Setting Boundaries: The Importance of Boundary Monitoring in Construction

Establishing any new construction project is a careful logistical balancing act, with many aspects for project managers to consider; from site safety to environmental responsibility. Establishing site boundaries, drawing up necessary documentation, ordering materials, creating traffic plans, workflows and conducting risk assessments – a lot of thought and planning goes into even relatively small footprint construction projects.

Unfortunately, aspects of site start up can become overlooked, the balance between ‘short term gain and long term pain’ prioritising actions that will get the site functioning and have contractors doing what they do best - building. One aspect that may be overlooked, and thus lead to potential ‘long term pain’ for the project, is establishing a system of effective site boundary monitoring.

In an ideal world, projects would occur in a ‘bubble’ that excess levels of dust, noise or vibrations could not escape. Site neighbours would be unaffected, governing authorities would have no reason to visit the site and the site’s social responsibility would be unaffected. Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world.

There is a civic and legal responsibility to measure site emissions, backed by legislation and governing authorities. In the UK, sites will need to comply with their section 61 notices and there are codes of practice and guidance on measuring noise and dust from construction and demolition activities. Site monitoring must be recorded and reported on, and action taken if limits are exceeded – sites must be able to evidence compliance and maintain their reputations, and local communities must be considered.

While establishing a method for measuring site emissions may seem initially daunting, either due to a lack of clarity in which legal guidelines sites will have to follow to remain compliant or the research and paperwork involved in establishing a monitoring program, once an effective process is in place the same plan can be implemented for each and every new site or project.

There are two main methods for conducting monitoring – employing a third party consultant to establish a program, or use site boundary monitoring equipment. The first can add considerable expense to a project budget depending on the type and duration of works. The first can cost up to £650 per day for a consultancy. The second can cost considerably less, either by hiring the equipment, or purchasing outright as an investment in future projects.