“Building defects management program” under soft landings level 3 performances at public universities in Malaysia

Abstract

Numerous studies have been carried out on potential factors or characteristics affecting building performance with regards to defects. Statistics in past research shows significant differences in characteristics between building projects with no or few defects as compared to those with many and/ or serious defects at handover. Within the past decades, series of fault and technical failures in government new buildings have caused a very disturbing situation to the construction industry in Malaysia. Numerous efforts followed-up but issues are yet to be resolved. A study is proposed to determine whether the number of defects at handover can be reduced by introducing new P13 Checklist item named Building Defects Management Program under Soft Landings Framework Level 3 approach. Under this program, the team should review JKR 203A Form of Contracts with PWD personnel authorised as a policy maker to revise the existing Form of Contracts to help reduce the number of building defects at handover should it be viable to do so. Building Defects Management Program will be set up on samples from 3 selected public universities within Klang Valley area to identify the relationship between defects during building handover and Soft Landings Framework Level 3 approach. Stakeholders’ verification is thus required on potential revision to be made on existing JKR 203A Form of Contracts among which are the positioning of As-built Drawings as a Preliminary item, the option of using “WJP” (Wang Jaminan Pelaksanaan) as retentions rather than Performance Bond, release of 50% of Performance Bond after CPC is issued and also O&M manuals being part of the Contracts instead of being part of CCC mandatory submissions. The outcome of the study is expected to affirm the relationship between defects during handover and Soft Landings Framework Level 3 approach at public universities in Malaysia.