Construction Planning – Second Edition

Contents Foreword ix
Preface xi
Structure of the book xiii
About the authors xv
Acknowledgements xvii
Part 1. Context and strategy 1
1 Construction planning in context 3
1.1 Planning: the common thread 3
1.2 The project manager 5
1.3 The objectives of planning 5
1.4 Planning and planning techniques 6
1.5 Planning data 7
1.6 Planning in the organisation 7
1.7 The cost of planning 8
1.8 Other considerations when planning
construction projects 8
1.9 Concluding comments 10
Brief notes on the UK construction industry 10
Bibliography 11
2 Early decisions 13
2.1 Who is the plan for? 13
2.2 What should be the level of detail? 13
2.3 What should be the timescale? 17
2.4 Planning hierarchy 17
2.5 Breaking the project into distinct and
manageable activities 17
2.6 Programme duration 20
2.7 Activity and activity duration 21
2.8 Method statements 24
2.9 Risk assessment 24
2.10 Health and safety risk 25
2.11 Safety by design 26
2.12 Summary 28
Bibliography 29
Part 2. Techniques, procedures
and methods 31
3 Planning techniques 33
3.1 The anatomy of planning techniques 33
3.2 The planner’s toolkit 34
3.3 Which technique? 35
3.4 Bar charts 37
3.5 Line of balance 44
3.6 Linear programmes(time-chainage charts) 56
3.7 Network analysis 61
Bibliography 82
4 Resources 83
4.1 Estimation of resource requirements 84
4.2 Resource analysis 85
4.3 Other forms of presentation 87
4.4 Planning for effective scheduling 88
4.5 Scheduling systems 89
4.6 Resource scheduling and people management 91
4.7 Multi-project scheduling 91
4.8 Summary 92
Bibliography 92
5 Monitoring and control 93
5.1 Control of risk 94
5.2 Client’s control 95
5.3 The contract programme 96
5.4 Contractor’s control 98
5.5 S-curves: the basic tool 98
5.6 Contractor’s control curves 102
5.7 Control curve for progress and cost/value
comparison 103
5.8 Cash flow curve 103
5.9 Earned value management 104
5.10 Control curves for labour, plant and
equipment 107
5.11 Monitoring progress by key activities and
Resources 109
5.12 Control of materials 109
5.13 Monitoring line of balance and linear
programmes 109
5.14 Delay analysis 109
5.15 Project acceleration 111
5.16 Recording and archiving project information 114
5.17 Summary 114
Bibliography 114
6 Information and communication technology
in construction and planning 117
6.1 The role of information and communication
technology in construction and planning 117
6.2 Project management software 120
6.3 4D construction planning 121
6.4 Building information modelling 121
6.5 Summary 123
Bibliography 123
Part 3. Planning in practice 125
7 Putting planning into practice 127
7.1 Working environment 127
7.2 Initial appraisal 128
7.3 Early decisions 129
7.4 Detailed appraisal 131
7.5 Planning and conferring 133
7.6 Shaping the plan 134
7.7 Variations and project control 139
7.8 Handing over the plan, the narrative report 143
7.9 The dynamics of project management 143
7.10 The changing emphasis of planning 145
7.11 Short-term planning 145
7.12 Summary 145
8 Case studies 147
8.1 Line of balance case study 147
8.2 Linear programme (time-chainage chart)
case study 155
8.3 Linear programme (time-chainage chart)
tunnelling case study 160
8.4 Network analysis case study 167
8.5 Planning in a BIM environment case study 173
Index 191