First Day of Diploma Class

Today is probably one of the more memorable days of the past 2 months. Had an interview with one of the boutique dream company and when they offered me a job and needed an answer in 2 days, i actually said i ll need the week. so stupid of me. and another interview at St Andrews Center. The house i worked on, client developer used to be at that office. Even bumped in C in the mall where i was walking around to burn time between 12 and 2pm.

At BCA Academy, this course in design for assembly and manufacturing started off with tedious admin but got more interesting when we got to the start of the lesson. Thoughts overall are that it is a very very expensive course. For a 5 months course, at 8 sessions of 3 hours per month; total of 24 hours/month that would be 120 hours for $6000, that means an astonishing $500/ hour!

anyhow, lesson 1 started out with the director of building productivity unit. Mr M, very knowledgeable and seems to be the main person spear heading the drive in Singapore. He highlighted that The Wisteria Mixed development is the first project using steel PPVC and that the Clement Canopy Condo is currently the tallest residential project in the world at 40 storeys using PPVC concrete. i had a few questions after the presentation but didn't get around to asking him, will email him the questions tomorrow.

Note worthy points are also the current max. module size for transportation. Widest being 3.4mx12m.
And height being 3150mm, because the lorry platfrom height would be 900mm, and current max when travelling is 4500mm, underneath overhead bridges. Slab thickness as a result is 300mm instead of usual 200mm, and wall thickness is at 150-200mm. And that when googling the concept of PPVC, internationally the equivalent would be VMC = Volumetric Modular Construction. There is also a list that denotes what are the finishes internally, and the percentage in which it has to be done till, eg. wardrobe 100%. In sg however, a PPVC project is define as one in which 60% or more of it superstructure in modular, so there are still components which can be precast on site; even though that makes it less consistent.

1. What does it mean that when using a height of 3150mm, developers loses one floor at the top
2. Are all the 20 over projects currently using PPVC all contractor led? What is the percentage of Design and Build?
3. Because of the way modules are stacked up, does it mean only a float foundation can be used? Otherwise there may be differential settlement of the units?
4. What was Crown Hotel Extension reason for using lightweight concrete for the slab instead of reinforce concrete? What was worth the hassle of putting the extra fire rated board, resulting in a lower ceiling?

At Home, i bought horfun and L cooked a delicious soup of vegetables of broccoli and celery with meat balls!