Process of Designing a Civil Engineering Project

Planning and designing a civil engineering project is a complex task which requires expert knowledge and strategic decision making skills. Engineering judgement plays a key role throughout the entire designing process. It is important to understand the level of responsibility the design engineers hold and the risks associated with executing these challenging engineering tasks. Proper investigations, analyses and planning works must be accomplished prior to initiating the construction phase.

Most of the undergraduate courses in civil engineering has a design component where the students are required to present a holistic design to real world scenario. This series of articles discusses the process of designing a civil engineering project. All the major activities carried out in the 'planning and designing' stage are explained in a detailed manner.

The design process can be elaborated in ten steps; each step having one or more clear outcomes. In this article, the first three steps as shown below in the diagram are discussed with examples.

Design process of a civil engineering project

Step 01: Understanding client's requirements or identifying the problem(s)

In any design project, the first and foremost step is understanding the requirement. Initially, a project will have at least two stakeholders: the client and the consultant. The requirements of the project are tabled by the client during the discussions. The consultant who plays the role of the designer has to clearly understand these requirements. In most cases, the outcomes or requirements are straightforward and apparent. For example, when the client owns a land and he wants to construct an apartment complex, the end result is clearly known. In this case, the consultant has to come up with a satisfactory design which complies with the client's preferences. However, there are situations where the outcome is not known at the beginning of the project. In such cases, the client will explain a problem he or the organization/community he represents has. There, the consultant has to understand the issue at hand and provide a viable solution to the client after conducting necessary studies. An example would be, a roadway intersection where there is a huge traffic congestion issue during peak hours. When the client briefs this problem to the consultant, he has to provide a suitable solution to eliminate or mitigate the traffic congestion and improve the prevailing situation. A solution would to widen the roads and increase the capacity of the intersection or else to construct a flyover across the junction. Proposing a solution is done at Step 03.

While understanding the requirements or the problem, the consultant should also be keen on finding out the special factors to be considered or the constraints that affect the project. These are not external factors or constraints but are under the control of the client. For instance, the budget or the funding mechanism should be discussed at this stage. Location, project duration, legal background etc. are some of the other factors to be considered.

Step 02: Background study

Following the initial discussions with the client, the consult should commence studying the background of the proposed project. Collecting information from sources such as the client, neighborhood society, relevant government authorities, past projects is an important step at this stage. Client can provide the basic information but there might be rules and regulations imposed by the government that should be followed when developing a design for the project. These can be found from sources like gazette notifications, building regulations, acts, proclamations etc. Referring to the reports of similar projects done in the past or the projects done in the same area is an ideal option.

Conducing surveys in the site location and the surrounding neighborhood is another common practice. Collection of various types of up-to-date information can be easily done with the surveys. These are commonly knows as 'Reconnaissance Surveys', which are extensive studies done at the site. Under reconnaissance surveys, site investigations are done to understand the existing conditions such topography, ground profile, soil properties, existing structures, water bodies, ground water hydrology, drainage paths, ecosystem, land value etc. These information are needed for analysis purposes which are discussed under Step 4: Alternative Analysis.

Social surveys is another component of reconnaissance surveys. This is a study about the society and how the project will impact on it. The survey team should visit the neighborhood and talk with people and get their genuine concerns and ideas about the project. It is important that the opinion of every sub-community is represented in this. Sub-communities means people from different religions & ethnicities, different income classes & professions, residential & business communities, different education levels and many more. This should also include key personnel such as school headmasters in the area, leaders of religious places, head of the police station, mayor and any other relevant representatives.

Other than these surveys, the designers should also collect relevant information with respect to the political influence (e.g.: government changes, new policies, changes in procedures etc.), legal constraints (e.g.: approval processes, restrictions, rules and regulations etc.), economic & financial factors (e.g.: cash flow, price variations, taxes and tariffs, contingencies, delays etc.), technical barriers (e.g.: erecting temporary structures, finding suitable machinery and materials, poor ground conditions, constructability etc.) and environmental considerations (deforestation, pollution, waste management etc.). In some cases, special surveys such as traffic data collection, demand and supply identification, stated preferences of people should be done to gain a complete understanding of the existing situation.

More explanations on these studies can be found in the article on Alternative Analysis and Feasibility Studies (will be published soon).

Step 03: Setting objectives, proposing a design/solution and justifying the project

Upon the successful completion of the background study, the design team/consultants have to set an aim and objectives to the project. The intention of this step is to clearly define the end result of the project. For the two previous examples, the aim of the apartment complex project would be 'To create a new residential community in a less populated area' or 'To provide more dwelling facilities to a highly dense suburban region'. For the roadway intersection with the congestion issue, 'To reduce the congestion at the intersection' would be a suitable aim. The aim has to reflect the client's expectations and it should be defined after having sufficient rounds of discussions with the client. In order to achieve the aim, the team will have to carryout certain tasks which are know as the objectives. There can be more than one objective for a project. Once every objective is achieved, the project will be complete. Each objective should have one or more measurable outcomes. Examples are as follows,

To provide a suitable design concept after considering the possible alternatives
To evaluate the benefits and adverse impacts of the project
To develop a sustainable design for the requirement

Thereafter, it is required to propose a solution to the project. This step can be omitted in some projects if the solution is apparent. In the case of designing an apartment complex, provision of a solution is not needed since the requirement is clearly known. However, in the roadway intersection example, the engineers have to propose a solution to reduce the traffic congestion.

Preparation of a Terms of Reference (ToR) document is the next step. This is deemed as a good project management practice. A ToR document contains all the activities that will be carried out throughout the project. This includes the scope and limitations as well. Defining the tasks prior to the commencement of the project ensures the quality of the output also it helps the project team to finish their work within the given time frame. A sample ToR for an office relocation project is given below,

Terms of reference for the proposed building complex of the police station

The main tasks of the project are as follows;

Identification of the problem and proposing a solution
Setting an aim & objectives, conducting a benefit analysis and justification of the project.
Consideration of alternatives for the proposed new building complex according to the following aspects,

- Land use, geographical and topographical features

  - Location and adjacent structures
  - Constructability
  - Accessibility
  - Finances
  - Social impact

Selection of the best alternative through a PESTEL analysis
Feasibility study for the selected alternative
Identification of special requirements of a police station (e.g.: parking demand determined through a traffic survey)
Conceptual and layout designs, survey plans
Architectural designs including 3D models
Proposing suitable material for structural and non-structural elements
Soil investigation and recommendations for ground improvement
Structural analysis and preliminary structural designs as per British Standards
Superstructure and substructure designs with detailed drawings as per British Standards
Design of building services and finishes
Calculating the quantities and preparation of the BOQ
Economic studies and identification of benefits
Incorporation of sustainable development concepts

Establishing a ToR sets the foundation to the design process. Before moving on to the Step 4, the team should justify their solution. This is a brief rationale as to why the project should be done and what the expected benefits are. A more detailed quantitative benefit analysis is done after preparing the BOQ (this is discussed in the final article Step 5: Bill of quantities and cost-benefit analysis). Given below is the summary of the justification of the aforementioned project.

Justification of the proposed building complex of the police station

The current location of the police station is near the main junction. Due to the inflow and outflow of vehicles from the police station, the traffic along the main road gets disturbed. Construction of the office building at the new location will be very convenient to all the stakeholders. High accessibility, improved parking facilities, modern buildings facilities equipped with the new technology will provide a far better level of service.

Unavailability of sufficient parking spaces is a big issue faced by the visitors of the police station.The new building complex will have a bigger parking area where the visitors' parking area is separated from the police vehicle park.

The new police station will have separates buildings to serve different purposes. Departments such as traffic control, criminal investigations, civil issues etc. will be given adequate spaces to accommodate the daily visitors.

After the relocation of the police station, the traffic congestion on the main road is expected to be reduced to a certain extent. User experience of the police station will also improve. The people living in the vicinity will no longer face any inconveniences. Furthermore, the local roads inside the city will be much easier to travel as the vehicles need not to park in these roads.

Please follow the second article: Part 2 of 5 - Alternative Analysis and Feasibility Studies (will be published soon)

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