Feasibility Study of Ibs in Sarawak

Feasibility Study of IBS in Sarawak Afdal Haziq bin Mohamad Salehe Department of Civil, Faculty of Engineering, University Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak Abstract This is a feasibility study of Industrialised Building System (IBS) in Sarawak. IBS implementation in Sarawak is still slow and thus this study is carried on to identify the factors that cause the problem so that proper solution can be carried on.The aim of the study is to increase the IBS implementation in Sarawak so that productivity and quality of the construction projects in this state can be improved. In order to achieve the aim, three objectives need to be met which are: 1) To understand the concept of Industrialised Building System (IBS); 2) To identify the challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak; 3) To find the solutions to overcome the barriers thus, ensure that IBS implementation in Sarawak can be improved.Collection of data is done by distribution of questionnaires to important constructio ns players such as engineers, consultants, supervisors and architects from construction sites within Kota Samarahan and Kuching City. The results determined the critical factors of challenges as well as finding the solutions to improve the IBS implementation based on the level of agreements of the respondents. As a result, this study has determined the critical factor of barrier and challenges which slow down the IBS progress in Sarawak is the awareness factor especially amongst the contractors.Besides, the study also found the solutions in term of awareness, knowledge, cost, acceptance and role of the government in order to improve the IBS progress in the construction industry in Sarawak. The finding of this study hopefully will be helpful for further future research as well as reference for the authority in order to improve the IBS implementation in Sarawak. Keywords: Industrialised Building System INTRODUCTION Construction industries play important roles in the development of bui ldings as well as economical of a country.According to the report by CIDB (2000), it is highlighted that construction sector are more than just economic where as the products of construction whether directly or indirectly through provision of bigger infrastructure and buildings has contributed largely towards the production of wealth as well as increasing quality of life of the citizen [1]. With the increasing knowledge and experiences of construction technology, now, many construction can be done faster with reduce cost, but still with optimized quality.One of the construction technologies that have been developing in many countries is precast concrete or as known as Industrial Building System (IBS). IBS is basically pre-cast concrete components where it is later on installed together to become a building or structure. It also may be defined as construction which system components are manufactured in a factory, on or off site, positioned and assembled into structures with minimal a dditional site work. The construction concrete components will be produce off-site and then will be transported to the construction site and assemble [2].In Malaysia, IBS has been introduced in early 1964 by Ministry of Local Government and Housing. The Ministry aims to provide low cost houses for low income citizens group. Since then, housing programmes for low income citizens is being carried on and by 1966, the Ministry has launched two pilot project in two major cities which are Pekeliling Flats in Kuala Lumpur and Rifle Range Road Flats in Penang. However, Pekeliling Flats in Kuala Lumpur has been demolished to be replaced by new development [3].With the latest 9th Malaysia Plan 2006-2010, as government are aware of the benefits that come from the application of IBS, many encouragement of IBS usage have been conduct. Two of the latest major initiatives are the release of the Treasury Circular Letter No. 7 Year 2008 and the announcement of the Action Plan for IBS Implementation in Government Projects (Pelan Tindakan Pelaksanaan IBS dalam Projek-Projek Kerajaan)[4]. It replaces the earlier instruction released on 6th July 2005 by Treasury for the usage of 50 percent IBS content in all government projects.Released on 31st October 2008, the Treasury Circular Letter was issued to all Secretary Generals, Heads of Federal Department, State Secretaries, Heads of Federal Statutory Bodies as well as to all local authorities. The essence of the instruction is the usage of Open Building, Malaysian Control design and 70 percent IBS Score for all projects. Agencies are required to submit periodical reports of IBS project implementation to the central monitoring agency. Exemptions are offered for certain classes of projects and the IBS Centre will function as the main technical reference centre.Sarawak, which is one of the fast developing states in Malaysia, constructions are happening all over the parts of the state. However, applications of IBS in the construction ind ustries in Sarawak are still far left behind. Sarawak just implemented IBS after a few decades after the introduction of IBS in Malaysia in 1964, as several projects using IBS was started in 2006 in Kuching areas [5]. Therefore, this study was performed in order to increase the IBS implementation in Sarawak so that productivity and quality of the constructions projects in this state can be improve.The aim of this research is to improve the IBS implementation in Sarawak so that productivity and quality of the constructions projects in this state can be optimized. In order to achieve this aim, several objectives must be met which are: i. To understand the concept of Industrialised Building System (IBS) ii. To identify the challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak. iii. To find the solutions to overcome the barriers to ensure that IBS implementation in Sarawak can be improved. 2. research methodologySecondary data will be needed in literature review part which aims to achieve the first objective which is to increase the understanding of the IBS concept. Primary data will be a strong evidence to achieve the second objectives which is identification of challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak. This will also help in achieving the third objective which is finding the solution to overcome the barriers in improving the implementation of IBS in Sarawak. Three approaches have been lineout for this study to gather the relevant data. The approaches are: i. Literature review i. Questionnaires Literature Review Literature review in this study is important in term of gathering the secondary data. This is to increase the resourceful information needed for this study for better understanding. The informations is gathered from wide range of media such as books, guidelines, previous thesis, journals, and new articles related to Industrialise Building System (IBS) and company related to them in Sarawak or Malaysia such as SCIB and CIDB. This also helped in achieving th e first objectives which aim of increasing the understanding of IBS concept.Questionnaires List if question has been prepared for the purpose of collecting primary data. Questionnaire can be an efficient data collection tool when the researcher knows exactly on the information that is needed and how o measure the variables of interest. Thus, all questions should be clear, understandable and obtain no ambiguity. Data validation has been done after the questionnaires had been collected. In the process of data validation, the responses obtained from the questionnaires have been for accuracy and suitability for his research purpose.Respondents for the questionnaire in this research are site workers, site engineers, site supervisors, foremen, management staff and production manager of several sites in Sarawak. The questionnaire has been given by hand to the respondents for determining the barrier and challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak. This is to gather information and eviden ce which is not available from literature review. In order to achieve the second objectives, Part B of the questionnaires which is on the challenges and barrier of IBS implementation has been filled by respondent who involved in construction field.In order to achieve the third objective which is to find the solutions in improving IBS implementation in Sarawak, Part C is provided which discussed on the suggestion and solutions criteria which have been filled by the respondent based on their level of agreement. The questionnaires have been given to various experience construction player such as developer contractors, consultant and supplier in Sarawak. This is to obtain their pc involve has been based on their experience in construction industry. Data Analysis Method The data collected from the questionnaires will be analyzed by using Likert Scaling method. 3. esult and discussion Objective (i): To understand the concept of Industrialised Building System (IBS) The first objective was achieved by finding and explaining wide informations about IBS and been discussed in Chapter 2, Literature Review. Many resources from internets, journals, project papers as well as newspaper is used in gaining information on IBS. In Chapter 2, starting from definition of IBS, discussion on the history as well as the general knowledge on IBS is discussed. Then, some discussion on current construction method in Malaysian construction industry is carried on to compare the IBS methods with the conventional method.In addition, more detailed information on IBS is provided such as, IBS in Malaysia and Sarawak which elaborated on the progress of IBS implementation in Malaysia as well as Sarawak, and also the need of IBS which discussed on the reasons why should IBS be implemented. Apart from that, knowledge on feature of IBS, types of IBS, the sequence of construction for IBS method, advantages of IBS, and challenges of IBS implementation in Malaysia also been provided in Chapter 2 which i s at page 12 until 38. All of this information aims to increase the knowledge and understanding the concept of Industrial Building System (IBS) to a higher level.The knowledge of IBS need to be improves especially amongst the construction players as well as citizens in Sarawak so that IBS implementation in this state can be increase. Objective (ii): To identify the challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak As discussed before, Part B of the questionnaires distribution assessment is conducted as to achieve the second objective which is to identify the challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak. These factors are the factor that is discussed in Chapter 2 on challenges of IBS implementation in Malaysia [2]. Another factor has been add on is Green Building Index (GBI).IBS is more towards GBI as wastage on site is reduced and pollutions due to work and progress done on site can be prevented. Green Building Index(GBI) was the world first tropical green tool design and developed b y Persatuan Arkitk Malaysia (PAM) and Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM). Implementing Green Building Index will need more knowledge and experience since it is also a new tool in the construction industry. There are five main factors provided in the Part B section for construction players to rank according to their agreement on challenges of implementation of IBS in Sarawak, which are: i.Awareness ii. Knowledge iii. Cost iv. Acceptance v. Green Building Index (GBI) Summary of overall main challenges of IBS implementation in Sarawak Table 1: Scale Index of overall challenges factor by construction players Scale| Level of agreement| Index| 1| Strongly Disagree| 3. 31? Min index