CONSTRUCTION SITE SURVEY Two main jobs that must be carried out during a construction site survey are

land surveying and soil testing. The architects and engineers must know about the site location, total site area, landform and soil type before starting the design work. Studying the Available Information Before land surveying and soil testing are carried out, the potential site for the construction project must first be surveyed. This is to study the information available at the site to facilitate the planning work. The information needed about the site depends on the type of construction project. General information that must be acquired is given in Figure 11.3. Land Surveying Land surveying is an art of measuring distances, angles and positions on or near the surface of the earth. It also includes the determination of the differences in elevation for plotting contours and for land boundaries. Levelling Levelling is a method to determine the height of a point on the earth surface from a datum. Datum is an imaginary level point used as a reference for the height of all points on the earth surface. The commonly used datum level is mean sea level. Levelling is done to obtain cross section and profile plans for the proposed construction site. Level A level is a tool to determine the difference in height between two points on the earth surface. The telescope of a level can be rotated 360 on a horizontal plane. The commonly used level is the tilting level as shown in Photograph 1 and Diagram 1 Level is fitted to and adjusted on a tripod. Basically, the level consists of several components such as telescope, air telescopic 'focusing screw, etc. which is shown in Diagram 1

Photograph 1- Tilling level.

a. Telescope b. Air bubble tube c. Bubble mirror d. Pivot and spindle e. Eyepiece lens f. Telescopic horizontal axis g. Telescopic focusing screw Diagram 1- Tilting level with main components. h. Round air bubble Levelling staff
i. Tilting screw

Levelling staff is an instrument used to determine the elevation Clamp screw The difference in of a point. j. value between two staff readings is the difference in elevation between two points. The last count on a levelling staff is 0.001 m. The metric length of staff available are in sizes of 3 m, 4 m or 5 m. I. Adjusting footscrew The levelling staff must be held upright or vertically to have an accurate reading taken. For that purpose, a staff bubble is used as shown in Photograph 2 while the levelling work in progress is captured in Photograph 3.
k. Telescopic base axis

Photograph 3- Levelling work in progress. Photograph 2- Levelling staff. The height of each graduation in E or the inverted E alphabet like shape and the distance between E and the inverted E is 0.050 m. Every graduation in E or the small square is 0.010 m as illustrated in Diagram 2. Parts of levelling staff is shown in Diagram 2(a). The reading observed through the telescopic level is shown in Diagram 2(b) is taken as 1.305 m which intersect with the cross hair.

Diagram 2 - Example of staff reading. Plumb bob Plumb bob is a cone-shaped weight suspended at the end of a string on a tripod. It is made of copper or brass. The plumb bob (Diagram 3) is used to centre the level or other surveying equipments at the survey station point.

Diagram 3- Level and plumb bob in position on a tripod.