This study examined the evacuation strategies employed in high-rise buildings as well as determined factors influencing decision making in employing evacuation strategies in four selected high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Through a case study evaluation involving interviews with facility/building managers, walk through observations of the case studies and analyses of evacuation exercise reports, the study found that total evacuation was the most practiced evacuation strategy with occasional phased evacuation at one of the case studies. The study identified reliable emergency response, building characteristics/fire safety features, and evacuation exercise as the most important factors influencing decision making in employing evacuation strategies. Occupant characteristics was found to be the least important factor. The argument is that, efficient emergency response, passive and active fire safety systems, and evacuation exercise routines mean that challenges posed by the characteristics of occupants could be overcome. This paper gives new insights on factors influencing decision making in employing suitable evacuation strategies. This would benefit stakeholders e.g. building owners, facility managers, health and safety managers when drafting business continuity plans.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the most influential buildings elements in term of the cost for timber restoration works. Design/methodology/approach – The research employed the case studies methods with questionnaires surveys. Two case studies were chosen and questionnaire surveys were distributed to contractors and consultation companies. The cost was identified based on the elemental cost analysis of historic timber buildings. Findings – The restoration of historic timber buildings in Malaysia has grown rapidly, especially in the UNESCO world heritage sites, Melaka and Penang. Data obtained on the restorations of timber buildings show that the most influential elements were upper floors, roofs and walls. Termites’ invasions and the lack of building analysis were found to be the major issue in timber restoration works. In addition, the availability of timber material contributed significantly to the increase of cost for restoration works. Originality/value – The cost for every element was identified and was used as a reference for new restorations projects of historical, timber buildings. This paper also highlighted the causes for the problems and the factors affecting the cost of timber restoration works. These data are useful information, especially for surveyors and contractors who are involved in the restoration of historic timber buildings. Maintaining or replacing these elements with other material can help to minimise the restoration cost of timber buildings in Malaysia.
Abstract. The aim of this research is to identify suitable approaches in order to create awareness of the house buyers on how to prevent economic loss due to latent defects. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen respondents had been conducted. Findings showed that there are three suitable approaches namely Collateral Warranty, Latent Defect Insurance and Contract Act (Rights of Third Parties) that can be applied. However, the applications of these approaches are significantly low or none exist in Malaysia. Steps that should be taken include create awareness among house buyers regarding their rights and expose them to the benefits of the recommended approaches.
Of late, there has been a significant increase in the number of residential properties in Malaysia remaining unsold after repeated sales by auction. This growth in the incidence of what can be termed as problematic auctioned properties gave impetus to a study recently undertaken to investigate the phenomenon. The aim of the study was to gain meaningful insight into the phenomenon by exploring patterns in the spatial distribution of the problematic auctioned properties. The study utilized a dataset of 29,704 residential properties offered for auction over the period of 2005 to 2009 in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the two most developed states of Malaysia. With the help of a GIS, spatial patterns were explored and were found to exist in ways that allowed certain interpretations to be made toward understanding what had happened and why. We found certain localities to be more prone to the incidences of problematic properties and, in this paper, offered some explanations why. As the next step forward, we suggest that a model for predicting the incidence of problematic properties be developed.
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