Saturday, 25th June 2011, PAM Sabah Chapter organized a product presentation on “Going Green & Safety Glass & Fire Rated Glass System” by Aneka Glass Sdn Bhd held at the Chapter’smini auditorium. The talk was attended by 43 participants comprising of architects and suppliers.
Master of Ceremony, Ms. Shirlyn Thye, Managing Director of Gar Lightglass Sdn Bhd welcomed all and introduced all the speakers, Mr. Leo Breuker as Bridgestone Germany-Sales Director, Mr.Ho Chong Choai as Managing Director of Secuglass Sdn Bhd, Mr. Patrick Mok as General Manager of C3S Far East Ltd and Mr. Mohan Menon as Technical Consultant.
The speakers introduced the new state of art, crime prevention glass, fire resistant glazing system, clear run E1, for use as partitions, alongside fire routes in office, car parks and even shop fronts.
The crime prevention glass is laminated with a special “resin” to enable house owner to achieve “no more grill” concept which always affect the aesthetic of the house and increases risk of being trap during fire hazard. With minimum thickness of 5.5mm glass, Aneka Glass has passed the stringent test in European Standard DIN EN 356 P4A which need to withstand multiple drops of 4.1kg steel ball from 30 feet height.
There are 8 types of product display at the presentation as follows:-
1. Crime Prevention Glass
2. Anti-Bandit Glass
3. Bullet Resistant Glass
4. Anto-Blast Glass
5. Color Laminated Glass
6. Stained Glass
7. Fabric & Other Material Laminated Glass
8. Others such as textured glass, sandblasted & etched glass, ceramic frit printing glass, sculpture glass, stainless steel laminated glass, cracked glass and color coated glass
The presentation ended at 1.00pm after Q&A session with lunch. Vote of thanks is accorded to everyone for making their valuable time to attend the seminar and to Aneka Glass Sdn Bhd for the informative product talk.
A total of 26 architectural graduates including 3 past chairman and 2 Chapter committee members attended the “Architectural Graduate-Get-Together +Dinner” held on 14 June 2011 at the Chapter mini auditorium. The get-together was a fellowship event specially organized to gather all the returning graduates whom the Chapter members would like to meet for a dialogue and interaction with them.
Ar. Yong Ming Cheong, Chairman of the R & D Sub-committee welcomed all the architectural graduates and briefed on the purpose of this gathering. He introduced Ar. Victor Wong, the Sabah representative to LAM Council of Architectural Accreditation And Education Malaysia (CAEM).
Ar. Victor Wong briefed on the purpose of the LAM-CAEM. It was formed under the auspices of the Board to regulate all matters relating to architectural education. He formulated a Sabah lecturing Program for the returning architectural graduates. Through this program it is hopes to bring improvement and changes to the problems that the LAM-CAEM is facing on the declining standards of returning graduates.
Ar. Yong Ming Cheong suggested the architectural graduates to form their own committee. The graduate representative is invited to attend the Chapter Committee’s monthly meeting so as to be aware of current issues discussed.
The dialogue ended at 8.00pm after Q&A sessions and follow with a get-together buffet dinner.
Reported by
Ar. Yong Ming Cheong
(L-R) Mr. Pasdik Francis, En. Mohd. Saifurazzee B. Mohamed @ Hussien, Ar. Paul Lau, Mr. Mursidi Hj. Sapie,
Mr Johnny Samson, Datuk Matius Sator, ar. Sim Sie Hong, Ar. Ho Jia Lit, Ar. Lo Su Yin, Ar. Yong Ming Cheong, Ar. Aaron Fong, Ar. Arnold Kwan
On 12th May, 2011, seven chapter members of the Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM Sabah Chapter) led by the Chapter Chairman, Ar. Ho Jia Lit paid a courtesy call to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, Datuk Matius Sator.
The Chapter highlighted the issue on the referral of development plans to the Central Board for approval. In order to speed up the process, the Chapter recommended that minor amendments made to the layout of the development plans need not be referred to the Central Board again. In an effort to be more transparent and to dismiss misunderstanding on the efficiency of the Central Board approval process, the Ministry agreed to publish the statistic on the number of development plans submitted and approved by the Board and the time for their approval.
In view of the rising costs of properties in the State and the outdated and uncoordinated ad-hoc bylaws and guidelines, the Chapter stressed the importance on the revision of a uniform and relevant residential set back guideline. The Ministry had also agreed to look into the formulation the Sabah Building Ordinance and when such exercise carried out the Ministry would invite the professional bodies to be represented in the committee.
The Chapter has also emphasised that DBKK has already been using a new residential set back guidelines albeit on a trial basis. In Sandakan, the setback guideline is also different. Confusion will arise when the development plans were sent to the Central Board for approval. Very often, they will be rejected as the new setback guideline is inconsistent with the existing by-laws.
In an effort to preserve our environment and the concern for global warming, the Chapter also proposed to the Ministry to incorporate sustainable design criteria into the building by-laws. Encouragements and incentive will be given to buildings which have achieved the GBI (Green Building Index) certification. Some of the simple and basic energy saving design and construction details should be part of the regulation to be complied in new building construction.
PAM Sabah Chapter highlighted that in a recent court case, the property inspection reports prepared by one architect professional were used and accepted as evidence for the assessment of the conditions of the houses in dispute. The Chapter stresses the importance of the inspection reports for cases referred to the Housing Tribunal. As part of the service to the building industries, the charges for the reports are very reasonable.
Reported by Ar. Lo Su Yin
