Site layout

The process units and ancillary buildings should be laid out to give the most economical flow of materials and personnel around the site. Hazardous processes must be located at a safe distance from other buildings. Consideration must also be given to the future expansion of the site. The ancillary buildings and services required on a site, in addition to the main processing units (buildings), will include  

Storages for raw materials and products tank farms and warehouses. 

Utilities steam boilers, compressed air, power generation, refrigeration, transformer 

Canteens and other amenity buildings, such as medical centres. 

The location of the principal ancillary buildings should then be decided. They should be arranged so as to minimise the time spent by personnel in travelling between buildings. Administration offices and laboratories, in which a relatively large number of people will be working, should be located well away from potentially hazardous processes. Control rooms will normally be located adjacent to the processing units, but with potentially hazardous processes may have to be sited at a safer distance. 

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Relative Ranking (DOW Fire and Explosion and Chemical Exposure Index) to evaluate siting/layout considerations... 

It might be assumed that if an examination of the plant layout is being carried out, the future plans, as they affect the site layout, will be known. This is not always the case therefore, management should be questioned at the beginning of the project. Particular attention should be paid to hazardous substances that may be used on the site, and the health and safety document should be consulted. 

The data needed to plan the site layout are shown in the form of a questionnaire in Figure 7.1. 

After the site layout has been determined, the layout of equipment inside the buildings will need to be considered. Details of the individual items of equipment will be needed, and Figure 7.2 lists the required information in the form of a questionnaire. 

For each of the criteria a two-star rating difference between an activity and an adjacent activity is taken to indicate incompatibility. Activities that are hazardous, dirty, noisy or needing good access to the entry/exit gate are consequently rated with many stars. In the site layout they should not be located near other activities with fewer stars because they could adversely affect that activity. However, an activity that is not critical and has a low star rating may be located next to an activity with many stars. 

Site layout realization 7/79 Decreasing traffic density... 

Material, traffic and people are involved, and the constraints on internal layouts will be different to those for site layouts but will not affect the design process. The constraints will include organization of the factory work tasks, which may involve trade practices and the type of organization adopted for the control of the process equipment. This is discussed in Section 7.2. 

The site layout needs to be presented to management, union, staff and possibly others to obtain approval, and the design procedure described here, together with visualization, will assist the presentation. 

Photographs of the proposed site are useful and a site layout drawing is needed, but a perspective artistic impression showing buildings with architectural facades, vehicles and other site activities improves the presentation. Employing three-dimensional models discussed in Section 7.3 helps communication and allows layout options to be easily demonstrated and discussed. 

There is a wide range of pneumatic, vibratory, belt or en-masse type elevators and conveyors for transfer of coal from storage to boiler. The final scheme depends on site layout constraints and cost. 

A comprehensive discussion of site layout is given by Mecklenburgh (1985) see also House (1969), Kaess (1970) and Meissner and Shelton (1992). 

Meats, R.B. Plant Site, Layout Minimize Corrosion, Chemical Engineering, Jan. 11, 1960, p. 144. 

Modern site layouts require sufficient separation of plants within the site to minimize risks of multiple exposures. 

How does your site layout and infrastructure compare to that of the reference case ... 

A formal constructability VIP workshop conducted in the conceptual phase (FEL-I) should focus on the overall project construction strategies regarding site layout, construction and turnaround laydown areas, access to the site for large equipment and modules, modularization, sequencing of heavy lifts, limitations regarding procurement, limitations regarding fabrication and transport, area labor limitations, and coordination with any existing or nearby structures or facilities. 

Acts of God, earthquake, arson, flood, typhoon, force majeure Site layout factors, groups of people, transport features, space limitations, geology, geography... 

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