“The Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) promises elevated levels of expertise throughout the industry, from manufacturers, installers, engineers, planners, designers, and developers. The benefits of IBS are numerous and far reaching. Reduced construction time, better site management, reduced wastage are but a few of these benefits, that will ultimately produce better products for the population.”
YBhg. Dato’ Seri S. Samy Vellu
Minister of Works, Malaysia
Industrialised Building System is an alternative approach of construction that will definitely change the scenario of the current local construction industry towards a systematically approach of mass production of construction materials. Prefabricated components of buildings which are conceived, planned, fabricated from factories will be transported and erected on site. With this method, the process would involve planning; management and sustained improvement of the production process to eliminate waste and ensure the right components are produced and delivered at the right time, in the right order and without defect. In this respect, the construction industry has a great deal to learn from the manufacturing sectors that have long been emphasizing on quality and minimising defects. IBS will definitely among others reduce unskilled workers in the country, less wastage, less volume of building materials, increased site cleanliness and better quality control.
In the Malaysian context, five common types of fully developed IBS have been identified as shown.
1) Pre-cast Concrete Framing, Panel and Box systems
2) Steel Formwork Systems
3) Steel Framing Systems
4) Prefabricated Timber Framing Systems
5) Block Work Systems
IBS Projects in Malaysia
IBS is not new in Malaysia and have been around since the early sixties. The first pilot project was initiated by the Government and it was along Jalan Pekeliling which involved 3,000 units of low cost flats and 40 shop lots. However, developments in IBS after that failed to gain support from the industry and consumers. From a survey done by CIDB on 2003, it was found that the percentage usage of IBS in the local construction industry is only at a mere 15%. However, several major world class developers in Malaysia have used some percentage of IBS in their projects. Several projects that use IBS can be seen as follows.
i) KLIA
ii) Government Quarters in Putrajaya
iii) Petronas Twin Towers
iv) KL Sentral
Among the reasons that have made IBS not very popular with the developers would be the abundance of cheap foreign labours in the country. Currently there are about 250,000 workers in the construction industry. The Government’s effort to reduce the foreign workers to not more than 15 percent of the country’s labour force in the next five years would be an impetus for the local developers to use IBS. By using a superior construction technology that requires highly skilled workers, the dependence on foreign workers would significantly be reduced.
IBS Roadmap 2003 – 2010
On October 2003, an IBS Roadmap 2003 – 2010 has been tabled by the Ministry of Works to the Cabinet and subsequently has been endorsed by the Cabinet to be the blueprint document for the industrialisation of the Malaysian construction sector. The blueprint that have been produced by the IBS steering committee and working groups, organized by CIDB will be a reference point for all parties to implement all the programmes towards industrializing the Malaysian construction sector. The programme’s that will be implemented is hoped to meet the objective of total industrialization of Malaysia’s construction sector by 2010.
Under this roadmap, MIGHT through the Office of the Science Advisor have been tasked to develop an IBS vendor programme for the nation together with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development. The IBS vendor development programme will consist of existing and new industry players and covering a wide spectrum of activities, from preliminary design to the assembly and installation of housing projects. Towards this end, MIGHT is constantly in consultation with other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Construction Industry Development Board, Ministry of Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development, SIRIM and other related agencies to develop a comprehensive vendor development programme.
Several ingredients will need to be in place for the development of the vendor programme. Among them are identifying the vetting agencies that will provide a control uniformity of design and quality of the components produced by the vendor. The vetting agencies will also maintain standards and ease the legislative problems. The investment requirements for setting up a factory to manufacture components by the vendor are estimated to be about RM1.25 million (excluding land) and dependable on the type of components to be produced. This level of investment is within the reach of small and medium contractors.
With Budget 2005 announced recently, the Government is committed in ensuring IBS implementation by providing an additional of 100,000 units of affordable homes to be implemented using IBS. Budget 2005 also reveals Government intention in increasing the IBS usage in Government building projects from 30 percent currently to 50 percent starting from 2005.
On achieving a wider scale implementation of IBS scale for Malaysia, the Government will also give full exemption on levy imposed by CIDB for developers who utilize IBS components exceeding 50 percent. These wise decisions made by the Government will definitely create a lot of interest from the industry to use IBS as an alternative approach of construction. The next stage of IBS would be to explore the ‘export’ of the system to overseas market. The success of these efforts will enable the local construction industry to be competitive and penetrate the global market.
Reference:
Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) Roadmap 2003 – 2010. 2003. Construction Industry Development Board.
Waleed A.M. Thanoon, Lee Wah Peng, Mohd Razali Abdul Kadir, Mohd Saleh Jaafar and Mohd Sapuan Salit. September 2003. The Experience of Malaysia and other countries in Industrialised Building System Universiti Putra Malaysia
Foreign Labour to be limited to 15 percent. 12 September 2004. New Straits Times Press
Budget 2005. 10 September 2004. Ministry of Finance
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We are very proud and honoured to accept the following invitation received from Habitat for Humanity International to speak about the moladi approach to affordable housing delivery – patented and developed right here in South Africa.
“Habitat for Humanity International is organizing the 2nd Asia Pacific Housing Forum to be held at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Centre, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines on September 7-9, 2009. The first APHF was held in Singapore in 2007 and was attended by 230 participants representing 28 countries.
The 2nd Asia Pacific Housing Forum promises to be a bigger event. It will look at both alternative approaches and scalable models where government, business and social organizations can work together and build on each other’s strengths to provide urban housing solutions particularly the elimination of slums.
We are fully aware of your expertise and dedication to the cause of the needy particularly the homeless poor. It is therefore our honor to cordially invite you to speak at the 2nd Asia Pacific Housing Forum on the topic “The Moladi Approach to Affordable Housing Delivery”.
For more information on moladi IBS visit www.moladi.net
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