Glossary entry

español term or phrase:

obra civil y edificación

inglés translation:

civil engineering works and building

Added to glossary by Nikki Graham
Feb 28, 2007 17:04
18 yrs ago
33 viewers *
español term

obra civil vs edificación

español al inglés Técnico/Ingeniería Construcción / Ingeniería civil
This question is really about understanding the difference between "obra civil" - which I thought meant "construction work" or "construction project" - and "edificación" - which I thought also meant "construction"... but as you can see in the following example, it seems they mean different things to a native Spanish speaker!
The sentence where they both appear is as follows: "Analizadas las ofertas se aprecia que A es más económica en los trabajos puros de obra civil y B lo es a su vez en los de edificación."
Any building specialists out there, please?

Discussion

guillermovh Jul 11, 2011:
The word civil is not related to the public as per the definition given by Wiley dictionary but has its origin in the contrast with military engineering. The civil engineering is thus the engineering of all kind of constructions for civil purposes (roads, bridges, etc.). Hence civil ENGINEERING works differs from public works which might or might not contain civil engineering activity. One should not use the word civil without engineering as it is a composed adjective: civil engineering school, CE works, CE projects, ….
Comunican (asker) Feb 28, 2007:
I found this definition for "civil works" - "all aspects of ground works,cable laying duct laying,tarmac,concrete,paving" though it was quite a dodgy website!
For "public works" I found "Public works is a slightly broader term, it can include such things as: mines, schools, hospitals, water purification and sewage treatment centers. It is often used interchangeably with municipal infrastructure, e.g. urban infrastructure which is often, in big-city contexts, just called infrastructure."

This makes me veer toward "civil works" but the question is: would civil works be right for a private housing development?? I guess so!
Comunican (asker) Feb 28, 2007:
You all seem to be saying the same thing, basically, which is encouraging! The distinction you make does make sense - thank you!

Proposed translations

16 horas
Selected

civil engineering works and building

public works, according to the Penguin Civil engineering dictionary, is civil engineering construction, so it is clearly a possiiblity to say public works. However, texts oten talk about "obra civil" and "obra publica" (sorry, no accents), clearly differentiating between the two. (Please see some Google examples), so personally I would not be happy translating "obra civil" by public works.

This page gives you an idea of what civil work covers:

http://www.babcock.co.uk/index.cfm/recordid.27/operatingco.2...

And again:

Simpson's provide all aspects of civil engineering works, which include:construction, roadworks, groundworks,
excavations, water mains, drainage, sewers, water treatment works, reservoir refurbishment.

http://www.simpsoncivil.co.uk/


A construction project (obra) usually always involves some civil engineering work (probably drainage and sewerage in your case), as well as the building work itself.

According to the same dictionary cited above, building (definition 2) means the act of creating a building

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 hrs (2007-03-01 09:35:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Found a good definition for public works from the Wiley dictionary of Civil Engineering: works owned by the members of a community for their collective benefit and enjoyment, constructed and maintained from tax revenues.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to everyone who helped with this. Very much appreciated. In the end; Nikki Graham's answer seemed the most appropriate given that this is a housing development project and not the construction of a public infrastructure project. So, I may have chosen wrongly, but in the end, I went for "civil engineering works" (referring to the infrastructure aspects of the project) and "building". Great work everyone - what would I do without you?! Saludos"
+5
9 minutos

public works vs construction of buildings

...public works - roads, bridges, dams, etc
Peer comment(s):

agree BristolTEc : "public works" is better than "civil works"
3 minutos
thanks, BristolTec
agree patricia scott
6 minutos
thanks, patricia
agree Aïda Garcia Pons (X) : Civil, del ciudadano, similar a la definición de "arquitectura civil. Ejemplos de obras civiles: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingeniería_civil y http://www.chili.com.mx/ir.php?site=35e9d1ada8760909 Edificación se refiere a la construcción de edificios.
16 minutos
thanks, Aida
agree Lydia De Jorge
2 horas
thanks, Lydia
agree Tim Jenkins
13 horas
thanks, Tim
Something went wrong...
+2
10 minutos

civil works vs. building

I think your "obra civil" relates to infrastructure type construction - roads, pavements, lighting, sewerage - those sorts of things and "edificación" - building or construction of the buildings themselves
Peer comment(s):

agree Sandra Holt : This would be my choice definitely.
13 minutos
Many thanks
agree Nikki Graham
15 horas
Thanks Nikki
Something went wrong...
11 minutos

A suggestion

I'm no building expert!! My first thought was that obra civil meant including work such as laying roads whereas edificación meant purely putting up buildings, but then I found:-
Edificar - edify, improve, uplift, ennoble.
Hope this helps!!
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Búsqueda de términos
  • Trabajos
  • Foros
  • Multiple search