Site works · SIC 43999 · the forward shelf on this page
Ground, concrete and the services underneath
The work on this shelf happens on somebody else's land, to somebody else's drawing, under somebody else's permit. That shapes everything about how it is taken on: the sequence is fixed, the inspections happen before the work is covered up, and what comes out of the ground has to leave under a document.
The sequence, and why it does not bend
Each stage exists because the one after it cannot be put right once it is buried. Stages are signed off in order, and a stage that is skipped is the one argued about later.
- 1Survey and traceWalk the area, find the levels, trace the services with a detector and mark them on the surface. Where the drawings and the detector disagree, trial holes settle it by hand.
- 2Set outPegs, profiles and a datum that will still be there in a fortnight. Falls are set now, from the drawing, because a slab laid flat drains nowhere.
- 3Break out and digSaw cut the edges first so the remaining surface does not crack back. Dig to the permit, support the sides, keep the spoil off the edge.
- 4FormationTrim, remove soft spots, compact in layers and check the level before anything is laid on it. A formation signed off dry is not a formation signed off.
- 5LayBedding, pipe or sub-base, surround, and the cover and frame set to the finished level rather than to the level that happens to be there today.
- 6Reinstate and recordBackfill in layers, compact, reinstate the surface to match, and write down what went in before it disappears.
Ground that changes the method
The specification is written for the ground somebody expected. These are the cases where the method has to change on site, and each one is raised before it is worked through rather than after.
Water in the trench
A trench on reclaimed or low ground fills. Pumping, a sump and somewhere lawful for the water to go are part of the method, not an afterthought.
Made ground
Old hardcore, slab, brick and the occasional buried kerb line. It digs unevenly, compacts unevenly, and it is usually why a level will not hold.
Unrecorded services
A live duct nobody drew. Work stops, the owner is found, and the dig resumes around it or waits for a diversion.
Reinforced concrete
A saw that finds mesh or bar cuts differently. Cutting depth, blade choice and water supply all change, and so does the time.
Working beside traffic
A dig on a live yard or access road needs the route around it worked out first, with edge protection and a pedestrian way that is actually usable.
Dust and slurry
Cutting controlled at the blade with water, and the slurry contained where it is made. Sweeping it up afterwards is not control.
Before a spade moves
A crew does not arrive and start. The method statement is read on site by the people doing the work, not filed; the induction is taken for that site, by that crew, on that visit; the permit to dig is issued by whoever controls the ground, with the service drawings attached. Where the client holds the principal contractor duties, the work runs to their plan and their permit system. Where nobody appears to hold them, that is raised in writing before a date is agreed, because the gap does not fill itself.
Spoil, broken concrete, saw slurry and packaging are waste the moment they are no longer wanted. Each load off site is described on a transfer note that names the waste, the carrier and where it is going. That note is what makes the removal lawful; a tidy site with no paperwork is just a tidy site.
What the yard brings, what arrives on hire
Excavators, breakers, floor saws and pumps come in on hire, and the hirer's inspection record arrives with the machine and is read before it is started. Guards, hoses and quick-hitch pins are checked on delivery rather than taken as read. Aggregate, pipe, bedding sand, membrane and reinforcement are staged at the yard on High Road West so that a site receives one delivery inside its window instead of four across its working day — which is the point at which this shelf and the haulage shelf stop being separate businesses and start sharing a vehicle. How that delivery is loaded and what its payload margin is are worked out on the yard page.