For the past 25 years, Joe Goldbloom and I have conducted a running debate over whether specifications writers engage in the unlawful practice of law. Joe's position is that lawyers have no business writing specifications, that being the designer's province. Having been given the honor to write this foreword, I have the opportunity for the last word, at least for now. Joe Goldbloom and I first met in 1964, while serving together on the ASCE Committee on Contract Administration. Joe became my teacher, mentor, and friend. Underlying our good natured debate was the serious issue of the technical qualifications required of a specifications writer. As a matter of fact, specifi cations writing traditionally has fallen in a crack between the two professions. Specifications writing typically is neither taught in engineering school nor in law school. Engineers are taught how to design; lawyers are taught how to draft contracts. Specifications writing requires mastery of the technical elements of design as well as the skills of contract drafting. Specifications writing is neither glamorous nor sexy; it is often viewed as a necessary evil of the designer's job.

Ying-Kit Choi details the guidelines, principles, and philosophy needed to produce design documents for heavy civil engineering projects.

The authoritative resource for the organization, preparation, use, and interpretation of construction documents encompassing the entire life cycle of a facility. This new edition considers the need for interdependent processes of design, construction and facility use. The Fifth Edition expands the scope of the manual to meet the requirements of all participants involved in a construction project in a stage-by-stage progression, including owners, A/Es, design-builders, contractors, construction managers, product representatives, financial institutions, regulatory authorities, attorneys, and facility managers. It promotes a team model for successful implementation.

Civil Engineering Materials explains why construction materials behave the way they do. It covers the construction materials content for undergraduate courses in civil engineering and related subjects and serves as a valuable reference for professionals working in the construction industry. The book concentrates on demonstrating methods to obtain, analyse and use information rather than focusing on presenting large amounts of data. Beginning with basic properties of materials, it moves on to more complex areas such as the theory of concrete durability and corrosion of steel. - Discusses the broad scope of traditional, emerging, and non-structural materials - Explains what material properties such as specific heat, thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity are and how they can be used to calculate the performance of construction materials. - Contains numerous worked examples with detailed solutions that provide precise references to the relevant equations in the text. - Includes a detailed section on how to write reports as well as a full section on how to use and interpret publications, giving students and early career professionals valuable practical guidance.