Sustainable bridge construction through innovative advances

Sustainability is now recognised as a key issue that must be addressed in the design, construction and lifelong maintenance of civil engineering structures. This paper briefly discusses the generic aspects of sustainability, but the main focus is its application to bridges. Motorway bridges built in the 1960s and 1970s had design lives of 120 years; many, however, were showing signs of deterioration after only 20–40 years. This led to much (ongoing) debate on the issue of initial versus full life-cycle costing. In order to address the highly complex issue of the sustainability of bridges, this paper considers the following specific areas that impinge on this important subject: the impact on sustainability of different forms of bridge construction and maintenance/repair/replacement strategies; the utilisation of innovative in situ testing equipment for assessing the long-term durability of concrete; the development of innovative structural designs for bridges that inherently have greatly extended lives at minimal, if any, additional cost.

Confined site construction: An empirical analysis of factors impacting health and safety management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, clarify and tabulate the various managerial issues encountered, to aid in the management of the complex health and safety concerns which occur within a confined construction site environment.

Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved through conducting extensive qualitative and qualitative research in the form of case studies, interviews and questionnaire survey.

Findings – The leading managerial issues in the management of health and safety on a confined construction site are found to be: “Difficulty to move materials around site safely”; “Lack of adequate room for the effective handling of materials”; “Difficulty in ensuring site is tidy and all plant and materials are stored safely”; “Close proximity of individuals to operation of large plant and machinery”; and joint fifth “Difficulty in ensuring proper arrangement and collection of waste materials on-site” along with “Difficulty in controlling hazardous materials and equipment on site”.

Practical implications – The resulting implication for practice of these results can be summarised by identifying that with sustained development of urban centres on a global scale, coupled with the increasing complexity of architectural designs, the majority of on-site project management professionals are faced with the onerous task of completing often intricate designs within a limited spatial environment, under strict health and safety parameters.

Originality/value – The subsequent value of the findings are such that just as on-site management professionals successfully identify the various managerial issues highlighted, the successful management of health and safety on a confined construction site is attainable.