The development of a landscape management system for Pejabat Harta Bina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia : a study for the guidelines

This Masters project reports the task of studying for the guidelines for the development of a Landscape Management System for Pejabat Harta Bina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Landscape is one of the support services in UTM that serves to provide a conducive learning environment for students and academic staffs. To ensure the well-being of its landscape developments, Pejabat Harta Bina requires a comprehensive and systematic Landscape Management System to assist landscape management tasks for the campus. Studies and analysis on Pejabat Harta Bina’s requirements of a Landscape Management System, the scope of work, work processes and data involved in landscape management works were undertaken to thoroughly comprehend the functions that the proposed system should fulfill. Module structures and database design were then produced, functioning as guidelines on what should be incorporated and how to develop a Landscape Management System prior to subsequent development processes of interface design and programming

Content validation of the user attitudinal component and factors in green building

The green building performance gap has been well acknowledged in building industry and one of the contributors to these issues is the behaviour of users in the building. One of the element that influences the behaviour of users is the attitude of the user towards the building environment. The consideration of the human aspects especially the user attitudinal component and factor is essential as an approach in improving the building performance. This paper aims to identify the user attitudinal component and factor from the literature and to validate the research instrument by using the content validation method. The procedure of content validity include the conceptualization and development of instrument throughout an extensive literature review and to validate the relevance of the user attitudinal component and factors to be considered in green buildings. Three user attitudinal components and seventeen factors were developed from the extensive review of the literature. Ten experts were chosen to appraise the instrument of research by using a quantitative content validation. Fifteen items were accepted as relevant to the study within the accepted range and two items were eliminated from the research instrument. The study’s output allows the building industry a new insight on what user attitudinal aspect to be considered and integrated when dealing in the development of green building. The output of this study greatly benefits the building designers and managers when designing, constructing and managing green buildings

Post occupancy evaluation in Malaysia: The need for awareness and knowledge

Buildings are built for people. Hence, it is only logical to ask the people in order to understand how well the buildings perform. The fundamental concept of Post Occupancy Evaluation or more affectionately known as POE that fosters user feedbacks in building performance evaluation has made it the ultimate mechanism for continuous improvement of building performance. The emergence of awareness among builders to learn how their buildings perform from the perspective of the users over 50 years ago has brought a new dimension to the construction industry in various developed countries. However, the awareness and knowledge to incorporate user feedbacks as part of the building construction process in the Malaysian construction industry is low and the mistakes done in completed buildings remain continuously undocumented. The reception towards continuous improvement in developing countries is still at its infancy and continuous improvement mechanisms such as POE has yet to be fully appreciated by many. This paper will discuss the need for awareness and knowledge about POE among the practitioners in the construction industry. A recent survey conducted by the authors on the awareness and knowledge of practitioners on POE will also be presented to understand their perception and understanding of POE as the mechanism to audit user feedback for improved building performance. POE has been regarded by many as a mechanism for continuous improvement of building performance par excellence. However, without the awareness and knowledge to implement it, continuous improvement of building performance will merely be an idea to be achieved

Facility management variables that influence sustainability of building facilities

Incorporating facility management (FM) knowledge in the building design is essential to increase overall performance of building including quality and cost as; the management and operation process of facilities can have a significant impact on energy, cost, health and safety, and quality. As a result, a more efficient and sustainable facility will be turn over during the post occupancy stage. Thus, this paper explores the consideration of FM during design stage and its influence on achieving sustainability of building facilities in post occupancy phase, and subsequently identifies a set of criteria to evaluate the potential of FM to achieve sustainability of building facilities. A critical review of the literature has been carried out for the purpose of identifying the said variables. Literature review reveals that there is a need to review FM potential of the design during the design phase; mainly due to increased life cycle cost, environmental impact, impact on health and safety and quality of the building facilities during the service life. This paper aims to address the long pending quest of poor awareness of the FM function among the designers and forms the basis for achieving FM sustainability of building facilitie

Green cleaning: an essential aspect of Malaysian green buildings

This paper discusses the importance of green cleaning for green buildings during the operations and maintenance stage. The investment on green buildings is often driven by the aim to reduce energy consumption. However, many tend to overlook the importance of the operations and maintenance aspect of the building, particularly the green cleaning aspect. Green cleaning is a major contributor to Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) where IEQ is one of the important criteria that should be considered during the assessment of green building performance. In Malaysia, there is no specific regulation set for green cleaning. Green Building Index (GBI) tools itself does not specifically highlighting green cleaning in their assessment tool. Thus, based on literature review, this paper discusses the benefits of implementing green cleaning and how green cleaning can contribute to achieving better green building performance

The need for retrofitting to achieve sustainability of Malaysian buildings

Malaysia is a country that is progressively developing that uses energy as the main input for its continuous development. The increasing demand and consumption of energy subsequently led to increase concentration of greenhouse gas emission and resource depletion. To cope with the challenges in mitigating adverse effects and sustaining energy, Malaysia has made efforts in emphasizing on the green building initiatives in the building sector. This has been demonstrated through promulgation of policies (i.e. NTGP, NPCC), impetus in developing ‘greenness’ (i.e. GTFS, GBI) and government-owned green buildings manifests. Considerable attention on green building initiatives can be seen through the increasing number of new green buildings that are presented in the GBI executive summary. However, the existing building stocks remain with less attention. Furthermore, there is a lack of consideration in retrofitting these existing buildings as a mean to contribute to sustainability. Therefore, this paper presents and reviews the measures that have been taken towards Malaysia’s building sector and the emphasis of retrofitting existing buildings to contribute in the sustainability movement

The development of a for Pejabat Harta Bina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia : a study for the guidelines

This Masters project reports the task of studying for the guidelines for the development of a Landscape Management System for Pejabat Harta Bina, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Landscape is one of the support services in UTM that serves to provide a conducive learning environment for students and academic staffs. To ensure the well-being of its landscape developments, Pejabat Harta Bina requires a comprehensive and systematic Landscape Management System to assist landscape management tasks for the campus. Studies and analysis on Pejabat Harta Bina’s requirements of a Landscape Management System, the scope of work, work processes and data involved in landscape management works were undertaken to thoroughly comprehend the functions that the proposed system should fulfill. Module structures and database design were then produced, functioning as guidelines on what should be incorporated and how to develop a Landscape Management System prior to subsequent development processes of interface design and programming