PENDEKATAN PENYELENGGARAAN

Pendekatan penyelenggaraan merupakan aktiviti terpenting bagi sesebuah bangunan lama yang telah siap dipulihara sebagai harta warisan. Walaubagaimanapun, pendekatan ini seringkali gagal diimplimentasikan sebaiknya sehingga memberi kesan terhadap prestasi dan fungsi sesebuah bangunan yang telah dipulihara itu. Berdasarkan tinjauan literatur, kelemahan dalam mengimplimentasikan pendekatan penyelenggaraan dengan baik adalah akibat daripada pengurusan tenaga kerja yang kurang cekap dan tidak terlatih. Sehubungan itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi ketidakcekapan tenaga kerja penyelenggaraan serta membincangkan langkah-langkah ideal sebagai rekomendasi kepada usaha penambahbaikan.

Penyenggaraan bukan sahaja penting dalam memastikan kondisi dan fizikal sesebuah bangunan lama itu dapat beroperasi dengan cekap dan selamat malah penyenggaraan juga merupakan aktiviti yang sangat penting dalam menentukan kelangsungan hayat bangunan tersebut untuk terus kekal bagi membolehkan ianya diwarisi oleh generasi yang akan datang. Keperluan kepada penyenggaraan tidak hanya tertakluk kepada pembaikan kerosakan yang berlaku tetapi lebih kepada kaedah pencegahan daripada berlakunya kerosakan. Menurut kajian terdahulu, penyenggaraan seringkali dilaksanakan secara reaktif dan keadaan ini menyumbang kepada permasalahan yang lebih serius di masa hadapan. Oleh yang demikian, aktiviti penyenggaraan memerlukan kepada perancangan yang sebaiknya dari peringkat awal dan disusuli dengan perlaksanaan secara berterusan dari masa ke semasa oleh pihak yang dipertanggungjawabkan. Sehubungan dengan itu, kertas ini membincangkan mengenai kepentingan penyenggaraan berterusan bagi menguruskan bangunan lama setelah pewartaannya sebagai bangunan warisan serta faktor-faktor yang menjadi permasalahan di peringkat perlaksanaan. Di akhir perbincangan, beberapa strategi yang dapat mendorong kepada amalan penyenggaraan berterusan dikemukakan sebagai inisiatif kepada menggalakkan budaya penyenggaraan dan seterusnya dapat membantu meningkatkan kualiti proses pengurusan penyenggaraan yang lebih efektif.

THE RETURN OF ME

Salam buat pembaca yang budiman,

Maafkan saya kerana sudah terlalu lama tidak menulis. Setelah sekian lama saya menyepi, kini saya kembali semula bagi menyalurkan input serta maklumat-maklumat yang berhubung kait dengan dunia pembinaan khususnya dalam bidang Ukur Bangunan.

Di sini saya juga ingin mengucapkan Tahniah buat rakan-rakan saya di luar sana khasnya kepada Soleh, Iela, Siti dan Apiez di atas perlantikan mereka untuk berkhidmat sebagai Jurukur Bangunan. Semoga perlantikan mereka dapat memberikan impak yang besar terhadap kerjaya dan masa depan profession Ukur Bangunan.

Maintenance Company

Develop A Rating System And Tool To Evaluate Contractor’s Performance

DEVELOP A RATING SYSTEM AND TOOL TO EVALUATE CONTRACTOR’S PERFORMANCE

1.0 Introduction

The construction industry constitutes an important element of the Malaysian economy. Although it accounts for only 2.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, the industry is critical to national wealth creation as it acts as a catalyst for, and has multiplier effects to the economy and also enables other industries namely manufacturing, professional services, financial services, education and others. Recent years’ decline in the performance of the Malaysian construction industry has resulted in the urgent need for the Malaysian construction industry to chart its direction towards strengthening its foundations to face current and future challenges. On 24 June 2003, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and the Building

Industry President Council (BIPC) jointly organized the Presidents and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Roundtable on “Establishing priorities to improve the Malaysian construction industry for the future.” The Roundtable was participated by CEOs of major construction and property development companies, presidents of professional institutes and building industry associations as well as officers from various Government departments. The Roundtable identified and recommended measures to improve the Malaysian construction industry. CIDB was then entrusted with the role of coordinating the various measures recommended and establishing the 10 Working Groups (WGs) which included:

a. Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP).
b. Technology, Knowledge and, Research and Development (R&D)
c. Local and Foreign Projects
d. Human Resources
e. Productivity and Quality
f. Safety and Health
g. Industrialised Building Systems (IBS)
h. Building Materials
i. Payment
j. Finance

Each WG was given the terms of reference to identify issues relating to their respective areas and to propose recommendations and action plans to overcome these challenges. CIDB and BIPC then consolidated the proposals of the 10 WGs and produced the first draft of the consolidated master plan, the ‘Malaysian CIMP Framework 2005 - 2015’.

Subsequently, CIDB further enhanced the document into a 10-year Master Plan for the construction industry that spans from 2006 to 2015. The CIMP is a comprehensive plan charting the strategic position and future direction of the Malaysian construction industry over the next 10 years. It is intended to provide industry stakeholders with a clear direction of the Malaysian construction industry through its clearly defined vision, mission, critical success factors, strategic thrusts, recommendations and action plans.

The CIMP is also intended to ensure that the construction industry is well positioned to support the nation’s overall economic growth and in meeting various challenges, such as the need to enhance productivity and quality along the entire construction industry value chain.

All this action shows that government and private agencies takes seriously about the problem rises in construction industry especially in dealing with our local contractor’s performance which will benefit most of the players indirectly.

2.0 Background

The construction industry enables the growth of other industries through its role as a fundamental building block of the nation’s socio-economic development. Educational institutions, Government offices, tourist attractions, transportation infrastructure, housing, commercial property including all the essential elements of a healthy, functioning economy, need to be built and maintained by the construction industry.

In order to continue leveraging on domestic opportunities and competing in the global marketplace, Malaysian construction industry players especially the contractors need to address a number of key strategic and operational challenges. There is a need to take a holistic approach in reviewing the factors impacting the contractor’s performance. The evaluation of the contractor’s performance is crucial to the success of a consulting assignment especially when today’s construction projects are becoming more sophisticated, large scale and risky. Improvements need to be implemented by all parties along the entire construction industry value chain for lasting transformation to occur. Therefore, in addition to contractors, clients, approving authorities, consultants, and other stakeholders must be involved in this transformation

There are many evaluation criteria might be taken into consideration while evaluating the performance level of the contractor. Among these criteria are:

a. Productivity
b. Quality
c. Human Resources
d. Knowledge
e. Innovation
f. Environment-Friendly Practices
g. Industry Sustainability
h. Professionalism

It was a big hope if this research will benefit others especially to the government and private sector, contractors, consultants and other organization that involve in the construction industry.

3.0 Problem statement

Construction projects are marked for their size, complexity in design, and speed of execution. They call for large amount of resources to be used, which include materials, manpower, equipment and finance. Most of the projects work under conditions of scarcity of resources, nearly all suffers from uncertainty in their supply. Delay in completion of the works results in increasing costs, and there is an intricate time-cost relationship for every project. The need for proper planning and management of construction can never be over-emphasized.

The increased demand for faster design and construction, and increased uncertainties and complexity in design and build has made projects more difficult to handle, and may generate more errors and changes. Unanticipated errors and changes in construction projects often cause delays in the schedule, cost overruns and affect project performance.

In recent times, there have been increasing incidents of defective work in Malaysia and elsewhere due shoddy workmanship, cheating and sometimes, design errors. The consequences could be catastrophic and fatal as in collapsing buildings, and sometimes less dramatic, but no less catastrophic from a financial point of view.

Contracting is a very difficult business, yet it is easy to register as a contractor. To register as a Class F contractor, one has to show that one has RM10,000. they does not even require a pass in the Lower certificate of Education. But it will take at least 10 years to learn how to overcome all the inherent difficulties and become competitive and efficient.

Studies have shown that there are more failures and bankruptcies in contracting than any other business and also almost all construction projects are not completed within the originally scheduled time. The delay will cost the contractor more and that is why we can often see incomplete buildings and abandoned projects which had been undertaken by inefficient contractors.

On account of the sophisticated, dynamic and uncertain nature of construction projects, many vital decisions have to be reached by the clients which may be government and private based on the recommendation of the contractors they appoint. After the completion, the problem then might be transferred to the buyer or the owner of the project. The never-ending problem will continually haunt the owner until the end of the building life span.

On the other matter, during the construction process, some clients do not care about the contractor performance and its effects. In the same time, the consultant can not see some work mistakes or give the contractor the right instruction for his work. As a result, the scope and quality of project will be badly affected. On the work processes, contractor performance should be watched out and supervise by some of the party who is responsible like site agent, client and etc in addition to the contractor himself. If they ignore evaluation of contractor performance, all the parties involved may face serious problems in most cases.

In order to properly manage projects, accurate information is needed to diagnose performance. Accurate information relies on accurate measurements or control system, especially for larger and complex projects. Performance is reflected by measurements upon which corrective action is suggested taken. Accurate measurements help ensure successful projects. Accurate measurements should provide not only what they measure but also how well they differentiate performance. Poor contractor performance is a major cause of construction process inefficiency, leading directly to delays, rework and variations and contributing to increases in project time and cost, for both owner and contractors alike.

4.0 Aim / Objectives

a. To provide a procurement actions to assess how a contractor has performed in the past and likely to perform in the future.
b. To identify the main criteria used to evaluate the contractor performance in Malaysian’s construction project
c. To determine the weight importance of each criteria on the contractor performance evaluation
d. To provide recommendations for improvement of the overall contractor’s performance in Malaysian’s construction industry using the result of the evaluation survey.

5.0 Scope

All the contractors in Malaysian which registered with CIDB (under G1 until G7) and PKK (under class A until class F) which have past experience of 3 years in construction field that the researcher think is needed

6.0 Significant of the study

Every project owner is concerned about design and execution of their project. To achieve the end result of having the project done with the least cost, the shortest time and the best quality before it can be occupied by the end user. Since all the work at site is under the responsible of the contractor, the project owner should be aware of the contractor performance. Contractor performance should be monitored to ensure the quality of the project

In order to facilitate continuous improvement by contractors and to monitor performance, government agencies need to acquire, maintain and exchange information about the performance of contractors on projects.

Performance assessments based on contractors past performance record and during the course of project period will help the parties involved to reach a common understanding of the expectation about the work. They help to identify areas where the contractor is excelling and any areas that need improvement. Performance reports are used in the assessment of a contractor for future engagements including registration, pre-qualification and expressions of interest.

This research will show what criteria might be taken into consideration while the process of the contractor performance evaluation and the weight importance of each criterion. By knowing the weight of these criteria and evaluating the consultant performance, they can be watched out by the project owner and other party related in order to get achieve performance. Also, this research will be base for future studies in this field in Malaysia.

7.0 Methodology

The research methodology is the set of processes that will be taken or utilized to obtain the objectives of the research and to solve the research problem. The specific research methodology utilized in this research is a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches in applied research that is common for the construction and management related problems. The combination of both approaches will assist in solving the overall problem

Figure 1.1: Research methodology

8.0 References

Bromilow, F. J. (1974). Measurement and scheduling of construction time and cost performance in building industry. The Chartered Builder, 10, 79-82.

Chan, A. P. C. (1999). Time-cost relationship of public sector projects in Malaysia. International Journal of Project Management, 19, 223-229.

Chang, Andrew, and Ibbs, C. William (1999). Designing levels for A/E consultant performance measures. Project Management Journal, 30(4), 42-54

Fidic, (2001). Guidelines for the evaluation of consultants performance

Ireland, V. (1986). A comparison of Australia and US building performance for high-rise buildings. University of Technology, Sydney, Australia: School of Building Studies.

Kaka, A. & Price, A. D. F. (1991). Relationship between value and duration of construction projects. Construction Management and Economics, 9, 383-400.

Kumaraswamy, M. M. & Chan, D. W. M. (1995). Determinants of construction duration. Construction Management and Economics, 13, 209-217.

Nkado, R. N. (1995). Construction time-influencing factors: The contractors perspective. Construction Management and Economics, 13, 81-89.

The Study of Thermal Comfort and Lighting Performace in Heritage Building

The Study of Thermal Comfort and Lighting Performace in Heritage Building
Mohammad Ashraf bin Abdul Rahman with supervision from Dr. Sharifah Fairuz Syed Fadzil & P.M. Dr. A. Ghafar Ahmad

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Malaysia has just celebrated its 50th Independence on 31st August 2007. Even we are free from colonization about half a century ago, yet the remaining heritage buildings can still be seen till today. Among some of the heritage buildings is Sultan Abdul Samad Building (Kuala Lumpur), Stadthuys (Malacca) and Kapitan Keling Mosque (Penang).

These buildings have historical and heritage value therefore many actions have been taken by private or public sector to ensure these buildings is well preserved for the future generation. Consequently, our government has gazette several Act and legislation to ensure the originality especially in the usage of construction material like the National Heritage Act 2005, Antiquities Act 1976, Johore Enactment No 7 of 1988, Malacca Enactment No 6 of 1988 and other laws and legislation.

In conjunction with modernization, the heritage buildings that exist till today are influence by environmental surrounding climate that caused most of the buildings to be uncomfortable to the occupants. Global warming too, worsen the condition. Therefore nowadays we find that most of these buildings used mechanical ventilation as their alternative ventilation to ensure the occupant’s comfort.

Changes in technology too, contribute to the changes in function of certain elements in the heritage building. For example, modern lighting is frequent used than the existing lighting in order to fulfil the current needs. With the source of lighting in the market, the lighting quality on the building gives a great impact but in reality lighting is for the purpose of giving a better luminous effect.

All these reason has motivate the writer to make a deep research on thermal comfort issue and lighting in the heritage buildings.

1.2 ISSUE AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

Kapitan Keling Mosque is located at Kapitan Keling Road, Penang is one of the oldest mosque built by the East India Company in the late 18 century. This mosque was built by Caudeer Mohudeen who is one of the Hindu Muslim leaders at that time. In 1801 18 acres of land are used to build the mosque. After his death in 1834 the land is no longer valid. Construction of road and houses reduce the space of the mosque to 8 acres in 1903. This magnificent mosque was built in 1916 to replace the old mosque. According to Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang (MAINPP), after the reconstruction in 1916, Kapitan Keling Mosque has been renovated for four times in a year before its been proposed for preservation in 1996.

Now, Kapitan Keling Mosque has been operational after its conservation in 2003. Conservation helps to restore the mosque from environmental threat such as rain, parasite, and vegetation. Religious activity could be carried out as usual. Nevertheless, close precaution has to be taken in issues such as comfort and conducive for them to do their religious activity. Hot and uncomfortable environment in a way will distract daily activities of those pilgrims especially at peak hours during prayer and on Friday, Tarawikh prayer that make the pilgrims to have the attitude of “laziness” of taking part in religious activity at mosque because of the uncomfortable condition.

The usage of mechanical tools such as air conditioning can help to achieve the optimum thermal comfort. However, the use of mechanical device is limited because it gives effects to aesthetic value and the aim of conservation objective. A. Ghafar Ahmad has made a guideline in his short term research grant stated that several aspect has to be taken into consideration in installing the air conditioning in the old building. One of the aspects that he stated was that the installation of air condition does not damage the building neither does it affect the aesthetic value.

Unsuitable lighting has reduced the value and original condition of the mosque. New absorption source of light indirectly has blocked the usage of daylight that should be applied overall in the mosque. Besides saving the energy effectively, usage if daylight can lighten one’s feeling and is suits the Islamic religion as it request each individual to be more meticulous and not misspent

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

The research is directed by the following question:-

1. What are the general physical conditions of the building? Are these conditions within the local comfort zone criteria?
2. Are people comfortable in the building?
3. What are the general illumination levels with daylight and electric light?
4. Are people satisfied with the quantity and quality of light in the building?

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

1. To study the effect of climate and surrounding environment to the internal of the heritage building
2. To determine the level of thermal comfort and lighting performance in the heritage building
3. To compare the level of thermal comfort and lighting performance in the heritage building with the new building

1.5 HYPOTHESIS

Compare to the new mosque, the old mosque has a better thermal comfort and lighting.

1.6 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

The research scopes include all of the following:-
1. Heritage Building
For the meaning of heritage building, the writer has chosen Kapitan Keling Mosque as a case study and Tanjung Bugah Jamek Mosque as a comparison study
2. Environmental Study
Focus are given to topic element that is thermal comfort and lighting
3. Heritage Building occupants
Include the staff and prayer group that used the mosque

1.7 LIMITATION OF RESEARCH

1. This research is restricted to the research area only (Kapitan Keling Mosque and Tanjung Bugah Jamek Mosque)
2. Weather condition when taking the reading of the environment
3. Limited time and budget should be taken into consideration in completing the research

1.8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methods applied in the research are based as the reference towards the objective of the research whereby it is aim at researching the thermal comfort and lighting in a heritage building. In addition, this research is in four (4) stages that includes a literature study, gathering of data, data analysis and recommendation.

1.8.1 Research design

Reserach done on this heritage building of the thermal comfort and lighting is mainly on the quantitative and qualitative aspect. Generally this research can be classified into 5 main sections that include all the following:

i . Information gathering
Three approaches have been suggested in order to carry out this descriptive and exploration research. Syed Arabi Idid (1998) express that the three approaches are make a survey, getting their opinion and depth description of the research area. The writer highlighted that this approaches is known as information gathering method. Information is obtained from the research document while the primer information is obtain from four other method that is through observation, interview, questionnaire and fieldwork measurement at research area.

ii . Document research
Document research is divided into three sections that are the first is the theory or the literature review of the research field, concept, principle and practice on the main topic of the research, thermal comfort and lighting. This theory part is important because the information obtained could be understood clearly. Furthermore, document research will forsee and explain in detail everything that concern with preservation of the heritage building. This preservation practiced include of standard, guideline, legislation that related to the topic of research.

iii . Case study
Case study is one approach to investigate further in details. Through case study, full information could be gathered through observation and participation. Case study will further make a close examination from an angle to get a close visualization of the information needed. The study of thermal comfort and lighting in heritage building has chosen Kapitan Keling Mosque as the case study and Tanjung Bungah Floating Mosque as a comparison study.

iv . Analysis of data
Primary and secondary data that are obtained from document research, questionnaire and information on case study will be analysing. Data obtained will be gathered, analysis through descriptive and analysis method.

v . Suggestion and recommendation
This is the last stage and is the main objective of the research. Analysis from the guidelines and case study will lead to a discovery of the research and hence results and answer to the problems. Discovery obtained will help in the research framework, suggestion and guideline to the project.

1.8.2 Method of obtaining data

In order to obtain the enunciation from these two methods involved the process primer and secondary data is much used.

i . Primary Data.
Primer data is the data that is obtain directly from the processing area. Primer data is obtain through several process such as observation, interview, fieldwork measurement and questionnaire

ii . Secondary data
Secondary data is the second data that obtained from the second party, which is the party that involved in the running of the process. Among those involve are the Majlis Agama Islam Negeri Pulau Pinang (MAINPP), Penang City Council (MPPP), Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) and many other agency. Other sources such as project report that has been done by experts in the field and research report that has been carried out by others.

1.8.3 Methodology charts

Figure 1.1: Methodology charts show the flow of the research.
Source: Own research

1.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY

In general this research focuses on seven (7) chapters as show in the statement below:

1.9.1 Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter will give a brief on overall subtopics of the study. On the beginning of this chapter, the writer will explain about the introduction of the dissertation, objective and scope of the topic. The explanation covers priority objective of the study, which might need to be achieved. It will follow by the methodology and arrangement of chapter.

1.9.2 Chapter 2: Thermal Comfort
Chapter two will touches about the general overview of the thermal comfort which consist the definition, terms, history, background, types, functions and other aspects that related with thermal comfort.

1.9.3 Chapter 3: Lighting
Chapter three will discuss on lighting and its performance. This chapter will determine the meaning of lighting, basic approaches and the important of lighting in a building. The topic also will discuss about the type of lighting and its operations which must be related to its function.

1.9.4 Chapter 4: Heritage Preservation
Chapter four discuss on heritage preservation from the functional view, problems and importance including the regulation that used. This chapter also touches on the importance of research area on the heritage building.

1.9.5 Chapter 5: Case Study
This chapter will cover on the topic proposed which is “The Study of Thermal Comfort and Lighting Performance in Heritage Building”. It consists of the data collected from the case study precisely including the historical background, development sequence and other information related. The case studies of the dissertation are Masjid Kapitan Keling and Tanjung Bungah Floating Mosque. This chapter also copes the problem arise at the case studies.

1.9.6 Chapter 6: Analysis of Data
Chapter six will analyze the data collection from the case study and transfer it into the diagram or graph. In this chapter also consist of the interpretation and analysis of the result obtained from the fieldwork measurement and survey research. It is also to determine the problems exist and to define the most unsatisfactory facing by the users in the case study

1.9.7 Chapter 7: Conclusion & Recommendation
At the end of the study, this chapter will enclose the conclusion and recommendation of the study to summarize the overall topic clearly.

1.10 TIMELINE

Figure 1.2 presents a timeline depicting the work that need to be done start from the first day of research until meet the deadline.

Figure 1.2: Timeline showing progress on research project.
Source: Own research

1.11 CONCLUSION

The aim of chapter one is to explain briefly about the flow of the research. It will later be explained in detail in other chapter. This research hopefully can build a platform to the society in changing their perception of heritage building and turn it as an asset of Malaysia in future. But the most important thing, this research hopefully is able to be guideline of the environmental and heritage study in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON BUILDING SURVEYING

Who is a Building Surveyor?
A Professional Building Surveyor is a qualified person, by examination and experience, and a member of the Institution of Surveyors Malaysia.

What does a Building Surveyor do?
A Building Surveyor offers specialist services on matters relating to building and property development such as project and construction management, maintenance and repair of building, refurbishment and restoration of old properties, building law and regulation, demolition works and property development.

A competent Building Surveyor is expected to manage, organise, supervise, monitor, evaluate, and coordinate every aspect of building and development work and act as a vital link in the project between all affiliated professions such as architects, engineers, planners and builders. Besides that, Building Surveyors also provide liaison and consultation services aith public and local authorities for the client

WHERE DOES A BUILDING SURVEYOR WORK ?
There is a very good demand for qualified Building Surveyor in local authorities, with housing and building developers, colleges, universities, insurance companies, banking and financial institutions, government and semi-government departments, consultancy firms and research organizations

IN WHICH AREA IS A BUILDING SURVEYOR'S SERVICES REQUIRED ?
The services of a Building Surveyor is required in the following :

Building Control Administration

1. Scrutiny of building plans for all types of buildings (new as well as alterations) and issuance of building approval.
   
2. Imposing and enforcing of legislative requirements of building and construction operations, illegal/unauthorised structures, ruinous and dilapidated buildings.
   
3. Inspection of building works during construction and upon completion, issuance of Certificate For Occupation.
   
4. Upgrading of buildings to new requirements.
   
5. Coordinating the restoration, refurbishment and conservation of buildings of historical importance/cultural heritage etc.

Development and Construction Management

1. Analysis and feasibility study of project.
   
2. Appointment and coordination of consultants.
   
3. Negotiations and contract administration.
   
4. Project management including monitoring and coordinating of development.

Building Works

1. Advice on alterations, extensions and refurbishment of buildings including planning and building applications to local authorities.
   
2. Diagnosis of building defects and advice on remedial works including structural survey.

Maintenance of Buildings

1. Planning and implementation of day to day and long term maintenance.
   
2. Repair and dilapidation advice and negotiations.

Insurance

1. Assessment of replacement costs for insurance purposes. Preparation and negotiation of insurance claims - for fire and structural damage and organisation of reinstatement works