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The Highland Towers Judgment - Part 1

Highland Towers, as is collectively known, consist of three blocks 12 story high apartments named simply as Block 1, 2, and 3 respectively. It was constructed sometime between 1975 and 1978 and the residents who dwelled therein were middle income earners. Directly behind the 3 blocks was a rather steep hill with a stream flowing west, if it was allowed to follow its natural course. The attraction of this place was the natural surroundings with an extensive view of the city of Kuala Lumpur. On Saturday, the 11.12.1993, at about 1.30 p.m., after 10 days of continuos rainfall, Block 1 collapsed. When rescue operation was called off after days of searching, 48 people were recorded dead.  The nation declared this incident as a - national tragedy. Immediately after the collapse of Block 1 the residents of Block 2 & 3 were prevented from entering their apartments by the local authority having jurisdiction of the area, the Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ) , for fear of
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Better building through design

Cambridge, U.K. — The construction industry, which uses half of the 1.5 billion tonnes of steel produced each year, could drastically reduce its carbon footprint by optimizing the design of new buildings to use less material, according to research from the University of Cambridge. Smart design could slash the sector’s carbon emissions by around 50 percent, without any impact on safety. If buildings are also maintained for their full design life and not replaced early, the sector's emissions could in total be cut by around 80 percent — the target set in the UK's 2008 Climate Change Act. At present, in order to keep labor costs down, the construction industry regularly uses double the material required by safety codes. Analysis of more than 10,000 structural steel beams in 23 buildings from across the UK found that, on average, the beams were only carrying half the load they were designed for. The results were published in the June 4 issue of the journal Proceedings of the R
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Engineers welcome infrastructure spend but cautious on outlook

The Coalition has set itself an ambitious infrastructure target in the federal budget with billions of dollars earmarked for infrastructure spending. While this $11.6 billion investment package is strongly welcomed by the engineering profession, peak professional body Engineers Australia cautions that historical fluctuations in Australia's skills base casts a cloud of doubt over our ability to deliver. Engineers Australia Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Durkin, said that Australia’s engineering community is cautiously optimistic, “there aren’t many people in Australia who are more in favour of building better infrastructure than the engineers we rely upon to actually deliver it. “Australia is having real problems retaining skilled engineers in its workforce with over 40 percent of qualified engineers now working in jobs outside of the engineering profession. With 27 straight months of national decline in engineering job ads, we need to reinvigorate the engineering sector, and
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