A civil engineer was interviewed about his career as a structural engineer in the construction industry. Some key points: 1) He has over 28 years of experience and has worked on many major projects in Malaysia including the Kuala Lumpur Tower and the new Women's and Children's Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. 2) Currently he is the project director for the Women's and Children's Hospital project, an RM848 million development expected to be completed by the end of 2016. 3) When asked about challenges, he notes that each project has unique difficulties depending on the type of structure and work involved.

1. CIVIL & STRUCTURAL
ENGIN EER
" A ccomplish,
or do not begin."
ZA INOL ZA KA RIA
Get to k now
the life as a
civil &
structural
engineer
and what it
tak es to
become
one.

2. CONTENTS
1. LIFE ASA CIVIL &
STRUCTURAL ENGIN EER
2. COMPAN Y PROFILE
3. COMPAN Y
STRUCTURE
4. PROFILE OF
IN TERVIEWEE
5. PAST PROJECT
KUALA LUMPUR
TOWER
6. CURREN T PROJECT
WOMEN AN D
CHILDREN HOSPITAL,
KUALA LUMPUR
7. Q&A
About
An interview with acivil and structural engineer
about hisjourney in the construction industry.
Copyright 2015 by PAPER TOWN S
All rightsreserved. No part of thisbook may be
reproduced in any form without expresswritten
permission.
WRITERS
FARAH HAN ISAH BIN TI ZAINOL
DAN ICA GAN JIA-EN
DAN A KAN JIA TORNG
CHIN KE N I KELLY
CRYSTAL CHIA FYE JZING
DAYANG N ADRAH AIDHA BIN TI AWG
IDRUS

3. Life As A Civil
& Structural
Engineer
In general, acivil and
structural engineer hasto
ensureandexaminethe
structureof buildingsothat it
remainsstableandsafe. They
either work in officesor on
construction sites. Structural
engineersinvolvein designing
structureslikehouses, hospitals
andofficeblocks. They also
involvein reportingandmaking
decision on financial
Structural engineersareresponsible
in choosingtheright materialssuch as
concrete, steelsandbricksfor the
project. They consult andwork along
with thearchitect, engineersand
landscapearchitect. In order tobecome
agoodstructural engineer, oneshould
begoodin Physicsandmust havea
strongthree-dimensional conceptual
skills. It isimportant for them tothink
out of box tosolvedaily problems.

4. UEM Builders Berhad, the
engineering & construction arm of the
UEM Group, is an international
construction com pany with a strong
track record in delivering infrastructure
developm ent projects.
Over the years, they have played a
significant role in building M alaysia?s
landscape through the construction of
national infrastructures, which are
recognised globally. The Second Penang
Bridge, M alaysia-Singapore Second
Crossing, and Kuala Lum pur Light Rail
Transit System 2, are am ongst the m any
m ega projects credited to UEM Builders?
capabilities.
Their vision is to be a Leading Globally
Com petitive Com pany in Integrated
Engineering, Construction and
M aintenance Services. Their m ission is
enterprising and com petitive whilst
m eeting stakeholders?expectations.

5. Board Of Directors
M anaging Directors
International Local
Indonesia
BruneiIndia
H ospital
M RT
H ighway
Preamakanthan
DKanapathy
LeeEngHoe
WongKingSeng
Zainol
Zakaria
TeeMeng
AhmadFauzi
Haji Ali
Com pany Structure

6. "Givingup isnever an option."
Here i would like to share about a
civil engineer?s personal
information. His full name is Zainol
Bin Zakaria. He born in the year
1964 (age51), andhadmarriedwith 6
childrens. Theproficienciesof him is
English andBahasaMelayu.
Zainol Zakaria
IR Zainol Bin Zakaria graduated
from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
in 1987 with a Bachelor in Civil
Engineering. He has been in this
industry for the past 28 years. He
has worked as a junior engineer for
4 years and another 6 years as a
senior engineer.
Theprojectsthat he hadbeen involvedin are
SgPiah HydroElectricProject ,Peninsular Gas
Utilization Project Phase2, KlangRoadBypass
, Airport RoadInterchange, KualaLumpur
Tower, SlopeRepairsalongTamparuli-Ranau
Highway, Sabah, KLIA (PackageRA16), Bus&
taxi complex andoverpassat Jln Sultan Azlan
Shah, Ipoh, Perak, Monorail Trial Track,
AmpangHilir High EndCondominium, New
Alor Setar Hospital Project, New Pekan
Hospital Project, PetronasRantau Mall,
Kerteh, Terengganu ,ProposedNew Gumusut
CuttingAndAssembly Workshop, TheDesign,
Construction, Equipping, Commissioningand
Maintenanceof Shah Alam Hospital, The
Construction of BusinessBay Hotel, Dubai,
UAE, Women andChildren Hospital, Kuala
Lumpur, LawasHospital, Sarawak, MRT S3
stations- TheCurve, TDDI andOneUtama,
Projek MenaraKembar Bank Rakyat, Kuala
Lumpur.

7. One of the earlier project he was
fortunate enough to work on was
alongside the com pany W ayss &
Freytag (M ) Sdn. Bhd. which is the
Kuala Lum pur Tower as the site
engineer. A tower m uch
appreciated by us M alaysians and
tourists as it holds so m uch
purpose including a tourist
Kuala Lum pur
Tower
Past Project :
The duration of his involvem ent in
the project was roughly about a year
and a half,starting from January 1992
until June 1993. This puts him in the
center position as the tower was
constructed in 1991and com pleted in
1994. This gives him a contract value
of RM 270 m illion. In this project, M r
Zainol was responsible for taking off,
standing supervision and the
preparation of Bar Bending Schedule
BBS.

8. W om en an d
Chi l dr en H ospi tal ,
Kual a Lum pur
The ongoing project
M r. Zainol is involved in
as a project director is
the new W om en and
Children?s H ospital that
is located within the
proxim ity of the existing
H ospital Kuala Lum pur
in Jalan Pahang.
Cur r en t Pr oject :
The W om en & Children?s H ospital
is an RM 848m il project signed
between the M inistry of H ealth,and
UEM Construction Sdn Bhd with its
joint venture com pany,Najcom Sdn
Bhd and is expected for com pletion
by the end of 2016. It is a 12 storey
building which will hold 600 beds
where it has a total gross floor area of
1,890,143 sq. ft.

9. Am ong the facilities to be built in
the hospital include therapy services,
crèche or nursery,labour and
delivery,specialist clinics,child
developm ent centre,paediatric
specialist clinics,wom en health
centre,neonatal Intensive Care
Units,obstetric wards,Em ergency
Departm ent,cafeteria,shops for
public convenience and a 20-room
hotel. A m ulti-level car park which
will provide an addition of about
1000 m ore parking bays will also be
built to ease traffic congestion within
the hospital com pound. The hospital
project is a part of the Kuala Lum pur
Structure Plan 2020 by the
governm ent to upgrade general
hospitals to provide better m edical
services to the people.
In this project,M r Zainol reports to
m anaging director of UEM Builders
BH D. H e also leads the hospital design
and construction team to carry out the
pricing as well as reviewing the costings
prior presenting to the m anaging
director and subm itting them to the
clients. Other than that,he also
coordinates am ong the consultants,
covers both technical contractual and
financial aspects. Lastly,he is responsible
from the pre contract stage to the final
accounts.

10. Q & A
W hat m ade you deci de to tak e c&s en gi n eer i n g
as a pr ofessi on ?
?For me, it?s just a coincident. I do not know what civil engineering at that
time and during the interview, I just said to the interviewer that civil
engineer sounds good. So, i only realise what is c&s engineering upon my
enrolment to the university. "
W hat qual i ti es shoul d a str uctur al en gi n eer have?
?The right attitude,technical knowledge teamwork and most importantly it
comes with responsibility and liability."
W hat i s your gr eatest achi evem en t?
?W hen I was the project manager for the slope remedial works along
Tamparuli-Ranau project, we completed the project in average of 30 days
ahead schedule for all the 4 packages awarded to us. Also, we made quite a
big profit margins."
Is ther e an y chal l en ges you face at w or k ?
?Each project has it?s own unique challenges. I t?s different from one project to
another such as civil works, structural works, marine works, slope protection
works or even towers."
Do you have an y advi ce for the futur e ci vi l an d str uctur al
en gi n eer s?
?You must put a very high interest and effort to manage and execute any
assignments given. W orking in the silo is extremely prohibited as
communication is the main tool to cascade and escalate the information."