So it seems to me that some of the works gong on round here spend more time, effort and resources on the site prep than if the job was done another way. For example:
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New rail bridge here = Three weeks of diggers, bulldozers, cranes constructing a 1km track (alongside existing track), turning circles for big trucks (x3), 8 portacabins with generators, acres of fencing (incl. walkway separate to vehicle track), more sings than the road etc. it is now week 3 of clean up, again with multiple diggers, planers, trucks and people. This was so a big section could be craned in. Would it not be simpler to build a stone bridge like they used to?
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A9 repairs to bridge = a mile + of cones, cabins galore, floodlights, three breakdown trucks on standby 24/7 etc etc- and seemingly three blokes up a scaffold tower doing the work.
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Beauly Denny power line = miles and miles massive new track building, a swathe of forest 200m wide cut down for new track and lines, again with dozens of cabins, all with drains, fences, ditches, site entrances, signs galore, floodlighting etc etc.
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Seems the civils would cost more than the work…? Jobs for the boys?

Try replacing a rail bridge in 72 hours while the railway is closed. Then you will understand why the site preperation is so intense!

the middle one is fulfilling the duty of care to both the workers and the road users.

other two, it is much much cheaper and safer to do the work offsite and bring it onsite. working on the ground is much cheaper and easier than working at height. In terms of the rail bridge, railway line would’ve probably only been shut for a week max to put the bridge in and if you were building in situ it would have been more like a year.

with the power line, how else would they build it without access? if they’re building the access then not building it with proper drainage would potentially mean the works couldn’t be completed due to programme due to bad weather and would’ve held up other parts of what is likely a much bigger project.

cabins are to fit in with duty of care to workers – need to provide so much canteen/drying/welfare/wc etc space per employee.

The cabins – is that not what the crew vans are for? Or MTFU, as my staff and kids did outside…..? 😉

Most of the cabins (site welfare), signage, segregated access (keeping vehicles and pedestrians separate) and fencing/hoarding is there in order to comply to current UK/European law and nothing to do with ‘jobs for the boys’.

EDIT: all of what you describe is much cheaper than an incident involving major injury/death!!

You’re generally looking at 35%-50% of the cost of the project being indirect costs (feasability studies,design, procurement costs) Of the site costs alone it’ll be 30% of that as temporary works and site set up etc.

As said above, the cost of not getting a rail line completed within a possession or the cost of someone not going home far outweighs the cost of the proper setup.

7 million quid job, I had one toilet block (2 traps 3 urinals 1 ladies/sitemanagers seperate toilet), canteen, store and my office.
Seemed to run ok.
It most certainly wasn’t 30% of the cost but then we’re not spending government money….

Seems the civils would cost more than the work…? Jobs for the boys?

Try building a wind farm…. 18 months toiling in a bog building roads and hard standings for the turbines to rock up and the bloody crane driver to turn up pissed and drive a £3m crane into the bog….not having a good day….

Matt
ref Beauly Denny each tower weighs upto 90 tonnes, and requires a 160tonne crane to erect, has 40-200m3 of concrete in the foundations, many are piled, a piling rig weighs a significant amount, conductor drums each weigh about 10-15t and there can be 15 to 20 of them at each ‘pulling position’ (about 65km of 700mm2 diameter aluminium wire at each location) add in winches, excavators and other construction plant plus upwards of 150 men in and out throughout the project duration
That’s a lot of big gear going in and out, over a 4 year period, tracks need to be constructed and maintained to a high quality
In addition as part of the planning, to satisfy environmental issues it was agreed each pylon would have a dedicated access track, many of these are over thick peat and built as ‘floating’ roads

As the Engineer that priced that job up I could furnish you with lots of numbers regards the job, its access tracks and costs, however for a 220km long power line surfise to say there is well over 300km of access track needed due to the remoteness and terrain. Access costs (and some is being done by helicopter esp over the Corriearrick) is if I remember correctly (nearly 5 years ago now) about a third of the overall cost

(The 200m corridor is actually 50m-100m generally, strict planning on this and it’s required not just for construction but electrical clearance when line is operational)

As for cabins and MTFU, you try landing 20t of frozen steelwork onto a 20mm hole hanging 45m in the air in minus degrees, or working from a spacer chair in the middle of a span, we need cabins to dry gear out given programme means working 12 hour shifts in all weathers in the remotest countryside in the UK, and in case the lads get stranded on site due to snow etc

Well that’s told the OP. Nice post.

Lol wasn’t meant in an arsey way
Beauly is a massive job though, and was 2 years of 12-16 hour days for me a few years ago when pricing it up and negotiating it,I actually left a company I had been with for 13 years previously just to be involved
It is a pretty impressive achievement building that line, the biggest the UK has ever seen, we build OHL’s all around the world. Outside Hong Kong and parts of Canada I would say the terrain that line crosses is amongst the hardest anywhere
My next big challenge is a 500km 500kv interconnect or between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. That will probably have significantly less ‘upfront prep works’ 🙂

I’ve designed things that have £1,000 a minute fines on late handback after possessions or closures. You don’t successfully deliver those kinds of projects by just turning up the day before and seeing how it’ll go. During the design process there’ll be a construction methodology consultant advising what’s safest/ easiest/ best to build, the designers creating 3D models and working in 4D and 5D to find the best, most reliable, most resilient and safest method of delivering the project.

Lol wasn’t meant in an arsey way

Oh I realised that. Nice explanation of why exactly the work that was being done was being done…I hope the OP has taken it on board for the next time he sees civil engineering stuff he doesn’t understand.

I am however, slightly jealous of your job. 🙂

You wouldn’t be if you did it, these days I do the estimating and normally desk bound
Overseas trips will be good though, Hong Kong last year was an eye opener!

Job swap then?

You can come and bang bits of timber flooring together. I’ll do Hong Kong. 😀