Congrui HUANG

23/04/2021

The first session of this class was to review the application letter we wrote after last class. We might not have done a good job on some of the details which seemed unprofessional. For the salutation, in practice, I really didn't know what to call the other person, because the assignment brief did not mention that, which confused me. But in real employment, I will clearly know the name of the other company and the name and position of the person in charge for sure. Some information like address and phone number that did not mention in the brief, I just used 'xxxxxx'. I think the details are very important in writing an application letter which really needs pay more attention on and refer to other nice template. And I think the practice to write an application letter is really useful. But I have to say the application process in different regions and different companies may have some differences, so it also depends on the customs of a particular situation.

For the last BIG test, the time was to limited for me to answer all the questions. I felt so anxious during this test, in the end I was not able to answer all the questions. Some of the questions were so specific that I needed to look up some regulations on the spot and read them carefully to find the answers which took a lot of time.

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15/04/2021

Today’s session is about Job preparation, including job preparation, application letter and some questions for employers. During 5 minutes individual thinking about preparation for a job application, I noted down several tips:

1. Prepare a nice CV, portfolio and other materials which can certificate my professional ability.

2. Check out the job opportunities and understand the company's background, culture, needs and characteristics.

3. Prepare for the job interview, like how to introduce myself, how to present my experience, how to show my advantages.

4. Prepare some questions and answers that employers might ask.

5. Prepare some questions for employers.

Then our group wrote an application letter based on the template from internet. And we did some adjustment and improvement based on our professional background.

For the individual questions for employer, I proposed a question about “Will there be opportunities of overseas exchange or learning? Are there opportunities to travel and communicate? What is the frequency of such opportunities?” I came up with this question because I think more flexible communication and learning opportunities at work can attract more candidates. Of course, some people prefer a stable job with less travel. For me, I would like to have more exchange work so that I could broad my horizon and have more passion on my work.

When looking for a job, the interview is really very important. In my opinion, one should show his/her advantages and comprehensive ability in the interview, and at the same time, he/she should know enough information about the company, such as the projects that the company has done, so that the employer can feel that the applicant is fully prepared and eager to enter the company.

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08/04/2021

Today’s session is presented by Barry. At the beginning, Barry made a video to help us know what roles involve in delivering a project. The main parties to a landscape construction contract will be the client and contractor. The teams include the design team, the contract team and other parties with other responsibilities.

Breakout Discussion Plot 1:

In the first group breakout discussion, our BLUE Group was discussing the role of client’ supervising officer. Client‘s supervising officer represents the supervision unit with relevant qualifications is entrusted by client, in accordance with the project construction documents approved by the state, relevant engineering construction laws, regulations, and construction supervision contracts and other construction contracts, representing client’s contribution to contractor’s project Construct and implement a professional service activity of monitoring.

The responsibilities of client’s supervising officer:

1. If the contract documents and arrangement could be signed by client/contractor

2. What are the standards of materials and workmanship?

3. Clarification of contractor’s queries

4. What are the work stages

5. Making recommendations on interim and final payment

6. Visit the site as intervals appropriate to the contractor's programmed activities to inspect the progress and quality of the works in relation to the contract document and programme

Breakout Discussion Plot 2:

This part is to discuss the particular concerns of different roles when covid 19 came in.

The things that client’s supervising officer could do for such a situation:

· Arrange the regular meetings between different parties (client, contractor, etc.)

· Rearrange the deadlines, monitor any issues

· Due to the epidemic situation, we have the ability to stop/suspend the construction by dealing with the contractor; When the epidemic stabilizes, according to the control and requirements of the government, the supervisor can reorganize the construction work and forbid the construction party to start the construction ahead of time

· Visit the site as intervals appropriate to the contractor's programmed activities to inspect the progress and quality of the works in relation to the contract document and programme

· Monitor the payment/money issue

· Report the implementation, report to boss (client) and let them understand the financial/work issues

Last part of this class was the virtual field visit. The state of the landscape construction site was shown and some concrete pre-construction conditions and construction matters of plants and hard materials were introduced. I think this session was good, and it would be better if we could come to the site and see the real construction process in person.

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01/04/2021

Today we had pink group to share the topic “Awarding a project: Construction Tendering” and inside view of URBIS.

There are three types of tendering: negotiated tendering, selective tendering and open tendering. The negotiated tendering means that the contract price is negotiated between the client and contractor. The contractor has an established working relationship with client. The Selective Tendering means that tender invitations are published in the Government of HKSAR Gazette. The contractors on the lists are qualified. And the open tendering means that tender invitations are published in the Government of HKSAR Gazette. All interested contractors are free to submit tenders.

Tender period includes preparation of tender documents, tender notices, receipt and opening of tenders, evaluation of tenders and finally award of tenders.

About the presentation of URBI, the project of Hong Kong Wetland Park impressed me a lot because I have been there before.

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25/03/2021

Today we had green group to share the topic “Organizing a project: Getting your designs build the way you want them to be”. Procurement is a very complex and vital investment process, including contracting, purchasing, sourcing or tendering, to weigh up the benefits, risks and budget constraints of a project to determine what the most appropriate procurement method is, and what contractual arrangements will be required.

There are several factors that can influence the procurement choice:

Internal Environment: Project characteristics

Client characteristics

Client requirement: quality related, cost related, time related

External Environment: Environment impact,

Procurement policy,

Material availability.

Three types of traditional/conventional contracts:

Lump Sum Contract: the contract sum is determined before construction work is started. Contracts ‘with quantities’ are priced on the basis of drawings and firm bills of quantities.

Re-Measurement Contract: The contract is not finalized until completion of the project.

Cost reimbursement Contracts: The sum is calculated from the actual costs of labour, plant and materials to which an amount is added to cover overheads and profit.

Question & Answer session:

1. Who usually bares most risks in procurement and construction process?

Contractor.

The Hong Kong Government places all risk on the contractor, including ground conditions in civil engineering projects.

2. Who are two main employers that finance the project of public sector in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong Government and MTR Corporation.

3. Institution of Civil Engineers published New Engineering Cooperation (NEC).

Development Bureau published Practice Notes for NEC.

Today’s quiz was too difficult for me. I only got 4.07/10.0.

A Registered Landscape Architect is totally qualified to undertake management consulting on behalf of a Client? ---True.

(The Management Consultant may be any person whom the Client trusts to run a project on their behalf. An RLA is more than qualified and has all the right project management skills, experience and cross-profession understanding.)

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18/03/2021

Today we had red group to share the topic “Wining a project”.

Question & Answer Session:

1. The most common form of selection in the landscape bidding process is Two-Envelope System which is quality-price-driven and competes with both quality and price for working in fixed criteria. Minimum standard of the project is guaranteed with the lowest price.

2. The mandatory elements contained in all landscape consultancy agreements include:

Conditions of Appointment

Memorandum of Agreement

Scopes of Services

Schedules of Fees and Expenses

3. The types of remuneration:

Time Charge

Lump Sum

Percentage

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04/03/2021

White group showed their presentation about “Develop and Control”. In this part, I have a basic understanding of statutory framework in HK to balance the develop and control in various construction projects with different landscape projects and different process of statutory actions, like land use planning and tree preservation, and what we can do as a landscape architect.

It's easy to get confused when different departments have different responsibilities for project management. For example, Planning Department is responsible for checking the land use zoning of the site on the outline zoning plan, and AFCD and Environmental Protection Department are aimed at environmental control ordinance. We can quickly see their corresponding accusations from the names of these departments, so in practical applications, on the basis of a basic understanding of each department's accusations of development and control, we can more accurately query specific matters.

For the Mini quiz 2, it reviewed the early sessions. This question below is about tree preservation in today’s presentation.

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25/02/2021

In today's class, Purple Group shared the presentation of Be a Boss. In fact, it's not easy to run your own business. There are a lot of issues to consider, and you have to be qualified. What impressed me most was the preliminary finance preparation and personnel recruitment.

About obtaining finance, cash can come from a variety of sources:

· The partners’/directors’ own money (self-funding)

· Borrowings usually from other sources e.g. bank

· Personal saving

And about staff recruitment, interviews are also used to select good applicants by estimating personal characteristics (Experience, Technical, Communication skills etc.). But in my point of view, it is hard for a new company especially those in small scale to attract outstanding applicants. The company wants to have excellent employees, applicants also want to choose a competitive enterprise.

Today, we finished the first quiz which was about the first three topics. My grade was 6.5/10.0.

A person whose name does not appear on the register shall not be entitled to describe himself as "landscape architect" or "registered landscape architect" or to use the initials "R.L.A." after his name.

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Preparation for BLUE Group Presentation

21/01/2021

I first red the material given by professor to have a general understanding about what kind of job that landscape architects could do and where we could work for. After our first group discussion, we decided on the division of labor. According to the classification and description in the file given by the professor, we adjusted and supplemented the type of employment and finally classified it as public sector in Hong Kong, public sector in Mainland China, private sector in Hong Kong and private sector in Mainland China. And I was responsible for investigating information about private sector in Hong Kong.

27/01/2021

Today we had a zoom meeting to discuss the findings and summarize basic material from each group member and determine the presentation framework through google doc.

03/02/2021

We discussed the interview format and interview questions for those who were already at work with landscape background.

04/02/2021

We listed out 4 interview questions, which were:

1. Please provide us with a brief self introduction.

2. What is the main reason for you to enter this field?

3. Do you have any thoughts of this working experience? Besides, for the future graduate, do you have any suggestions for them before they enter this field?

4. Are you have any future plan for your working experience? (i. g. continue)

I contacted a senior who graduated from HKU MLA, several colleagues who work in state-owned enterprises on the mainland, and a senior who worked in USA.

One of interviewees who graduated from HKU MLA came back to mainland China in a Planning Institute and then changed her job to real estate after working for one year.

Another interviewee was working for a state-owned design institute.

07/02/2021

I organized the text about Large multi-disciplinary private consultancy in Hong Kong, Large multi-disciplinary private company in Mainland China, Small private company in Mainland China and Public Sector (enterprise) in Hong Kong. And I also sorted out the interview audios.

10/02/2021

I finished the audio clips and subtitles for my part. I recorded and made the narration for the scene in the presentation.

11/02/2021

Today was our presentation time. We had a story line of Watermelon’s career experience through out the whole presentation. We also designed some simple interactive parts to get audiences involved and introduced the various jobs in the story.

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04/02/2021

Today, first group shared their presentation about being a landscape architect. And next part was virtual office visit in EARTHASIA. Ringo from EARTHASIA gave us a presentation to introduce the basic background and situation of EARTHASIA. We saw what EARTHASIA expected of its employees and what the working environment and atmosphere looked like. Ringo shared some projects of EARTHASIA.