QLASSIC : GROWING INDUSTRY ACCEPTANCE
By Syed Hazni Abd . Gani Ir . Dr Zuhairi Abd Hamid Construction Research Institute of Malaysia
Since 2015 , the implementation of QLASSIC in building projects has witnessed gradual increments yearly . The average QLASSIC scores from the year 2015 to 2018 also showed that contractors have improved over the years to deliver better quality workmanship in their projects .
COVER FEATURE
Quality in the construction industry has a significant role to guarantee the personal satisfaction of the occupants . Thus , the quality of the construction industry ought to be improved continuously from time to time . Such improvements in the quality of construction are significant as the construction industry contributes a high rate to the development of the economy of the country . Thus , it is critical to build up a quality management system or quality assessment system to improve the quality of work in the construction industry .
In Malaysia , the Quality Assessment System in Construction ( QLASSIC ) was developed by the Construction Industry Development Board ( CIDB ). QLASSIC plays an exceptional role in quantifying the quality of construction work according to the guidelines for the level of quality achieved by the construction project . The motivation behind QLASSIC is to improve the quality of the construction industry in Malaysia .
According to CIDB , QLASSIC is a system or method to measure and evaluate the workmanship quality of a building construction work based on Construction Industry Standard ( CIS 7:2014 ). In 2006 , QLASSIC was introduced in Malaysia to enable the quality of workmanship between construction projects to be objectively compared through a scoring system . The categories of buildings that can be assessed using QLASSIC are landed housing , stratified housing , buildings for public use , such as offices and schools , as well as special buildings such as hospitals and airports .
QLASSIC sets out the standards on the quality of workmanship for different construction components in building construction work . Marks are granted on the compliance of the workmanship to the standard and these compliances are summarised to compute the QLASSIC Score (%) for the building construction work . This score depends on workmanship and is measured following CIS 7:2014 . It is unfeasible to assess all components in a construction project and so the QLASSIC assessment utilises a sampling method . Before the assessment , a delegation from Construction Assessment Centre ( CASC ), a unit under Construction Research Institute of Malaysia ( CREAM ) which runs the QLASSIC assessment activities , will decide the samples ( components or areas ) that should be assessed . The samples must be conveyed as consistently as conceivable all through the project . These are chosen from the drawings and plans of the applicable construction project . All areas in the construction project must be accessible for the assessment .
DEVELOPMENT OF QLASSIC
QLASSIC was first introduced in Malaysia by CIDB in 2007 . The first standard used was Construction Industry Standard ( CIS 7:2006 ). In 2018 , the first
33