Integrated project: June 2014

Friday, 20 June 2014

Site Technical Issues

The geological history of the project area is very important especially when you propose a project in a place that you are not familiar. Study the geological history and old map of the project site is the way to find out the hidden risk. This is the thing I never thought before, and from now on I will "jump out of the box" to find out the risks and key issues, I believe this kind of way of thinking can benefit myself in future career.From this lecture, I have learnt that we can not do the site analysis by observing the current project site condition only, walking around the site location might help us understand more about the site situation but the historical of the area is very important too. My first image to Sheffield is safe, beautiful and friendly, and I was surprised when I have been told that Sheffield had a serious flood in 2007.

Aerial view of the flooded village of Catcliffe near Sheffield

After doing further research on internet, I found that the local Environment Agency has widened and de-silted many of the city’s rivers working on the management of peak river flows upstream to reduce the risk of flood. In my opinion, every building development on the land has to take the flood issue into their consideration to kill the potential risk before it raise up, and this will be one of the issue I will mention in my proposal.

Saturday, 14 June 2014

Matilda Street Site Visit

Building shown in photo above is located at Matilda Street, 10 minutes walking distance from Sheffield Hallam University, which is the building we use in our development project assignment. During on the way to the site, me and my teammate lost our way and took another 10 minutes on searching the right way, therefore, we had observe the surrounding of site and we found that the site is located at a low crowded location. The surrounding general area has a mix of uses including student accommodation, this is a important issue that we need to take into consideration while we choose the type of development.

A basic survey has conducted by us on site, few works has been delegated between us:

Measure the internal and external dimension of building by using measure laser and ruler.
Draw a simple dimension of building and record the building details and conditions
Take photo

As this assignment is about to maximize the investment potential, which are either refurbishment or demolition and rebuilt, the existing condition of the building has become the first priority for redevelopment of this building. Through the inspection, many defects have been found out such as water leakage from pipe, damaged ceiling, cracking on column and wall. These factors need to take into consideration to find out the best way to optimize the investment potential.

Cracking on External Wall

Please feel free to comment or visit my pallet wall presentation about the proposal of redevelopment of building at Matilda Street by scanning the QR code shown below for having more detail information or through

Website: http://padlet.com/cwhao1991/m1s1qi9l2zsx

Bubble Diagram

During the second lecture, Dave Weatherall had introduce an easy and simple drawing method to us which is bubble diagram. It is a simple drawing that consists of roughly drawn bubbles which can be easily produced by hand.

Example of a Bubble Diagram

I never heard of bubble diagram until I attend the lecture, it allow me to plan my design in the fastest and cheapest way. Before I begin to actually draw my proposal floor plans, it is a good idea to create simple bubble diagrams for my floor plans. This will allow me to play around with the locations of rooms and how they interact with one another. The bubbles can be used to represent different kinds of spaces in a plan, varying in shape to represent features of greater or lesser importance and size.

In future, I can create an approximate bubble diagram of a space while working with a client. I can use the bubbles to approximately represent the space and lay out other information while client discuss about various features desired. Using these bubbled plans, I can start to develop more precise plans on my development proposal.

Website: http://padlet.com/cwhao1991/m1s1qi9l2zsx

Monday, 9 June 2014

New Learning Style in UK

The first study week in UK is very excited, every staff and lecturer in Sheffield Hallam University is very friendly and trying hard to make us feel comfortable, and i do, i do feel like home and can't wait to get into UK culture.

In the first lecture, lecturer had give a brief about the Integrated Project subject and our module assessment.In the same time, lecturer is leading us to experience the new learning style in UK. I found interesting while lecturer introduce the use of blog and padlet wall, it is a new experience to me, i had use to visit to some blog but i never be one blogger myself, it is a good method to give reflection and feedback on our study materials.

In the seminar, tutor has further explain the advantages of padlet wall. It is a brilliant invention to me, i can put things on the Internet was as simple as pasting post-its on a wall. Padlet is a virtual surface that has all the benefits of being digital and the simplicity of a notepad. In simple terms… you get a blank page and put anything you want on it, anywhere – photos, videos, text, websites, lists etc etc.

I feel that I can make use of the blog to enhance my reflective skill and learning in this subject. The interaction happen to me and my blog visitor, that means i can get more feedback and comment from others; unlike email, the communication only happen between me and my tutor, very limited. I also believed that this can help to improve my skill of communication and information management which as listed under professional competencies required by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Website: http://padlet.com/cwhao1991/m1s1qi9l2zsx