Environmental Impacts of Multi-Storey Buildings Using Different ...

- 88 -7 Building ConstructionThis chapter is based on the work undertaken by Smith (2008) on his Master of Engineeringthesis, ‘Hybrid Laminated Veneer Lumbar Buildings; Detailing, Feasibility andConstructibility’.‘Constructability’ – the ease and speed of construction - of any new system is crucial to thefeasibility of that construction method. Speed of construction will quite obviously affect theoverall cost of any building (for instance, the length of time that an expensive crane has to beon-site). However, it is also important to realise that quicker construction could offer anopportunity cost saving – a shorter period of construction can allow an owner / tenant tooccupy a building sooner.In order to analyse and compare the constructability of different buildings, encompassing bothmaterials and labour, it is necessary to understand the proposed construction method andensure that it is both feasible and optimised.The beginning of this chapter briefly outlines the construction method of the proposed posttensionedTimber buildings and the pre-cast Concrete building. A comparison is presentedbetween the construction times of the two buildings.7.1 Construction Method of the Timber BuildingsWell-planned construction methodology can dramatically reduce the amount of time taken inthe assembly of a structure. It is crucial that the construction method utilises the off-siteprefabrication of the timber members as one of the key advantages of the post-tensionedtimber system. In order to assist the rapidity of construction the building was separated intothree sections (Figure 7.1Figure 7.1Figure 7.1) enabling workers to perform tasks on separatesections without conflict. The proposed construction procedure is briefly detailed.NFigure 7.1: Building construction sections