Have you ever had to provide accurate costs for a new supermarket or a pub "just an idea...a ballpark figure..." ? The earlier a pricing decision has to be made, the more difficult it is to estimate the cost and the more likely the design and the specs are to change. And yet a rough-and-ready estimate is more likely to get set in stone. Spon's First Stage Estimating Handbook is the only comprehensive and reliable source of first stage estimating costs. Covering the whole spectrum of building costs and a wide range of related M&E work and landscaping work, vital cost data is presented as: costs per square metre elemental cost analyses principal rates composite rates. Compact and clear, Spon's First Stage Estimating Handbook is ideal for those key early meetings with clients. And with additional sections on whole life costing and general information, this is an essential reference for all construction professionals and clients making early judgements on the viability of new projects.

Now in its 41st edition, Spon's External Works and Landscape Price Book 2022 offers the only comprehensive source of information for detailed external works and landscape costs. It covers all the items to be found in hard and soft landscape contracts, and forms an indispensable reference book for quantity surveyors, landscape architects, contractors and local authority managers - essential for compiling estimates, specifications, bills of quantities and works schedules - no matter what the size of the project being undertaken. The 2022 edition includes new stainless-steel products including: ventilation grilles; handrails; LED handrails; in ground power units; stainless steel bollards; stainless steel warning strips and studs and access covers. Also, an extended range of inspection chambers, new podium specialist soils and a new formwork system, as well as two new Cost Models, one for podiums and another for landscape maintenance. All the standard features that you expect from SPON'S EXTERNAL WORKS AND LANDSCAPE PRICE BOOK remain: - material and measured work prices covering contract items from preliminaries and site clearance and encompassing the core external works activities with full breakdowns into labour, materials and other components - detailed guidance on wage rates, landscape consultants' fee scales - an extensive Approximate Estimates section for rapid spot estimating - updates, free of charge, twice a year - see inside for registration details. Updates are available online at www.pricebooks.co.uk Use the access code inside the front cover of the book to get set up with an ebook of this 2022 edition on the VitalSource(R) Bookshelf platform, available for access and use until the end of December 2022.

Landscape architects, design professionals and contractors alike require a good working knowledge of how to achieve plant establishment under a variety of conditions and situations. Overlooking the physiological needs of plants can lead to potential problems that can have negative financial and design impacts. Plants and Planting on Landscape Sites is a practical book giving practitioners in landscape design the essential horticultural knowledge and concepts needed to understand the limits of the material they are working with and make informed decisions. From specification to supervision, this book provides concrete advice along with practical examples for each stage of a typical project. It contains sections on: the landscape site; selecting, assessing and purchasing plants; understanding nursery practice; forms and types of transplant traded; seeds and direct seeding; pre-planting site work; transplanting; and care in the establishment phase. Specially commissioned high quality line diagrams and full colour photographs are used throughout to demonstrate meaning and give examples. Peter Thoday is an experienced consultant, international lecturer in landscape management, and past president of The Institute of Horticulture, who has had numerous roles in high-profile projects, such as Horticultural Director of the Eden Project. Written by an expert, this book is as an essential tool for landscape architects, project managers, contractors and nursery managers.

Landscape Construction Volume 1 deals with elements of landscape construction which are required to provide enclosure, privacy, demarcation of land, shelter and security. The elements discussed include free-standing brick and stone walls, fences, gates and railings. Fittings and finishes are also covered. Each section describes the materials, construction and constraints relevant to the subject and a large number of detailed figures and photographs supplement the text and help to illustrate the more important aspects. There is also a section on preservation treatment and painting. The current British Standard references are included.

Spon's Asia Pacific Construction Costs Handbook includes construction cost data for twenty countries. This new edition has been extended to include Pakistan and Cambodia. Australia, UK and America are also included, to facilitate comparison with construction costs elsewhere. Information is presented for each country in the same way, as follows: key data on the main economic and construction indicators. an outline of the national construction industry, covering structure, tendering and contract procedures, materials cost data, regulations and standards labour and materials cost data measured rates for a range of standard construction work items approximate estimating costs per unit area for a range of building types price index data and exchange rate movements against £ sterling, $US and Japanese Yen. The book also includes a Comparative Data section to facilitate country-to-country comparisons. Figures from the national sections are grouped in tables according to national indicators, construction output, input costs and costs per square metre for factories, offices, warehouses, hospitals, schools, theatres, sports halls, hotels and housing. This unique handbook will be an essential reference for all construction professionals involved in work outside their own country and for all developers or multinational companies assessing comparative development costs.

Professional landscapers and all those involved in creating green spaces have long been in need of a book that is a guide to plant specification, but also makes sense of plants and their cultivation. Plant User Handbook is for practitioners who are professionally engaged in the use of plants in public, commercial and institutional landscapes. Planting schemes are undertaken on the basis of a binding contract – generally between the client (who owns or leases the landscape) and the implementer (the landscape contractor), with the designer acting both as specifier and contract administrator. Within this contractual relationship, planting schemes must be implemented to an agreed timetable. To manage this procedure efficiently, landscape designers and managers need quick access to the factual and scientific background for practical planting design and its implementation through specification writing and contracts. The book covers over 20 well defined topics, and is written by leading experts in the industry. It is arranged into five sections: Preliminaries to plant use and the landscape Managing plant growth on landscape sites Establishment and management of trees Establishment and management of smaller woody plants Establishment and management of herbaceous plants Carefully illustrated with diagrams, black and white photographs and colour plates, this handbook provides a unique resource for professionals wanting to improve their specification skills, as well as to explore creative approaches to design and practical implementation.