CHAPTER 02

INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK SITE

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Project Outline
Project Name

:- Proposed Head Quarters Building for Sri Lanka

Customs

Location

:- No. 40, Main street, Colombo 1.

Employer

:- The Director General of Customs,

Sri Lanka Customs, 5th Floor, Customs House, Bristol
Street, Colombo 01 in the Government of the
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for
himself
and his successors in the said office for the time being
acting for and on behalf of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka.

Engineer

:- Deputy General Manager (consultancy),

State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka,
No. 130, W.A.D. Ramanayaka Mawatha,
Colombo 5.

Contractor

:- Maga Engineering (Pte) Ltd, No. 200, Nawala Road,

Narahenpita, Colombo 5.

Contract amount

:- Rs. 2,531,280,984.15

Gross Area

:- 40,300 m2

Type of contract

:- ICTAD

Date of commencement

:- 22nd Feb 2007.

Contract period

:- 900 calendar days.

Expected date of completion :-10th Aug 2009.

10

The Proposed Custom Head Quarters Building project is a large project and it will be one of a
supper luxury building in Sri Lanka. Total length of the building is 197m and width of the
building is 29m. The building has been divided in to three construction zones as zone-A, zoneB and zone-C. The zone-A and zone-C have 5 stories and zone-B has 12 stories. As well as
there are 1-26 grid lines in longitudinal direction and A-H grid lines in cross wise. Each zone
is controlling by a construction manager. The project was performed under three construction
managers under the instructions of project manager . In addition to that the project were
supervised by a project director.

Fig 2.1 Site Plan

11

FIG 2.2 SITE ORGANISATION CHART

12

2.2 PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The Project Management System describes and sets out the management arrangements to
complete the project on schedule, within the budget and required quality standard specified in
the contract.
The project manager is responsible for planning, organizing and controlling of the project from
inception to completion by the ensuring, the Project completion within the budget within the
time and specified Quality Standard.
The project manager shall designate a Quality Assurance Engineer (QA Engineer) who shall
be directly responsible for over seeing the overall quality control plan for the project. The
Project Manager shall designate construction managers, technical & clerical staff to execute
project activities according to the contract.

2.2.1 Project Director

Project Director is responsible for the supervision of the project works & coordination
between responsible parties.

2.2.2 Project Manager

The project manager is responsible for all the construction work and administrative activities
of the site. He is the person who has the responsible of successfully completion of the project
within the relevant construction period. To do this he has to manage the site, staff and the
project by giving instruction to them for maintaining the progress of the site according to the
programme which is planned.

2.2.3 Construction Manager

Construction manager is the responsible person for the day-to-day work arrangement and
proper execution of all the construction activities within the site. He plan the work to achieve
the scheduled targets and arrange the site engineers under each section to complete their part
of the work.

13

2.2.4 Site Engineer

He is the person who runs the work according to the scheduled works and targets. Site
engineer is assigned to a section and he is the responsible person for the completion of works
under his section. His main duties are;
Providing technical details to the foremen & supervisors.
Preparing the material requirements according to the drawings.
Preparing & providing bar schedules for the bar benders.
Communicating with consultant.
Overcoming the site problems.
Keeping the proper progress of the site work.
In addition to that sometimes supervisors work is done by the site engineer.

Assistant Engineer / Technical Officer

The assistant engineer or technical officer is responsible for the carrying out of the
construction work with directing the foremen & supervisors in the site. He assists to the site
engineer in office works as well as to the supervisor by giving technical advices in the site.
When the supervisors are not available for the supervision he has to inspect the work by
handling labors.

2.2.5 Foreman / Supervisor

The foreman or supervisor is responsible to handle labors & carry the site work according to
engineers instruction. So he must be capable of directing the labors as getting the maximum
efficiency and productivity, which is directly influence for the cost control of the site.

2.2.6 Quantity Surveyor

His primary responsibility is to take quantities or site works that has been done. He measures
the complete work frequently and checks the sub contractors bill before approving. Preparing
bill of quantities for payment from the client is his responsibility.

14

2.2.7 Storekeeper
His main duty is to keep records of stores for maintain the material of the site. If the material
quantity is less he should inform to the site administration for recover the material quantity. In
addition to that he is doing another job like handling the petty cash book, stock book etc.

2.2.8 Technical meeting

Technical meetings are held at the site office weekly with the participation of the client,
consultant, project director, project manager, construction managers, senior engineers and the
administration officers. The work progress, scheduled targets, technical matters are subjected
to be discussed here.

2.2.9 Daily meetings

Daily meetings are held at the site office with the participation of the project manager,
construction managers, administration officers, site engineers & all other staff members. the
work progress, the safety, quality of work, maintenance of the site and special matters those
related to construction and the sub contract companies are subjected to be discussed here.
Scheduled activities, material requirement and machinery requirement are also discussed and
ended up with the decisions.

2.3 DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS CARRIED OUT

Within first week I was not assigned to any responsibility. I was advised to study the site in
this week. With the aid of drawings, method statements & tender document I was be able to
get a brief idea about the project and the construction work. Also I went to the site and tried to
study the site works.
From the second week I was appointed to the construction zone A. I was to be worked as the
Assistant Engineer under the supervision of Mr. Shaminda, Construction Manager Zone A. I
was instructed by Mr. Chamida, Site Engineer Zone A. During this period, I got good site
management practices. How should be labors allocated to the work, labor handling,
supervising the labor, how achieve targets, site construction works and methods etc were

15

practiced in this period. Here I learned so many things from construction manager, site
engineer, site foreman and also from labors. Their knowledge & experience were useful for me
to learn those things. I had been working at zone A for 14 weeks.
Within the last ten weeks I was appointed to work as the Site Assistant Survey Engineer. I was
supervised by Mr. Thennakon, Project Survey Engineer & instructed by Mr. Aruna, Site
Survey Engineer. In this period I could be able to learn construction survey methods and also
about many other site practices.

2.4 PROGRESS IN THE SITE WITHIN MY TRAINING PERIOD

When I was joining the project it was mainly carrying out the structural construction work & it
had been just started the finishing masonry works. At then it had been completed the structural
work up to basement floor in zone A and zone B, up to 5th floor in zone C.
Since I was initially appointed to the zone A, I could be able to be involved in construction
works from the ground floor at zone A. It was completed most of the zone A structural
works within first fourteen weeks in my training period.
After that I got the chance to be involved in the whole project as the Assistant Surveyor
Engineer. When it comes to the end of my training period, the building structure had been
reached to be completed & about seventy percent of masonry finishing work also had been
completed. At then other finishing works also had been started.
So here I got the chance to be involved in most of the structural construction work & also a
little bit of masonry finishing work throughout my training period.

16