SITE SELECTION PLANNING

SITE SELECTION PLANNING


Site selection planning is a body of knowledge that covers both the architectural and planning aspect of land selection and utilization. It combines two main processes
1. Site selection
2. site planning

Site selection: is a critical step of the overall site acquisition process. It is an excellent resource for the complete site acquisition process, including information on appraisals, negotiation, title, closing, and condemnation.

Site selection is the act of choosing a suitable land space within a particular geographical area for the purpose of utilization in terms of building construction, provision of facilities, and infrastructural development purposes.
It involve considering the below factors in order to achieve a suitable site for the proposed purpose.

• Unusual topography
• Excessive gradient
• Special habitat
• Extreme vulnerability
• Difficulty of acquisition
• Poor ground
• Incompatible development
• Pollution
• Lack of access
Reconnoitre which is an art of blocking out the above factors on the site using a computer system; the selected and suitable site is left.
Apart from the above conditions to be considered, the analysis of the site should also be carried out to include the consideration of the following factors;
• Topography /slope/gradient
• Climatology
• Vegetation
• Wind direction
• Sunlight
• Soil { drainage, erosion, and bearing capacity}



SITE PLANNING


Site planning is said to be the art and science of arranging structures on the land and shaping the spaces between. It is an art linked with architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and city planning. It is also the organization of the external physical environment to accommodate human behaviour. It deals with the qualities and locations of structures, land, activities and living things. It creates a pattern of those elements in space and time, which will be subject to continuous future management and change. It is practical in nature and its aim is moral and aesthetic, and also to make places which enhances everyday life. This is usually achieved with professional skills which ease one with the familiarity of one with the behaviour setting, grading, planting, drainage, circulation, microclimate, and survey. It is sometimes done simultaneously with the design of the building.
Site planning may be a hurried layout in which details are left to chance; it can also be cursory subdivision, to which buildings will be added later; or a last minute effort to fit a previously designed building on a small piece of land.

The stages involved in achieving a planned site include;
1. Problem definition
2. Programming and site land uses analysis
3. Developed design and design cost estimation
4. Contract documentation
5. Biding and contracting
6. Construction
7. Occupation and managemenT

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

This is the process by which the land to be planned is subjected to some critical questions in order to know
• Who to plan for?
• For what purpose is it designed?
• The taste of the client?
• Resources to be used?
• How the final structure is expected to be?
• In what location will it be built?
The decision is fashioned according to the limits and the possibilities which the initiator of the project sees before him. Commonly, the problem is determined by the client before the site designer is brought in. In this case, designer is responsible for seeing that the problem has been explicitly set out, that its part are internally consistent (sufficient resources, solution appropriate to purpose, adequate site, etc.) and that he can in conscience work for the clients and purpose given.


3.1.2 PROGRAMING AND ANALYSIS OF SITE AND ITS USERS


After the first step have been carried out, the planner then proceed by analyzing the site and the future use and the users.
Analysis of the site begins with a personal reconnaissance. This permits a grasp of the essential character of the place and allows the planner to become familiar with its features. This continues to a systematic data collection which may follow some standard list. Information such as the topographic base map is almost always required. Some data are gathered early or later during the process due to their relevance and significance.
The site is purposely analyzed for its fitness for the purpose of plan, and so it will be seen differently by people who are considering different uses for it. The planner must see the plan as a community with its own interest that may if ignored respond in unsettling ways to any reorganization. The planner ends the analysis with a graphic summary, which communicates the fundamental character of the place, as well as how it will most likely respond to the proposed intervention.
The planner can decide to talk directly with the people who will use the new place. These people themselves may participate in the design for an effective planning. Sometimes when the future users are not known, complex, conflicting, an indirect method of study may be use.

A detailed programming can then be carried out after analysis has been carried out. This has always been a perfunctory affair. This program is the first act of design. It is built in a dialogue between the client and the designer, based on the knowledge of sit and user, and expressed in diagrams and verbal statements. It is the proposed outcome, a hypothesis of how the design will work when finally occupied, an understanding of what the client will receive for his outlay and what the designer promises to deliver. The program changes as design proceeds, but the changes can then be made explicitly.


3.1.2 SCHEMATIC DESIGN AND PRELIMINARY COST ESTIMATE


Design is the imaginative creation of possible form and this is usually done in many ways. It develops cloud of possibilities, both fragments and whole systems, in places vague, in others precise, in a state of mind which alternate between childish suggestibility and stern criticism. It is a dialogue between the designer and the growing, shifting forms that he is developing. Design consists of imagining the pattern of activity, circulation, and physical form, as they will occur in some particular place. It is expressed in freely drawn plans, section, and activity diagrams, and also in sketch views and rough models. Here the program is redefined and the site and its users reanalyzed.
After the design of the plan, a rough cost is estimate is made for the plan. Plans and costs are linked to a revised program. This plan and the rough cost are then given to the client for reviewing and deciding. The choice made by the client is founded on a prediction of future behaviour and performance, this will be confirmed only when the project is occupied.



3.1.3 DEVELOPED DESIGN AND DETAILED COSTING
After the choice has been picked by the client, the designer then proceeds to a detailed development of the plan. This will then allow for a more exact cost estimates and final client approval. Plan development produces an accurate site plan, showing the location of all buildings, roads, and paved surfaces, the planted areas, etc.
An accurate cost estimate is drawn up, covering both construction and maintenance. Program and construction schedule are adjusted to fit this detailed plan.
3.1.4 CONTRACT DOCUMENT
Once the detailed plan have been approved by the necessary authority, the site planner goes on to make the contract documents, it is on this that bid is based. These documents usually consist of precise layout of roads and structures, sufficient for their location by survey on the site, etc. Complete specification are drawn up, as well as the conditions of work and bid procedure. The document distinguishes the add-ons features that may not be part of the final contract and should be priced separately to allow a last-minute adjustment between budget and contract price.


3.1.5 BIDDING AND CONTRACTING
After the contract document has been prepared, the client now asks for bids by contractors. If there is an acceptable bid, the drawing specification becomes the contract document and construction begins. If the bids are not acceptable, the plan and the program must be reviewed once more.

3.1.6 CONSTRUCTION
This is done after an acceptable bid have been reached. During construction, the planner must be on site to supervise it. This supervision helps to ensure compliance and also to make detailed adjustment as unexpected problems and opportunities arise.

3.1.7 CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
The planner also helps to make a smooth transition between construction and management. The future managers of the site have already being involved in the creation of the program from the beginning; the planner should continue to consult with management as use of the site builds up a pattern and momentum of its own.

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
Also, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is also prepared. This usually contains the following:
• Description of project
• Description of site
• Description of the alternative consider
• Impact of the alternative
• Proposed plan
• Detailed impact of the proposed plan
• Mitigating actions
• Official and private reaction



REFFERENCES


1. SITE PLANNING BY KEVIN LYNCH AND GARY HACK
2. GOOGLE.COM
3. ANSWER.COM