Assignment Task

You are employed by a large general contractor, a Design Build Technician. The company has recently appointed a new Managing Director who has decided to shift the company’s focus towards greater use of sustainable practices. To achieve this, the Managing Director has asked you to produce a series of written reports on how to improve sustainability within the construction process. You have been requested to produce a series of written reports to outline ‘Improving Sustainability through Material Selection’. Where possible you are requested to make reference to current construction projects you have been involved with.

The Managing Director suggests that your presentation covers:

• an overview of health and safety regulations related to the handling of materials on site, using examples
• a discussion of how material choice may be influenced by environmental and sustainability factors
• a brief overview of product declaration and environmental certification
• waste management and supply chain issues
• the relationship between material performance and sustainability, including how testing processes and data may inform decision-making
• specific issues related to structural materials and sustainability
• human comfort and material selection.

Task 1

Prepare a written report to explain: Provide an overview of health and safety regulations related to the handling of materials on site; considering the use of risk assessments to address hazards and explaining how regulations and legislation apply to specific activities and planning for the safe handling of materials.

Task 2

Produce a written report which illustrates how the use of sustainable practices on material selection can improve the environmental rating of a completed building. Your report should include:

• Using an example, explain the process of material environmental profiling and life cycle assessment. This should consider the benefits of product declaration and environmental certification.
• Select a project of your choice which could be provided by your tutor, a case study or a project you are currently involved with in your workplace and produce a waste management plan.
• Using data from experiments and performance properties and product data, select and justify a material selection for a chosen building element (as agreed with your tutor); discussing the properties in relation to regulatory requirements. This should also include an assessment of the effects of the structural loading of materials compared to their behaviours.

Task 3

You have been requested to produce one further written report which will evaluate the performance of a given project in terms of human comfort. Your tutor will provide you with details of a suitable project or you may wish to use a work-related project of your own choice. Your report should include:

• With regard to human comfort, evaluate the performance of selected materials; use calculations to show performance of materials for human comfort.
• Illustrate how the environmental rating of a building can be improved through the use of sustainable materials, evaluating the use of passive and active strategies to minimize resource use.