Hamza Waheed conducted a study of construction practices in Multan, Pakistan. He visited 5 construction sites, documenting materials, machinery, and processes used. Brick, cement, aggregate, and steel were commonly used materials. Construction involved laying foundations, formwork, concrete mixing and pouring, masonry, and finishing. English bond was most often used, and ratios of 1:2:4 for RCC and 1:4 or 1:6 for mortar were prevalent. The study provided insight into current construction methods in Multan.

2. Group members
Hamza Waheed (group leader)
(2015-CIV-111)
CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES IN MULTAN

3. CONTENTS
 History of Multan
 Visit of construction sites
 Materials
 Machinery
 Construction processes
 Survey of construction related questions
 Key learning in form of graph

4.  Multan is 5th most populous city of PAKISTAN.
 It is the heart of seraiki speaking region.
 It was one of the most important trading centre of
Islamic India.
 So it attracted a multitude of Sufi mystics in the
11th and 12th centuries, earning the city the
nickname City of Saints.
 So after having a old history, this city has a lot of
diversity in construction.
 From Mughal emperors to till now , construction
has undergone revolutionary changes.
 From the use of fine brick tiles, a lot of variation
has been done in construction practices according
to aesthetics , owner requirements, and finally
Budget.

5. The structures built in Multan specially (mazars) are paradigm of construction as concerned
With the structural and aesthetical point of view. The first mazaar is of Hazrat Shah-Rukn-Alam.
Second as shown is of Hazarat Makhdoom Rasheed. Although some old techniques may be used in these
structures ,but these old mazaars are one of the Finest examples of civil engineering construction.
wood
Pillars all
around
dome.
Dome with
grooves in it.

6. In addition to mazaars, this city has also been the holder for different gates that were used
for security of the walled city . following shown are pictures of ghanta ghar and Delhi gate (one of
the 7 gates ).all the gates have Masonry arches.
Dehli gate
Ghanta ghar

7. We actually visited 5 sites at different place in Multan and
Gathered data necessary for civil engineering point of view.
The short description of sites and further construction
Processes are explained as follows:

8. The 1st site as shown was located in qadeer abad near chungi no.6.
Second site was located in Gulghast colony.
Third site was in Wapda town.
Residential buildings had their own structural features and commercial one’s
had their own which will be explained after……!

9. After
completion
Following is the City tower located in Chungi no.9.
Client Chase up Multan.
Consultant MDA.
Contractor reliance Engineers

10. • Does construction starts immediately after site buying and
after doing selection of contractor?
• Would it be possible to do construction activities without a
proper plan?
• These are the questions that generally arise in common lay
man mind?
• The answer to all above and related question lies in
development of a proper WBS……!!!!!

11. WBS (work breakdown structures) is the hierarchical
representation of all the work activities to be done in the
project.
It starts from prequalification of contractor to closing.
All the work to be done is represented in the form of
package as shown:

12. Expected WBS of the commercial building(CITY TOWER)
As it involve all the field and lab tests of sand , cement and concrete.

14. Being a civil engineer we should know that
There are 4 M’s in construction as:
Materials
Man power
Money
And
Machinery.

15. Materials
D.G cement , maple leaf, best-way were cements mostly used because of their good bonding
And due to their avalibility .
Well graded crush were used mostly from Sargodha.
particles were mostly angular shapes for better inter-locking.
Approximately 1st class bricks were used.

16. • Steel used was mostly of Grade 60, but steel rings, angular bars were of
• Grade 40 to keep the formwork erect.
• At some places mixing of sand and cement was not being done according to
proper measures of construction.
MANUAL MIXING

17. materials type specification remarks
cement DG ,best-way High compressive
strength
Corrosion resistant
ASTM-C-150.
sand Chenab mostly Fineness modulus(1-
2)
No excessing bulking
Bulk density (1520-
1680)kg/m^3.
steel Grade 60 or 40 Yielding strength of
60 ksi or 40 ksi.
Bars were used according
to (ASTM-A-615)
crush Sargodha crush Elongated particles
Gs= 2.67
Relative density according
to( ASTM-C-127-04).

18. • Different machines were used in sites according to their requirements.
• Compactor for proper compacting brick bats followed by flooring.
• Tilting drum mixer for preparing (1:2:4) concrete using 1 bag of cement.
• Steel cutter for making small segments of steel according to requirements.
Machines

19. After having described the materials and , machines now comes the main
Function which is construction(from excavation to finishing).
Construction processes involves:
Dismantling(for old sites) and grubbing (for new one’s)
• layout
• Foundation
• Formwork
• Concreting
• Masonry work (partial in commercial one’s, total in masonry structures)
• Finishing

20. DISMANTLING
IT mostly used for construction over old sites.
For new sites layout and excavation are done after grubbing.

21. Formwork is essential for providing strength as concrete is weak in
tension.
Column height was 12 ft and it had dimension of 2.5 ft all around.
Beam width was 2ft.
Grade 60 steel was used in both formwork of beam and column.

22. There are some small but
important parts in shuttering
and formwork
Which are basics for them
Are…………!!!!!
Spacer
Rings to keep
bars at 90*
Splice
length
• Rings for keeping formwork erect.
• Spacer for keeping reinforcement at same level.
• At splice length overlap of one cage over another
reinforcement cage occurred.
• Overlap formula was kept 48D.

23. Wooden shuttering
• Timber was also being used for shuttering purposes .
different forms of shuttering are shown as follows used for masonry structures
and frame structures.

24. now, after formwork and shuttering …
Let’s discuss
Construction processes in detail..!!

25. Foundation
• Foundation is the part of structure which transfers the load from the structure above to ground
• Following pics show the trenches for residential building and excavation for isolated footing.
• The isolated footing would be a simply pad footing.

26. Pouring concrete up to
starter
After clearing and grubbing of excavation area, formwork is placed to make to foundation.
In the case shown masonry column is being formed however used may vary.

27. DPC is 1*1/2” thick horizontal layer of PCC (1:2:4) provided at plinth level to prevent structure from
dampness.
A layer of polythene sheet was also provided. exterior footing was mostly used.
However, bitumen was also applied on DPC as an additional barrier as shown in pic.
Bitumen
Polythen
e- sheet

28. Concreting
Step by step procedure of concreting is described as follows:
• Batching( by weight and by volume)
• Mixing( manual or mechanical)
• Transportation of concrete
• Placing
• Compacting ( rodding , internal or external vibrators)
• Curing( by wet sacks, ponding , sprinkling)

29. • Cement bags were stored in polythene sheets to protect them from moisture.
• Well graded aggregates were used for concreting , placed near site.
• Batching by weight was being used for large construction sites and for them mechanical
mixing was being used but for small sites mixing was being done in tilting drums near the
sites.
• This slide shows materials necessary for concrete preparation.

30. Following slide shows the mixing and transporting of concrete.
• Concrete initial setting time was 45 minutes and final setting time was 90 minutes.!!
• Water is mixed using cooking oil container and after pouring concrete in wheel barrow it is transported
to the placing site.
• An admixture named SIKAMENT is also added in concrete to improve workability and strength of
concrete.

31. • Formwork removal was done after 21 days but for side beams 2 days .
• Column concrete cover was 1.5” thick.
• For columns RCC ratio was kept (1:1.5:3).
• For beams RCC ratio was kept(1:2:4).
• Curing is done by wet sacks , sprinkling(mostly) or by ponding for pre-cast concrete members.

32. MASONY WORK
• BRICK specification
• Partition wall
• Types of bonds
• Mortar specification used for plastering
• Joining old brickwork with new one

33. Brick
Boundaries of
walls
Partition wall
• Bricks used in construction was of 1st class having sharp metallic sound and less water absorption.
The bricks was saturated before using.
Boundaries were provided for the future extension of partition wall.
The partition walls were of 4.5” so the bond used was stretcher bond.

34. English Bond Stretcher bond Plastering
After plastering
• English bond was the most commonly used bond in construction of boundary wall and stretcher bond
for partition wall. Thickness of mortar used for pointing was
3/8”. The mortar
used for bricks and plastering was of same C/S ratio 1:4

35. Toothing means alternative bricks in a wall for the future extension of walls. Toothing is most commonly
used instead of racking back for the future extension of cross wall. Following are the different pics of
toothing from different views.
Toothing for 9”
wall
Toothing for 4.5”
wall

36. Flooring
Bricks bats are randomly placed where roofing is to be done. After that proper compaction is done to
meet the requirements.
Random brick
bats
Proper
compa
ction
After
compaction

37. After proper compaction of brick bats P.C.C of 1:2:4 is placed on brick bats for flooring in residential
buildings.
After pouring concrete flooring is done after placing marble , fasad tile,chips of concrete.
An admixture named SIKAMENT is also added in concrete to improve workability and strength of
concrete.

38. Circular
stairs
Stairs
• For quarter turn stairs, riser height was 6” and tread width was 1’ for residential buildings.
• Width of a step was 3’-6”(1m).
• Circular stairs were also used in some houses due to shortage of space.
• For commercial building(city tower) dog legged stairs with half space landing wer used .
• Dowels were left for formation of landing for next flight.
Quarter turn Dog-legged
stairs
dowels

39. MOSQUE LOCATED IN MAKHDOOM RASHHED ROAD
This mosque contained some additional structural features in it such as arch, precast circular pillars.
The columns were joined with precast concrete member to bear the load of the structure.
Joining part

40. Construction joint
this was the only joint that was observed.
This was mainly due to shortage of materials in addition to end of working day…!!
Concrete cover were 1.5” thick for slab and 1” thick for beam.
Construction joint
Rebar on concrete cover
for next concreting

41. QUESTIONARRE
Q no.1: what is the C/S ratio mostly used in mortar?
Ans : 1:4 c/s ratio was used for commercialbuilding,1:6 c/s for houses.
Q no.2: what is maximum height that can be built in one working day?
Ans : 3-4m for 4.5” wall , 4-5m for 9” wall.
Q no.3: which type of batching is usually used?
Ans : mostly by volume for small projects, by weight for large projects.
Q no.4: what are the specifications for RCC for columns, slabs and beams?
Ans : RCC of (1:1.5:3)for column and (1:2:4) for beams and slabs.
Q no.5: what is initial setting- time of concrete, removal of
formwork?
Ans : 45 minutes is initial setting time ,21 days for removal of formwork.

42. Q no.6: What is the admixture (chemical compound) used after
concreting being done?
Ans: SIKAMENT.
Q no7: what type of cement, sand, aggregate mostly used in
construction in MULTAN?
Ans: DG cement , Chenab sand and Sargodha crush.
Q no.8: what type of bond is used and for which purpose?
Ans: English bond is mostly used according to load bearing
point of view.
Q no.9: does block-masonry costs more or brick masonry?
Ans: block masonry costs less but not so much used in
residential buildings.
After compiling results of Questionarre, we got
into the following results ……….!!!!!!!

43. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
C/S RATIO RCC RATIO SAND BOND(9")
Series 1 Series 2 Series 3
1;2:4 RCC
CHENAB
SAND
1:6 or 1/5 c/s
ENGLISH BOND
Key learning ……!!!!!

44. Group photo with staff

45. THANK YOU…..!!!