Project: Small Residential Apartment building of 4 floors
Posted by BenzuJK in My Projects on June 14, 2018
Our team had been asked to plan and design a small residential building of Ground + 3 floors. The requirements were to plan atleast 4 medium size apartments per floor. The plot area available was 7565 square feet. It was not rectangular, and so apartments would be of differing builtup areas. Our main target were buyers looking for a medium size 2BHK apartment. There was an additional requirement for a separate Drawing Hall for guests wherever possible.
Plot Survey
A lot of options were proposed. Our goal was to maximize usable area for the residents. Front open margin was fixed at 12′. Side margins were fixed at 6′ 6″ on both sides. One plan was finalized after a few meetings with the developers.
AICTE and HRD ministry likely to propose a National Engineering Entrance Test
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education, under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Entrance Tests in India
In India, there is an urgent need for a centralised application system for admissions to undergraduate engineering courses. There are standardised entrance tests for admission to Medical colleges (NEET), to Management colleges (CAT) and to Architecture colleges (NATA) as well as post-graduate Engineering courses (GATE). But under-graduate engineering students have no such facilities at this moment. Certain institutions like the IITs and CBSE have instituted entrance tests like JEE (Joint Entrance Examination — Main and Advanced) for colleges under their auspices.
It is being reported that the current HRD Minister, Mr Prakash Javadekar has called for a single entrance examination for all engineering courses across the country. The ministry is in consultation with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and is expected to discuss about instituting common entrance test in their next meeting.
The HRD Minister has hinted at creation of a pan-India system for admissions to Engineering colleges. A National Engineering Entrance Test.
There has been a boom in private engineering colleges in recent years. The graduates from such institutes are unemployable as the quality of education is very bad. A recently published report by Aspiring Minds, the National Employability Report has revealed that 6,00,000 engineering students graduate in India every year. Their study has found that up to 80% of engineering graduates in India are unemployable. The overall quality of education has deteriorated as most of these private institutes have little infrastructure or teaching ability.
Now, the HRD ministry wants things to improve. A pan-India entrance test would allow meritorious students access to good institutes, and push bad quality institutes out of the market. This would improve the quality of education as more students would be inclined to join AICTE certified institutes.
There is also a proposal to conduct an exit test for students who pass out of engineering colleges to gauge their skill levels and employability.
Project Management Planning and Execution
Posted by BenzuJK in Project Management on October 1, 2014
Project Management is a vast and growing field of science which deals with the question of how to manage your projects more effectively.
Project management is defined as the process and activity of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals in scientific or daily problems. Project management is a process of solving problems, or taking advantage of new business opportunities.
What is a Project?
A project is an activity with a beginning, a specific goal to accomplish, a budget of time & resources, and an end. The goal can be constructing a new apartment building, expanding your business into new product categories, or expanding your distribution network. All projects have constraints of man power, time and money.
The project life cycle
A Project Manager has to be good at getting things done. She should have the technical and interpersonal skills required to complete the project. Her job includes identifying the work that needs to be done, building a schedule, launching the project and monitoring performance to make sure it stays on time and within budget. Strong leadership skills are a necessary trait in a successful project manager.
Planning Committee Meeting | Analysis of a Planning Application in the UK
Posted by BenzuJK in Urban Design on August 25, 2014
Abstract
This report outlines the process in which a planning application is analysed at the planning committee meeting. It discusses the role of different members present in the meeting in the planning application process. Different stages of planning application process have been studied, which include pre-application advice, application submission, role of validation team, role of development control officer and planning committee involvement. Different types of applications have been mentioned. The planning application selected for analysis has been described. The planning officer’s report contents have been briefly summarised. The stages in the process of planning application assessment have been explained in detail. Lastly, the planning application process has been critically analysed.
Background study of Planning Application Process
Planning takes places within the context of a system which is defined by Legislation, Regulations and Orders, Case Law, National policy and advice (NPPF), local plans (Neighbourhood plans), appeals and enforcement.
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) evaluate planning applications. This will be either District/Borough/City/Unitary/County/London/Borough/Metropolitan/National Park.
The applicant has an option to get free “Pre-application advice”. The applicant can discuss the documents with the council in presence of planning officers and get advice on the list of required documents for application approval. This is an optional service and depends on the applicant’s desire to use it. Instead, the applicant can directly submit the application to Local authority.
The application is then passed on to the Validation team who is responsible for checking all the documents against the local list (where all the policies relating to the application are considered) in order to validate if relevant. The application is then forwarded to the Development manager or Development control Officer (DC).
DC stage has two options.
- It is delegated by the officer. In this case, if the planning application is straightforward, the consent is given by the DC officer alone.
- Sometimes, there is a need for the planning committee to intervene and decide if the application is to be approved or refused. The DC officer sends his comments to the committee regarding his thoughts and analysis of the application.
Role of Planning Committee
Major and contentious applications are dealt with by Planning Committees. They also inspect the sites before coming to a conclusion. The Planning Committee includes Councillors from all political parties and areas of the City. Officers of the Council also attend to answer questions about the reports.