size, easy to produceand low labour cost.
Plumb
Timberformworkonsite

8. Pile Foundation
The foundation of site is pile foundation. Itis a group of piles that
supports a superstructure and usually used with multi storey buildings. Pile
foundation is a combination of pile and pile caps. Pile caps will connect the
piles together and distributes the superstructureloads the layer beneath.
Load-bearing member of piles is made of timber, steel, concrete, or a
combination of these materials, usually forced into the ground to transfer
the load to underlying soil or rock layers when the surfacesoils at a
proposed site are too weak or compressibleto provideenough support.
Bored piles
Bored pile is another type of reinforced concrete pile, which is used
to supporthigh building producing heavy vertical loads. Bored pile is a cast-
in-place concrete pile where the bored piles have to be cast on the
construction site, while other concrete piles like Spun Pile and Reinforced
Concrete SquarePile are precastconcrete piles. Bored piling is cast by using
bored piling machine which has specially designed drilling tools, buckets
Boredpiles inthe site

9. and grabs, it’s used to removethe soil and rock. Normally, it can be drilling
into 50 metres depth of soil.
Advantages
 Piles of variable lengths can be extended through soft compressible
or swelling soils, into suitable bearing material.
 Piles can be extended to depths below frostpenetration, and
seasonalmoisturevariation.
 Large excavations and subsequentbackfillare eliminated.
 Adjacent soilis not disturbed or remolded.
 Absenceof vibration will not disturb adjacent piles or structures.
 Extremely high capacity caissons can be obtained by expanding the
base of the shaftup to three times the shaftdiameter, thus
eliminating construction of caps over multiple pile groups.
 For many design situations bored piles offer higher capacities with
potentially better economics than driven piles.
Disadvantages
 Concrete is not placed under ideal conditions and cannot be
subsequently inspected.
 Water under artesian pressuremay pipe up pile shaftwashing out
cement.
 Enlarged ends cannot be formed in cohesionless materials.

10.  Cannot be readily extended aboveground level especially in river and
marine structures.
 Boring methods may loosen sandy or gravely soils. Sinking piles may
causeloss of ground in cohesionless soils, leading to settlement of
adjacent structures.
Reinforced concrete grade
Concrete is the most important building material, due to its ability to be
moulded to take up the shapes required for the various structuralforms. It
is also very durable and fire resistant.
These are the reinforced concrete gradeused by different types of building
elements in the site.
Column - Grade45 Foundation - Grade35
Beam - Grade 35 Slab - Grade35
Grade 35
Advantages:
 Itis commonly used in construction industry and cheaper than grade
40 concrete.
 Long servicelife with low maintenance cost
 Better resistanceto fire

11. Disadvantages:
 Ithas low compressivestrength compared to grade 45 concrete.
 The ability to resistsulphate is lower than grade45 concrete.
 Using lower gradeconcrete to the reinforced concrete structure, it
will easily cracks under serviceload.
Grade 45
Advantages:
 Using higher grade concrete means that column sizecan be reduced
and therefore the amount of concrete, reinforcement and formwork
required is reduced too.
 Extend life cycle
 Relatively high compressivestrength
Disadvantages:
 More expensive than grade35 concrete because grade 45 concrete is
designed concrete.
 The concrete surfaceis hard.
 Do not retain heat very well. The surfaceof concrete will be cold
during the winter.

12. Photos and descriptions
Entrance of AndesConstructionsite
Reinforcementbars,linksand
concrete coverin a column
Water tankin the site

13. Scaffoldings inthe site
Making of concrete cover
Bar bendingmachine

14. Cylindersforoxycutter
Aircompressor
Water flowingoutfrom sub-
structure site througha tube

15. Pile capsplanof the site

16. Conclusion/Learning outcomes
I had gained a lot of useful information and knowledgeabout
construction process fromthe site visit. After I exposed to the actual
working environment, now I can imagine my futurelife as a Quantity
Surveyor.
Fromthe visit, I awarethat our safety is the mostimportant aspect in
a construction site. We must take precaution steps to avoid any accidents
or injury. Apartfromthat, I had the chance to witness the usageof
different construction equipments, explore and identify various types of
building materials and technology on site that I never know beforethe visit.
Furthermore, I realized the importance of teamwork and communication of
a building team in the process to complete a successful construction project.
I would like to thank Ms Ang for organizing this site visit at Andes
Construction. I appreciate that I have the opportunity to go for site visit this
time. Looking forward to more site visits in the future!