You are acting for a private developer who is considering the purchase of a Preston City centre brownfield site. The developer – your client – has asked that you prepare a report advising on both an appropriate basement waterproofing design for a five -storey steel framed student accommodation building with a basement level and also identify the site conditions above and below the ground which may affect the construction of this proposed building.

Your task:

Broadly the report is to be split into the following three main parts: –

1.     Introduction – clarifying the address and location of the site and the purpose of your report.

2.     Initial Site Appraisal – Outlining the results of your desktop studies together with the information supplied by the client in this brief & how these results might impact on the construction of the five -storey steel framed student accommodation building with a basement level.

3.     Basement Waterproofing Design – recommending a suitable basement waterproofing design for the client’s proposed five storey, steel-framed student accommodation building. The basement will be a single level below ground level and there will be five further storeys above ground level.

Your report should make use of clear, relevant illustrations where required as well as photos from online sources.

All sources used as part of your report should be referenced using the 7^th APA-Harvard style in accordance with University guidelines. If you refer to non-published sources such as plans or project documentations this should be clearly stated in the report.

Clearly state any assumptions you have made

Figure 1. Site Location Plan. Source Mario Maps Lancashire County Council (No Date)

Figure 2. Site Plan with Perimeter Edged in Red (No Date) Source Mario Maps Lancashire County Council (Not to scale)

The Site

The site under consideration is situated in the City of Preston in the County of Lancashire, UK on Marsh Lane just off Corporation Street and to the rear of numbers 58 to 67 Friargate. The site perimeter is outlined in red on the undated plans given to you by the client in this brief.

The site is currently used for private car parking although the site has had other uses in the past the client does not know exactly what these uses were.

A site and location plan are given above. (NOTE: SITE ENTRY IS NOT PERMITTED AND NOT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT. YOUR APPRAISAL SHOULD BE BASED ON RESEARCH TAKEN FROM DESKTOP STUDIES ALONE)

Description of the task.

This assessment requires you to produce a 2500-word client facing report that is formatted in a professional manner that must include, typically, but not limited to the information described below.

·       A front cover in the form of a title page.

·       A contents page listing the title and page number of all sections, subsections, appendices, and reference listings.

·       Appropriately numbered sections and subsections in the main body of the report.

·       Body of report which should typically include, but not be limited to: –

Part 1 – Introduction – The introduction should clarify the address and location of the site, the date the report was carried out and by whom. A brief description of the report’s purpose should also be given.

Part 2 – Initial Site Appraisal – This part must communicate to the client the following information:

·      A brief description of the site – e.g., Size, shape, location, surrounding buildings etc.

·      A brief summary of site history – e.g., past usage (buildings, purpose etc)

·      A summary of anticipated potential issues found below ground (such as sewers) and those found above ground (such as adjacent buildings) which might affect the construction of the building including its basement.

·      You should clearly explain how the clients proposed construction might be affected by what you have found in your site appraisal investigations.

Part 3 – Basement Waterproofing Design – Given the investigations you have undertaken in part 2 and taking account of the further information given in this brief, you are to offer your client a recommended basement waterproofing design suitable for the client’s proposed five storey steel framed student accommodation building. This design must be communicated both descriptively and in the form of a sketch drawing which depicts a ‘typical section’ through the basement level including the floor, ceiling, and walls.

The design must respond specifically to the following factors: –

• The building will have a single storey basement to allow for both a student common room and a mechanical plant room only in this space. The basement will be formed under the entire footprint of the proposed building. The specific layout of the basement is up to you, but the common room will form the majority of the use of the space.
• The specific location of the clients building within the site, as outlined in red on the site plan, above is up to you.
• The shape of the building footprint is up to you.
• Borehole analysis which has been undertaken by the client previously, has shown the site is covered with man-made fill material consisting of brick, ash, and organic waste up to 1.4 m deep. This lies on top of an organic peat layer up to 7.0 m deep. Below the peat is solid granite bedrock. No strength tests have been done as part of the ground investigations to date.
• The proposed method of basement construction is to use secant bored piles down to the bedrock to form a retaining basement wall structure around the entire perimeter of the building footprint. A cast concrete ring beam will connect all the piles together. The building’s steel frame’s columns will be bolted to this ring beam. Mini bored piles will support the cast concrete floor of the basement.
• Any inner wall (inside the secant piles) to the basement level is not yet determined and will be part of your waterproof design proposal.
• The final surface finish and levels of the basement floor have not yet been determined and will form part of your waterproof design proposal.
• The ceiling to the basement will be formed of structural support from steel beams spanning from one side of the basement’s walls to the other and pre-cast concrete floor / ceiling panels spanning on top of the steel beams.
• The winter ground water level is 1.4 m below ground level and the summer level is 2.5 m below ground level. Construction is proposed to begin in October 2022.

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Intended Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding

1.     Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of a range of different construction designs/techniques

2.     Devise and apply appropriate methods of achieving constructed solutions in a range of circumstances, demonstrating an appreciation of the relationships between technological solutions, efficiency of delivery, and the economics of the process.

3.     Critically evaluate the impact that forms of construction have upon functional suitability, fitness for purpose, and occupational standards.

Intended Learning Outcomes: Key Subject Specific Skills

4.     Develop critical awareness of applied technology.

5.     Achieve a level of competence in the critical evaluation of alternative solutions to significant issues and problems.

6.     Develop an appreciation for the views of various stakeholders involved in the process of adapting existing buildings.

1.     To develop a critical awareness of the property life cycle and the expanse of existing buildings which make up the built environment.

2.     To develop systematic knowledge, awareness and understanding of the design approaches, techniques, materials, and processes employed in the construction of a broad range of building types.

3.     To develop the ability to systematically and creatively make well informed decisions when dealing with complex issues.

Word count

Your submission should consist of no more than one report 2,500 words long.

This includes every word, but excludes any initial contents/title page, any abstract, the reference citations in the main body of text, appendices and the reference list(s) located at the very end of your submission

Only the first 2,500 words (as defined above) will be marked.  Any words you write in excess of 2,500 (as defined above) will be ignored.

You can expect to receive formative feedback throughout the module – formative feedback is helpful to enable you to develop and improve your academic writing and presentation skills. Please note that you must email your tutor to arrange an individual appointment. Drafts issued within the 7 days leading to the submission deadline will not be provided with feedback. Drafts will only be checked once so you may wish to have a near complete assignment before submitting for feedback.

Remember that using the Turnitin draft checking facility in the assessment support module space as previously explained above is only checking for similarity of your work to existing literature.

Written feedback, identifying marks awarded against each item of the marking criteria, will be provided within 15 working days of the final submission date via blackboard.

You can obtain support for this assessment from the lecture sessions and tutorials and the lecture learning materials uploaded onto blackboard, tutor office hours by appointment, emails, etc (please see contact information on the first page of this brief). Your email queries will be answered within 48 hours during weekdays.

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Good Academic Conduct and Academic Misconduct

Students are expected to learn and demonstrate skills associated with good academic conduct (academic integrity). Good academic conduct includes the use of clear and correct referencing of source materials. Here is a link to where you can find out more about the skills which students require http://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning.

Academic Misconduct is an action which may give you an unfair advantage in your academic work. This includes plagiarism, asking someone else to write your assessment for you or taking notes into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic misconduct seriously.   You can find out how to avoid academic misconduct here https://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning.