In this guide
Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
The method statement is the final and smallest section. Candidates often omit it under time pressure, losing early marks that are among the easiest to obtain.
Writing a brief construction sequence
The guidance allows around thirty minutes and asks for simple descriptions. Use a bulleted sequence covering site set-up, investigation, construction and completion.
Site set-up may include clearance, hoarding, surveys and survey stations, safety signs, a compound, hard standing, access and temporary services. Investigation includes existing services, diversions or capping, obstructions, special pre-construction work and confirmation of ground assumptions.
Addressing the proposed scheme
Tailor the sequence to the design:
- For precast or modular construction, cover craneage, deliveries and temporary stability before connection.
- For transfer structures, cover propping and the conditions for striking it.
- For post-tensioning, cover stressing sequence, exclusions and required strength gain.
- For top-down or basement work, cover propping, dewatering and excavation alongside permanent works.
- For a live building, road or rail possession, explain how the restriction affects the sequence.
Two or three well-explained scheme-specific activities can show more understanding than extensive generic site set-up.
Including safety at each activity
Record the relevant control with the work. Examples include *"erect the perimeter scaffold with edge protection before slab construction begins"*, *"exclusion zone during stressing"* and *"temporary bracing to the first bay before the crane is released"*.
A sequence that covers the ground
- 01
Site set-up
Clear the site and secure it, survey and establish stations, health and safety signage, compound and hard standing, access road and storage, temporary services.
- 02
Site investigation and enabling works
Locate existing above and below ground services and cap or divert them, check for obstructions, carry out any special pre-construction requirements, and verify that ground conditions match your design assumptions.
- 03
Substructure
Excavation and support, dewatering if needed, piling or foundation construction, and the sequence in which the ground is worked: this is where most scheme-specific risk sits.
- 04
Superstructure, in your scheme's own order
The erection or pour sequence, temporary stability at each stage, craneage and deliveries, propping and when it may be struck. These are the activities that earn the marks.
- 05
Completion
Removal of temporary works, testing and commissioning where relevant, and reinstatement. Keep it short.
Writing it in thirty minutes
Look for
- Use a bulleted sequence, not prose
- Attach the safety measure to the activity it belongs to
- Include the activities only your scheme needs
- Say when temporary works can be struck, and why
- Start it even if you are behind: the first marks come quickly
Watch for
- Write a generic construction sequence
- Spend the whole section on site set-up
- Separate health and safety into an appendix
- Describe activities that belong to a scheme you did not choose
- Write at length: the instructions ask for simple descriptions
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.