Construction Technologies Theory at QLS Level 3

Health, Safety and Welfare in Construction and the Built Environment

• Health, safety and welfare are of paramount importance to any organisation operating within the construction industry. The Health and Safety Executive’s annual league table of fatal injuries shows the construction sector consistently tops the table.
• The UK and European Union have created a legal framework for prosecuting employers and employees who disregard health, safety and welfare legislation.
• To reduce the significant accident record in construction, employers must formulate workplace safety policies. These must address the hazards, risks, policies, the organisational and control arrangements required to promote health, safety and welfare, and be communicated to all parties.
• The unit will provide learners with knowledge and understanding of the legal framework relating to employer and employee responsibilities.
• An understanding of the principal causes of typical accidents and the associated costs of these will be developed, and learners will explore the methods used to identify workplace hazards in construction, together with the strategies used to control them including the use of risk assessments and monitoring and review procedures. Learners will become familiar with the roles and responsibilities of personnel and with the procedures required following the occurrence of accidents.

Science and Materials in Construction and the Built Environment

• Two important functions of a building are the provision of shelter and the creation of a comfortable space in which to live or work. To achieve this, it is necessary to know and understand the materials used to construct the building, the basic concepts that underpin the structural integrity of the building, and the design of the internal spaces that comprise the building.
• The occupants of a building require a comfortable internal environment, and there are several key factors that contribute to this. There are generally accepted ranges for these factors, and an understanding of what is acceptable to a variety of different end-users undertaking a variety of tasks and activities is an essential requirement of good design.
• The forces that act on buildings, the stresses generated by these forces, and the effects of these stresses on the materials used to construct the building are also explored.
• Materials may be used for their structural properties, or for their insulating properties; others conduct heat and/or electricity.
• Learners will have the opportunity to investigate some of the typical materials used in their specific vocational pathway, including the identification of the most important materials, a basic understanding of how these are extracted, harvested or manufactured, their key properties and uses, the mechanisms that cause them to deteriorate and the techniques used to prevent such deterioration.

Construction Technology and Design in Construction and Civil Engineering

• Modern developments in construction technology and materials have enabled us to create more efficient and complex structures. The ability to design, plan and communicate these ideas effectively is essential if a project is to be translated from an idea into reality.
• This unit will encourage learners to develop their understanding of the design process, and to recognise the contribution of other members of the design team. Planning and organisation of design activities is related to the decision making process and the likely outcomes of decisions taken by the team within a legal framework should be considered in the wider social context, rather than simple subjective preferences.
• This unit will enable learners to cope with the requirements of construction related projects as they pass through various stages from design to construction including the implications of changes and variations in the design. Learners will develop their ability to produce clear drawings of construction components, coupled with succinct and accurate explanations that specify to builders the exact characteristics of relevant construction details. Use of scale, proportion and appropriate description is expected of all successful learners.
• Learners will be able to use appropriate design and planning procedures to specify and communicate requirements for the technical components of buildings to other team members involved in a construction project.

At the end of this course successful learners will be given the option to receive a Certificate of Achievement from the Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the components the learner has completed as part of the course).

The course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme.  This means that Kendal Publishing Ltd has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet defined quality criteria. The completion of this course alone does not lead to a regulated qualification* but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills gained. The Learner Unit Summary may be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this subject. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 3 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner.

The course itself has been designed by Kendal Publishing Ltd to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications.   The Quality Licence Scheme endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met.  A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through our awarding organisations we have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. We are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Our knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables us to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

*Regulated qualification refers to those qualifications that are regulated by Ofqual / CCEA / Qualification Wales

Paper Based Version

The course comes to you as a paper-based pack delivered by courier.

You will be given guidance through the Study Guide on the nuts and bolts of studying and submitting assignments.

Postal assignments cannot be accepted without prior permission from the tutor.

Online Version

Our online courses are fully digitised versions of the paper-courses, so you can study on any PC or smart device when connected to the internet.

As with the paper course, your online learning programme is completely flexible, so you can study at a pace that suits you.

All of our online course content is broken down into bite size chunks to make your learning more manageable and effective.

The course contains a number of assignments which your tutor will mark and give you valuable feedback on. We call these Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs). You need only send the TMAs to your tutor for comment, not the self-assessment exercises which are also part of the course to help you gauge your progress.

This course can be taken over a 12 month period but you can complete it as fast or as slowly as you wish.

You will have access to a tutor via email who will mark your work and guide you through the course and will assist you with any problems you may have. In addition you will be supplied with a comprehensive Study Guide which will help you through the study and assessment process.