Mohd Faris Khamidi

Investigating building maintenance practices in Malaysia: a case study

Purpose – There have been complaints and criticisms of the conditions and performance of university buildings in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to report research looking into building maintenance practices in Malaysia.Design/methodology approach – To achieve its objectives, the research combined a literature review and a case study. The case study aimed to provide a details and factual information on the maintenance procedures of a university.Findings – It was found that the maintenance procedures on the case studied were corrective and budget driven. It was also found that the university favours out‐sourcing to in‐sourcing their maintenance service.Research limitations/implications – The findings of this study are based on a case, therefore the findings may not represent the maintenance practices of other public universities in Malaysia or elsewhere.Practical implications – Some universities may adopt some of the good maintenance practices of the university studied. Some of the observations coul...

The Cost Monitoring of Construction Projects through Earned Value Analysis

Abstract : In construction industry, the term ‘procurement’ is considered as a project based job where clients and contractors are always keen to observe performance indicators. These indicators represent financial and non-financial efficiency of project activities. Among these, the monitoring of financial indicators such as cost monitoring is an ongoing process and its importance cannot be undermined during the project life cycle. It can be monitored by using traditional approach of direct reporting of actual cost against budget. However, the comparison of budget versus actual spending does not indicate the worth of the work which is completed at any given time. This approach does not represent the true cost performance of the project. Because of these limitations, this paper discusses the applications of Earned Value Analysis (EVA) for cost monitoring of construction projects in Malaysia. Besides traditional approach, EVA is a three-dimensional approach that compares three cost indicators i.e. the budgeted value of work scheduled with the earned value of physical work completed and the actual cost of work completed. Therefore, cost monitoring by EVA is an objective measure of actual work performed. This paper uses a case study, an example application of EVA as a cost monitoring tool. This case study reaffirms the benefits of using EVA for project cash flow analysis and forecasting. Keywords: Cost monitoring, Earned Value Analysis, Construction cost management.

Towards Building Energy Efficiency for Developing Countries

Buildings account for 42 percent of world energy consumption, therefore the rising trend of making buildings more energy efficient is smart business with assists to make local market jobs and added benefits to the environment, even though the main inspiration for energy efficiency initiatives always been energy cost savings, government incentives and improved public image were important. Increasing energy efficiency through measures such as building efficiency has the possibilities to gradual the development of energy demand in developing nations around the world by more than fifty percent by 2020. Building efficiency codes and standards are regulatory instruments that need a minimum amount of energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, equipment or lighting when they are properly designed, they might cost-effectively lower energy costs over each and every items lifetime. Energy efficiency improvement targets are aims which can be established for a country or town. Setting a targeted for the whole geography can stimulate greater measures particularly if there is an organization accountable for achieving that target. Furthermore, governments can set efficiency enhancement goals for publicly owned properties to develop capacity and promote the building efficiency industry. This study reveals an overview of the development and present scenario of BEE summarizes its key issues, and proposed measures of improvement and options to enhance the building energy efficiencies systems for sustainable natural environment.

Aggregation and Coalition Formation on Value-based Decision

Value-based decision is very complicated since many parties involved. Where a number of stakeholders are involved in choosing a single alternative from a set of solution alternatives, there are different concern caused by differing preferences, experiences, and background. Therefore, a negotiation is required to enable each stakeholder to evaluate and rank the solution alternatives before engaging into negotiation with the other stakeholders. Decision techniques applied to determine the relative value of the alternative solutions for performing the function. The results demonstrate a comparison of aggregation and coalition formation in a multi criteria group decision and negotiation. It further emphasizes the importance of performance evaluation in the design process and value-based decision.

Review on Reinforcement of Aerogel for Development of Advanced Nano Insulation Material for Application in Sustainable Buildings

Installation of insulation materials in buildings can reduce the usage of air conditioners by retarding heat flow into the building. Aerogel is one of the best insulation materials with distinctive properties that can replace existing building insulation materials such as fibre glass and polyurethane. However, brittleness of Aerogel makes it difficult to handle and disqualifies its viability as a building insulation material. Reinforcement of Aerogel with binding materials can improve its mechanical and thermal properties to overcome its brittleness. However, only a few studies have been carried out on this area. Furthermore, from the few existing studies, vital information such as thermal conductivity and specific application of the reinforced Aerogel studied were not considered. As an initiative to fill in this research gap, a review on reinforcement of Aerogel is presented.

Impact of Environmental Assessment of Green Building Materials on Sustainable Rating System

As education and concern pertaining to environmental and sustainability issues like implications of resources destruction, decrease in bio-diversity as well as climate change multiply, so has the need for housing developments that lead to less damaging effects on the environment, whilst enabling living standard to be sustained. Builders, developers and material providers have addressed this demand by creating approaches and technologies that minimize energy, water and main material consumption, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and sustain or enhance surrounding ecological systems and services. Several administration and non-governmental institutions in addition have aimed to change the sustainability of the building industry by developing green rating systems that can be used to evaluate the environmental performance of new and existing building. This paper discusses material resources criteria and the impact as a sustainable rating tool.

Critical review of published research on building insulation: Focus on building components and climate

A critical review of published research papers on building insulation in seven selected construction journals from 2000 to 2010 is presented. Data are obtained by performing a series of searches on Scopus using relevant keywords. Findings conclude that despite climate change becoming a major issue in recent years, there is still a lack of research activities on building insulation, especially within hot and humid climatic conditions. Most of the research papers found focuses on wall insulation in cold climate. Research in this area needs to be activated and expanded since building insulation is a major component in energy-efficient buildings, in which its application is very important for mitigation of climate change.

Environmental implications of onsite mechanization in the Malaysian construction industry

In Malaysia, there has been a growing need for mechanization in recent years due to the high construction demand under the Economic Transformation Programme. Onsite mechanization in construction implies the use of equipment and machinery that are powered by fossil fuels with the aim of reducing the dependency on manual labour and to increase productivity, quality and efficiency. However, this heavy equipment and machinery are also responsible for issues pertaining to environment, health and safety of human beings. All nonroad diesel engine machinery emits hazardous gases, particulate matters, solid waste and contaminate land, water and the environment. Prior research on environmental impacts of construction works was more focused on raw materials, its manufacturing and operational phase of the facility. Therefore, the aim of this research is to focus on environmental concerns that are important during construction and mainly due to the operation of onsite heavy construction equipment. Data for the analysis was collected through a questionnaire survey from Malaysian G7 class ‘A’ contractors. The results of the survey show that despite the good awareness of Malaysian contractors towards a green environment, their practices for controlling energy consumption and greenhouse gases (GHG) are still in their infancy stages. It was also found that environment management systems are not highly implemented by the contractors. The survey results further indicate that energy saving, GHG and black smoke emission are the top ranking concerns of contractors when operating onsite equipment and Environmental Impact II 147 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 181,

The repercussions linked with a changing macroclimate for green building

There is substantial proof that the world is warming. The International Panel of Climate Change reported that there might be a continuous rise in the ambient temperature throughout the end of the 21st century. With a rising international worry about global warming, the construction sector is confronting the question of how forecasted changes in climate will affect the overall performance of buildings all over the world. This is resulting in a fast-growing field of study that concentrates on the adaptation and strength of buildings to a varying climate. Global warming can tremendously result on the overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of residential buildings. Hence, climate adaptation must be effectively regarded both in design and operation phases to eliminate impact. This paper examines (or reviews) the connection between climate change and buildings and the growing body of knowledge on the issue, and also classifying and reviewing the contributions of other researcher.

Effect Of Silica Fume And MIRHA On ThermalConductivity Of Cement Paste

Increased usage of air-conditioners in buildings leads to higher levels of electricity and energy consumption. Thermal insulation improves energyefficiency of buildings by retarding heat flow through building envelopes and thus reducing indoor cooling load. This research investigates the potential of two cement replacement materials, which are silica fume and Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA), incorporated in cement paste as thermal insulation. Samples of cement paste with varying volumes of silica fume and MIRHA were prepared and evaluated on their thermal conductivity values. Their viability as building materials were then evaluated by measuring their permeable porosities and compressive strengths at three (3), seven (7) and 28 days of curing. Results show that higher dosage of silica fume and MIRHA in cement paste lead to lower thermal conductivity but negatively affect compressive strength and permeable porosity. MIRHA reduces thermal conductivity more efficiently than silica fume but leads to a faster decline in compressive strength and increase in permeable porosity. The lowest thermal conductivity value obtained in this experiment was 0.4273 WmK, which was achieved by samples with MIRHA incorporated at 25% of cement paste volume.