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Project Overview

Residensi Akasia Jubilee is a residential development comprising 494 units of affordable homes, each with a built-up area of 814 sq ft, featuring three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The development is strategically situated within Kuala Lumpur’s urban landscape, offering residents convenient access to commercial hubs such as Fraser Business Park, IKEA, and MyTown Cheras. The project is also well-connected via public transportation, with proximity to several LRT and Monorail stations.

Solstruct’s Engineering Solutions

Engaged by the main building contractor, Solstruct Engineers Sdn. Bhd. provided alternative structural design solutions for the Residensi Akasia Jubilee development covering the entire building from the ground floor to the roof level. Our comprehensive scope of work included the design of prestressed car park floor slabs, prestressed transfer plates and the implementation of a shear wall system for the residential floors.

The adoption of prestressed elements such as the car park floor slabs and transfer plates was instrumental in enhancing the structural efficiency and load-bearing capacity of the building. This approach allowed for optimized material usage and cost savings. Additionally, the incorporation of a shear wall system in the residential floors provided essential lateral stability thus ensuring the building’s resilience against horizontal forces.

Ensuring Timely and Cost-Effective Delivery

Solstruct’s innovative structural designs facilitated the main contractor’s ability to adhere to the project’s timeline and budgetary constraints. By offering alternative design solutions, we contributed to a streamlined construction process, minimizing delays and reducing costs. Our designs maintained the project’s integrity, ensuring that the development met the expectations of affordability without compromising on structural safety or quality.

Project Significance

The Residensi Akasia Jubilee development stands as a testament to Solstruct Engineers Sdn. Bhd.’s expertise in delivering high-rise building projects that meet both economic and structural demands. Our involvement in this project underscores our commitment to supporting affordable housing initiatives while upholding the highest standards of engineering excellence.

Project Overview

The Mitsui Serviced Suites is a luxurious residential tower consisting of 269 units, designed to offer a mix of modern living spaces including one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. The tower stands 44 storeys tall and forms an integral part of the BBCC development. The project’s contract cost for the main building work is RM 153.5 million, with the construction timeline spanning from 2021 to 2024.

Solstruct’s Contribution to the Project

Solstruct Engineers Sdn. Bhd. was engaged to provide alternative structural designs for the building, particularly in the areas from the transfer floor level to the roof level. Our expertise was applied to the design of critical structural elements including a prestressed transfer plate and typical residential unit floors utilising a shear wall system.

Our approach was to deliver a structural design solution that was not only cost-effective but also efficient in terms of time management and constructability. By offering an alternative design, we enabled the main contractor to complete the construction within the stipulated timeline thus contributing to the project’s smooth and timely progression. Additionally, our design preserved the luxury and original architectural concept of the building and ensuring that the final product matched the high standards expected for this premium serviced apartment development.

Designing for Efficiency and Timely Delivery

One of the key challenges addressed by Solstruct was ensuring the project met both the time frame and budget constraints while still fulfilling the aesthetic and functional requirements of a luxury apartment block. Our engineering solutions were tailored to meet these demands providing the client with an optimized design that helped reduce construction costs without compromising on the building’s design integrity or structural integrity.

This Mitsui Serviced Suites project is a testament to the firm’s capability in delivering high-quality, cost-efficient structural designs that align with the conceptual vision of the architects and the expectations of the client. It also highlights Solstruct’s ongoing commitment to excellence in engineering consultancy, particularly in complex high-rise developments in urban settings.

We are pleased to highlight our successful completion of the Teladan Group Corporate Office project in Melaka. This 5-storey office building showcases our expertise in structural design, where we provided full consultancy services including river protection works due to its proximity to Sungai Melaka.

To maximize space, we utilized prestressed concrete slabs and beams thus allowing for wider column spacing and higher headroom compared to typical designs. This not only improved the usable space but also created a more comfortable and efficient working environment as well as enhancing the overall office experience.

The project commenced in year 2021 and was completed in year 2023, with our team successfully meeting all design and quality standards. Despite challenges, the project was delivered on time thus demonstrating our ability to manage complex developments efficiently.

The Teladan Group Corporate Office project is a testament to our ability to provide innovative, high-quality solutions in challenging environments. Our team’s dedication to excellence has resulted in a functional, sustainable and aesthetically pleasing office building and reinforcing our reputation as a trusted structural consultancy partner.

The photo shows the completed at-grade building structure of the Intervention Shaft 2 (IVS2) located in Kampung Pandan Roundabout, Kuala Lumpur. The building is part of the KVMRT Line 2 project, resting on top of an existing SMART tunnel. We were appointed to perform a cost-effective alternative design for the foundation structure, to counter the original design of 20 metres long bored pile. As the site is underlained by shallow limestone layer at approximately 6 mbgl and an existing tunnel structure, construction of bored piles will be risky and require highly skilled contractor.

We had proposed a shallow strip foundation as the supporting part of the IVS2 structure resting on top of mass concrete above the bedrock layer adjacent to the SMART tunnel. Our design included the geotechnical and structural design for the strip footing and prestressed transfer beam to transfer all the building loads onto the strip footing. On top of that, a detailed impact assessment was carried out to check the structural behaviour and displacement of existing SMART tunnel caused by the foundation loadings. Our alternative design had benefited the Client in cost, time and ease of construction.

*Photo source: MMC GAMUDA KVMRT (T) SDN BHD LinkedIn Page.

We had provided our prestressed concrete design consultancy service for one of the upcoming integrated development in Section 13, PJ called ATWATER. Our scopes include design and supervise the 2 nos. of post-tensioned transfer plates for 2 residential tower blocks supporting up to 23 and 26 storeys, respectively.

The carpark slabs were also constructed using post-tensioned concrete method. There are 6 levels of PT car parks designed by us for this project.

This is the latest photo of our building project in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Curtain wall construction is toward completion and installation of roof top structure is on-going. It is indeed a majestic building with a wonderful view of ocean in the background.

We had designed the temporary sheet pile wall up to 5m deep excavation of sewage treatment plant for our project in Cambodia. It was the alternative design to the Contractor’s temporary work proposal.

Our temporary work design had saved the Client approximate USD$100,000 or 45% of the original cost based on Contractor’s proposal. This made possible because our experience in similar type of works and detailed understandings of the subsoil profiles, soil parameters, water level and adjacent structure loadings.

The excavation and structural works completed in March 2021 and installation of system is on-going.

We were appointed to carry out design and supervise the rectification work on embankment slope failure at North-South Expressway near Kuala Kangsar. Total length and height of failure area are approximately 55m and 5m, respectively. The cause of failure is likely due to water infiltration into voids below the embankment shoulder drain and guardrail posts which constructed recently after pavement rehabilitation work.

The remedial measures include stabilisation of the embankment slope with rock fill and stone pitching as well as new drainage system. Overall construction works were completed within 3 months which including design work and this was made possible when the consultant and design & build contractor both working hand in hand.

Finally, the Stage 1 slope rehabilitation work in LPT 2 had completed after about 11 months of construction. This project was delayed due to nationwide MCO as well as implementation of strict SOP to control COVID-19 virus pandemic. The rock fill at the lower berm is temporary maintained at the lowest slope berm as this would serve as construction access for Stage 2 work. Hopefully the Stage 2 work will start soon.

We never know what is underneath us, there are always uncertainties exist below ground. These uncertainties may be significant to the design of foundation and underground structure.

In this shallow foundation project, we had gone through an interesting experience about the contrary of expected and actual condition beneath our site. The challenging part about this project is the existing SMART tunnel is right below the proposed building. Desk studies were carried out to understand more about the location and dimensions of the tunnel based on available information and drawings given to us. The original design of strip foundation was proposed to be sitting on top of rock. To confirm the feasibility of our design, soil investigations and rock probing tests were carried out. The results showed it was desirable in a way it is within our design assumptions.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the contractor started excavation to begin the construction of strip footing. The actual site condition contradicted to our expectation, there were many abandoned structures from the previous construction of SMART tunnel such as RC wall, gabion wall, pipes and even concrete column. Worse still, the rock edges alignment located away from our design assumptions, in which part of the proposed strip footing is not supported directly on rock, due to the over-excavation during construction of SMART tunnel. To solve this issue, we had to revise our design as well as proposing ground treatment work to suit the actual site condition.

From this experience, we can learn that uncertainties always exist below the ground since we have no clear vision on it, even though quite number of investigation works were carried out. Hence, we are encouraged to have more careful considerations on the uncertainties below ground in foundation and underground structures designs and always be prepared for design changes to suit the actual site condition during construction.

Author: Si Jet