Future Construction Industry Trends | Page 47
Public Private Partnership (P3) - The partnership is based on a negotiated contract between a public
organization and a private company. Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Public relations -The professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other
organization or a famous person. Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Public works - (or internal improvements historically in the United States) are a broad category of
infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment,
and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings (municipal buildings,
schools, hospitals), transport infrastructure (roads, railroads, bridges, pipelines, canals, ports, airports),
public spaces (public squares, parks, beaches), public services (water supply, sewage, electrical grid,
dams), and other, usually long-term, physical assets and facilities. Though often interchangeable with
public infrastructure and public capital, public works does not necessarily carry an economic
component, thereby be ing a broader term. Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Quality - The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of
excellence of something. Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Quality Assurance - The maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by
means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production. Source:
www.businessdictionary.com
Quality control - A system of maintaining standards in manufactured products by testing a sample of
the output against the specification. Source: www.businessdictionary.com
Quantity Estimating - Accurate Quantity Surveys are the basis of budgeting, estimating and assessing
projects which includes evaluating the scope of work, labor, man-hours, equipment and material
required for each project adapted to the projects unique location and local conditions. It is imperative
to understand exact dimensions, forms and configurations of project elements of all project sizes.
Source: garoviBRIDGE
Quantity Take Off - A process in which BIM can be used to assist in the generation of accurate quantity
take-offs and cost estimates throughout the lifecycle of a project. This process allows the project team
to see the cost effects of their changes, during all phases of the project, which can help curb excessive
budget overruns due to project modifications. Specifically, BIM can provide cost effects of additions and
modifications, with potential to save time and money and is most beneficial in the early design stages of
a project. Source: http://bim.psu.edu
Radioactive materials - Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive
wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or
nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to most forms of life
and the environment, and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and
the environment. Radioactivity naturally decays over time, so radioactive waste has to be isolated and
confined in appropriate disposal facilities for a sufficient period of time until it no longer poses a hazard.
The period of time waste must be stored depends on the type of waste and radioactive isotopes. It can
range from a few days for very short-lived isotopes to millions of years for spent nuclear fuel. Current
major approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived
waste, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level waste, and deep burial or partitioning
/ transmutation for the high-level waste. Source: www.world-nuclear.org
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