What Do Civil Engineers Do in Construction?
10 Ways Civil Engineering Prepares a Site for Construction
When embarking on a new construction project, you'll want to have an understanding of what the key players on the design and engineering team do.
An entire design, engineering, and construction team will likely involve dozens of individuals. Yet, the major players are the architect, structural engineer, contractor, and civil engineer.
This guide will provide insight into the civil engineers' critical role in erecting new commercial, manufacturing, or industrial structures.
What is a Civil Engineer?
When a project owner begins working on a new construction project, their architect is often the first person they’ll meet. But the architect can’t do their job until a civil engineer does theirs.
Civil engineers are crucial in the planning of a new construction project.
Projects that civil engineers typically work on include:
Buildings
Airports
Tunnels
Dams
Pipelines
Bridges
Roads
Transportation systems
Water treatment plants
Civil engineers work on everything from public works to privately owned buildings.
Yet, their purpose is always the same — to ensure that the naturally built environment is suitable and safe for the build. To do this, they check that erecting the structure won't damage the surrounding land, water supply, or neighborhood.
Civil engineering is a broad term with many sub-specialties and branches of civil engineering. These include:
Environmental engineering
Geotechnical engineering
Transportation engineering
Materials engineering
Construction engineering
Water resources engineering
Structural engineering
This article will focus on the roles and responsibilities of civil engineers in building new structures.
What Do Civil Engineers Do in Construction Projects?
The construction process is complex. Before the contractor can pour one square inch of foundation, a civil engineer must inspect the construction site. Local governments have safety regulations to ensure that every building construction project is up to code.
In the construction industry, a civil engineer’s job is to ensure that the project site is suitable for the project at hand.
Here are ten things civil engineers do to prepare the site for construction. (While maintaining the natural environment and ensuring that it will be safe for occupancy upon completion.)
Site Analysis
Site analysis is the first step in every new construction project. Civil engineers survey the land and analyze the site to assess the site's existing conditions and the surrounding land.
They do this to research and record a variety of environmental and geographical factors, including:
Soil types
Existing wildlife
Climate conditions
Connectivity with utilities
Stormwater patterns
Drainage options
In addition to civil engineers who analyze the overall site, soils and geographical engineers also play a role in site analysis. An analysis of the data collection performed by these three types of engineers helps determine if building on the site is feasible.
Feasibility Studies
Civil engineers perform feasibility studies using the information collected from the site analysis. Feasibility studies are a risk assessment tool used to determine if it is safe to build on the site at all.
Feasibility studies consider all sorts of threats and geological conditions the site poses, such as:
Seismic hazards
Ground stability
Unsuitable groundwater conditions
Depending on the level of risk determined, the civil engineer may decide that the site is not viable for building. Or they'll recommend ways to remediate the current conditions to make it suitable.
Assist in Building Location
Civil engineers determine where the most suitable build site is based on site analysis and feasibility studies.
Taking the client's needs into consideration, civil engineers may recommend building on an area that requires fewer changes to the terrain or has better drainage.
Site Grading
Site grading refers to leveling and stabilizing the ground in preparation for construction. It is one of the essential elements in any construction or engineering project. Proper site grading is a critical step in the process.
During site grading, the civil engineer will decide if the site needs excavation. They'll choose how to fill the excavated area to level and stabilize the site prior to construction. Improper site grading can affect everything from the building's structural integrity to how stormwater collects or runs off.
This is also the point in the project at which civil engineers decide if existing structures and trees need removal. Or any other ways they may need to alter the existing topography to deliver a finished product that meets the project owner's aesthetic.
This information is detailed in drawings and sketches that become part of the construction documents required for permitting.
Site Design and Layout
Site design and layout indicate how the entire site will look upon completion, including the:
Location of buildings
Elevation of the terrain
Placement of roads for access to and from the site
Spots for utility connections
All these elements must work together seamlessly.
Site Details
Besides the overall site design, it's also the role of the civil engineer to determine the proper placement of external features such as:
Curbs
Gutters
Pavements
Driveways
Like the main elements of site design and layout, all these small details work together to create a site that is safe to occupy and access.
Site Drainage
First off, having a proper drainage system in place is crucial for site preparation. Secondly, it's essential to maintain the structural integrity of the building in the long term.
A site drainage plan details how wastewater and stormwater will drain from the property and where it will go when it runs off the site. The EPA has stringent rules in place for stormwater management. Failure to put the proper drainage system in place during construction can lead to significant problems down the road.
During site drainage planning, civil engineers will also decide if they must take extra measures to control erosion or runoff, such as:
Building detention ponds
Erecting retaining walls
Creating berms
Many civil engineering firms have soil engineers on staff who, during site analysis, collect and test soil samples. Civil engineers use these soil reports to develop the site drainage system. Different types of soils require varying drainage measures.
Site Utilities
Civil engineers ensure that a structure will work with the local utility companies, from water supply lines to gas and electric.
Utility departments provide the location of existing lines. Civil engineers determine how and where to connect those utility lines to the building itself.
Site Cost Estimates
Civil engineers provide cost estimates to approximate how much it will cost to make the site suitable for construction.
In some cases, the cost of preparing the site for construction may exceed the project management's budget. If so, the project owner may rethink the size or design of the building to reduce costs overall. Or they may find a new site that doesn't need as much excavation or remediation before construction.
Prepare Engineering Construction Documents
As part of the architectural design process, architects and engineers create blueprints detailing the structure. Civil engineers have a role in this part of the process. They draft construction documents for site excavation and grading of the land before construction.
Local building codes and regulations vary by city and municipality. Therefore, site grading and excavation documents are often required to obtain building permits.
Civil Engineers Work Closely with Architects
There are times during the site design process when civil engineers work with other professional engineers. However, the person they work most closely with is the architect.
Civil engineers work alongside architects to do the initial site layout with the building location, parking lots, and other exterior features.
In some cases, the architect may do the preliminary drawings. Other times, the civil engineer may do the initial drawings. However, working together with these two professionals with different specializations and qualifications allows for the best overall site design coordination.
Full-service design firms, such as ZP Architects & Engineers in Denver, Colorado, have architects and civil engineers on staff who collaborate throughout the early stages of a construction project. This team effort allows for more seamless communication and coordination than hiring an architect from one firm and a civil engineer from another.
Like architects, civil engineers are an integral part of the design team. Their work in the early stages of the project ensures a safe and successful build that meets the client's budget and aesthetic.
You may also like: What are As-Built Drawings?
Civil Engineers Are NOT Responsible for the Building Design or Structural Design
Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering. Since structural engineers have a unique specialization in planning structures, it’s a common misconception that civil engineers play a role in building design.
They do not.
When civil engineers work on a construction project, they do so in the preliminary stages of the design. It’s the architects that design the building and the surrounding landscape. It’s the structural engineers that create the structural plans to make sure that the building can be built safely and to code.
There are only two areas of the building design where the work of the civil engineer and the structural engineer slightly overlap:
Floor elevations
Perimeter foundation drainage
Civil engineers are responsible for the drainage system and determining the elevations of the terrain. For these reasons, they're involved in planning the foundation poured beneath the structure with respect to drainage and determining the floor elevations of the building's ground level.
Related: Do You Need to Hire a Structural or Civil Engineer? Or Both?
Civil Engineers are NOT Responsible for Construction
Civil engineers are often one of the first members of the design team to visit a site, but they are not on site during the construction process. Design team members may visit the construction site occasionally to see its progress in real-time. It is not the civil engineer's responsibility to be on-site or oversee the construction management team.
Contractors enter agreements with project owners, separate from the architecture/engineering team. The majority of the work that civil engineers do happens off-site.
See also: Civil Engineering vs. Architecture: When You Need One or Both
Conclusion
Construction projects can't get off the ground without analysis and site design by a civil engineer. The civil engineer determines everything from the location of the building to how it will connect to utility lines. They even handle the placement of roads and sidewalks that will provide access to the new structure — every element external to the building itself.
Civil engineers are probably best known for working on pipeline and bridge projects. The fact is that they are a part of the design team on every industrial and commercial construction project.
For more information on designing a new building in the Denver, Colorado area, contact ZP Architects & Engineers now.
