Types of construction
The term ‘construction’ refers to the process of building something such as a house, bridge, tunnel and so on. This may involve new developments, alterations to existing developments, demolition and other activities carried out by building contractors.
There are many different ways of classifying types of construction, including:
- Purpose (demolition, rebuilding, alterations of or additions etc). For more information see: Construction
- Sector (civil engineering, commercial, residential, healthcare etc).
- Structure (timber frame, masonry, fabric structure etc). For more information see: Types of structure.
- Element (wall, roof, tunnel, foundation etc).
- Type of building (dwelling, office, skyscraper etc). For more information see: Types of building.
- Type of contractor (self build, management contractor, construction manager etc). For more information see: Types of contractor.
- Construction technique (kit, modular, prefabricated, in-situ etc).
- Procurement route (design and build, traditional, measurement etc). For more information see: Procurement routes.
- Type of development (Crown build, build to rent, specualtive, bespoke, built to suit etc). For more information see: Types of development.
- Historic period (Roman, Greek, modern etc). For more information see: Style
- Style (brutalist, postmodern, classical etc). For more information see: Style
- Technology (smart, green, low-tech, hi-tech etc).
- Form of contract (JCT, FIDIC, NEC etc).
- Specialism (services, ICT, cladding etc).
- Funding (public, private, public private partnership etc).
- Performance (fire resisting, insulating, sound absorbing etc).
- Health and safety (notifiable, not notifiable).
- Client (experienced, inexperienced, repeat etc).
- Degree of complexity (simple, complex, bespoke etc).
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