FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ECC584 INTEGRATED DESIGN PROJECT

PROJECT 2 (CASE STUDY)

Planning Towards Development Order (DO)

Approval for Sustainable Projects

Prepared by EC220 GROUP: 8A1

Name ID No
Maslina Binti Abdullah 2017808914

March 2020 – July 2020

Table of Content

No Title Page
.
1.0 Introduction 2
2.0 Case Study 3
2.1 Societal Concern 3
2.1.1 Reasoning and Consideration 3-4
2.1.2 Professionalism 4-5
2.2 Sustainable and Impact 5-
2.2.1 Sustainable Design 5-6
2.2.2 Evaluation and Recommendation 6-7
3.0 Conclusion 9
4.0 References 9

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1.0 Introduction

The aim for the development order is to gain the approval from Local
Planning Authority (PBPT) in a form of written statement supported. This act must be
done when any clients intent to build any building or settlement. Otherwise, the
construction will be considered as illegal. Every development undergoes the same
project life cycle which consists of planning, design, execution and post construction.
This process will benefit both for the developer and client. Thus, the process before
getting approval should be carried out by proposing and following the most economic
and safe procedure related to complex engineering problems as well as taken care of
the societal and sustainable impacts.

The planning process required all information regards to the construction

before approval been granted. This documentation shall include any physical work to
begin on site and such a permit before any announcement by relevant authorities.
According to Development Town and Country Planning (DTCP), any development
should study the potential impact of construction to the environment through
Environmental Impact Assessment. The authorities the will imposed the submit plans
to various technical department from submitting party such as land and safety
requirement, public facilities, drainage and sewerage.

Thus, the submitting party which is the planner that appointed by developer
must make important amendment compliance with the guidelines and requirements
made by the local authority. This is to ensure that the whole project is success either
to the developer, land owner or buyer. The main criteria when ones intent to plan any
building is it must be within the time, quality and cost constrain. Besides, any
construction that may be constructed further shall aim to end the poverty, protect the
planet as well as to ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Upmost, the
entire criterion meet the customer satisfaction and as he desired.

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2.0 Case Study

There are some problems encountered during the approval process

development order. Most problem occur during the design stage which conducted by
the planner or civil or structural engineer. This is due to poor planning and
consideration especially during the earthwork plan and structural. In general, if the
housing project are more than 50 hectares, thus, the development needed to study the
potential impact to the local environment. The area of building is quite large, thus, the
case study selected is based on geotechnical division whereby the condition of the soil
is soft ground and it needs to be treated.

2.1 Societal Concern

The societal concern consists of selected perspectives from different aspect for
the case study. This is to provide an excellent judgement and to propose an economic
as well as to come up with a sustainability development for a long term either to
public or the environment.

2.1.2 Reasoning and Consideration

The upmost consideration during planning of a project is to protect the

environment. This can be done during material selection. Since the project is a
housing project which main element is concrete structure, the addition of cement to
enhance the soil bearing capacity and hydraulic conductivity are not favorable. This is
because cement will act as a binder to mix with the soil. Yet, the formation of cement
required natural sources like limestone and energy to produce. Therefore, in order to
provide a sustainable project, the use of cement for soil improvement could be
replaced with another material. From environmental aspect, the production of cement
can cause increase in carbon dioxide which is not environmentally friendly.

Besides, another way to increase soil bearing capacity is through the addition
of chemicals. In terms of societal concern, the use of excessive cement and chemicals
could lead to respiratory problems. Since the housing project is nearby the residential
area and school, thus the implementations of excessive cements and chemical are not
complementary. This is because the particles of cement are too small which is in form

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 of dust. Other than that, the reaction of the chemicals as binder to the soil might
produce a toxic substance either to the workers or public nearby.

From economic prosperity point of view, the use of Portland Cement affect the
energy manifest. As such, the amount of energy need to extract the raw materials is
extravagant. Plus, the process and manufacturing cement as well as the transportation
for all stages of cement production required energy. In addition, the embodied energy
is depending upon the mix designs which are vary. Emission of carbon dioxide also
will be significant as it emit throughout the process. In order to reduce embodied
energy and carbon dioxide, the kiln efficiencies or using alternate fuel methods
required a significant cost.

Last but not least, the use of cement or chemicals can be eliminated by the
power of technology perspective. In which, the use of green technology for cement
will help to reduce emission, consume less energy for this case study. Besides, the
proposed used for green cement is to strengthen the soil bearing capacity by adapting
a new sustainable material and consume it more efficiently

2.1.2 Professionalism

From the interview session, besides problems regards to engineering, another

common problem is by the contractors. As such, some are lack with ethical manner
whereby greedy being one of the main reason that lead to unethical behavior. Upon
the engineer side, the design consideration should not involve any conflict and poor
management. Besides, ethic also represents the consideration of social responsibility.

The case study reasoning has considered the public, as well as workers well-
being on site. Besides, prioritizing the obligation of client is also vital. Since the case
study related to soil, engineer should ensure that the propose design do not cause any
contamination of the soil either during planning, execution or post-construction. Even
though prioritizing the obligations of client and public are difficult, ones should
follow the ethical guidelines and practice professional behavior. For example, the
engineer must show types of substructure like foundation, its method and it must get
approval from Johor Bahru City Council (MBJB) before construction getting done.
Engineer also must ensure that the work does not cause nuisance to the residents.

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 Since engineering has several ‘grey area’, ones should avoid any bribery or
fraud as such getting paid without considering the environmental impact of the
construction. Besides, poor workmanship and material quality shall not be covered up
and must be according to plan specification. The construction material in this case
study is cement must be included in the quotation as well as not over ordering
material.

Other than that, engineer also should not practice negligence in construction
industry. For example, one shall not neglect the safety either for workers or site
condition. This can be done by providing a proper access temporary road plan. Other
than that, ensure that no soil erosion to nearby building that may harm danger to the
public. Besides, drawing submitted or any plans must be drawn as detail as possible to
avoid misinformation either to client or contractor. In addition, material quality and
safety standard on site must be notified clearly. Lastly, engineer must provide an
adequate techniques flow in order to inform the contractor prior with the availability
of the construction methodology.

2.2 Sustainable Impact

The sustainable design might be impact to the construction industry. The

effect might be experienced towards the environmental, social well-being and
economic. Thus, some design has been proposed as well as mitigations approach to
overcome the issues.

2.2.1 Sustainable Design

To enhance the soil bearing capacity, one sustainable method that can be use d
is by implying biocement, which is a microbial technology. This is because biocement
are made up from microorganism which grows at ambient temperature. Thus, less
energy is needed to generate cement making it an environmentally friendly material.
Besides, the microorganisms are natural and can reproduce easily at low cost. Other
than that, microorganisms in the ground does not disturb the soil and able to penetrate
and reproduce in soil. The biocement also can be found in either solid form of liquid
depending on the selection. For this case, liquid form is better which can be done
through biogrout that has lower viscosity and can flow like water. Hence, the delivery

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 is easier and reaction time to reach the concrete strength is reduced as well as the
shear strength will be increased and reducing the permeability.

Other than biocement, bio-desaturation is also one of sustainable method to

narrow down the use of cement in order to increase soil bearing capacity. Since soil is
subjected to damage of liquefaction caused by earthquake, a method that can
overcome it is by using bio-gas method. Bio-gas method generates tiny bubbles in-
situ in saturated soil at point where liquefaction occured. Thus, the pore water
pressure under a dynamic load can lessen. However, gas tends to escape from the
ground. Therefore, the most effective way is to introduce tiny gas bubble in-situ to use
microorganism. Since bacteria can easily generate gas underground using less energy
and distribute more evenly, hence it will be much more cost effective.

Lastly, the use of plastic can also increase the bearing capacity by adding
plastic into structural products. Plastic waste has become an obvious and critical as a
waste material and it keeps on expanding. Majority of the plastic is not biodegradable
therefore; plastic waste has raised numerous worries on ecological and social issues.
One approach to take care of this issue is to change over plastic waste into a light-
weight structures. Since plastic melt when heated, it can be a binder with other
material to increase the compressive strength of the structure. Furthermore, the
addition of plastic will turn the product into lightweight. Light-weight is a significant
element that has been favourable as a construction material compared to conventional
construction products.

2.2.2 Evaluation and Recommendation

There are some implication and consequences of sustainable construction in

legislation compliance. As sustainable construction requires complexity to normal
business, legal changing and ethical imperatives, hence sustainability may be not
favourable to associated companies. As such, the most common method in Malaysian
is conventional. In order to apply an innovative and sustain building require high
degree of collaboration, including federal partners, state and local governments, as
well as the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and specialization and in
need to communicate with an expert. For example, the construction company need a

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rigged market of recycled raw materials. Therefore, a mitigation method that can
lessen the complexity to adapt with sustainable design is to give the overview clearly
to all parties involves. According to (Lord et al., 2016), in order to establish
sustainable building, the criteria of the construction must be science based and
transparent. This is to determine the risk or any new and significant information
before process being implied.
Some implications towards sustainable designs are the economic forces. This
is because the construction sector is depending from the other sector such as
manufacturers of raw materials and other components. Thus it will turn into lower
supply of green materials. (Roberts, 1997) said that some companies embarked
environmental programs due to the threat of legal action. In order to alleviate this
impact, (Daniel, 2003) suggested that the main driver for environmental
implementation is legal framework. This is because as the practice matures, many
organisations will embark upon and it will be a common approach. Plus, construction
organisation must devise an effective environmental strategy of the business,
operational and organizational structures as well as the entire strategy and objectives
(Kamar & Hamid, 2012).

Lastly, implication of sustainable design construction is from social well-being

perspective. Some impact that may occur is the safety issues during conduction the
sustainable design. This is because some sustainable design requires specific machine,
equipment and technology that might be not comfortable. As such, public may find
dissatisfaction of congested traffic due or cause of nuisance to neighbours. Therefore,
according to (CIDB, 2006), the Ministry of Housing and Local Government shall
introduce programme to increase awareness and counter the culture of public apathy
within their framework of Local Agenda 21 Programme.

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3.0 Conclusion

Few design approaches have been presented in order to enhance the

sustainability design for geotechnical applications and material selection. It can be
concluded that the use of cement can be reduced and waste as replacement to make
construction products. Several implications and recommendations also have been
made. In order to avoid delayed during planning for Development Order, all
stakeholders especially engineer shall made a proper design and consideration from
all aspects to help sustain the environment, public as well as the economic prosperity.

4.0 Reference

1. Construction-Industry Development-Board. (2006). Strategic recommendations

for improving environmental practices in construction industry. Malaysia, 1–34.
2. Kamar, K. A. M., & Hamid, Z. A. (2012). Sustainable construction and green
building: The case of Malaysia. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the
Environment, 167, 15–22. https://doi.org/10.2495/ST110021
3. Lord, R., Kao, G., Joshi, S., Bartlett, C., Bullock, S., Burks, B., … Aird, S.
(2016). Trucost Legal Statement. 1–86. Retrieved from www.trucost.com
4. Roberts, P, (1997). Environmentally sustainable business: a local and regional
perspective. London: Chapman and Hall.