In the world of construction we find different terms that define the work carried out. Thus, if we ask ourselves what a civil work is, we can resort to seeing exactly what civil means. According to the RAE , it is “belonging to the city or citizens.” Therefore, we can say that civil works are those intended for a public service , such as roads, bridges or ports.
Thus, almost all the works that surround us are made by civil engineering, which is why they seek to generate a concrete benefit for the organization of a territory and improve the quality of life of a community, region or country. In this sense, being so closely linked to development, especially in the area of infrastructure, it is a discipline that is supported by knowledge of areas such as hydraulics, algebra, geometry, chemistry, calculus and mechanics.
Characteristics of civil works projects
As they are large-scale works, they are characterized by a high level of complexity, which is why they require a deployment of significant human and material resources. All in all, they require great organization and production capacity.
Although it can be said that complexity is the most salient characteristic, a civil work is also characterized by:
- Possibility of carrying out simultaneous tasks and actions.
- Long-term design. As it is a large work, normally most civil works projects are planned and designed to be executed in the long term.
- Level supervision, direction and control. It does not make sense for such a large project to be directed and supervised by a single person, several are needed to act as managers of the different parts of the civil works.
- Division by stages . As it is a large project, the ideal is that each task is subdivided into others of a more secondary nature. In this sense, some of them come to be considered mini projects within the civil works project itself.
- High execution and production costs . Due to the size of the project, high amounts of materials and technical and human resources are necessary.
Stages of a civil works project
To carry out a civil works project, we find a series of common stages that are carried out in order to proceed with its construction:
- Identification of the need. As expected, the first thing is to identify the reason why its construction is required.
- Proper location. Choose the ideal location to carry out the project, as this will influence the subsequent phases.
- Previous calculation of the investment.
- Study and assessment of possible financing channels , whether they are loans, grants or credits.
- Application of relevant permits and procedures , to carry out the work.
- Design , where the plans, sketches, diagrams and calculations necessary to represent and visualize the project are carried out before being executed.
- Bidding. Previously, we talked in our post about the tender in the construction sector . Specifically, in civil works , the project is offered to a contractor or institution. In case it is your own, it is simply disseminated among the interested parties.
- Execution. Finally, once all of the above has been satisfied, the work is built.