What Are Civil Works Projects?

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.