Kerrigan Sheanon Newman (KSN) is one of the largest and most successful quantity surveying, cost consulting and project management companies in Ireland, we have led from the front for over 25 years. We are an entirely Irish owned company offering proactive, real solutions and value for money.
Background to Projects
Client: Various Property Developers
Product used: MudShark Earthworks
Project: New Housing Developments
Value: €20M – €50M
Estimated Time Saved: 70-80%
Over the last few years, the level of activity within the construction sector has increased quite significantly. This has largely been driven by an increase in the house building sector in particular, as the industry attempts to meet the increased demand for homes in the Dublin and surrounding commuter areas.
As a result of this, KSN have become involved in a number of large-scale housing developments on green field sites. These developments consist of house unit quantities ranging from 70 up to 200. Many of the developers involved are working hand in hand with The National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) and so all schemes have had to go through a rigourous cost approval process.
KSN Contributions
The role of KSN so far has been to prepare detailed cost plans for each scheme so as to enable the developers to seek cost approval from NAMA. Given the scale of each development and the number of housing units to be delivered, the site preparation or cut and fill element of the cost plans represented a significant portion of the costs.
Traditionally calculating the cut and fill quantities for such development sites would be a highly labour intensive process that would require a week or more to complete. The accuracy of the final results would also be questionable.
To combat this KSN has invested in a number of licences for the Mudshark Earthworks software. The benefits of Mudshark include a reduction in time and resources required, coupled with a much more accurate outcome.
KSN have achieved further efficiencies through the ability of Mudshark to adjust project inputs such as site finish levels, topsoil thickness and sub-base build-ups below proposed hard and soft surfaces.
On many of the sites underlying bedrock is a particular risk. With detailed borehole information, Mudshark has also enabled KSN to calculate a much more accurate quantity of existing rock excavation required to achieve the desired finished levels.
Making the Difference
Quantity Surveyors must have orderly and analytical minds and be prepared to work to very rigid time schedules. Decisions involving large sums of money are often made using information produced by them, and reports must be accurate in all aspects of their works.
Finding the right tools are part of the challenge for a Quantity Surveyor and MudShark fitted this role perfectly. MudShark fulfilled the need to provide technical data in the form of quantities in a fast and efficient manner. Its simplistic methods of obtaining accurate quantities enhance our roles as industry leading construction cost consultants to our valued clients.
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