Xueling HU

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ARE YOU A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Reflection from lecture

Q: Why being professional need to learn about laws?

A: manage risk, so you and your company would not get injured and being sued. so that is why you need to be reconginzed as landscape architect. When you sign a document, you need to insre, and you take more risk, you take insurance to protect yourself. You have to know these, [LAW manage risk]

Q: What you need to know about ethics?

A: to be professional is to not behave in way that do not have moral. what is the line-use bribe？ you usmn't involve in bribry and corruption. say you do not know when you do not really know.

Q: How to be recognized as a landscape architect in Hong Kong?

In HK, to be a landscape architect(protected occupation), you need to register in landscape registration board and passing examination and registration.

Q: Can I call myself as a landscape architect in other countries if I passed registration exam in Hong Kong?

A: You cannot call it yourself if you qualify in other country

NEWS: Sharing hot topics to the Landscape professions including values / new strategies/ Providing continuing education in different associations. 

IFLA Official website: https://www.ifla.org/

2021.5.5”Realizing the Potential of Open for Equitable, Resilient Recovery”

Summary: Online lectures. placing high quality information into the hands of citizens in helping take better decisions. Talk about the issues governments and stakeholders may face (too much information result in confusion)

2021. 6. 21 - 6.23 ”Introduction to Arabo-Islamic Manuscript Culture: An Intensive Course”

Eligibility: Open to all individuals with a basic understanding of the classical Arabic language and a professional or scholarly interest in manuscripts.

Organized by: Qatar National Library and the Chair of Islamic History and Culture, University of Tübingen, Germany.

Where to access?: online via Zoom

Applying: Participants interested in these sessions need to email a short CV and motivation statement (max. 1 page each, in PDF format as a single file).

中国风景园林网 http://www.chla.com.cn/

What is offered in the website to benefit the field of Landscape Architecture?

1. Job recruitment advertising (mostly Private Enterprise)

2. Competition information

3. Forum and Events

4. Recent landscape design works

5. Government/president goals that relate to the future direction of landscape.

6. Friendship organization: HKILA, IFLA...

EVENTS:

International gardening exhibition in Yangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Critiques from the interview of a Landscape Architect: the gardening exhibition already diverts from the displaying of flowers and varieties. It is now the exhibition of different small architectures. Those things occupy a lot of space and they are nor really sustainable.

Interview

Q: Why is it important to watch news, government deployments and goals relate to the environment and land?

A: It is important to know the latest government instructions in feasibility evaluation in the procurement process and planning to increase the possibility of the project being approved. Just take 30 minutes of your day to listen to the news has great benefits to your career.

QUIZZ REFLECTION RELATE TO THE TOPIC:

Q: NEGLIGENCE exists when a person allows harm to occur in circumstances in which they ought to have taken precautions to prevent its occurrence.

1. Defendant owed him a duty of care

2. Defendant breached that duty of care to them

3. Claimant suffered actual loss or damage recognised by law

4. Defendant does not have any mitigating defense

5. (tort is a means of suing, it is not a contract.. Process of criminal system which you will be sued, tort is the actual legal system)

Q: Why need code of standards of conduct as professional landscape architect

A: Protect profession, client, yourself, public. Also make profession appears professional

Q: You cannot call you RLA(Registered LA) unless you registered. You cannot accept the work because you are not professionally qualified if the client requires.

Q: Ethical: some action not approved by the government. You should tell your client you won’t do it and why.(but inform government approval requires long time - 12 months, you need to do it before, so you might not do this)

WHERE DO YOU WORK?

Reflection from lecture

START A JOB:

-Find a job and start to learn

-Suggest working for 6 months. The company cannot earn from you in less than 6 months, they are teaching you things.

QUIZZ REFLECTION RELATE TO THE TOPIC:

Q: LA cannot work for the transportation department.

Q: HK Government positions don't have LA positions?

A: Agriculture, fisheries and conservation department. Environment protection department, Leisure and cultural services department.

Research: Where should I look for a job in China?

1. LTD: State-owned Local Design Institute (LDI)

   1. Official website

   2. Design Institute’s wechat official account

   3. Campus Recruitment

2. Real Estate Agency / Private Enterprise

   1. Job Hunting App

   2. Wechat official account

   3. Official website

   4. Association’s official website (Example: Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture)

   5. Design Website (example: www.gooood.com)

Research: What are the processes of recruitment for different types of companies?

1. LTD: State-owned Local Design Institute

   1. CV submission

   2. Notification of quick-drawing examination opportunity to selected applicants

   3. Attending on-site quick-drawing examination (5 hours)

   4. Notification of selected applicants who pass the examination to interview

   5. On-site interview, and wait for offers

   6. Go physical health examination and submit contract to the institute

2. Government bureaus

   1. Application at official website

   2. Written examination

   3. Computer examination

   4. Offer

3. Real estate agency & Private Enterprise

   1. Email to HR: CV + statement letters + portfolio

   2. Wait for interviews

   3. 1 - 2 interviews

   4. Offer!

ARE YOU THE BOSS?

OFFICE TOUR:

Online office tour -- Eartha

泛亚环境(eadg-earthasia)

Q:What you need to know as an employer?

A:

office handbook\CAD Standards

copyright and confidentiality

Standard Filing System(you cannot save your work on your desktop\or the office will be a chaotic)

Office activity:

staff training

sharing session

summer internship

happy hours and office party.

site inspection

survey-tree measurement

internship booklet.

QUIZ QUESTIONS RELATE TO THE TOPIC:

Q: Best thing to set up a business is sole proprietor

A: reason - fast , cheap, low administration..

Q:Start a business, what types of insurance do you need to take out?

A:all of the followings

• Employee’s compensation

• Staff medical insurance (hard for small business)

• Building content insurance

• Professional indemnity insurance

• Third party insurance (cheap, required by client)

Q: If actually your work is less than the staff you hire..what should you do?

A: Last action is to cut staff. Marketing is important, double your effort to get jobs and call your past clients. You can look at doing a competition to keep the staff busy. Fix your business plan.

Q: What if a project takes longer than you expect to be completed?

A: estimate how much more time is needed on the project and report to the directors that the project is over budget.

Interview

Q: what will you consider before investment?

A: Feasibility is the first thing I will think and I will ask a consultant to help me to evaluate this. Whether the bank will provide loans? Is the project suitable in zoning plan, ordinance and clauses? What are the target audiences? Will people come after construction? Can I make turnovers? What kind of structures/materials cost less but works? Are the time enough for material purchasing? There are many things to consider, but some of them are more important. Cost consideration is the most important for private firms.

DEVELOP OR CONTROL

QUIZ QUESTIONS RELATE TO THE TOPIC

Q: Information from a tree survey should be utilised for developing site planning and proposals.The proposals should reflect a balancing act taking into consideration which of the following factors?

A: intrinsic tree factors, conservation status, suitability for transplanting, changes in water table and water sources, change in exposure, historical and cultural (e.g. fung shui) significance of a tree or tree group to the community, functional requirements of the project such as site formation or excavation, availability of space for tree protection zone and vertical and horizontal tree growth in the future, engineering considerations such as feasibility and transport limitations especially for ex-situ transplanting., financial consideration in the interest of the community such as cost-effectiveness of a transplanting operation.

Q: To submit a TPRA, what issues need to be discussed?

A: How much will you pay me ?, Who owns the land?, Are there any trees on the site?, When will work start?, Is there a tree clause in the lease conditions?, Do they have a Landscape Architect engaged on the project?, Have any planning submissions been made yet?, Are you qualified, since you yourself are not a Landscape Architect yet.

Q: There are no restrictions on qualifications for submitting a TPRA (do not have to be registered LA)

NEWS

中国建设新闻网http://www.chinajsb.cn/

1. Government supports the national culture park’s construction including conservation and exhibition of historical towns and providing tourism facilities.

http://www.chinajsb.cn/html/202104/29/19808.html

WINNING A PROJECT

QUIZ QUESTIONS RELATE TO THE TOPIC

Q: What is in a “Consultancy Agreement” ?

A: Names of the parties, Key personnel involved, Description of the services to be undertaken, Clarification of the services excluded, Outline of the extent of the project scope, Programme of undertaking the work, Schedule of payment for services, Terms and Conditions, Memorandum of Agreement.

Q: What are the 3 main essential criterias when forming a contract between you(Landscape Consultant) and your client?

A: You offer the Client to do the work and accept the payment terms he suggests. 1) Intention to create legal relations. 2)Consideration(payment). 3)Agreement(offer and acceptance)

ORGANIZING A PROJECT

QUIZ QUESTIONS RELATE TO THE TOPIC

Q: so In your proposal you want to list potential costs that will be covered as additional expenses and are not included in your lump sum. Which of the following are additional costs?

A: Government planning application fees, Making a display model and artist renderings, Telephone charges to the Clients overseas HQ, Presentation booklet production and printing, Visa and application costs for travel to overseas Client HQ.

Q: What are potential additional costs for services?

A: Drone Survey, Land Survey, Soil Investigation, Tree Survey, Ecology Survey, Irrigation design, Tree Risk Assessment, Building Plan Submission.

Q: What needs to be prepared in traditional procurement? (as a designer)

A: planting plans & details, paving plans & details, irrigation plans & details, drainage plans & details, design and detail of landscape structures, Landscape Particular Specification, List of suitable/approved landscape contractors, List of specialist landscape contractors.

Q: What are jobs of different roles in procurement?

A:

【Client】 Selecting the Project Team, Agreeing the cost of the landscape works, Requiring cost reductions

【Quantity Surveyor】 Working out the cost of the Project, Providing the budget for the Project

【Lead(main) Consultant】 Proposing/Assessing the list of Tenderers, Hiring sub-consultants, Advising where to make cost reductions, Issuing the Tender documents

【Project Landscape Architect】 Estimating the cost of the landscape works

Q: Your role in “design - build” operate contract ? and what are the team roles?

A: If you win the bid, you will need to prepare more detailed drawings for the Client to build the works., You should design the project to meet the long term needs of both the Employer (government) and the Client.

【Supervising Officer】Ensure the quality of the construction

【 Client】(has responsibility to design) Responsible under the contract to build the landscape, Responsible under the contract to design the buildings & roads

【Employer】Responsible to Tender the Contract

【RLA】Ensure the operation quality of the landscape works

Interview the president of an architecture firm

Q: what is a typical process of procurement?

Type of project: small

Client: hire an employer team or trust a reliable consultant team to gain the project's feasibility research report including turnover, lump sum, policies, custom’s demands, possible environment pollution, electricity and so on. Consultant can help in finding a construction team, but clients decide whether to accept the decision.

Q: What is a typical process for a public project ?

Type: public project like museum, plazas, opera centers...

Government: Setting goals based on the city’s planning plan in recent years. Find a government consultant (economic planning Institute, Planning design Institute or research Institute). Consultant(select one) will prepare drawings (layout, engineering drawings..). The government pays the consultant, and the consultant may hire sub-contractors if they are not able to do the work. It is more cautious in government projects. Usually, the feasibility evaluation conducted by consultants will be evaluated by experts selected by the government through multiple meetings (international experts, famous architects etc). Finally, the government will give permission to the building of the project through a meeting. The next thing is detail planning. When it comes to the phase of designing and construction. Government will launch a tendering process. To prevent corruption, the final decision is made by government discussion to give the offer. Design-build procurement is the most popular now because the quality will be good because the design and construction will be highly consistent. There is only one time tendering required, so the cost will also be lower.

Q: What are the major considerations of benefits?

A: Social, Environment, and Economic benefits.

• For private project: Economic > Social & Environment

• For government / public project: Social & Environment > Economic

AWARDING A PROJECT

Interview

Q: What are the common issues in today’s tendering process

A: The time is always tight. Usually, there are only two weeks for all the drawings, documents, and bills of quantity to be ready. Only three days will be allowed for design.