Supervision and construction management

Two kinds of presence on site

Design supervision

The designer accompanies the construction: interprets the drawings, answers the questions that arise, and flags where the work departs from the design intent.

Construction management

More than that: organising the process, aligning the participants, tracking the programme and the quality on site.

The condition: construction management only on our own design

Whoever supervises someone else’s drawings can only say “per the drawing” — and if the drawing is wrong, that is worth nothing.

For our own design we take full responsibility, because we drew it, we calculated it, and we know where the critical points are.

That is not commercial policy but the only arrangement in which construction management makes sense.

Why it matters especially in light gauge steel

Because the substance of the structure is behind the lining and cannot be checked once covered: the bracing, the screw fixing, the anchorage, the cavity barriers, the continuity of the vapour control layer.

So the timing of inspection is critical. Inspection points · Common site errors.

What we look at on site

The four points before covering:

1. the survey of the foundation, before the panels arrive,
2. completion of the frame, before lining,
3. before the vapour control layer is closed,
4. before lining: cavity barriers, fire stopping, service routes.

Recorded: photographs with the location identifiable, tied to the construction log. The construction log.

Where we work like this

Construction management naturally involves being on site. Otherwise we work remotely by default. Where we work.

The point

We do not take on construction management for someone else’s design, because we could not take responsibility for it. For our own we do — and there the pre-covering inspection is the most valuable thing that can be done on site.