Part 1: Introduction - Background - Text - Graphics - Images - Manipulation - Facilities management - Financial accounting and modelling - Database activities - Data manipulation and Statistical analysis - CAD/CAM/CAE and multi-media - Telecommunications and networks Part 2: Case studies of organisations - Architectural and engineering practices including some of the biggest names in the industry in the UK; covering different sizes, structures, philosophies, working methodologies, and different services offered to clients in different markets Part 3: Conclusions - Comments about IT in action - Emerging views - Future developments

The four volumes of Construction Technology provide a comprehensive guide to building technology from simple domestic single storey construction using traditional techniques to more complex multi-storey construction using more modern industrialised techniques. Each volume describes the technology concisely and is well illustrated with the author's own illustrations. The series provides a basic knowledge of all building activities from basic methods of construction in the early volumes through to more complex topics such as site planning, curtain walling and builders plant in later volumes. The series concentrates on the technology and avoids lengthy descriptive passages, leaving the description to the author's very detailed drawings. Volume 2 completes the coverage of conventional methods and materials of construction. As with volume 1, it deals with the construction of a small structure such as a bungalow or two-storey house. The book introduces more complex topics than are covered in volume 1. It deals with site and temporary works, e.g. simple excavations and scaffolding; substructure topics such as retaining walls and reinforce concrete foundations; simple framed buildings; floors and roof structures such as precast concrete floors and asphalt and lead-covered roofs; finishes and fittings such as simple concrete stairs; insulation; and services such as electrical and gas installations.

This book focuses on the intelligent application of advanced information technology tools (such as CAD and KBES) to design and planning in construction. It describes and explains the current applications of computer tools, presents new ideas for their use in design and planning processes, and in particular, concentrates on the preliminary design stage. Computer Integrated Planning and Design for Construction aims to demonstrate the implementation of these ideas and uncover the extraordinary opportunities for design improvement as a result.

Digital technologies are changing the relationship between design and construction: with computer models, CAD/CAM, and prototyping, designers can gain direct control of building and construction processes. The ability to digitally model designs, and thus to use those models directly in the context of production, creates a synthesis between design and construction in keeping with the tradition of the close relationship between design and craftsmanship, between the quality of the design and the rules of the craft. The evolution of the culture of design and construction is the underlying theme of this book. The aim is to discuss the direction that innovation is now taking, with a particular focus on today’s cutting-edge architectures. The method addresses the ways in which different societies have dealt with the issues of their age regarding design and construction, the different contributions provided by various techniques, and with them the meanings expressed by the architecture. As building design using digital tools requires specific skills in the fabrication processes and in the languages used by information technology, the book also offers a practical guide to new methods and techniques of managing and controlling fabrication for AEC. A systematic analysis of new skills used in the design process presents an overview of opportunities for architects and engineers. By collecting information on significant projects and analyzing them, the book explores the technical and artistic potential of digital technology. The cases studied are the outcomes of groundbreaking projects which were able to give form and significance to technological research. They show that digital tools are not the exclusive prerogative of large firms but can also be adopted by teams working across small and medium-sized firms – firms which have been able to use informed research to link innovative design with the possibilities offered by digital fabrication in architecture.

The Cambridge Handbooks on Construction Robotics series focuses on the implementation of automation and robot technology to renew the construction industry and to arrest its declining productivity. The series is intended to give professionals, researchers, lecturers, and students basic conceptual and technical skills and implementation strategies to manage, research, or teach the implementation of advanced automation and robot-technology-based processes and technologies in construction. Currently, the implementation of modern developments in product structures (modularity and design for manufacturing), organizational strategies (just in time, just in sequence, and pulling production), and informational aspects (computer-aided design/manufacturing or computer-integrated manufacturing) are lagging because of the lack of modern integrated machine technology in construction. The Cambridge Handbooks on Construction Robotics books discuss progress in robot systems theory and demonstrate their integration using real systematic applications and projections for off-site as well as on-site building production. Robot-Oriented Design and Management introduces the design, innovation, and management methodologies that are key to the realization and implementation of the advanced concepts and technologies presented in the subsequent volumes. This book describes the efficient deployment of advanced construction and building technology. It is concerned with the coadaptation of construction products, processes, organization, and management, and with automated/robotic technology, so that the implementation of modern technology becomes easier and more efficient. It is also concerned with technology and innovation management methodologies and the generation of life cycle-oriented views related to the use of advanced technologies in construction.

The contributions in this volume portray, in terms of the current state of the art, research on computer-aided construction in the building industry. A complete overview is given within the areas of computer-aided design, product modelling in construction, and robot-oriented design and construction together with a summary of the commercial developments in computerized systems within those areas. The papers will be essential reading for all those interested in future automation in relation to the building construction industry with the accent on design and engineering.