Industrialized Building System - QSB 2513

This is an elective which I have chosen to take in this semester. It was due to my interest in knowing more about industrialized building system that I chose this subject out of the many other subjects available as electives. This subject taught me a lot regarding modern methods of construction today and it has opened my eyes to many things which I have not realised existing in front of me.

This subject has a lot to do with costing as well, because among the many things we learnt in this subject, we learnt to compare the costs for projects using the Industrialized Building System, with projects using the traditional method of construction. To me, I feel that it is an important thing to know as a future Quantity Surveyor because that would be something I'd deal with when I graduate.

We did not have any midterm test for this elective but we had assignments and courseworks thoughout the duration of the module. We had an individual assignment which carried a total of 40%, where we were given 2 questions to choose from and were asked to answer one in a report format.

Besides the individual assignment, we had a factory visit to Bluescope Lysaght which was a factory manufacturing prefabricated steel components. Based on that factory visit, we wrote a factory report which carried 20% of our total course marks.

At Bluescope Lysaght

The interesting part of this module was when we got the opportunity to attend Archidex 2013 in KLCC Convention Centre. We attended it as a class all together and managed to learn more about what's out there in the construction field. We learnt so much from the exhibition because we managed to see so many prefabricated components which we have not seen before. The prefabricated structures and components were so rare and unique. Based on that trip to Archidex 2013, we did a group project consisting of report-writing and powerpoint presentation. My group did our assignment based on a company named Sonic which prefabricates Steam and Sauna.

Overall, I really enjoyed this whole semester of elective because it wasnt just based on studies alone. We had the opportunity to work outdoors as well and it definetely helped us to build our teamwork skills because we had a lot of group work required in class and for assignments as well. It is something different compared to other core subjects because other subjects are based on studying and exams. This elective proved that effective learning could be done outdoors as well.