Wednesday, February 19, 2020

What factors contributed to success (or not) of these major building Essay - 1

What factors contributed to success (or not) of these major building projects - Essay Example A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the schedule for work. Developing the construction plan is a critical task in the management of construction, even if the plan is not written or otherwise formally recorded. (bpo.knowledgehills.com). In managing a construction project, it is common to adopt primary emphasis on three basic elements, namely, task, resource and time. They are interrelated, and any alteration in one will affect the other two. The main objective behind time management is to complete the project in minimal time. But this should not be achieved by compromising on the quality or cost factors. It should be taken care that by optimizing performance at any stage does not have an effect on the overall project such that it does not bring in an element of benefit. Even though all these objectives were taken into account while planning The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, some flaws on the part of the managing team brought up a delay in the completion of the project. This was undesirable, in a project of such importance. Until September 2004, the delay that had occurred was as a result of delays with structural steelwork. It was noted that the time required to fabricate massive cruciform steelwork took longer than the estimated time. As all stages of work are interrelated, the delay in the ending of stage one of the construction process, took it’s toll on the starting of stage two, which again caused an unprec edented delay. Further more; to add to the miseries, bad weather was a great hindrance to the smooth proceeding of the activities, thus bringing in more delay. Europes largest glass floor and a glass external lift, â€Å"which caused most of the recent delays to the towers opening date because of safety doubts.†(Lindsay 2005). All these were defects of proper project management, which led to the inefficient utilization of time. All these resulted in the

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

It is important to preserve the rule of law in Hong Kong but somehow Essay

It is important to preserve the rule of law in Hong Kong but somehow its existence in Hong Kong is more of a myth than a real - Essay Example One can hence derive the idea that the legality and equality form the roots of Hong Kong’s legislature and every other principle revolves around it. To promote equality, the country’s legislature involves a ruling system specially designed to restrict the discretionary powers of the government. It provides the courts with a guideline for ensuring that constitutional powers are not exploited in any way by the government officials. So, any unreasonable decision or any attempt of exercising excessive power is always made invalid or futile by the court orders. The rule of law holds an important place in the Hong Kong system of legislature. It most certainly, is one of its greatest strengths. It is something that ensures the country’s status as a leading centre in the financial market in terms of finance and commerce and provides a secure environment for the businessmen to work in. Thus, it is the defining ideology upon which the people of the country put their trust and faith. They are proud of possessing an independent judiciary and are very concerned about upholding the integrity of their legal system. Any threats or criticism against the rule of law is severely dealt with. It is very important to realize the rule of law actually needs a very transparent legislation to work effectively. Without a clearly defined set of laws that are justified and comfortable for every citizen of the country and an independent and strong judicial and enforcement bodies, it is impossible to govern a country by the rule of law. Hence, the rule of law resembles the British legislation as it was proposed when Hong Kong was under the British colonial rule. Although, there was much concern that the rule of law would be compromised when Hong Kong was remerged with its motherland, it did not happen so and it still remains fair and just. For those who say that the rule of law is a myth are certainly very wrong in my personal opinion. Hong Kong has always preserved the core values of its legislature that involves freedom of speech and defending the human rights. The justice department works free from any outside interference or pressures and is responsible for maintaining law and order and defining the working principles for different matters in the society. Moreover, the responsibility of giving the government legal advices is handed over to the Secretary of Justice. Not to forget the fact that the country’s legal system consists of about 5000 lawyers and about 700 law firms. Through all such measures, the judiciary of the country has been improved to quite a great extent. The courts in Hong Kong are mainly operated by its judiciary which is independent of both the executive and the legislative councils as mentioned earlier as well. The word ‘independent’ is highly stressed upon because it holds the true essence of the rule of law. The legal body in Hong Kong enjoys a lot of protective measures and cannot be questioned by the government. This allows the system to be utterly transparent and just. The highest post in Hong Kong’s judicial council is that of Chief Justice, who is then assisted by other officials of different ranks and responsibilities. To ensure that the system remains profound, the rule of law r