RISM to complete Construction Cost Modelling
KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) aims to complete the Construction Cost Modelling for the National Construction Cost Centre (N3C) by 2019.
Immediate past Chair for the Quantity Surveying Division, Sr Wan Ainon Zuraiha Wan Abd Khalid said the N3C is an initiative of the Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia (CIDB) as part of the Construction Industry Transformation Programme.
Among the items under the N3C is Cost Data such as building materials pricing, labour wages? and machinery hire rates, plus Cost Indices or numbers that measure changes over a certain period of time.
RISM, in having a close relationship with CIDB, was invited to partner the Cost Modelling exercise, whereby an agreement was signed between both parties on Nov 14, 2016 and renewable annually until 2020, Wan Ainon Zuraiha told Bernama.
Under the Agreement, CIDB will fund RISM QS Division to about RM300,000 annually to provide a minimum 60 Cost Models over the agreement period.
The Cost Modelling format is almost similar to the Elemental Cost Analysis (ECA) that we have been compiling in RISM under the Building Cost Information Centre (BCIC), and hence, are very much ready with information that can be used for the purpose as required by the CIDB.
The ECA breaks down building construction cost that is quite complex into elemental level and includes the frame, roof, wall and partition, that can referenced by RISM members, university students and academicians, as well as the general public.
With that, users can easily select building types and adjust the floor area, construction year as well as location, to come up with an accurate estimate which is useful in preparing budgets and reduce the risk of cost overrun Wan Ainon Zuraiha explained.
To date, RISM had already completed about 40 cost models for the N3C out of 60 based on different types of buildings and infrastructure, including residences, offices, mosque and bridges.
Meanwhile, Wan Ainon Zuraiha said the CIDB is currently in the midst of finalising the software vendor to design the Cost Model required by stakeholders, and once completed, RISM will feed the information.
She added in the near future, CIDB/RISM can allow the public to use this via a subscription and similar to what the Building Cost Information Services (BCIS) in the United Kingdom has been doing all this while.
It can be a source of income to RISM in the long run.
The RISM is a professional institution that houses four distinct surveying professions, namely quantity, land, building and property management & valuation.
It has currently more than 9,000 members locally and overseas.