Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
CV4201: Civil Engineering Management-Tutorial No.1
(PE Act & Ethics)

1. With reference to Singapore PE Act and Rules made under the Act, answer the
following questions:

(a) Under what circumstances may the cancellation of registration or suspension

from practice of a Professional Engineer (PE) be ordered by the Professional
Engineer’s Board, Singapore.

(b) State briefly the action that the PE Board may take if the Board has received a
complaint about a PE in Singapore. If the PE is found to have breached any
provision of the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, what action would the
Board be likely to take in such a case?

(c) In this case, if the Board decides to cancel the PE’s registration, state in what
way can the Engineer get his reinstatement of his PE status?

2. In each of the following cases, discuss what offences (if any) have been committed
under the PE Act and Rules made under its provisions:

(a) Mr X is waiting for the outcome of his application for PE’s registration. He
proceeds to display on the front door of his office a plate with the words “X
Professional Engineer”.

(b) Mr Y, a PE, is acting as consultant to a jetty project. Another PE, Mr Z,

informed the project owner that he, Mr Z, is the most competent person in the
design of jetties. Z advised the project owner that he should be engaged as
the consultant of this jetty project instead of Y.

3. The publicity rules in the Professional Engineers (Code of Professional Conduct and
Ethics) have been amended in June 99 to allow PE more room for publicizing his
professional practice. In view of this change, discuss in what manner and subject to
what guidelines can a PE publicize his practice?

4. Give reasons for prohibiting a PE from accepting any trade commission, discount,
allowance or indirect payment or other considerations in connection with any
professional engineering work on which he is engaged upon.

(End of Tutorial 1)

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
CV4201: Civil Engineering Management -Tutorial No.2
(PE Act & Building Control Act)

1. Mr X is a PE, he has been appointed as the civil & structural consultant in a high-rise
residential apartment project. The project development includes the construction of a
2- level basement car park. When the construction contract is about to commence, X
was approached and offered by the main contractor to design for him a temporary
sheet-pile wall to facilitate the construction of basement car park.

Discuss and comment whether X should accept the contractor’s offer under this
circumstance. Give your view to substantiate your answer.

2. Mr A is currently acting as the Qualified Person (QP) in a building project. The

owner being not satisfied with A, has terminated his appointment. The owner has
now contacted Mr B, another PE, to take over from A as new QP for the project. B
has indicated his willingness to take over the appointment in a month’s time.

(i) Discuss the obligations that Mr A has with respect to the project in view of the
provisions made under Building Control.
(ii) Do Mr B and the builder have any obligations with respect to the project
under the BC Act?
(iii) Would you suggest any other aspects that Mr B should look into before he
accepts the appointment?

3. An owner of a building project has just requested Mr T to be the Accredited Checker

(AC) for the project. Outline the duties that T is supposed to carry out as an AC.
Under what circumstances T would be considered as ineligible to serve as the
project AC.

(End of Tutorial 2)

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
CV4201: Civil Engineering Management -Tutorial No.3
(Planning Act & Building Control Act)

1. A property developer wishes to embark on a condominium project. Prepare and

discuss with the aid of flow chart indicating the tasks (including professional activities
and obtaining statutory approvals) in the correct sequence before the construction
work can commence.

2. In view of Singapore Building Control Act , discuss the building control functions that
are enforceable by the Commissioner of Building Control in the following aspects:

(i) Permit to commence building works

(ii) Unauthorized building works

3. After an exceptional severe fire outbreak, a two-storey building in Singapore has

been left in a state in which it is liable to become dangerous. Discuss the action that
the Commissioner of Building Control would take under the following situations:

(i) If the owner of the building can be contacted.

(ii) If the whereabouts of the owner (believed to be living abroad) cannot be found
immediately.

In the case (i), would the owner be committing any offence if he chooses to ignore
the instructions issued by the Commissioner of Building Control?

(End of tutorial 3)

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
CV4201: Civil Engineering Management -Tutorial No. 4 (Total 3 pages)
(Network Formulation & Analysis)

1. Introduction
The objective of this project management exercise is to allow students to formulate an
Arrow Diagram Network model to represent the construction of a Geotechnical
Experimental Station (GES) and perform Time Analysis on your constructed network.

2. Brief description of the project

The GES consists of a reinforced concrete trench, 20m long, 6 m wide and 5m deep, to
be constructed in-situ and sheltered by a steel portal frame roof. The cross-section of
the trench is shown in Fig. 1. All work connected with the portal frame roof will be done
separately and not included in this network model.

2.1 Site conditions

The top of the trench will be leveled with the existing ground surface (assumed flat).
Investigations reveal that the soil is of clayey material, 45° slopes in cut are expected
to remain stable and will not require any supports.

2.2 Construction sequence

Excavation: An excavator will be hired for the purpose. No problems are expected to
arise during the excavation. The excavated material (spoil) will be dumped at a
location close-by in order to facilitate the use of the same material for backfill.

Base and floor: A 50mm thick, Grade 15 lean concrete base will be formed
immediately after the excavation. A layer of waterproof membrane has to be applied
on top of the lean concrete, and a 50mm sand-cement screed is placed over it to
protect the membrane from being damaged while working in the area. The rc floor
will be constructed thereafter. Refer Fig. 1.

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

T4-Pg2
Walls: The walls will be constructed in two stages that are designated as Stage I and
Stage II. Subsequent to the concreting of Stage I wall, and before any site work
connected with the Stage II wall is commenced, the following operations should be
completed:
a. waterproofing of the external surface of Stage I wall;
b. placing backfill material up to 200mm below the top of Stage I wall.
(Note: You may assume that the operations of formwork fabrication and cut & bend
reinforcement are each carried out in serial, eg. A4 followed by A12 then A21, not
simultaneously or parallel.)

11 11 11 11

Backfill

Wall
1 1 1 1

1
50 mm cement-
Floor sand screed

Lean concrete Water-proof membrane

Fig. 1: Typical cross-section of proposed trench

3. You are required to carry out the following exercises:

(A compiled list of activities is provided at following page)
(a) Write down for each activity the immediately preceding activities and the
immediately succeeding activities.
(b) Draw the Arrow network diagram introducing dummy activities wherever
necessary.
(c) Carry out the time analysis and
(i) Determine the critical path and the project duration
(ii) Identify the non-critical activities, and calculate the total float and the free
float for those activities.

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

T4-Pg 3
Project data – List of activities
Act code Description Duration Preceding Succeeding
(day) Act Act
A1 Move in and set up site 4
A2 Excavate trench 12
A3 Cut & bend reinfts for floor 6
A4 Fabricate formwork for floor 2
A5 Place lean concrete in base 2
A6 Waterproof base and place screed 3
A7 Tie reifts in floor 3
A8 Assemble formwork for floor 1
A9 Place concrete in floor 2
A10 Cure concrete in floor 7
A11 Cut & bend reinft for wall stage I 6
A12 Fabricate formwork wall – stage I 7
A13 Tie reinft for wall stage I 4
A14 Assemble formwork wall – stage I 5
A15 Place concrete in wall stage I 3
A16 Strip formwork for wall stage I 2
A17 Cure concrete in wall stage I 7
A18 Apply waterproofing wall stage I 2
A19 Place backfill behind wall stage I 4
A20 Cut & bend reinft for wall stage II 6
A21 Fabricate formwork wall stage II 5
A22 Tie reinft for wall stage II 4
A23 Assemble formwork for wall stage II 4
A24 Place concrete in wall stage II 2
A25 Strip formwork for wall stage II 2
A26 Cure concrete in wall stage II 7
A27 Apply waterproofing wall stage II 2
A28 Place backfill to top level 3
A29 Clear site and move out 3
Note: Certain activities such as ‘Stripping formwork for base’ has not been included as it does not involve
any significant work and time.
(End of tutorial 4)

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
CV4201: Civil Engineering Management -Tutorial No. 5 (Total 2 pages)
(Line of Balance Method)

1. A builder is planning the construction of 45 identical two-storey house units. The

superstructure is to be of in-situ concrete framework supporting precast concrete
wall and floor panels. The precast panels are to be cast on site.

B C

E F

A
D

Fig. 1: network diagram for work in one unit

The work in each unit consists of six operations, and the sequence of these
operations is as shown in Fig. 1. The man-hour (M) required and the optimum team
size (Q) for each operation are given in Table 1. The builder is planning the work
using the line of balance method. The project is allowed to work 8 hours per day and
6 days per week with a minimum buffer of 4 days between operations.

Table 1: Man-hour and optimum team size for operations

Operation Man-hour (M) Optimum team size (Q)
A- Construct substructure 320 5
B- Casting of precast panels 200 4
C- Curing of precast panels 0* -
D- Cast in-situ framework 1200 10
E- Assemble precast panels 232 6
F- Roof work 532 8

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

T5-Pg2

(a) The builder wishes to plan and schedule the project so that he can achieve a
target rate of build that is as high as possible. He expects that operation D
would be the critical factor. This work will be carried out by a sub-contractor who
can muster only 10 teams of 10 men each. What target rate of build should the
builder use in his planning?

(b) Assume no man-hour is needed for operation C but at least 12 working days
must lapse from the time of casting before the panels are assembled. Prepare a
line of balance schedule for the project.

(c) How many men would be working at site on day 100?

(d) In operation D, which team would be the first to leave site after completing its
work? When would this be?

(End of tutorial 5)

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

Nanyang Technological University

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

CV4201: Civil Engineering Management -Tutorial No. 6 (Total 3 pages)

(Resources Planning & Progress Control)

1. Given the data in Table 1 for a construction project network, determine the
project duration if resource limitations are not considered.

Table 1: Project network data

Activity Duration (days) Resources required
Men Equipment
1-2 4 3 B
1-4 6 6 A
1-7 2 4 B
2-3 8 - A
3-6 4 4 A
4-5 10 - A
4-8 16 4 -
5-6 8 2 B
6-9 6 4 A
7-8 6 5 B
8-9 10 2 B

Fig. 1 shows the project network with the durations in days indicated along the
activity arrows. Carry out Resources Scheduling using the Current Float Model if
only 8 men, one A, and one B are available. Draw a histogram for the use of the
labor resource.

T6-Pg2

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

8
2 3

4 4

1 6 4 10 5 8 6 6 9

2 16
10
6 8
7

Fig. 1: Project network

2. The construction of a water pipeline is represented by the network model shown in

Fig.2. The activity durations in days are indicated in the figure alongside the activity
arrows. All activities were planned to start at their earliest start times. The progress
of work was monitored at the end of day 282. Table 2 gives the actual start time
(end-of- day convention) and the percent complete of the activities that had been
either completed or in progress.
Table 2
Activity Actual start time Percent complete
(days) (%)
1-2 0 100
2-3 15 100

2-6 15 100

3-5 70 100
3-4 30 75
5-8 190 84
6-7 35 70
6-8 50 76

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Dr Wong Wai Fan, Associate Professor

T6-Pg 3

110
60

1 15 2 15 3 310 4 20 8

20 290
20

6 280 7

Fig 2: Initial Project Network

(a) Review and comment on the progress of work up to the end of day 282. Assume
that each activity has been planned to have a uniform rate of completion during
its duration.
(b) Upon a scrutiny of the resource allocation after the review of progress, the
following decisions were made:
(i) there would be no change in the output rates for the activities 5-8 and 6-8.
(ii) The output rate for activity 3-4 would be improved to the originally
planned rate.
(iii) The output rate for activity 6-7 would be increased up to 1.35 times the
current rate.
Determine the remaining durations for the four activities in progress on the basis
of the revised output rates.

(c) Assuming there would be no change in the durations of the activities 4-8 and 7-8
and taking into account the remaining durations obtained in Part (b) above, draw
the status network for the project at the end of day 282. Determine the new
project duration and the critical path.
(End of tutorial 6)

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