The structure of information
consideration are now seen to be so closely associated
with the requirements of specific organisations or
constructional systems that they lack universal
applicability. Others, reliant upon a more radical
refashioning of the bills of quantities than is envisaged
here, offer possible pointers to the future and are
discussed later.
All accept the primary structuring of drawn information
represented in this book by the general arrangement/
assembly/component format. Where they tend to diverge
is in their approach to secondary structuring and their
methods of identifying and coding it.
The building operation and indeed the completed
building, may be considered in a number of ways. You
may regard it, for example, as an assemblage of
different materials. To some extent
the specification does just that,
describing with precision the type of
sand, the type of cement and the
size of aggregate to be used, as well
as describing their admixture into
concrete (the point at which the bills
of quantities take an interest).You may look at it, on the other
hand, as a series of different trade
activities, in which case you would
tend to regard as one package of
information all work done by the
carpenter and as another package
all work done by the plumber. Bills of
quantities have traditionally been
structured on these lines, the
concept lying at the heart of the
Standard Method of Measurement. It
has been one of the primary tasks of
the Construction Project Information
Committee in its development of the
Common Arrangement of Work
Sections to seek out a rational
method of terminology for building
operations that would be acceptable
to all the building disciplines.In drawing terms, however, neither
the materials-based nor the activity-
based sub-division relates very
happily to the architectural realities.
To the quantity surveyor one cubic
metre of concrete may be very like
another but when one forms part of
the foundations and another part of
the roof slab, it is over-simplistic to
suggest that both should form part of
a series of ‘concrete’ or ‘concretor’
drawings.1.12 The complete primary structure of building drawings information