Jakarta, Indonesia - Noise is and has always been a part of construction. Axis Capital Group, a construction company located in Singapore knows the hazards of construction news in the community. With the existence of green construction which prevents air pollution and energy waste on Earth, many people now ask when the time would come to reduce the increasing noise construction people makes. Well, we cannot make a building quietly, can we?

In response to the complaints to reduce noise pollution, construction people came up with methods to somehow lessen the issue.

Controlling construction noise can pose special problems for contractors. Unlike general industry, construction activities are not always stationary and in one location. Construction activities often take place outside where they can be affected by weather, wind tunnels, topography, atmosphere and landscaping. Construction noise makers, e.g., heavy earth moving equipment, can move from location to location and is likely to vary considerably in its intensity throughout a work day.

1. Quieter Equipment

Equipment manufacturers are already looking into ways which can reduce noise from the machines. A cost-effective way to reduce noise at a construction worksite is to buy quiet equipment. When buying equipment always ask if there is a quieter way of doing the job. All things being equal most contractors would choose a quieter machine or process. Quieter machines or processes can cost more. Manufacturing tolerances are tighter, gears mesh better, quieter cooling fans are used, etc. Because of this, when contractors buy quieter equipment the final determination often depends on whether the noise reduction justified the extra expense.

2. Modifying Existing Old Equipment

The most common way to reduce the noise levels of common construction equipment is through worksite modifications. Some common worksite modifications consist of retrofitting existing equipment with damping materials and mufflers. Review the old equipment that you have and see if it can be modified.

3. Barrier Protection

An effective way of reducing noise is to locate noisy equipment behind purpose-built barriers. The barriers can be constructed on the work site from common construction building material (plywood, block, stacks or spoils) or the barriers can be constructed from commercial panels which are lined with sound absorbing material to achieve the maximum shielding effect possible. To be effective, the length of the barrier should be greater than its height. The noise source should not be visible and barrier should be located as close as possible to either the noise source or the receiver.

Singapore- More than 40 construction firms have joined a one-week “Safety Time Out” led by the National Crane Safety Taskforce. The movement was done as a show of concern towards the spate of workplace accidents related to crane activities since the beginning of this year.

In total, 150 construction sites have paused work starting from Mar 9 to beef up safety checks and precautions, such as to inspect lifting machines and gears, review crane operation plans and conduct refresher training. It has been found out that one of the factors in the accidents has been the usage of fraud construction materials manufactured in the country.

Noting that there have been seven crane-related workplace accidents so far this year, compared to 12 for the whole of last year, chairman of the National Crane Safety Taskforce, Mr Mohamed Abdul Akbar, said: “It is crucial that the industry take immediate action to address the issue."

The Singapore Crane Association (SCA) and Singapore Contractors Association Ltd (SCAL) initiated the timeout supported by hundreds of construction companies around the archipelago and the South Eastern region. Axis Capital Group, a construction company based in Singapore and has expanded to Jakarta, Indonesia also extended help and support.

SCA's chairman, Mr. Alan Chan, said its members are “alarmed and concerned” with the spate of accidents, and added that it is rallying industry players to conduct a safety time-out for both mobile and tower cranes.

SCAL's president, Dr Ho Nyok Yong, said his association strongly supports the move to ensure the safety of workers involved in various work-at-height operations, such as crane operations.

Mr. Mohamed Abdul Akbar added that as long as safety was a prime consideration, operations would run smoothly.

"The Crane Safety Taskforce has recently released a checklist for safety. But what has been practiced at the construction site is that each individual company uses that as a base, but they work on improving it further according to their needs. But my advice to everybody is, if you think safety, everything will go fine.

Many have commended for dedicating a few hours to this special cause as the industry has been given special importance that sends the message deeper into the public and the construction workers.

However, despite the good will these construction companies have initiated, there are still a lot of construction firms, project managers and commercial and residential owners that have argued and complaints with the cause. They reason out, safety all boils down to good planning. Accidents sometimes happen when workers start “trying out their luck” and overload the cranes to meet deadlines. To overcome this, firms can engage in better planning before execution, such as telling workers exactly what and how much to hoist, instead of leaving them to improvise on their own.

Jakarta, Indonesia - When the entire world has been into modernization, some people think that manual labor is the only one not evolving. Well, think again.

Even when the construction industry has been adamant to change, builders are now beginning to be dragged into the 21st century by the need to collaborate more closely with their more IT-savvy colleagues, the architects and engineers responsible for the ideas behind their work.

Laptops are gradually making an appearance alongside the hard hats of the building site. is this just keeping with the evolving times or are there any other issues that drive the industry to modernization?

Reducing risk

One of the major factors for this change is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain profit margins on building projects. Mindful of high-profile project delivery delays, many commercial or public sector clients have introduced financial penalty clauses in case deadlines are missed. And on top of that, there are skill shortages combined with increased competition for land.

Yet often, profits are eaten away by practical issues - delays in receiving drawings, use of outdated data, inaccuracies caused by human error. In some cases of global projects, it is easier to use the latest in technology to bring help from abroad. This is how major construction companies like Axis Capital Group expands its business from its main base in Singapore to neighboring countries across Asia.

As a result, the whole of the architecture, engineering and construction industry is looking for ways to reduce risk and maintain its bottom line. On a day-to-day level it is also struggling with the need to communicate and review project drawings and share proliferating number of associated documents that are usually too large to send by e-mail.

Available on-demand

Communication with subcontractors is vastly improved, becoming more instantaneous, reliable and trackable. Integration with design software means builders can easily update and publish drawings and make them available to their subcontractors, resulting in a largely paperless process. The need to share with contractors who do not use Cad is addressed by the use of DWF files, which enable sharing and viewing of 2D and 3D files without their native programs. Systems and software are also installed to prevent scams to hack on the ongoing project.

Here to stay

Underneath these more general issues, there is a technology sub-text. The growing take up of digital 3D design and a process known as Building Information Modelling (BIM). This is the creation and use of coordinated, consistent, computable information about a building project in design held in a single 3D digital model.

For more than a decade in the construction industry, Axis Capital Group has not only encountered troubles with our internal system, we have also been in the midst of critical issues that sometimes, we resolve to strict measures which leads to changes in our protocols and measures. In both our offices in Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia, we have tens of complaints on common constraints in some of our equipment or involvement in seemingly impossible projects. Among these issues include road construction. Delays are also inevitable as there are unforeseen circumstances.

There are quite a few reasons for the delay and some of these are:

• Outdated revenue maps form the basis for preparation of land acquisition plans. The records are often not been reviewed and updated for a long period of time.

• The land acquisition plans are often not realistic as the design consultants lack expertise to prepare such plans. They also do not carry out the alignment and ground verification.

• There are frequent changes in the designs and alignments during implementation stage. In some cases, there are discrepancies in the project coordinates and the reference frames resulting in mismatch thereby resulting in redesign of the alignment.

• The project authorities have to depend on the human resources from the revenue authorities, who are already over stretched and cannot, provide the required assistance on time.

• In the absence of clear guidelines on providing compensation in special cases (including land owners with unclear titles or more than one owner), the settlement process takes a much longer time.

• Delay in finalization of the alignment and corridor of impact during project preparation stage

• Very weak contract management & enforcement environment.

• Lack of the understanding between the Employers and the contractors that speedy completion of the projects is to both parties’ interest.

• Lack of understanding of the contract conditions both by the Employers and the contractors.

• Due to dearth of construction management skills in the country, the contractor’s performance gets affected. This includes the contractor’s work planning, resource and workflow management, cash flow management and his overall project management.

• The contractors generally quote low to win the contract. They normally have their eyes on making money through raising claims at a subsequent date knowing fully well that the Employer will certainly provide them many avenues to do so, particularly because of delay in making land available and delay in decisions, payments etc.

• Since the role of the Independent Engineer is not very clear so the Engineer takes no responsibility. The Engineer is not accountable as after the project is completed, he is simply not there.

In the pursuit of continuous learning in our own industry, Axis Capital Group, a construction company which also sells and leases capital heavy equipment around Asia with the base in Singapore and a branch in Jakarta, Indonesia, joined the 2015 International Green Energy Expo held in Daegu, South Korea last April 1-3, 2015.

Green Energy Expo, the sole trade fair co-organized by Korea New & Renewable Energy Association, Korea Photovoltaic Industry Association, Korea Wind Energy Industry Association and Korea Hydrogen Industry Association, is the oldest and largest international trade fair in Korea, which was certified as a professional and superior exhibition by UFI, Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Association of Korea Exhibition Industry, etc.

It provides exactly what you expect of the groundwork for entry to Asian market; an excellent network, a number of trade visitors including potential clients and a perfect marketplace if you are interested in Korean and Asian Renewable Energy market. This year’s special event was participated by 27 countries, 257 companies and 25,000 visitors while installing 700 booths for exhibits.

The events for the concurrent program were a one on one business meeting, with 61 overseas buyers from 20 countries total of 52 companies, a preview of e-mobility, innovation program, scam prevention, industrial inspection and review and solar roof tour in Expo.

For the Business conference itself which was held for three days, green energy leaders forum was held which only the exclusive business owners and infrastructure  industry experts came together to discuss the possible expansion and technological and environmental incorporation in the industry. The expo also included International Fuel Cell Forum 2015; Seminar on Invigoration of Hydropower 2015, The Spring Annual Symposium of Coal-Gasification Association 2015, working strategies for Korea’s Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS) and Korean Offset Program (KOP), Global PV Market Insight 2015, Global WP Market Insight 2015, Concentrating Solar Power Workshop 2015 for the expansion and increase of the use of solar energy in buildings and new infrastructures, The Renewable Energy Resource Map Seminar 2015 and the ADB (Asian Development Bank) Networking Session.

With the support of different partners in the pursuit of green buildings, Axis Capital Group also made partnership with different eco-friendly association from all over Asia. As we will, we continue to expand our wisdom and knowledge to service you better and further develop our potential in delivering only high-quality capital construction equipment.

Jakarta, Indonesia - If construction is a game, there are just a lot of people who would fail on it. Sound strategies are now as vital as the structures. After the housing dip of a few years ago, value is still on people’s minds as there isn’t a guarantee that another downturn couldn’t be around the corner. Axis Capital Group, a company which sells and rents capital equipment in Singapore and other Asian countries released the trends that construction industry are now experiencing in the present world:

1.  Single-Design Model

Traditionally, engineering documents were created then given to the contractor to re-draw with different information. Now, to save time and money, there’s a shift to have it all in-house from engineering to coordination, creating a one-stop shop. Through the proper coordination, models can and should go through engineering right into construction. Thirty month projects can get turned into 24-month projects.

2.  Materials

Materials such as adapted sheet metal are popular as a guaranteed pressure class for high quality, but it is how materials are being used that makes the difference. Going to prefabrication off-site for construction fits right into the ongoing theme of improving schedules. Records of the use of fraud materials used are now lessened as contractors are being more and more meticulous.

3. Energy Efficiency

People have noticed that more and more construction companies are now being eco-friendly. Energy consumption is always on the mind in construction. He notes systems that recover energy through heat wheels and occupancy sensors are becoming vital. By recognizing carbon dioxide in the room, a sensor changes the ventilation and, therefore, the energy needed.

4.  Permanent Modular Construction

A lot of reviews say that permanent modular construction will be a huge trend in the coming years, saying the construction can easily last more than 50 years. Modular construction fits particularly well when you’re in a time crunch, from fast food restaurants that need to go up quickly to army barracks for military deployment.

5. Full-force Mobile Computing

Mobile devices on the job have been trending in construction industry technology for some time. 70% of construction professionals already view mobile technology as important to their businesses, planning to use it to access and share information such as customer and job data, drawings, schedules, photos, and plans. The future effects of this trend point to a higher level of company-wide connection and overall better onsite efficiency.