A review of the Building Construction Handbook by Roy Chudley

The Building Construction Handbook is a book that many building professionals keep close by. It is written by Roy Chudley, who has worked on the whole gamut of building types, spent twenty years as a lecturer in Building Technology, and is the author of many other authoritative books on construction. This article is a review of the eighth edition, released in February 2010.

Overview

The Construction Handbook is co-written by Roger Greeno, a building consultant who has long experience in construction, both in building and teaching. This book is over eight hundred pages of information accompanied by clear and informative illustrations, which are easy to read and complement the text ideally. Building regulations and practices Anyone in the construction industry, worker, student, professional or academic will benefit by reading and referring to this book. The construction book provides all that you need to know about building regulations and practices without searching through pages of detailed explanations. The book covers all subjects that you could think of, with this edition having been updated to keep up with environment, sustainability and energy conservation matters. Students on the NVQ, HNC, BTEC National and other courses, will find The Building Construction Handbook an extremely useful resource. It is also an invaluable reference for construction industry managers, contractors, and building designers.

Main chapters

Here is an overview of the main chapters of the book: Section 1 – General Aspects of general construction such as Documentation, Regulations and Standards such as The Building Regulations, CDM Regulations, and British and European Standards.
Section 2 – Site Works Covers Site Layout, Setting-Out, Scaffolding, Shoring and Demolition.
Section 3 – Builders Plant Types of plant including Excavators, Hoists and Cranes. Section 4 – Sub-Structure Foundation types and selection. Retaining Walls, Basement Construction, Underpinning and Ground water control. Section 5 – Superstructure 1 Choice of materials, brick and block walls, damp proof courses and membranes, arches and openings, windows, doors, cladding, roofing, thermal insulation and U-values and access for the disabled.
Section 6 – Superstructure 2 Includes reinforced concrete, form work, structural steel, portal frames and multi-storey structures.
Section 7 – Internal Construction Covers partitions, floors, ceilings and stairs, and internal finishes such as tiles, wall coverings and paints.
Section 8 – Domestic Services Examines the providing of services including: water supply and drainage, electrical supply, gas supply, telephone and electronic communications. This book will be a great resource for students who will keep it for a long time after their studies are finished.