22 April 2010

In my work routine, i visit the work site of RFC and observe the progress of the work at car park level 2. So far, the form work progress is around 75 %. Form work is process of laying down the conventional wood board according to the architectural drawing before proceed with casting of the whole level 2 car park.From my observation, the form work usually takes around one week to complete.

I also visit on the infrastructure work going on at the back portion of the RFC building. The workers were laying down the ready-cast drainage block which they prefer to call it as box culvert to form the drainage system around the building. I gained some exposure from the site supervisor on how to calculate the gradient for the drainage block which is to be placed on the ground.

21 April 2010 @ RFC

Today is the third day i spent my internship at Regional Financial Centre, Kajang. I took a visit around the construction site and monitor the progress of work at the car park level 2. I put down all the progress and workers attendance inside the site diary so that the project can be reviewed back anytime for further progress and project planning.

I also learn to calculate the material needed to construct certain part of the building based on architectural drawings. I learn to read and interpret the architectural drawings under the guidance of our senior site engineer, Mr. Chee.

20 April 2010 @ RFC

At 8 in the morning today,I was suppose to attend a toolbox meeting this morning at site, but it was called off due to heavy rain in Kajang. Shortly after that, i followed Mr. Jabbar, the site supervisor of RFC, on a visit to the construction site.We climbed up to the 20th floor of tower A, the highest level of the office block.

To me, i consider it as a very good exercise if i have to climb up every morning.Doing site diary and monitor the progress of the project are a daily task that need to be done by every site supervisor or even site engineer. We managed to snap a few pictures of the surrounding on top of the roof top for documentation of the site progress.

Before we start to walk down from the roof top, Mr.Jabbar shares some of his structural experiences with me . He explained about the slump test which is a test that needs to be carried out for the mix concrete before casting process. Although it is quite a lengthy process, but it was a whole new kind of knowledge to me. At least i learn something new today.

For the moment, this RFC project is mainly concentrating on building up the 10 storey car park as the other two office tower block has been completed. In the afternoon, i was briefed on the procedures of doing the site diary and filing. I also read up on the material request record ( MR for short) and do a bit of arrangement on the files.

19 April 2010 @ Regional Finance Center, Kajang

Today was the first day i reported for work in one of Brunsfield project in Kajang town. This project, which is Regional Finance Center, Kajang, RFC for short is located along Jalan Cheras, Kajang (nearby Tesco Kajang).

This project started in 2005, houses two office blocks which consists of 3 storey podium, 20 storey office block on one side and 12 storey office block on another side and 10 storey of car park. It is considered as one of the major project for Brunsfield group. Besides, there is also a proposed four levels of data center located inside one of the office block.

I met Mr. Chee the senior site manager, Mr. Jabbar, site supervisor and Mr. Seow, the clerk of work. I did some research on the ISO standards and read up on the Brunsfield Quality Management System. Later in the afternoon, i was assigned to arrange and study the drawings regarding the RFC project.

Video Of Defect Works

Photos Of Defect Works

Pressure Pump
Sika Grout

Defect Column

Photos Of Oasis, Ara Damansara

Tower crane

17 April 2010 @ Oasis

A short morning briefing was conducted by Mr. Yap, the senior project manager of Oasis, Ara Damansara. Shortly after the briefing, i was informed by Mr. Sarjit Singh, the administrative officer, that i will be transferred to another Brunsfield project in Kajang town. As been told, i will be reporting to Mr. Chee, the site manager on Monday, 19 April 2010. I will inform the further details about this project once i report for work on Monday.

During this last day at Oasis , i learned about the defect works on the structure column. Whenever there is a defect on the casting work on any structure particularly column beam, i was told that the pressure grout method is used to fix the defect problem. This process uses Sika Grout as the main filler material to fill up the cavity of the desired column size and shape. I will attach the photos of the process in the next post. I was told that Sika Grout have the same strength and high bonding characteristic compared to concrete cement.

16 April 2010

During the morning session, there was a toolbox meeting at the site. It is actually a safety briefing that mainly discuss about the ethics at work place and the do's and dont's at construction site. Housekeeping was carried at ground floor of block H in Oasis project. Then there was an activity of transferring the Kumkang aluminium form board form level 9 to the ground floor. In the afternoon, i was assigned by my supervisor to read up and rearrange all the floor plan including architectural and mechanical plan of block H.

15 April 2010 @ Oasis

It's Thursday and the weather is hot and sunny today. As usual, housekeeping was carried out in the morning and the targeted area was catchment platform on level 1 and 2 of block H. The task was mainly clearing up the casting waste fell from floors above. Then inspection was performed for each floor and recorded inside the site diary.

Brick laying works started on level 2 and 3. Air conditioning ducting pipes was prepared by one of the subcontractors and the installation works has started for level 2 and 3. I also manage to snap photos on each floor to show the progress on Block H. Later I was assigned task to revise and remark the dimension for openings from level 2 until level 8. Opening is the hole made to install sanitary pipes, wiring, chillers pipes and water supply pipes that works to supply and distribution around the office tower building.

14 April 2010 @ Oasis

It's Wednesday at Oasis, Ara Damansara. Today, there will be site staff meeting at 6pm, but luckily trainees are not required to attend it. The day kicks off with briefing by our site manager, Mr. Ho. After the briefing, I do housekeeping at ground floor of Block H. A few foreign workers were assigned under my supervision to clear up debris and garbage around the ground floor.

Then, I make inspection floor by floor to check on the work progress happening inside the 12 storeys office tower. All the relevant information were recorded inside the site diary. Site diary is a compulsory task which need to be done everyday so that the progress and activities in block H can be monitored and recorded for references. I also update the index for documents related to block H. I check and rearrange the order of the files.

First week @ Oasis, Ara Damansara

It's been a week long since the internship training started. To me, it's a whole new challenging experience to me. At Oasis, Ara Damansara, i was assigned to a team of engineers that handles the construction of two blocks of office tower. These office towers are 12 storey-high and one of the towers houses a gym or fitness studio on the roof top. It offers a spectacular view of the surrounding Subang and Ara Damansara area.

Along with me, there were a total of 8 trainees that enrolled into Brunsfield internship programme. 7 of the trainees were from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and me, the only candidate from Universiti Tenaga Nasional. I attended a short briefing on the first day of work in Brunsfield Headquarter in Taman Tun Dr Ismail before i move on to report myself at the work site in Ara Damansara.

Mr. Siew was the project director for Oasis Ara Damansara and Mr. Yap being the senior project manager. Oasis Ara Damansara is a joint venture project between Brunsfield and Sime Darby Group of Companies. This project consists of few blocks of office tower and a 13 storey-high service apartment with a water feature landscape in the central part of the community surrounded by two rows of shop houses on each side.

I mainly take charge of phase 7 of Oasis project where i report my duty to Mr. Thiru and Mr. Khairul Anuar. Both of them are site engineer that take responsibility of phase 6 and phase 7.

Along the first week in Oasis, i learned that safety practises is very important in the work site. Besides that, self discipline also plays an important role while carrying out duty at work site. I spend a lot of time reading up the architectural plan of my designated phase and try to get familiarize with the design structure of the buildings.

My daily activities were mainly involved with building inspections and monitoring works. I also handle the task of housekeeping which is the activity of clearing up debris and rubbish around the work site area. In addition, i also learn to do clerical work such as typing out site diary which explains all the activity that had been completed for the day including personnel attendance and data entry regarding the whole phase 7.

One more important issue that i have learned from Oasis project is for the current trend in construction field, they no longer apply the conventional method that uses wood board to do form or casting works.

Casting is defined as the work of pouring concrete cement into a designated structure that will form a part of the required building structures. Nowadays, for Brunsfield, Kumkang Aluminium Form Board is used to do all the form works. I had consulted the engineers at work site and they have explained the advantages on using aluminium board compared to wood. It is faster and economical in the sense that it can be recycle or reuse for several times on casting works. It takes merely one and a half day to complete the whole casting of one floor building by using aluminium form board.