Establishing Malaysia quality assessment elements for single trunk palm in landscape construction

Abstract

Landscape development is one of the most critical fields in the construction industry. Nowadays, the quality of construction in the built environment is a significant issue that is commonly discussed by related professionals. Each of the projects aims to deliver the final product that free of defects and in high quality. Landscape construction as part of overall construction works also need to be delivered in the same manners to ensure the quality of the whole construction development can be achieved. In the action of ensuring the quality of construction in Malaysia, Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) in 2006 had developed the Quality Assessment System in Construction (QLASSIC). QLASSIC is a tool to assess the quality of workmanship for building construction work in accordance with quality standards stipulated in the Construction Industry Standard (CIS 7). QLASSIC in overall is used to measure the quality of workmanship on building construction based on several construction components such as structures works, architectural works, mechanical and electrical works and external works. However, landscape construction works in not included as part of the construction components to be assessed. This study was designed to develop quality assessment elements to be used in a measurement tool for landscape component in construction works. This study also focused on developing the assessment elements for single trunk palm (STP) as one of the important soft-scape material in landscape development. The study aimed to establish a set of reliable weighted assessment elements for STP in planting works. The objectives of this study are (i) to identify the elements of STP, (ii) to examine the critical level of STP for quality assessment, and (iii) to establish the weightage for STP in planting works. This research used a mixed-method approach to produces a reliable result. There are four stages in the data collection process in this research, which are, (i) Identifying guideline and specification available in Malaysia. (ii) Comparison analysis has been used to produce initial list of assessment elements for STP, (iii) Establishment of a list of assessment elements for STP by survey question, (iv) Establishment of weighted assessment elements for STP using Contribution Weightage Formula (CWF). Establishment of an initial list of assessment elements and weighted assessment elements for STP was carried out through survey questionnaires on 272 respondents among Landscape Architect in Malaysia. Landscape Architects are chosen as respondents to the survey due to their academic qualification and experience. The IBM SPSS statistics version 24 was used to analyse the data from the questionnaire survey. Analysis has been conducted to find out the Critical Success Factor (CSF) and contribution weightage of assessment elements of STP. As a result, the critical success factor and contribution weightage of assessment elements of STP has revealed. In this study, there are ten elements for STP listed which are leaves or frond, root ball, trunk diameter, trunk height, overall height, soil mixture, staking, planting hole, finishing & treatment and mulching. The findings reveal that the leaves or frond, root ball and trunk diameter are the most significant element in planting works. Meanwhile, the three lowest critical elements are planting hole, staking and mulching for STP planting work. Finally, the study produced the quality assessment table for STP planting works to be used in the quality assessment system for soft-scape.