TABLE OF CONTENTS

No. Contents Page

1. Introduction 2-3
2. Background of site project 4
3. Contractor Organization Chart 5
4. Objectives 6
5. Structure of the building:- 7-10
a)Beam
b)Column
c)Slab
d)Footing
6. Safety at the site 11
7. The material used for the construction:- 12-13
a)Reinforcement bar
b)Brick wall
c) Flooring, Formwork, Nominal Cover (Tokua), Scaffold,
Steel Probe
8. Problems observed and mitigation to solve:- 14-15
a)Formworks left everywhere
b)Workers does not practised safety attire
9. Conclusion 16

1
 INTRODUCTION

A site visit to Bukit Banyan, Sungai Petani was organized by the Faculty of Civil
Engineering for students who take ECS356 which is Civil Engineering Design Project on the
19th April 2018 which was on Thursday. The visit involved 4 classes of students and 2 escorts
lecturer, one of them is Madam Hazrina. The site visit was held so that the students are
exposed to construction world, gaining knowledge that some of them might not be obtained
during industrial training. It is also an opportunity for the students to learnt and being expose
to the difference between learn the structure in classroom which is theoretical and the real
world which is on site. Students are benefited to learn about the real project management
practice that related to structures elements, health and safety, environment issues and logistics
management on site.

The students need to wear proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) such as safety
helmet and safety boots before entering the site. Besides, we were also reminded to always on
alert for safety issues and hazrds such as falling bricks or deep excavated soil. Upon arrival
on site, we were briefed by the project manager, site safe supervisor and many more from the
Paramount Construction behalf on the rules throughout the visit and the safety practised that
should be applied by each of the students.

This project actually is seen as “Pembinaan Kawasan Bandar Terancang” for Bukit
Banyan. A lot of facilities are involved in the construction, such as hospital, school, houses of
many kind for instance low cost terrace and low cost flat and also a recreational park. The
span for this project is 14 years of development. It has been constructed for 6 years now with
5% completion. There are a lot of ideas are implemented and the go green concept is also
practised regularly. But for the project that we went, the project is construct for 21 months for
Semi-D’s house and bungalows starting from June 2017. Some units would be sold around
RM 500,000 and a Honda Civic would be given as well.

After the briefing, the students was brought to the site by the site manager, Mr Ong
Kok Soon. Throughout the visit, we were being exposed with a mass of construction
information, practises on site, and method involved. Mr Ong would speak anything related to
the management of the project and the flow of the project on site. The was also Q and A
session between Mr Ong and the students. There were discussions and elaborations among
each other.

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 As what Mr Ong told us, this project was been behind actual planning with 27 days
delays. The delay may due to the delivery of materials, shop drawings and weather which we
can see it was only a daily basic issues. Such delays may also because of the early problems
occurred during the preliminary process and also worker permit issues with the authority.

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BACKGROUND OF SITE PROJECT

Project Title Cadangan Pembangunan Yang Mengandungi:-

a) 1 Unit Rumah Sesebuah 2 Tingkat Jenis A
b) 10 Unit Rumah Sesebuah 2 Tingkat Jenis B
c) 10 Unit Rumah Berkembar 2 Tingkat Jenis A
d) 28 Unit Rumah Berkembar 2 Tingkat Jenis B
Di Atas Sebahagian PT 5951, Bandar Amanjaya, Mukim Sungai
Petani, Daerah Kuala Muda, Kedah Darul Aman.

Method of Contract Open Tender

Owner PARAMOUNT Property (Utara) Sdn Bhd.

Civil and Structural Perunding Kelana

Engineers

Architect ALM Architects

Mechanical and TAFA Perunding Sdn Bhd
Electrical Engineers
Contractor PARAMOUNT Construction Sdn Bhd

Duration of the Project 21 months

Project Start June 2017

Completion Project March 2019

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CONTRACTOR ORGANIZATION CHART

5
OBJECTIVES SITE VISIT

1. To know the techniques and various activities that are carried out on site.
It is important for a civil engineer designer to acknowledge the methods and activities
carried out on site, it would ease the designing process stage in many ways. This helping
so that the proper access can be provided for the reach of materials and delivery process.
By doing like this, the project will be able to catch up with the planned progress such as
does not occur sudden change in the drawing and not get caught up in delays.

2. To have a closer view of the entire building structure as contrasting to seeing it in

the drawing.
As we all know, we hardly able to interpret our drawings into real sketch or scenario
just by imaging the view. The designer must go to the site to experience the actual
drawn design on the real life, real structure standing and not just structure in the
drawing paper. This will help the designer to improve their drawing in the next future.
There will be a lot of improvement occur for other next project.

3. To experience the real situation going on site and discover how important the
safety is.
There are hazards everywhere on site which could come in various forms in many way.
Therefore, it is really important to practise the PPE which is Personal Protection
Equipment to ensure that there will be no serious injuries to occur. As an apple can keep
a doctor away, same goes with PPE, it can help to reduce the injuries or can be avoided
at least.

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1.0 STRUCTURE OF THE BUILDING
a) BEAM
During our visit to the construction site, the concreting ground beam had been
done by the workers and they process in open the formwork. As what Mr Ong told
us, the concrete grade for beam is 25 N/mm 2. The size of beam is 225 x 600 mm but
the size of beam are varies depends on the structural drawing provide by the civil
and structural designer and some of beam may even be 125 x 600 mm. The concrete
cover for the beam is 25 mm. The beam size is smaller than the column as beam will
transfer the load that it receives from other loadings such as slab and the brick wall
to the column. We also ask Mr Ong about the reinforcement size, and we knowledge
that the maximum size reinforcement of beam used at Bukit Banyan site is 25 mm.

Figure 1 Ground Beam

b) COLUMN

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 As we all know, the column will be designed to be greater than the size of
beam. The reason why is column will have to cater loadings from other elements
such as beam, slab and brick wall. Loads will be transferred to the column, the
loading from column will transfer the load to the stump and then footing and last
soil. On this site, the size of reinforcement used for the column is T16 which is
16mm diameter. All the columns that found at site is rectangular shape. Since the
building constructed is a residential house which need to have their own aesthetical
value, the type of column there is slender column which will cause no excessive
layer out, so it means that the size of column is follow the brick size but the depth of
column is increases. So there will be no columns that can be seen as it is hidden flat
along the brick wall.

Figure 2 Slender column

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c) SLAB

During the site visit, we manage only to watch how and get to know how the
ground slab was done. Somehow the are some first floor were already done. As what
we know, the reinforcement for the slab is by using BRC A7. It is used to increase
the strength of concrete. The concrete cover for the slab is also 25 mm. Mr Ong
shared with us how the slab was construct, first they layered the sand and spray the
layer with the anti-termite solution to prevent the termite from eating up the
structure and reduce the strength of element. After that, a polyethene sheet will be
put to cover and protect the sprayed anti-termite. BRC will be installed, paired with
the starter bar because their ground floor is non suspended slab. BRC also comes in
standard size so once the BRC reach the site, the workers will cut the BRC
according to wanted size in the drawing. For the toilet also, there have a drop of
100mm. There are pipe sleeves inside the toilets. The chocolate pipe is built for solid
waste and the white one is for rainwater downpipe that will goes up to the roof level,
connected to the tank which involves external drainage. Water will flow from roof to
below. After that, they will pour the concrete. To ensure the slab is level, surveyors
will be called to monitor.

Figure 3 Ground Slab

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d) FOOTING

On this site, we manage to figure out there was three types of foundation used.
They are raft foundation, spun piling and pad footing. The foundation applied is
based on the structural drawing given to them. Basically, it is based on the type of
soil over there. Not every house over there use the same type of foundation, some
house will use pad footing, some will use raft foundation and some will use piling. 1
point of piling is for filling area. 2 piles include 16 m and 6 m hard layer which
brings to 22 m depth. Piles are then cut with cutter. For this construction site, they
used hammering method. Piling is used on areas that need to use deep foundation
because of considering the soil condition which is cohesive soil where the hard layer
is found far deeper from the ground surface. Raft footing is used on certain areas
that required shallow foundations. The soil may be non-cohesive types of soil. The
limit depth of such foundation is 3 m. unlike other structure such as bridge which
would use 40 N/mm2 of grade concrete, the foundation on this site would use grade
25 (25 N/mm2). For concrete grade to achieve its strength, the contractor must wait
up to 2 weeks before open the formwork.

Figure 4 Spun Pile

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2.0 SAFETY AT THE SITE

The construction project in Bukit Banyan’s project cost does not exceed RM
20 million, so only Site Safety Supervisor (3S) is required for this site. The Site
Safety Supervisor for this site is Mr Jeffri. He will do inspections and checking on
anything that related to the safety at site for a certain period. So in that case, the
workers and engineers at the site need to applied Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) during at site. This is because, at site which hazards can occur anytime, any
way and anywhere if the workers not consider the important of safety and practised
it. For scaffolding, only the person in charge from Greentech will be in charge. This
is very crucial because only the person that has knowledge on setting up a safe
scaffolding with proper design. Elements on scaffolding such as bracing is really
crucial to safeguard the workers during doing their works. Harness would be use if
the workers need to deal with high structure.
For Bukit Banyan construction site, they held the toolbox meeting weekly. It
was held at the quarters where the meeting involved the workers, engineers, site
supervisor and other personnel on site. This is very important because it can provide
more preparations and cautions on hazards and dangers. Housekeeping also is done
but not consistent because it was done at time by time.
For the Non-Conformance Report, only minor elements are issued such as
honey comb and bulging. On site, certain area will have ponds of water. To avoid
the breeding on insects, specific medicine will be put in the ponds.

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 3.1 THE MATERIAL USED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION

a) REINFORCEMENT BAR

It is very crucial to locate the bar bending yard to be strategic and easy to reach by the
workers which is not too far but not too near with the entrance. The site manager also need to
make sure that the location of bar cannot be reach by thieves. As we can see in the picture,
the bar having the corrosion because of expose to the sun and rain. It may affect the strength
of the reinforcement bar. For this structure, the maximum diameter size of the reinforcement
bar is 25 mm. The strength of the reinforcement bar is 500 N/mm2.

Figure 5 Bar Cutter

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 b) BRICKWALL

For this brick wall of the houses, the contractor use clay brick. As we all know, clay
brick is used to ensure the coolness of the house. But Mr Ong told us that this kind of
material brick is hard to obtain due to high demand in the market but the supplier does not
produce the clay brick wall. So during order the stock, sometimes they may even wait
because of demand from others side. So it may cause delay of the project if they did not
receive insufficient bricks.

Figure 6 Brick Wall

c) FLOORING, FORMWORK, NOMINAL COVER (TOKUA), SCAFFOLD AND

STEEL PROBE
The finishes used for the flooring is the waterproofing coating. For formwork,
they will use the formwork only four times per cycle. Nominal cover or at site, we called
it as tokua used is in the form of cut stones or concrete, mostly the tokua is in size of 25
mm. Meanwhile for the steel structure, there are two types of it that are used to support
some of the element. Scaffold is used to support slabs. Meanwhile, steel probe is used to
backing the beams.

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4.0 PROBLEMS OBSERVED AND MITIGATION TO SOLVE

a) FORMWORK LEFT EVERYWHERE

The dismantled formwork was left everywhere and can cause hazards to the
workers on site. Besides that, if any structure such as drains or floor is still under
construction and the mixture is still wet, the debris from formwork can go to the wet
mixture so it will disturb the structure and influenced the strength of the structure.
Plus, if the workers not considerate the caution, they might caught with the used
formwork and injured themselves. Formwork is made from timber, as we all know
timber is easily exposed to fire so it can cause sudden burning and affect the
construction site. So the way is make sure the formwork is collect and put at one place
in a proper way.

Figure 7 Left Formworks

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 b) WORKERS DOES NOT PRACTISED SAFETY ATTIRE
Some workers did not put their safety helmet and just wore normal hat and just wear
waterproof boots instead of safety shoes. As we know, the Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) is very important while working on site. Not wearing safety helmet, the workers will
exposed themselves to falling objects from above structure. If the workers not wearing the
safety boots, they will risk their foot when the sharp pieces such as nails to penetrate the legs
of the workers. So ways to reduce injuries, the site safety officer need to do regular checks at
the site. Plus the workers also need to force themselves to practised wear safety attire.

Figure 8 Workers

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 5.0 CONCLUSION

From the site visit, we were exposed to the actual environment of site field and we
knowledge that it was different from only learning in class without see the real structure. So
from the site visit that we when, we got to see how they were built in real life which was
done in construction site after we design the element in the studio.

There are few matters that need to be taken into serious consideration such as safety at
the site, problems occur, methods and regulations on site. Workers on site need to strictly
practise Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) so they could avoid danger and hazard during
working. From this site visit, we got to know that some of the regulations practised would
increase the development and bring advantages to our next generation. Sustainable
development is to make sure that it will meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brudtland Commision, 1987)

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