Refurbishment and repair accounts for approximately 50 per cent of annual construction turnover. It is therefore essential that practitioners and those students who aspire to work in this sector are equipped with the best tools to do the job. This book has been produced to fill that gap in construction literature. The nature of refurbishment and repair is markedly different from new-build work since it is necessary to work within the restraints of a pre-determind situation. Those who do so are faced with an existing building or structure that may be many years old. It may have been built to standards hardly recognisable when compared to those of today.It is therefore necessary to build safely and to match as closely as possible comtemporary standards on sustainability and energy conservation. It is also apparent that existing buildings may not conform to 21st century standards of structural analysis or stability - and yet have stood without distress for many years. Guidence is provided to deal with such situations together with ideas on how to assess the residual life of a refurbished or repaired building.First and foremost it is essential for those involved in this type of work to gain an intimate knowledge of the structure under consideration.
This book suggests ways of seeking this knowledge. Failure to investigate the history of existing develpoments may add considerably to the cost of construction and, in the extreme, to structural collapse involving injury or loss of life. This book proceeds logically through the reasons to consider refurbishment and repair and offers advice on risks, discovery, contracts, materials, learning from the past and legal restraints. Best practice is illustrated by a series of case studies. Extensive bibliographies have been provided to assist those with the need for further research. "Refurbishment and Repair in Construction" provides a companion volume to "Site Engineers Manual" which will be available as a second edition.