Bookshelf
The book ‘Managing with the MMHW’ by Hamish Mitchell FCInstCES, is an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable read. It takes you from the history and background of the MMHW, the European Union’s influence and intervention, and through to the mechanics and practicalities of the MMHW and highway measurement. This will help practitioners and students alike understand highway measurement in a structured and discernible way.
With fewer university courses teaching measurement each year knowledge isn’t transferred as it was in previous years and the MMHW is not straightforward for those that may have used NRM2 or even SMM7 as the nature and extent of the work to be performed is not contained in the bill of quantities, but determined rather by referring to the drawings, specification, and conditions of contract. This book is an invaluable guide to those having to grasp the correct nature and use of the MMHW.
The first half of the book examines the mechanics of the MMHW and explains the background, history and development of it, the relationship of the MMHW to other documents, the EU and its influence, how the MMHW works, and unravelling item coverage and an explanation of the importance of the use of preambles. The second half of the book takes the reader through the practicalities of the MMHW – Series 100 to 600, and the practicalities of preliminaries, preparation and protection, and so on. This section of the book contains many case studies.
Managing with the MMHW is a very clear and lucidly written book. The structure of the book is very easy to follow, and Hamish Mitchell has a very engaging writing style. The first half of the book gives a good overview of the background, history, development and mechanics of the MMHW, and this aids the reader in understanding the second half of the book on the practical side of the MMHW more easily. Furthermore, the use of case studies in the second half of the book assists the reader in comprehending the practicalities of the MMHW and is an invaluable addition to the book.
In conclusion, this book is one that I highly recommend. It is useful for both experienced highway quantity surveyors and students. The misuse and misinterpretation of the measurement rules have been cleared up and corrected by Hamish Mitchell in this work. It is a well written and well researched book and should be on the shelf of every estimator and quantity surveyor that prices or manages highway contracts.