London, Day Two

15^th August 2014

It’s the second day of the London trip. Just a quick recap for the first day of the London trip. A short tour around London while on our way to the RICS  Headquarters,  after the visit, checked in the Hotel of Royal National London, dinner at a Malaysian owned restaurant called Kerisik, got separated from Mr Naz and are lost most of the time.

It’s somewhat like the movie Finding Nemo. Got separated,  a rescue mission was sent, then finding way back home, while having numerous wonderful adventures. But in this case, no rescue mission was sent. We find our way back by picking up trails from the policemens and from a few really nice people here in London. We’re lost in the middle of the city but still, we managed to find our way back while stopping here and there, and enjoying the nice view of London, the city that never sleeps.

Walking in a group of seventeen people really helps reducing the anxiety of getting lost in a big city. It also helps in making the trip more fun and adventurous while creating a stronger bonds between us.  And somewhat it feels like a school field trip. A win win situation here J  “A night tour around London”.  Few stops here and there, a few photo sessions here and there (a must! (^-^v) ) but mostly just enjoying the wonderful night view of London.

(P/S: The guys even got invited to the pent house for clubbing. But thankfully, they refused due to their strong imaan. LOL)

The five guys at the iconic "Dayyum Song".

Covent Garden, London

Another group selfie at Covent Garden, London

KI finally found his long lost shop :)

Group selfie at the center of Piccadily Circus, London

The biggest M&M shop, M&M World, London.

KI with Julie Kortens after the talk session

Back on track, on the second day 15^th August 2014, we went to Channel  4 and Battersea Power Station Development Company.  During our visit to Channel 4, we were greeted by two very beautiful ladies that worked alongside with Julie Kortens the Head of Corporate Services at Channel 4 , one of the most highly regarded within the FM industry whom was FM of the Year in 2010, and currently was the Chairman of BIFM .

We got to know a little bit about the FM managements of the building before we were taken on a tour in the Channel 4 building. The building was very neatly designed and furnished with colourful features. We were told that careful considerations were made before deciding the designs of the building. The users of the buildings needs and thoughts are also included in the design of it and to make it closer to their hearts and so that to make them more motivated to work in the building itself.

Got to met Jane,a building Surveyor in action.

The building also are changed frequently  according to the events and the needs that follows with the Channel and the staffs itself. How the changes are made without much difficulties really amazes me. When Julie was asked on how she manages it, she gave us one simple and direct answer  “Communication” and that really was spot on. Nothing was more important than good communication. We also got to met the BS of Channel 4, Jane in action.

Group photo session after the session at Channel 4.

After a few hours of discussions, out trip to Channel 4 ended with a group photo session outside of the building.  Channel 4 was a really good example of one of the best facilities managed building in UK. After the visit to Channel 4, we went to buy a takeway at Chicken Express. We got separated again  because there's not enough chairs at the restaurant. We went to find a spot at a nearby garden.

It's such a beautiful place where people sat down and relax while having their food. We're accompanied by a flock of pidgeons whom are friendly enough even to pick up foods put on our foot. Enjoying  such a wonderful  and warm time with the guys at the park is such a memorable experience that i wouldn't want to forget ever.

The routine photo session as usual. 

We later on visited the construction site of Battersea Power Station. Battersea Power Station is a mega project in UK, that’s being led by a few major investors of Malaysian company such as SP Setia, Sime Darby and KWSP. It’s such an honor to know that Malaysia is the one who contributes much to this mega project.

Battersea Power Station is also one of the most controversial project in Malaysia. A construction of a phase 2 protected building, careful consideration needs to be done while carrying out the works to make sure that the building façade will not be affected. One of the most important thing that stands out here at the Battersea Power Station is the Personal Protective Equipments (PPE). Health and safety really are important here in UK.

You need to wear gloves, goggles, safety boots and helmets at all time. The road is off limit to pedestrians even when there’s no car ahead or behind us. A specific pedestrian walk is made to ensure the safety of everyone. The entrance to the construction is heavily guarded. And merit system is used for the workers. If a worker exceeds 9, meaning he's done countless times of mistakes, he’ll be dismissed and wouldn’t be allowed to work there again.

Group photo session after  the tour around Battersea Power Station.

                                   

And as usual at the end of the visit, we took a group photo and heads out back home. Some of us that didn’t go back to Liverpool whom decides to stay for a few days were lead by Tim and Mike to the nearest train station and then we head out to our different ways. For the others, they stayed in  London for a couple more days. But for me, I went alone to York visiting my friend who’s currently studying in York University.

So that’s the end of my so ‘short’ entry. Thank you for reading. Thank you also to the  various peeps who contributed to the pictures and this entry. Roger and out. Kbai J

Written by: Nur Aqilah Zamri

.

Potluck

7^th August 2014 (Thursday)

Today we had a workshop with Matthew Tuckker (Matt). This workshop was actually a discussion session between group members and lecturer. He was discussing with us about the coursework task given to us. He explained about one of the evaluation criteria for the coursework which is the SWOT analysis and evaluation. SWOT is a tool that helps identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of a body or an organisation.

Matt explaining to us

For the coursework, we have to do a SWOT analysis for the current building and the impact on the maintenance and FM services to be provided. In order to prepare our SWOT analysis, Matt asked us to be rational and put in our logic thinking in the decision. Every groups were provided with two sheets of A1 paper to list out and brainstormed the SWOT analysis of the case study building (Aldham Robarts Learning Centre) by considering of respective issues which are: core business requirements, customers/students, building/technology, space requirements, sustainability, procurement, and cost. Before the lunch break, he gave us an hour to work on our own in our group at the computer lab.

Group discussion session

For the lunch break, we (the girls) had our own meals that we have prepared from the morning while the boys prefer to walk back to the accommodation place to have their lunch.

We continued our learning session with Michael Farragher (Mike) after the lunch break. Mike explained to us about the sustainability and design of a building. An hour before the session ended, he took us to the computer lab and thought us how to use a software to draw a building plan which is called Revit. Revit is much easier to be used compared to AutoCAD software that we have learned before. Before the class ended, Mike also helped some of our colleague to register in a gym that was provided by LJMU.

After the class ended, we decided to do our own activities. Aqilah and I goes to the Lime Street Station to purchase an advance train ticket for a journey from London to York as Aqilah had decided to meet her friend that is studying in York. After that, we headed to Liverpool One and Queen Square area to buy some groceries as we planned to have a Yassin recitation together that night. For the Yassin recitation, we have decided to do it at the boys flat and we were having our meals by potluck. Our house decided to prepare vegetables soup, chicken in soy sauce and curry eggplant. The boys prepared pizzas and cooked rice for us while the other girls house cooked chicken in red chilly sauce and omelettes. The Chinese are not joining us as they already have their dinner and they are too tired.

Written by: Dg Badariah

p/s; sorry for the late upload. My previous post have been accidentaly deleted by my colleague.

Reflection on London Visit and Lecture on Innovation

The morning lecture was conducted by Sir Nazali in which he asked us to do a presentation by group based on our class trip to London where we had visited RICS, Channel 4 and Battersea Power Station. The first presentation were only done by 3 groups in which all members in the fourth group were divided into those 3 groups. Briefly the first presentation was only given about one hour to be discussed and then to be put into powerpoint slides. Next was the second presentation where 4 groups were given less than an hour to do a reflection on the visit to Channel 4 and it consists of it's SWOT, innovation and 'how it can help in the Built Environment in the future'. The marks of the group presentation were given respectively by other groups where the second group had scored the highest and also Omarulhaniff had been declared as the best presenter because of his skills in presenting.

The next lecture was conducted in the afternoon after break hour by Sir Mall which he discussed on innovation in the context of Facility Management and also maintenance required regarding on the core business, the end users and innovation of the building. 

First Day in London & RICS UK

15th August 2014

It was our first time going to London and all of us are excited to be there. Our trip starts at 6.00 am and we arrived in London at 11.30 am. Three awesome LJMU lecturers were with us on that day. They were Mr. Nazali Noor, Mal Ashall, and Mike Farragher. Once we arrived in London, the first thing we do were taking a group picture in front of The Big Ben. Then, Mal Ashall leads us around London City and he tried to find the best halal restaurant for our lunch. The best halal restaurant we found were NEDS NOODLE BOX. The food there was okay but it doesn't really suit me. 

Our group photo in front of The Big Ben.

When we'd done eating, Mal then brings us to our main mission on that day which was going to RICS London that is located at the Parliament Square. RICS which is the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors had gave us a great treatment. Three of their directors gave their talk well and we were able to grab many new knowledge from them. The first speaker was Alan Muse, and he talked about the Building Information Modelling (BIM). He gave us a complete introduction about BIM and if I am not mistaken was already mentioned by Mr. Naz during our class. Then, Matthew McDermott took his chance to briefly explained to us on what is the challenges in practicing BIM. Some of the challenges are:

• it was incomplete
• BIM needs software and IT skills but not every computers have enough memory to do it
• people wondering what is the real benefits of BIM

Its a bit different when it comes to James Fiske because he talked about the costing in BIM. He mentioned about Building Cost Information Services (BCIS). BCIS was somehow related to BIM where it provides the benchmark for the cost of building. It was more or less the same with our SMM (Standard Method of Measurement). Right after that, we were lead by the beautiful lady Laura Chadderton for a tour around the RICS building. We left RICS London exactly at 4.00 pm.

 From left : Mal, Mike, James Fiske, Matthew McDermott, me, Alan Muse and Mr. Naz when I was giving RICS some souvenirs from University of Malaya.

From RICS, we went to our hotel, Royal National Hotel London. The hotel was good and after we checked-in, all of us went to Kerisik Restaurant, a malay restaurant somewhere near Paddington. The food was really nice. We had mee kari, asam pedas ikan merah, pengat pisang, teh tarik and other good Malaysian food. We had so much fun when we sang together about 3-4 songs and were interspersed by Mal when he danced a cute dance for us. 

 Kerisik Restaurant here we go!

When we're done eating, then it was a free time for all of us. We split into two groups where Lily Jamal, Thahirah, and I were with Mal, Mr. Naz, and Mike. The rest were the second group and I heard that they were going to Piccadilly Circus. We were actually not split-up into two groups but it was because they were left behind while we were walking together at the Hyde Park that we decided to split into two groups. Anyway all of us were very ecstatic or you can call it jakun in malay, when it was so cold that we can see our breath coming out of our mouth when we were talking. Bhahahaha.

We, the first group was lead by the very fit man, Mal. He leads us to walk for about 8 to 10 kilometres and our first destination was Harrods. Harrods was really cool but we did not even enter the building. Mal then again leads us to walk and walk and walk and he said that we are going to get back to the hotel just by walking. Alhamdulillah for finally he knows that we were very tired of walking so we took the Underground Tube to Russel Square station near to our hotel. And for about 11.30 pm , I can have my rest after getting tired of walking and chasing Mal's walking pace.

It's Harrods!

Photo by Mr Naz, when we were walking around London City.

That's all for 15th August 2014.

Written by: Nurul Azeantiey Suhaimi

End of The Week

8th August 2014

     Today was the day for the Muslim boys to go the mosque to perform the Friday prayer. The mosque recommended by our head tutor, Mr. Nazali (Naz) was Masjid Ar-Rahmah, about 2.2 miles or 5 kilometres away from Liberty Atlantic Point. Naz told us to go there by taxi but we went there by foot. We started walking to the mosque at 12.15 p.m and reached there at 1.05 p.m. It is quite a long journey if you ask us. The prayer finished at around 2.00 p.m. On the way back, we spotted a nice park to hang around. So, we took a walk for a while at the park and suddenly we met two students from University of Liverpool who are both from Malaysia. We talked for several minutes and we went back to Liberty Atlantic Point and had some rest.

   All of the girls went to Ceshire Oak today. Ceshire Oak is a place where there are a lot of outlet which is heaven for shopaholic. They came back to Liberty Atlantic Point around 7.30 p.m. They went there by bus at 12.30 p.m. As for the Chinese; Koh Joo Guan, Jeny, Lucas and Kent; they took a walk to the Albert Dock which have a really good scenery. They came back in the evening at around 5.00 p.m. That is all for today.

Written By : Hannan Hazami

Visit to Royal Air Force, Yorkshire

6^th August 2014

It was strange when the time was seven and a half o’clock in the morning but the sunshine was so bright. Mr. Naz and Mr. Mike had already been waiting for us to gather at the entrance gate of Liberty Atlantic Point. The bus picked us up at seven and a half o’clock right on time and we were heading to the Royal Air Force in Yorkshire straight away.

                In the bus, Mr. Naz and Mr. Mike were having an interactive chat with us and Mr. Mike treated us some drinks such as Diet Coke and Sprite. He was so generous and easy-going that he really impressed us. When we arrived at the Royal Air Force, there was a white man that was wearing a military uniform and a blond white woman already waiting for us at the entrance gate. Then, Mr. Naz walked down the bus and had a quick chat with the woman. Soon, the man took his hat off and introduced himself to us and gave us a very quick brief about what we are going to do and what not to do while we are inside the building. We were not allowed to bring our bags into the building.

                We were greeted by a cup of tea and some cookies before getting into the auditorium where Angela and Mark were going to give us a lecture about how the facilities management works in Royal Air Force. Angela is handling the soft FM while Mark is handling the hard FM. Soft FM has to deal more with business while hard FM has to deal more with maintenance. Both of them highlighted the key factor in the facilities management which is relationship. Facilities manager has to possess networking skills to negotiate with clients like building occupants and contractors. It is undeniable that collaborative partnerships between facilities manager and contractor to create a good working environment contributed in promoting the core business of Royal Air Force, which is to train experienced pilot.

                Later on, Angela and Mark took us around the Royal Air Force and shared their experience on how they proposed a good catering service and a community center where everyone can enter. Most importantly it breaks the hierarchy system and allows every people from low rank to high rank to have a rest in the community center. The community center consists of food junction, bar and children playground. All the services including catering, cleaning, maintenance and etc. are outsourced. Airplane maintenance works are outsourced to a huge company named Babcock. We were very lucky to be invited to have a lunch with the contractors. The contractor was very generous to explain his collaborative partnership with the facilities manager. Sometimes both sides have to come to an agreement on an emergency case like catering service to be operated in the midnight where there is a night training program.

Written by : Chu Kok Wei

Hurricane and Exciting Day

10th August 2014, Sunday.

It has been exactly one week in Liverpool, how time flies. Everyone starts to adapt to the lifestyle here. As today is Sunday, there is no class today!!! Hence, everyone planned to have a visit and shopping around Liverpool. Some of my colleague planned to have a look around the Albert Dock. Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses. It is an old building which is built at 1846 and it was the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood. As a result, it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world. So it is worthy to have a visit to Albert Dock as nowadays Albert Dock has been named as UNESCO World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City. Around the Albert Dock, there are some other attractive places such as the Museum of Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum. All these museums are free entrance, so we can spend a whole day here.

Some of the boys have another plan, as they went for a visit to the Cheshire Oaks which is the designer outlet shopping center. In Cheshire Oaks, it have a great range of designer labels at discounted price and over 200 outlets are having sales there, so it can be described as a mega shopping center. Spending a whole day there is actually not enough (for girls) but for men, a few hours of shopping should be enough. So the boys only spent a few hours there.

In the other hand, the weather on that day was terrible. It was raining the whole day and all of us are getting wet. The wind is strong and cold. That day should be the coldest day so far in England as the temperature on that day was 12 degree Celsius. We all are freezing but it is a nice experience. The reason why the weather was so terrible that day was due to the Hurricane Bertha that was heading towards UK. According to the Met Office, yellow warning had been issued for Merseyside on that day. However, we actually didn't know about the yellow warning issue. We only knew about it once we all are back from our visit. So, this has taught us a lesson to check the weather before we go out. But luckily, nothing bad happened to all of us. Overall, it was a cold and exciting day.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/ex-hurricane-bertha-liverpool-weather-warning-7589446

Written by: Joo Guan Koh