Gold Coast Campus

Griffith University,
QLD 4222, Australia

14/09/2020

Integrated Design Project – Civil Engineering Design Assignment Brief

Students of Integrated Design Project 2020,

This brief provides the necessary information for your completion of the Civil Engineering
Design Assignment. Outlined below are the submission dates, project background,
expected itemised deliverables, design guidelines and marking criteria.

General Information:
This assignment is a group activity, with groups comprising of a maximum of 4 members.
A single hard copy submission is required for each group, with all members participating
in the design, drawing and reporting required to answer the assignment questions.
The assignment will represent a 25% weighting on the final course grade and will be
marked out of a total 100 possible marks, distributed as stated in this assignment brief.
The assignment will be due on the 9th October 2020 at 5:00pm (17:00).
Information from the civil engineering lectures should be utilised to assist in answering the
assignment questions. If required students should contact the Course Convener, Sanaul
Chowdhury, for questions or additional information.
The preliminary architectural and civil engineering drawings should be read in conjunction
with this assignment brief.
Project Background:
One of your clients is undertaking a concept design assessment of a proposed
development that will eventually involve a multi-storey residential building. The building
being proposed on the site is the same as the building you designed in your structural
assignment – you should therefore look back at the plans provided for your structural
assignment as reference for building and footprint areas. The client has asked you to
provide some preliminary civil design information to assist them with development costing
for the project. Your advice will be critical in helping your client understand what civil
engineering works are required to be constructed.
This important information will be used by your client to understand the cost of works, as
well as any opportunities or constraints that may be associated with the project. Your
client will expect a professional report, providing direct answers to the questions they have
given you as tasks, with explanations and justification of your design process and
assumptions for checking. As an appendix to your report your client will expect a complete
set of civil engineering sketches that summarise the design intent and provide clear,
concise and accurate details of your design. The drawings will be used by your client’s
estimators to develop a price for the development works and must therefore show all
necessary information.
Marking criteria:
This assignment is designed to simulate a “real world” situation. The tasks and challenges
put forward in this assignment are intended to give you a brief insight into a typical day at
the office for a consulting civil engineer.
You are expected to put yourself in the role of a professional civil engineer when
completing this assignment. You must deliver accurate and concise responses to the
realistic questions that have been put to you by the “Client”. In this process you are
expected to highlight issues, make recommendations and point out potential risks as you
discover them. You are expected to show professionalism, commercial awareness and
evidence of a value driven design approach. In addition to the 90 marks allowed for
meeting the requirements of the specific expectations there are 10 marks available for
assignments demonstrating an understanding of these key concepts.
There is no single correct outcome for this assignment. You are not expected to have the
same answers as your colleagues. You are expected to be creative yet practical. You are
expected to analyse the information provided, make reasonable assumptions where
necessary and present what you believe to be the best possible outcome for your client.
Your report must be prepared in a professional format (typed on A4 paper, cover page,
table of contents, appendices, etc.) and should follow the same order of the tasks that
have been provided. It should be written in a style that both engineers and non- engineers
could understand.
The body of your report must summarise your design process in a clear and concise
format. It should contain a brief summary of the calculations you have used in your design
process, as well as an explanation of any assumptions you have made. You must properly
reference the design guidelines and/or standards that you have used in your design
process. Your report must be appended by a set of A3 drawings. The drawings should
clearly explain the outcome of your design process. The drawings must be of a suitable
standard that they could be issued to sub-consultants for preparing quotes (i.e. include all
relevant quantities, materials, volumes, areas, lengths, fittings, etc.).
Your report must be typed. Your drawings should preferably be prepared using AutoCAD
software, or drawn by hand if they are very neat and legible (ruled and scaled correctly).
THE VOLUME OF A SUBMISSION IS NOT A MEASURE OF UNDERSTANDING. THE
MARKING WILL REFLECT DEMONSTRATED UNDERSTANDING.
Additional Note
You are encouraged to conduct your own external research to help you understand the
way in which civil engineering design drawings are presented by a professional consulting
firm. There are numerous sources of “standard drawings” for civil engineering works that
are available on the internet that will help you with this. Recommend reading includes:
 Gold Coast City Council Land Development Guidelines (or any other Local
Council)
 South East Queensland Water Supply and Sewerage Design and Construction
Code
 Infrastructure and Public Works Engineers Australia (IPWEA)
You are also encouraged to locate and review civil engineering drawings that have been
prepared by actual consulting firms.
Task 1 (APPROVALS PROCESS) (6 marks):
A. The client does not have any approvals in place for this proposed development.
The land site is currently zoned in a residential zone (RD7) under the City of Gold
Coast City Plan (2015) version 7.
The proposed development includes a new thirty (30) storey hotel containing 254
bedrooms.

You are required to review the relevant parts of the Gold Coast City Plan and give
your client some general advice on the necessary planning and construction
approvals that will be required to allow for the construction of the civil engineering
elements of the project. Your client has also asked you to prepare a program with
a timeline showing the types of approvals that would be required and the date
that the construction of the civil works would be permitted to commence
(assuming the application process commences at the due date of the
assignment).

You must clearly explain any assumptions you make about the planned and future
usage of the development and limitations on your advice.
(6 marks)
Task 2 (PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF EARTHWORKS / SITE GRADING) (30 marks):
A. You are required to prepare a preliminary earthworks design sketch based on the
architect’s site layout plan provided. You are required to label your grading
strategy and proposed finished spot levels for the entire site. As a major part of
the earthworks design you must set the finished floor level (FFL) for the ground
floor of the main building. You should assume that the entire zone marked as
“building pad” on the architect’s layout must be made flat for the new building to
be constructed. The FFL you determine will depend on two major constraints,
overland flow and retaining walls. These must be discussed in your report and
explained to your Client as you must expect that your client is not an engineer. A
summary of the things that you should consider include:

i. Demolition Plan and Schedule

Your client has purchased a site for development that has existing structures that
will require demolition prior to the commencement of building works. These
structures include buildings, pavements, and retaining walls. You are to prepare
a demolition plan and schedule for your client suitable for a demolition contractor
to price the works. You are required to present a demolition plan showing hatched
or coloured areas for different structure types (i.e. building, pavement or retaining
wall) and a schedule of demolition. (Hint: You only need to provide the area of
each item in plan)
ii. Overland Flow Assessment
The client and architect have already identified the fact that a portion of the site
currently directs overland stormwater runoff toward the location of the proposed
building and carpark. You have been asked to make sure that you design an
overland flow path that diverts stormwater away from the building and carpark
areas. You must check and demonstrate that stormwater runoff in a major event
will not flood the building or carpark (i.e. you must divert the entire catchment
around the building areas) with suitable safety measures in place. You must
review the site survey thoroughly and determine the likely catchment area that will
drain towards your building area, including areas within the site, and external to
the site boundary.
You must provide the client with enough information to understand how to build
the overland flow path diversion(s) you design, this would include earthworks
levels and cross sections of the channel. You must also provide a summary of
your calculations that demonstrate achievement of all the relevant objectives. If
the surface of the channel (i.e. plants or concrete) is critical to achieve the
hydraulic performance of the channel, you must obviously give this advice. Your
overland flow path must be checked for flow hazard and safety in this process.
Any flow paths that exceed an allowable level of hazard due to water depth and/or
velocity must be either avoided or properly treated.
iii. Retaining Walls
Your earthworks design will need to assess the entire site and identify where
earthworks batters are proposed to achieve a change in surface levels, and/or
where retaining walls are required. So that your Client can provide an accurate
tender price, you have been asked to clearly label the lengths, heights and spot
levels of all required retaining walls and/or earth batters (as required). Your Client
has reminded you that retaining walls are a high cost item compared to
earthworks batters. As such, the Client will expect you to justify the value achieved
by using any retaining walls you propose and explain why a less expensive
alternative could not be adopted.
(20 marks)
B. You have been asked to provide detailed design spot levels and gradients for the
whole car park and vehicular movement areas. It is recommended that you
provide these detailed site levels on a separate plan to the bulk earthworks, as
more detail is required. The architect has told you that the stormwater runoff
should be directed away from all vehicle bays for convenience/usability purposes.
Surface runoff must also grade away from the building. An inverted road crown
may be used to drain the car park aisles toward stormwater drainage
infrastructure.
The car park grading plan needs to provide enough information to give the Client
a general idea as to how to construct the carpark, what the ultimate surface
gradients will be, and where all stormwater runoff landing on the car park will be
directed. The client wishes to ensure that the development of the site provides
equitable access provisions for all future users, including disabled persons. The
architects plan has not identified any areas for disabled parking / access and you
have been asked to recommend areas with suitable surface gradients and access
provisions to the new building.
In the process of grading the car park you must also make assumptions /
recommendations regarding pedestrian access to the new building from the car
park areas and confirm that your design complies with the relevant requirements.
(6 marks)

C. The cost of imported earthworks fill material is a significant expense that the client
wishes to minimise. Exporting spoil is also costly, however not as significant as
importation. Ideally, the client would like a “cut/fill balance” without any external
movement of material. You are required to approximate the earthworks cut and
fill volumes that are required to achieve your design levels from the existing
surface and advise how much earthworks material you estimate will need to be
either imported or exported from the site.
You will need to justify the need for any import or export of material and provide
an explanation if a cut/fill balance cannot be achieved. A table with at least 10
columns representing the full site should be presented to show which part of the
site is in cut and which is in fill. A geotechnical engineer has told you to expect
100mm of topsoil across the whole site. A structural engineer has advised you
that a 300mm thick allowance for slab and bedding will be required to support the
new building. You will need to consider your pavement thickness from Task 4.
(4 marks)
Task 3 (STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN) (8 marks):
A. A stormwater management plan has not been prepared for the project at this stage
of the development. You must ensure that an appropriate area is assigned for the
construction of a vegetated stormwater quality improvement device that is of a
suitable size to achieve the relevant water quality objectives of the City of Gold
Coast City Plan.

The proposed stormwater quality improvement device must be properly

incorporated into your earthworks, car park grading and stormwater drainage
design plans. You must provide details of levels and dimensions, including
batters/retaining walls as required to make the device work.

You have been given advice from a geotechnical engineer who has undertaken a
number of tests around the site. He has provided a detailed report of the existing
soil profile, indicating that the soil over the entire site is generally ‘Sandy Loam’.

The stormwater device must have a suitable area assigned for water quality
treatment AND a suitable volume for on-site detention to comply with the Initial
Basin Sizing Method under QUDM. You may use the deemed to comply
provisions of the City of Gold Coast City Plan for Stormwater Quality.

(8 marks)
Task 4 (PAVEMENT DESIGN) (6 marks):
A. You are required to undertake a preliminary flexible pavement design for the new
car park. You have been given advice from a geotechnical engineer who has
undertaken a number of tests around the site. He has provided a detailed report
of the existing subgrade strength, showing that that the existing subgrade
demonstrates a CBR of 4 % at test location 1 and 8% at test location 2. You are
to prepare a flexible pavement design that is suitable for the existing site
conditions. You may either provide one pavement design that is suitable for the
total site or provide two separate designs and nominate the area that each design
is applicable to.
(4 marks)

B. You should provide a value assessment outlining benefits and/or risks to

support your recommendation
(2 marks)

To do your design, it is recommended that you utilise the City of Gold Coast design charts.
You will need to explain the limitations caused by any assumptions you make in this
design process. (Hint: you should remember to consider your pavement thickness in your
earthworks volume calculations!)
Task 5 (STORMWATER DRAINAGE NETWORK DESIGN) (22 marks):
A. You are required to provide a preliminary internal stormwater drainage network
design for the car park that is coordinated with your site grading. The stormwater
drainage system is to include inlet structures and underground pipework that are
designed to drain the minor storm event from the car park area, in accordance
with all relevant standards/guidelines. The proposed stormwater pipe beneath the
driveway access to the carpark should be design for major storm event flows, to
remove any overland flow over the driveway.

A preliminary layout of pipework and inlet structures has been provided, however
you are required to provide suitable sizes and levels for the infrastructure. The
architect has asked you to check and make sure that minor stormwater does not
pond in any of the car park spaces during the minor event, and that the major
stormwater is conveyed beneath the driveway.
You must give your Client enough information on a sketch plan to generally
understand how to construct and establish a price to build the stormwater
drainage system. You must also demonstrate in your report that the system
complies with the criteria of a minor and major drainage system where required.
Your design must include pipe sizes calculated to have capacity for the minor
storm event, with the exception of the crossing beneath the driveway designed
for the major storm event. The pipes must grade at compliant gradients and you
must prove that the pipework does not clash with any other services and has
adequate cover.
The proposed stormwater quality and quantity device should receive the majority
of flows from the site. Your stormwater drainage system must connect minor flow
to the existing stormwater gully pit that is located adjacent to the site in
Assignment Road (major flow is permitted to discharge via overland flow to the
Assignment Road road reserve) after passing through the stormwater quality and
quantity device. (Hint: make sure your piped drainage system includes the
stormwater quality improvement device!)
(16 marks)

B. You are required to check that the existing stormwater gully pit and discharge
pipe has sufficient capacity to convey the full flow rate of the minor storm event.
You may assume that the road gully pit upstream of the connection point fully
captures the minor storm event, that the gully pit inlet is sufficient to capture the
stormwater and that the only contributing catchments to the connection gully pit
are the development site and the applicable area of Assignment Road (including
the verge). If the existing pipe size is insufficient to serve as a discharge point for
the site, you must identify this and provide a brief scope of works for the required
upgrade (enough to allow your Client to obtain quotes).
You must advise your Client of any assumptions that you make in these
calculations. If there is any risk that your Client will need to upgrade the external
pipework, it is your responsibility to highlight this as it could involve large costs.
(6 marks)
Task 6 (SEWER CONNECTION DESIGN) (12 marks):
A. You are required to provide a preliminary sewer connection design. The Client
has a hydraulic consultant on the project team who is designing all the internal
sewer pipework for the actual building. You are only required to provide a design
for the infrastructure that connects the new building to a suitable point of
connection to the existing infrastructure shown on the survey provided. You must
show the new pipework invert levels, size, type, and grade. You must prove that
the pipework does not clash with any other services and has adequate cover.
(2 marks)

B. For calculating the sewer pipe capacity, you must use the South East Queensland
Water Supply and Sewerage Design and Construction Code (The SEQ Code) to
calculate the actual development sewer flow demands based on the architect’s
building proposal (from your structural assignment). You must also undertake
hydraulic calculations to confirm that the pipe performs as per the SEQ Code
design criteria in terms of operational depth and velocity. Do not use any simplistic
look-up charts to size the sewer pipe, as these tend to be conservative and over-
size the sewer pipe requirements.
(6 marks)

C. Provide a comment as to how the actual sewer demand for the development
compares to the sewer demand that has been planned for this site by the local
government. Comment also regarding the capacity of the existing sewer pipe and
whether you would expect your Client to be responsible for any upgrades of the
pipework immediately downstream.
(4 marks)
Task 7 (WATER CONNECTION DESIGN) (6 marks):
A. You are required to provide a preliminary water connection design. The new water
line is to provide a suitable point of connection for the new building, tapped from
the existing infrastructure shown on the survey provided. You must show the
pipework fittings, size, levels and grade. Ensure that the pipework does not clash
with any other services and has adequate cover.
(2 marks)

B. The Client has a hydraulic consultant on the project team who is designing all the
internal water pipework for the actual building. You are only required to provide a
design for the pipe that connects the new building to the existing main in the
street. The hydraulic consultant has figured out that a feed of 10L/s is required to
supply the domestic and fire supply tanks that will located on the ground floor.
You are required to provide a suitably sized pipe to achieve this flow rate at an
operating pressure of 220kPa at the ground floor of the building area.
To help you with your design a flow and pressure test has been undertaken at the
water main in the street. This has indicated that the pressure in the main on
Assignment Road has approximately 30m of head at the tested flow rates. This
main is located approximately 1.5m deep. You must use this information to size
the water connection. If the pressure in the water main is inadequate to provide
the required flow and pressure you must identify this issue as it will have cost
implications on your Clients tender (i.e. you may need to upgrade the main in the
street).
You are free to use any equation you have learnt in university to undertake this
calculation. It would also be acceptable to use the methods given in
AS3500.1:2003.
(4 marks)
Project Summary:
To summarise the Civil Design assignment, it is your Client’s expectation that you will
provide a consolidated and concise Civil Engineering Design submission with the following
inclusions:
 Civil Engineering Design Report (including commentary on necessary approvals
and all design element calculations, assumptions and outcomes);
 Demolition Plan;
 Preliminary Bulk Earthworks Plan;
 Carpark Grading Plan;
 Stormwater Drainage Design Plan;
 Sewer and Water Services Connection Plan; and
 Any additional information your team deems necessary to include.