The Patience of Plumbers

They sit with their taps and their tools at goat udder level in the markets of Mumbai waiting for work, the equivalent of how labourers would wait along Kilburn High Road for work before they had to fill in a plethora of forms proving their identity and competence before they could be taken on.

Metal Workers in Mumbai

In a prime position in the markets of Mumbai sits this metal worker with one leg laid across the sheet metal to keep it down and the other hand working the metal with a timber bolster.

Stored to the rear was perfectly formed ductwork ready to be delivered.

They have no heavy sheet bending machinery that will swallow the metal and spit it out at the other end to help them. They are just a couple of elderly, white bearded metal workers hammering away with the symphony of horns and hooters in the street blocking out their rhythmic percussion in the afternoon.

BARKITECTURE Newsletter No 2 The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008

Welcome to my Newsletter: Barkitecture

Spurred on by the fact that I have not been deleted from everyone's mail box, my first newsletter has not bounced back like an elastic boomerang and that I have had an excellent response to my proposal for seminars on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, I thought I would publish my second newsletter.

So as we are now apparently in the "austerity" years perhaps it is appropriate to raise the issue of The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 which are applicable to construction sites in the United Kingdom.

For those who have mastered these regulations and need to and are able to implement them fully, I know I am speaking to the converted, but for those whose tender prices are continuously being squeezed (and squeezed again even when you thought you had won the tender) think a little more about the the management of waste, apply the regulations and you may find that your profit margin may reflect a benefit.

And you must know the old saying: "Where there's muck there's money".

So keep reading - these regulations really are quite interesting and so are my seminars (well, I haven't had to wake anyone up yet).


The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 Seminar.
The cost of a lunchtime seminar held in your own office is £325.00 + VAT per seminar for up to ten people (within the M25).

If you feel a lunch time seminar won't offer you sufficient depth the seminar can be extended over a morning or afternoon for a cost of £650.00 + VAT. Again for up to ten people.
The scope of the seminar will include for:

• Introduction To The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008;
• What you need to tell your Client;
• The Site Waste Management Plan;
• The Purpose Of Site Waste Management Plan;
• Benefits To The Environment And Society;
• The Client’s Obligations;
• The Principal Contractor’s Obligations;
• Legal Duties;
• Who Is Involved In Producing The Site Waste Management Plan;
• Good Practice Waste Minimisation And Management;
• The Design Stage;
• Why Is Waste Minimisation Important;
• Projects Between £300,000 and £500,000.00;
• Projects Over £500,000.00;
• Who Should Write And Implement a Site Waste Management Plan;
• What Should Be Recorded in a Site Waste Management Plan;
• What Happens When The Project is Completed;
• Keeping Site Waste Management Plans;
• Regulating Site Waste Management Plans;

The seminar will take approximately 1 1/2 hours and can be tailored to suit your particular requirements and role within the construction industry.



http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20080314_en_1

Building Materials and Sustainability

There is little point talking about the management of waste in building if sustainabilty of the end product is not also considered.

Reduce maintenance works and there will also be a financial benefit.

So when we were faced with designing and building a hotel in Sri Lanka, and knowing that we could only import materials and products once duty free into Sri Lanka, we put what we preached into practice.

For example, to use either acrylic or steel baths was just not an option.

We needed baths that would last, particularly as the climate in Sri Lanka with its high humidity level is fairly harsh.

We considered granite -long lasting and hard wearing.

Here is one of the baths in progress being hand hewn in India out of one block of granite.


So the baths came by ship from Chennai in southern India to Colombo and then by road to Wadduwa, which is about 40kms south of Colombo, and they clocked up a few ship miles along the way.

These baths will last and we won't need to change them.

Not one error was made when carving the baths.

Call it Ecotecture;
Call it Green architecture
Call it what you will but as far as we are concerned it is sustainability in practice.

http://www.reefvilla.com/suites.html

Use of Nets on Building Sites in Mumbai

Don't be too quick to knock contractors working in other countries and their ability to innovate and develop new systems.

Whilst it would be fraught with difficulties trying to obtain permission to hang netting from adjacent and opposite buildings along a street in central London, hanging nets across this busy market street in Mumbai does reduce the risk of materials falling onto persons below.

Yes it would be ideal to have edge protection at every level on the building but on the basis that it would be difficult to police the use of edge protection these nets do catch falling debris.

But I also think these nets would instill complacency.

If these nets are also intended to provide protection for persons working at high level then safety netting is the preferred fall arrest option since it provides collective protection and does not rely on individual user discipline to guarantee acceptable safety standards if using a harness. 

Look at the photograph and you will  see that  the men do not wear hats or boots or hi viz.  Harnesses are another language all together.

However, this building was a five storeys high.  Quite a height to fall.