Council is proudly hailing the inaugural run of Construction Expertise 101 as both a success and a significant milestone in the Society’s support of professional development.

Over 5 sessions held in March & April 2017 at Royal Palm, The Central, a pleasing total of 19 participants heard introductory explanations, insights, and shared experiences pertaining to the expertise disciplines of architecture, land surveying, building contracting, quantity surveying and construction claims consultancy.

With many lawyers participating, the course certainly addressed the stated objectives and contexts, that is:

The Honourable Chief Justice at the Opening of the Legal Year 2017, announced the “Specialist Accreditation scheme designed to give due recognition to those who are experts in their field– starting with building and construction lawyers.”

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam on 30th October 2014 (then also the Minister of Finance) at the Inaugural Singapore Productivity and 20th Business Excellence Awards Ceremony said: "…. as a country, we have to place much greater importance on continuous learning and the development of deep expertise, in every trade.”

These statements gave direction in the development of the new programme ‘Construction Expertise 101’, as an expansion and diversification from its highly successful Engineering 101 predecessor (2010-2015).

Aimed at providing basic understanding and appreciation of the key disciplines in the Singapore construction industry, this his modular Construction Expertise 101 programme is being conducted over 2 years, with different specific disciplines covered in each of the 2 years. The 2^nd part of Construction Expertise 101, scheduled for early 2018, will address the disciplines of project management, civil & structural and geotechnical engineering, mechanical & electrical engineering, building surveying, and construction programming consultancy.

Each evening session of 2 hours thoroughly examines the important aspects of the respective expertise disciplines, including:

1. History of the profession/discipline  

2. Formal qualifications, registration/licensing & CPD  

3. Services Offered and Core Competencies  

4. Professional Associations  

5. Conduct & Ethics 

6. Statutory Obligations  

7. Role in Contract Administration 

8. Tools & Technologies  

9. Methodologies for deliverables  

10. Challenges  

11. Expert Witnesses  

12. Concluding Remarks (Myth vs Reality)

For Part 1 of the inaugural run, the participants heard the following:

Session 1 (21 March 2017): Land Surveyor – Mr. Loi Hwee Yang, Surveyor, H Y Loi Consultants

Mr Loi shared his years of experience in land surveying, not only to explain the methods and technologies used in surveying, but also to explain the importance of having good and accurate surveys in regard to both land and construction law.

Session 2 (23 March 2017): Building Contractor – Mr. Matthew Minuzzo, Pre-Contracts Manager SEA, Leighton Asia

Mr Minuzzo used his diverse background in both geotechnical engineering and time planning, in addition to building contracting, to provide engaging perspectives of challenges facing builders. Of particular interest was his revealing explains on the difficulties builders often face in supplementary terms of contract that allocate significant burdens of risk upon the builder.

Session 3 (28 March 2017): Architect – Ms. Catherine Loke, Partner, Lander Loke Architects

Ms Loke gave a wonderful insight into the history of architects, why architects often assume a leadership role in the project’s consultancy team, and the various legal, compliance and ethical challenges that architects face.

Session 4 (30 March 2017): Quantity Surveyor – Mr. Colin Kin, Joint Managing Partner, Rider Levett Bucknall LLP

Mr Kin impressed the participants by making a potentially dry topic of cost estimating and controlling remarkably interesting. Mr Kin achieved this essentially by his presentation of a case study (of a well-known development in Singapore), explaining the typical methods, pitfall-avoidance and good practices that quality surveyor employ on such projects.

Session 5 (4 April 2017): Construction Claims Consultant – Mr. Rodney Martin, CEO, Charlton Martin Group

Mr Martin maintained a good vibe in presenting his lessoned learned from year of experience, particularly exploring the benefits of construction claims consultants in the avoidance and management of dispute resolution. Mr Martin also explored the topic of ethical standards that construction claims consultants should adhere to (despite the fact that they are not subject to legislated codes of conduct).

SCL(S) was very fortunate to have selected these batch of Speakers who kindly accepted the invitations. For the participants and a couple of the Council members in attendance, the speakers' shared expertise was indeed as Albert Einstein said 'The only source of knowledge is Experience'".

Pleasingly, the Society received several statements of positive feedback, including:

• "Valuable take-away for practice."
• "Speaker was passionate, engaging and well-prepared."
• "Informative & engaging."      
• "A brief but informative course that provides quick overview of the construction industry."

We now look forward to the 2^nd part of Construction Expertise 101, scheduled for early 2018. With an expectation of the next speakers being just as good as the speakers of the 1^st Part, we anticipate a rousing response to registration for the 2^nd Part.

 Click HERE to view event photos.

Contributed by:

Anil Changaroth – – ChangAroth Chambers LLC

Darren Benger – – VivATA Pte Ltd