Fadzil Hassan

Technical Competency of Construction Manager in Malaysian Construction Industry

Primarily due to contractors’ faults, construction industries in Malaysia have been facing problems such as delays, wastages, cost overruns and others. Inability of construction manager (CM) to efficiently manage construction projects is the major contribution to projects’ failure, and the lack of terms of reference on the technical competency for CM are believed to be the major setback. This paper reports the results of a preliminary study which was carried out to identify the technical competencies of CM. Exploratory mixed research methods were selected by employing qualitative and quantitative approaches. Multi-layered thematic analysis was embedded into literature analysis to maintain reliability and then validate through structured interviews. It was found that CM requires several technical competencies including managing staff, materials, labours, plants, sub-contractors, safety, money, quality, time, environment, administration, pre-construction, closeout and handover, responsibility to other parties, computer literacy, and administration of construction contract. Hence, the technical competencies for CM are believed to be exhaustive and holistic in singling out the appropriate technical knowledge and skills, and bring about numerous advantageous towards technically competent CM.

Fundamental elements of sustainable private financing initiative contracts

According to Confederation of British Industry, better positions in benefiting from Private Financing Initiative (PFI) projects is focusing on long term priorities such as environmental sustainability, flexibility and transparency. Hence, more projects to be procured using PFI scheme contracts to aid financing aspects during shortage of funds and going ‘greener’. The research statement is whether the PPP/PFI contracts would deliver sustainable green PFI projects with existence of ambiguity of sustainable contracts and poor implementations of sustainable green elements for the case in Malaysia.

An evaluation of the competencies, skills and knowledge of Quantity Surveying graduates in consultant Quantity Surveying firms in Malaysia

A significant proportion of graduate quantity surveyors serving Quantity Surveying (QS) firms in Malaysia are produced by the local higher institutions of learning. Upon employment, employers expect them to be behaviorally and technically competent to participate and undertake the range of quantity surveying tasks. Whilst the academic programs offered by the universities and colleges are commonly designed to be recognised and accredited by the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM) and/or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the courses tends to be designed and delivered variably between universities and colleges. This in-turn tends to result in graduates bringing different levels of competencies into their job. Conceiving the significance of understanding this phenomenon for the Malaysian higher education and the construction industry, a research was mooted to ascertain the level of competencies that the QS graduates from the Malaysian higher education bring into their employment. The aim was to assess the extent to which the QS higher education provision was able to meet the employment needs and the variable levels of competencies produced by the QS higher education providers. A knowledge and skills framework was developed and data was sought from employers of graduates from these higher education institutions. The results suggest that, in the main, graduates from each of these institutions tend to be more competent in some aspects of technical and behavioral competencies then some other. Tangible comparison can also be made to compare the competencies of graduates between these institutions from the research. These provided useful insights for employers to appreciate which graduates from which institution is competent in what. The findings can also be served as a key reference for the institutions to moot academic improvement initiatives.

Sustainable private financing initiative contracts

One critical element of PFI projects is the contract which binds the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) (project promoter) with the government (client). Drawing up the PFI contract is by no means a simple undertaking because elements of economy, social, technological and intellectual considerations will have to be coherently spelt out. Adding on to this now is the requirement to include sustainable considerations. However, this can be very vexing because sustainable project elements can have serious implications to the project implementation process, costing and viability.

Establishing key elements for sustainable PFI projects: A critical literature review

Sustainability considerations have been suggested as key elements in Private Financing Initiative (PFI) projects in Malaysia. Notwithstanding, the sustainability is new in the Malaysian construction industry, let alone in PFI projects. This requirement has necessitated stakeholders in PFI projects to quickly learn sustainability and apply them accordingly. A research was mooted to observe and document how the PFI project stakeholders respond to this and their consequent practice in implementation of sustainability in their projects. In drawing the Terms of Reference (TOR) of sustainability for PFI projects, it was conceived that the fundamental starting point is to accurately define what sustainability is and how this can be incorporated into the PFI projects in avoiding project outcome off-tangent. This paper presents the key elements for Sustainability which drawn from the perspective of literatures and research on sustainability applied in Europe, America and Asia. The findings culminate the key elements of Sustainability which helps to establish the research framework in order to measure the current implementation of sustainability within PFI. The research establishes six (6) key elements encompass Energy Efficiency (EE), Water Efficiency (WE), Site Planning & Management (SM), Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ), Materials & Resources (MR) and Innovation (IN) which will be adopted within the conceptual framework of sustainability is proposed from the study. In concluding, this paper signifies gaps in defining stakeholders roles and responsibilities which are important for Malaysia PFIs in moving forward towards sustainable development.