CONSTRUCTION SITE
Exercise 1
Watch this video about construction site
Exercise 2
Learn the words in blue.
A few days after Anne`s arrival Jim Atkinson had to drive down to the yard in the pick-up to collect some scaffolding tubes, a ladder and a wheelbarrow and take them to a building site his firm was working on.When he asked Anne if she would like to go with him, she jumped at the chance. During the drive to the yard she had plenty of time to ask her host a few questions she had been itching to put to him:
A: Is your company a very big one?
J: No, we`re quite small, really. Mainly we build single houses, modernize old buildings, do conversions and extensions, and a good deal of repair work. Our clients are mostly private persons. At the moment I think we have 34 employees, including the office staff.
A: Are most of them carpenters?
J: Well, we need carpenters on most projects, but as you know, not so many houses here are built mainly of wood, so we need other types of craftsmen as well, bricklayers for example.
A: Are they all skilled workers?
J: No, we have a few labourers as well. They load and unload lorries, move materials on the site and serve the craftsmen. We also have a couple of drivers who transport materials and equipment from the yard to the site.
A: Don`t you have any apprentices?
J: Oh yes, we have several trainee and apprenticed carpenters and bricklayers. We badly need to recruit good youngsters to the industry.
A: Are you personally in charge of the work on the site?
J: No, the day to day site management is taken care of by a foreman.
A: What about management and office staff?
J: In addition to being the owner, I`m also the managing director of the company and responsible for the overall running of it. At the office I have a secretary and a book-keeper who deal with correspondence, bills and other paperwork. We also have a building surveyor. He has technical qualifications; and prices bills of quantities, estimates tenders and does all the necessary calculations; He`s my second in command and runs things when I`m away. I suppose you could say that he deals mainly with the technical side of things, whilst I deal with the business side.; I do a few odd jobs too, like today. It gives me a chance to get out of the office and keep in touch with the workmen - I started off as a carpenter myself!
A: And now you`re a rich company owner!
J: Not rich exactly. Well, I have to admit that I make a fairly good living. As you know, mass production techniques and big business have rationalised the building industry in recent years - the big contractors are getting bigger and more streamlined all the time, but there`s still a niche in the market for the traditional craftsman and the small builder - luckily for us!
A: Do you do all the work on a house from start to finish?
J: We`re what`s called general builders, which means we usually do most of the work ourselves, from laying the foundations to doing the interior fitting. Windows are supplied by glazing firms, kitchen furniture and doors and so on by joinery firms, but we do the tiling, painting and wallpapering. The plumbing and electrical installation are done by specialized firms who work as sub-contractors. They employ skilled plumbers and electricians, of course. Sometimes we work as sub-contractors ourselves on larger projects - on the structual side. On really big projects the whole system´s much more complicated and specialized. The big property development companies have their own planning staff, but they would also employ consulting architects and engineers at the planning stage. Their contracting staff, accountants and sub-contractors to submit tenders for various parts of the work, for instance scaffolding, structural, services etc. The sub-contractors would be big companies with their own staff of surveyors and engineers.
Exercise 3
Read the text through and learn the words in blue
Anne just had time for a quick cup of coffee and a chat with the secretary before Jim was ready to leave the yard. After a drive of about 20 minutes they reached the building site on the outskirts of town. There were a number of houses in various stages of building on the site; some had just had the foundations laid, others looked half-finished.
J: This is just a small development, 8 detached houses altogether.
A: None of them have cellars?
J: No, in England ordinary dwellings usually don`t have a cellar although town houses often have a basement.
A: I suppose that`s because of the weather - you don`t have long periods of very cold weather, do you?
J: Partly that, and partly the fact that most houses are built on fairly flat ground, not on steep slopes like in Norway.
A: Well, it certainly simplifies things. There`s no rock that has to be blasted either, by the look of it.
J: No, the ground under the soil here consists of sandy gravel, so when the setting out has been done, the excavators can just move in and dig the trenches for the foundations - it`s as simple as that!
A: How deep do you have to go down?
J: The normal depth for ordinary strip foundations like these in this area is around 60 centimetres. We put concrete in the bottom of the trench and lay bricks on that. If formwork is necessary, that`s a job for the carpenters, otherwise it`s all brickie`s work at that stage.
A: What about damp? Doesn`t damp from the ground rise up through the bricks?
J: To prevent that we put in a dampproof course just above ground level, a layer of bitumised felt, for instance. Where there`s a suspended wooden floor we put in air-bricks as well, to make sure the underfloor area is properly ventilated to prevent rotting of the floor joists.
A: It doesn`t look as if much timber`s being used in the walls.
J: Well, in fact timber frame construction has come back into fashion recently.
A: But I haven`t seen any wooden houses at all!
J: No, you wouldn`t have. Although the structure`s of timber, the framework`s usually faced with brick, so it actually looks like a brick house.
A: Then what`s the point of using timber?
J: There are several advantages. Timber frames are quick and easy to put up so you don`t need heavy lifting equipment on the site. This is important in the mass-production market because you can prefabricate standard wall sections in the joinery shop and erect them on site. It`s also easy to vary the facing material, for example brick, tiling, blocks, stone or wooden cladding. And they`re easy to insulate, as you know.
A: Is that so important when you have such a mild climate?
J: English houses used to have a reputation for being terribly draughty, but today people are very concerned about proper insulation. The cost of electricity, which most people use for heating, is very high.
A: What type of walls are you putting up here?
J: Cavity walls with blockwork on the inner section and brickwork on the outer section. The joints between the bricks are pointed and they form the facade of most of the walls, but some sections are rendered and some are clad with tiles or wood.
A: What about the inside walls?
J: They`re either plastered or drylined.
A: So there is some wood in these houses!
J: The floors and the roof structure are of wood too, don`t forget. Look, Anne, I must have a word with the foreman. Why don`t you have a look around on your own for a while.
A: Fine, I`ll see you later.
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
