Shardy Abdullah

The characteristics of real estate assets management practice in the Malaysian Federal Government

Purpose – The management of public real estate assets by government agencies has been in place for many years as government agencies own their real estate assets in order to provide services to their communities. The management process becomes progressively complex and difficult because real estate ownership by agencies increases in amount, value and diversity over time. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current characteristics of the real estate management practice that is being implemented by the Malaysian Government agencies.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach has been used for this study where the data were collected through the use of interviews. The respondents to the study were government officers who execute real estate management functions within the ministries. The collected data were subsequently analyzed through the framework analysis method.Findings – The results have shown that eight characteristics can be used to illustrate how the governments real estate assets ...

Installation systems of on-site prefabricated concrete components: a qualitative approach

ABSTRACT The construction industry has been identified as one of the more important sectors towards realizing the aim of making Malaysia a developed country by the year 2020. Towards this end, the construction industry needs to become more competitive and productive. One major strategy is the implementation of the industrialized building system (IBS). The implementation of IBS requires comprehensive studies to be undertaken to allow project stakeholders fully understand the benefits that may be gained from IBS. The selection of an appropriate installation system is vital in making IBS effective and successful. This paper identifies the on-site prefabricated component installation systems practised and appraises the factors for selection. Structured interviews were carried out with 32 parties directly involved in the on-site prefabricated components installation operation. The study reveals three main prefabricated component installation systems, namely the horizontal-, vertical- and mixed-based systems. Six main influencing factors were also discovered that allow for a more informed decision to be made on system selection. Out of the six factors, it was revealed that the availability of prefabricated components and crane mobility to be the most important factors in determining installation system selection.

Tourist’s perceptions of crowding at recreational sites: the case of the Perhentian Islands

Abstract This study examines the effects of tourist socio-demographic characteristics and socio-behavioural factors on tourists’ perceived crowding. A questionnaire in both Bahasa Malay and English languages was administered to collect data from tourists visiting the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia. The findings revealed a significant effect for education and age on perceived crowding. In addition, the results highlighted the significant effect of interactions with the local community and satisfaction with accommodation on tourists’ perceived crowding. However, the results could not support a significant effect for gender or the perceived social impacts of tourism on the perception of crowding. Given the paucity of studies investigating the factors contributing to perceived crowding, the findings of this study make a significant contribution to the literature. Moreover, this study has a number of practical implications for the local authorities.

Real Estate Management in Malaysian Public Schools: Determination of Success Factors

Abstract Effective real estate management practice is needed to ensure that the property in Malaysia, including public schools, can be fully utilized. The purpose of this study is to identify the success factors of the real estate management of Malaysia’s public schools. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire was developed as a research tool. The respondents involved were representatives of public schools and officers from the state education department offices (on the basis of whom the total population was calculated) in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. The respondents were chosen using a random sampling method. The success factors of managing property in public schools were identified by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), using the principals of component analysis, the t-test, Cronbach’s alpha and mean analysis. The findings show that the majority of the respondents agreed that all of the listed 18 success factors within the 4 main factor groups as addressed in the survey are important for the efficient and effective improvement of real estate management, especially in Malaysian public schools.

Non-Structural Elements of the Traditional Malay Houses in the East Coast and Northern Peninsular Malaysia: Similarities and Differences

This paper presents the results of the literature review on the non-structural elements of the traditional Malay houses in the East Coast and Northern Peninsular Malaysia. The main aim of the review is to seek for similarities and differences between the unique features of the elements in traditional house of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Perlis and Penang, which most of the houses have been largely influenced by the architectural styles of Siam and Cambodia. For this purpose, a series of reviews have been done on relevant written documents like journal and proceeding articles, books, thesis, research reports and monographs, as well as documented measured drawings. The results showed that although the features of the non-structural elements in most of the houses are quite identical, but there are some aesthetical elements on the wall, door, window and roof of the houses are found to be significantly different, especially the elements like ‘gerbang pintu’, ‘kepala pintu & kepala tingkap’, types of wall, ‘tunjuk langit’, ‘sulur bayung’ and ‘kayu pemeleh’.

Building Defects or Building Failures: Misconception and Understanding

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief of overview of building failures and building defects definitions with various terms from the previous researches and also to redefine the understanding of these definitions within the context of building maintenance management domain. Therefore, this article presents the insight of previous definition of building failures and building defects and provides their respective understanding in various aspects. It then provides the detail discussion on the building failures and defects definitions, understanding causes and effects in term of building maintenance management perspective. All the related onformatin has been gathered through secondary resources such as journal article, text book, report and others. The information and knowledge on the subject of building failures and building defects help in producing the building design with reliable, maintainability, and supporting for future building maintenance and building improvement. Finally, this paper has successed in describing a clear explanation regarding to the meaning of building failures and building defects.