The recent Construction Management Week 2022 at Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) saw a host of activities for construction management students to increase their exposure to the Malaysian construction industry.
Among the activities were talks on practices in the construction industry and visits to industrial sites for first-hand insights into construction site management and operations.
These included talks by engineers from Kuching-based civil and structural engineering consultancy Jurutera Minsar Consult Sdn Bhd and a visit to the Sarawak Oil Palms Berhad (SOPB) offices in the city centre to view the contiguous bored pile construction technique being used at a construction project there.
The students also visited NAIM Holdings Berhad’s Meadow Villa housing development in Permyjaya where company staff briefed them on project progress and project site safety, followed by a tour of the site with the project’s quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) engineer, safety officer and project engineer.
Further industrial talks were delivered by quantity surveyor attached to USCI University Sr Eric Khoo, and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Miri Branch Manager Che Ahmad Isyai Che Said.
In his talk, ‘Advancement with a QS Degree’, Sr Khoo shared his extensive experience in the construction industry and current tendering and contract practices in Malaysia.
Che Ahmad, meanwhile, talked about legislation and regulations related to the CIDB and the responsibilities of contractors registered with the government agency entrusted to enforce the Malaysia standards in the construction industry. He also briefed the students on the CIDB Act 520 and how it is critical to the construction industry.
On the final day of Construction Management Week 2022, Miri City Engineer Che Abu Bakar Bin Che Said gave a talk on local by-laws and the local authority’s requirements for building plan submissions.
This was followed by a talk titled ‘Building a Dream’ by Sr Dainna Baharuddin of the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), who gave an overview of the history of quantity surveying (QS) in Malaysia and the role of QS in the construction industry.
She also briefed the students on registration as professional quantity surveyors with the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM) and how they can benefit from RISM membership upon graduation.
