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hampering the work of the professionals having to obtain approvals from the various local authorities throughout the country .
AUG 23 , 1963 FMSA President wrote to the Director of Public Works enquiring about the progress made by W . G . Wicks who had been appointed by Government to undertake this important and urgent task some years earlier . W . G . Wicks replied to DPW expressing regret that he was no nearer completing the task but offered to serve on the committee the FMSA had set up by that time to take over the assignment . The setting up of the committee was the pro-active action of the youthful society of architects .
SEP 24 , 1963 David Rew , Senior Architect wrote on behalf of the Director of Public Works and invited FMSA to submit proposals for the administration of the assignment for consideration .
OCT 25 , 1963 Meeting of ad hoc committee with David Rew . This resulted in a proposal which was submitted on December 17 , 1963 setting out , among other matters , the urgent need for the UBBL , proposed composition of the committee with full support of the Government and forming of two committees on UBBL and Uniform Planning By-Laws .
JAN 22 , 1964 Minister of Works , Posts and Telecommunications approved FMSA ’ s proposals and appointed Dato ’ Kington Loo as Chairman of the “ Building Regulations Committee ”. Walter Fairbank , Commissioner of Town and Country Planning was appointed Chairman of the Planning By-Laws Committee .
MAY 13 , 1964 First Meeting of the Uniform Building Regulations ( UBR ) Committee . It took longer than expected to organise the first meeting due to the nomination process of representatives from various institutions and associations . The members of the first committee were :
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Chairman – Kington Loo
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One architect and one engineers from PWD – Yap Pow Veng & Kok Tat Cheong
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Two representatives from FMSA – Hisham Albakri & Tham Chan Wah
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One structural engineer from IEM ( PJ Development Corp ) - AS Bhatt
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One Mechanical engineer from IEM ( Malayan Railway ) – Dalip Singh
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One sanitary engineer from IEM ( PWD ) – Chin Thean Huah from PWD
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Two electrical engineers from IEM & CEB – Foo Yeow San & SR CoglinOne structural engineer from IEM ( Steen Sehested & Partners ) – Phillip YC Chow The meeting agreed to continue the work from where W . G . Wicks had left off ; to use the existing Kuala Lumpur and the newer Petaling Jaya By-Laws as the basis and to use the draft Buildings Ordinance prepared by the Building Research Station of the UK for use in overseas territories .
1964-67 Work on the draft Uniform Building Regulations (“ UBR ” as they were referred to at the time ) was virtually completed with the exception of the section on Mechanical Ventilation and Air-conditioning , which proved to be of some difficulty as it was then a relatively new field . Ready and generous assistance was obtained from the Building Research Station , Herts , UK which supplied a wealth of technical information on many aspects .
OCT 10 , 1968 Collapse of the 4-storey Jalan Raja Laut Flats and the ensuing Royal Commission of Enquiry found that under the then-existing Kuala Lumpur By-Laws , it was not possible to pin-point the responsibility on any person including the submitting person , the approving authority or the building contractor . Clearly , this was a serious deficiency when one could be held legally responsible for the collapse of a building resulting in the loss of life .
DEC 1 , 1969 The National Operations Council ( NOC ) directed the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to bring forth a draft Building Act and model Building By-Laws as expeditiously as possible . Ministry of Housing and Local Government acted by establishing a Co-ordinating Committee on Building Regulations and Town & Country Planning Act with the Ministry ’ s Secretary General , N . Jagathesan as Chairman . Three Technical Sub-Committees were established as follows : a . Uniform Building By-Laws Chairman –
Kington Loo
54 VOL 69 JANUARY-MARCH 2017