Refurbishment vs redevelopment

Refurbishment vs redevelopment Chapter 1 Refurbishment vs redevelopment Malaysia property market has experienced a drastic change in 2008. The property market moved from a boom at the end of 2007 to uncertainties due to increasing construction cost. Finally, the property market moved into a relatively quiet market towards the end of 2008. With all the banks trying to tighten their loan terms, obtaining loans for development of all types of commercial building have been difficult in the last three years. Yet, study shows that there is still a high demand for space in office building in area like Kuala Lumpur. From time to time, there are several developments of new office buildings in Klang Valley area. From the study done by JPPH, there is an increase of approximately 10 million square metres of new office space throughout Kuala Lumpur. Yet, the average vacancy rate in office space decreased to 18.6%. This proved that the demand for office building is still able to cater the increase in new office space. Study also showed that there is a new supply of approximately 280,000 square metres of new office space and additional 92,000 square metres of office being refurbished and repositioned in the year of 2009. So, building owners have to struggle to maintain the popularity and the competitiveness of their building. The current lack of new-build development raises the likelihood of grade-A supply shortages when the occupier market returns, creating investment opportunities for carefully targeted refurbishment. But, usually owner is in great dilemma when they are in such situation. As everyone know, the refurbishment of office space offers advantages over new-build which can facilitate the achievement of economic, social and environmental sustainability. But, redevelopment is the ultimate solution for eliminating all problems regarding the maintenance, changing tenants requirement and other probems. Making comparisons between refurbishment and redevelopment is also problematic because the term refurbishment can be used to encompass a wide spectrum of building works, from minor cosmetic improvements through to extensive reconstruction. But, in the majority of cases, refurbishment will be a quicker and cheaper means of restoring second-hand office space to grade-A specification. As a low-cost option, the refurbishment of office space should be intuitively attractive in an economic climate marked by a lack of development finance. But in many cases refurbishment is as costly as redevelopment and likely to carry with it greater risks and physical constraints. Problem statement Malaysian has been accused as a clever builder but poor manager. For example, certain office buildings in Golden Triangle are often looked deteriorated and relatively matured compared to other purposed-built office building. Example of such older office buildings are those office building located on the fringe of Central Business District, like Jalan Ampang. These older office buildings have a higher tendency to be left vacant due to its poor office building images. This will leads to lower rental rate to be paid by the tenants to remain its competitiveness. Other important characteristic of such office building also includes by low occupancy rate, lower quality of the building and services provided. Besides, recent office developments are very likely to adopt green features such as energy saving, reduction of wastage and water usage, as well as the use of environmentally friendly materials. This new trend in development had forced many owners evaluate the condition of their building and try to make several changes to the buildings to attracts more tenants. These efforts are important to attract corporations who fascinate energy-saving and environmental-friendly building. But making such decision is not easy. The owners have to evaluate the cost and benefit of each choice, and determine the solution he desires to improve the condition of his buildings. But other factors also have to take into consideration. For example, the rate of interest the bank would charge for development of different risk, the time of completion and others also greatly affect the decision-making of owner Objectives of study This study has three main objectives. There are: To determine factors influencing the decision-making in deriving a solution to the method chosen. To identify the benefits of building refurbishment or redevelopment to the building users. To determine whether tenant likes refurbished secondary office building or newly redeveloped building. Scope of study The scope of this study will focus on selected office buildings, both building which had undergo refurbishment and those which had undergone redevelopment. To ensure a more complete study, the newly constructed building is also considered as building undergone redevelopment. The respondents of the questionnaire are limited to tenants in Golden Triangle area only. As for the property manager, all property managers can be chosen as the interviewee. Building manager who are hired by owners and acted on behalf of them, will gives their opinions in owner perspectives (maximise profit) and current tenants will voice out their preferences in choosing a building space. Methodology All the relevant data are collected through primary data and secondary data. Primary data includes questionnaire, samplings, interviews and case study. In this study, respondents identified in questionnaire study are selected property manager who represents building owners point of view and some tenants within Golden Triangle area through sampling. As for interview session, interviewees targeted are property manager who are the representatives of building owners. Through this interview sessions, benefit of building refurbishment and redevelopment will be ascertained. Finally, case study of three similar office buildings will also be done as the quantitative analysis. All three building will be compared according to the cost incurred for construction and the benefit obtained. Then the differences in term of occupancy rates, rental and others will be calculated to represent the increment in term of market value. On the other hand, collection of data in this study will also includes references such as reference book, journal, articles, conference paper, property market reports, internet/ website searching and other sources. In addition, data will also be collected from books, magazines or newspaper article to obtain general information on building refurbishment and the effects of building refurbishment. Further details of methodology will be discussed in Chapter 3. Structure of Study This study consisted of five chapters. The brief discussion of each chapter is discussed as follows: Chapter 1 Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study. This chapter starts with an introduction of this study with a brief background. Besides, other things like problem statement, scope of study, methodology and others are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 is about the literature review. In this chapter, definition of building refurbishment and redevelopment, benefit of building refurbishment and redevelopment and others will be discussed in this chapter. Besides, factor influencing decision making of building refurbishment and the tenant preferences will also be discussed. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 is the methodology. In this chapter, methodology used to survey and interview in order to gather information needed. The structure of questionnaire is also discussed in this chapter. Furthermore, a brief discussion on the opinion of respondents of questionnaire and interviews will also be carried out in the last part of this chapter. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 is the chapter regarding research findings analysis. In this chapter, data gather will be analysed and presented in this chapter. An analysis on the benefit of building refurbishment and its value-enhancing ability will also be carried out by studying the information gathered through interviews, questionnaire survey, and secondary data. Chapter 5 Chapter 5 discuss about the conclusion and recommendation. In this chapter, conclusion from the findings and analysis of data in the previous chapter will be discussed and summarized. Besides, it also illustrate on the confirmation of the objectives and overall summary for the whole study. Other information included in this chapter is the suggestions for further study.

Meiji Japan, Colonialism and Beyond

The most influential aspects that would come out of Japan’s war with China, (the First Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895) and the war with Russia (Russo-Japanese War 1904 – 1905) did not occur during the wars themselves, but rather in the years following the conflicts. These wars were, essentially, the precursors to the Imperial Japan of World War Two infamy. The First Sino-Japanese War showed Japan that the reforms and modernizations of the Mieji Restoration were working as opposed to China’s Self Strengthening Movement that had been a domestic failure. â€Å"War was†¦declared on 1st August 1894, and although foreign observers had predicted an easy victory for the more massive Chinese forces, the Japanese had done a more successful job of modernizing, and they were better equipped and prepared. Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming victories on both land and sea.†1   This war also established a relationship with western nations that resulted in tremendous improvements in Japan’s military. So profound were this improvements that Japan would later wage a successful war of for the â€Å"rights† to imperial interests against Russia that had a far superior military. In a way, Japan’s involvement in these wars did show the nation had developed similarities with Western nations beyond simply modernizing domestically in social and industrial terms. The foreign policy of Japan began to mimic the least desirable aspect of all of Western Europe’s foreign policy. This area of foreign policy was an emphasis on imperialism and colonization. The classical tradition of imperialism and colonization involved superior powered military incursions into other countries in order to conquer the nation, subjugate the people and strip the indigenous natural resources from the conquered nations. Winning the wars with China and Russia help set the stage for the coming of an Imperial Japan that would wage a massive war in the Pacific Seas during World War Two. By 1895 Japan was beginning to see the fruits of their labor as the defeat of China in several wars and the annexation of Taiwan brought Japan political recognition from many European countries.   Recognition from the European countries meant an escape from many of the treaties that had been forced upon Japan in the 1870’s, and an alliance with England in 1902.   Japan had finally won the respect of the developed world as a military power; however, they were still viewed as an inferior culture and were not afforded the same courtesies as predominantly Anglo-Saxon nations.2 With the war with China, Japan established a foothold as a colonizing empire as it would claim Korea as the prize for its expansion. With Russia, the victory was even more complex. In the part of the world where Japan resides, the bulk of the colonial incursions and wars were bought between eastern nations and western nations as well as eastern nations vs. other eastern nations. Japan’s victory against Russia marked the first time an eastern power defeated a western power in a war, the shockwaves of which reverberated throughout the world. Japan’s standing had greatly increased while Russia’s standing was greatly diminished. For Russia, the loss was yet another link in the chain of events that would lead to the Bolshevik Revolution and for Japan, the second link in the chain (a second victorious war) that would lead to Japan’s brutal World War Two imperialist fantasies was solidified. Imperial powers are amoral, but they are not suicidal. That is, it is rare that imperial expansions are undertaken against strong or powerful nations. Japan’s wins in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Japanese-Russian War were important in the sense that, for lack of a better explanation, saw Japan gain valuable experience in the art of waging war. Furthermore, they established to the world that they were a viable, major power. More importantly, internally, the wins provided feedback to the rulers that Japan’s military strategies worked and that their army and navy was indeed formidable. The seeds were planted with these victories that laid the foundation for even further expansions that would result in the World War Two’s War in the Pacific. Imperialist nations to not launch wars that they feel they are going to lose. In terms of colonizing, a loss would be self-defeating and a drain of the nation. A successful colonization incursion eventually pays for itself by way of the colonized nation providing wealth in terms of losing the rewards of its natural resources. The victories in the wars with China and Russia emboldened Japan to have faith enough in itself to join the Axis powers. The expansion of the military from its victories against China and Russia lead to an immorality that would yield biological war in China and forced starvation in the Philippines. The mere fact that Japan attacked a superpower the size of the United States speaks volumes for the confidence Japan had in its military prowess. On the surface, these two wars Japan was involved with were seemingly successful and expanded Japan’s colonial interests and ambitions, but ultimately, the wars proved disastrous as they were step towards Japan’s downfall World War Two only brought Japan defeat, humiliation and devastation via the Atomic Bomb. Works Cited Anon., â€Å"Imperial Japan†, available , Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. Russo-Japanese War Research Society, â€Å"Forerunners, The Sino-Japanese War†, available from http://www.russojapanesewar.com/phila-2.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies, â€Å"Japan's Imperial Family†, available from http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/iguides/imperial.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. 1 Russo-Japanese War Research Society, â€Å"Forerunners, The Sino-Japanese War†, available from   http://www.russojapanesewar.com/phila-2.html, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006. 2 Anon., â€Å"Imperial Japan†, available from http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jearnol2/ MeijiRestoration/imperial_japan.htm, Internet, accessed 05 November 2006.

What It Is Called Legitimate Knowledge for Clones

What it is called legitimate knowledge for clones. An educational institution is a form of institution that is used to educate people. Educational institutions are essential for society to produce knowledge people (workers). Schools are designed to produce limitless knowledge in every aspect of life. However, the â€Å"men† behind schools tend to be selective in producing knowledge and constructing ideas. This paper intends to give an explanation of how schools can be hazardous by using concepts of Stuart Hall in his book, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, and Michael W.Apple and Nancy R. King in the article of â€Å"What Do Schools Teach†. These concepts applied to the hailsham case in the novel of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro to indicate that an educational institution like hailsham can be harmful due to the controlling and manipulating information for other purpose so that it generates what it is called legitimate knowledge for t he clones. Hailsham is the sole source in constructing inhumane ideas to the students that reflect their destiny as donors and perceived a short life.In the novel of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, students are taught that they are destined to be donors, and after the fourth donation their short life is granted. According to Stuart Hall in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, he brings up a topic about discourse, power and knowledge, which created by Michel Foucault. Hall believes that in Foucault’s theory of discourse can be define as â€Å"’how human beings understand themselves in our culture’ and how our knowledge about ‘the social, the embodied individual and share meanings† (Hall 43).In other words, hall stated Foucault’s idea about discourse as how people discuss or understand the idea of things in certain society. Hall also stated Foucault’s idea about only certain social institutions, such as s chool, have the power to construct meaning, create truth or knowledge about things among society. That is to say that school is one of the sources that plays an important role in shaping students understanding of something.Therefore, being the sole sources that creates ideas on people’s mind, telling them to be donors and have a short live is not a pleasant idea to be embedded in people’s minds. Beside the concept above, Educational institutions can be harmful due to the knowledge control. According to Michael W. Apple and Nancy R. King, â€Å"the study of educational knowledge is a study in ideology, the investigation of what is considered legitimate knowledge (be it knowledge of the logical type of â€Å"that,† â€Å"how† or â€Å"to†) by specific social groups and classes, in specific institutions, at specific historical moments.It is, further, a critically oriented form of investigation, in that it chooses to focus on how this knowledge, as di stributed in schools, may contribute to a cognitive and dispositional development that strengthens or reinforces existing (and often problematic) institutional arrangements in society† (Apple and King 342). To simplify, the available knowledge and the hidden knowledge are being selected to be presented to students as proper knowledge, base on the ideology at a certain society at a time.Thus, educational institution can be defective due to the knowledge validity. According to the paragraph above, institutions control what can and cannot be presented. This theory can also be applied in the novel of never let me go. According to the book Miss Emily said that â€Å"We had run hailsham for many years, we had a sense of what could work, hat was best for the students in the long run, beyond hailsham. Lucy Wainright was idealistic, nothing wrong with that. But she had no graspof practicalities.You see, we were able to give you something, something which even now no one will ever take from you, and we were able to do that principally by sheltering you. Hailsham would not have been hailsham if we hadn’t. Very well, sometimes that meant we kept things from you, lied to you. Yes in many ways we fooled you (Ishiguro 268). In other words, hailsham and its people is trying to hide the latent facts in order to protect children and for the continuity of the school itself. Therefore, institutions can be harmful in terms of controlling knowledge and information.Another concept is that the basic function of schools or educational institutions is that schools should prepare students in terms of life skills to be able to do well in life. According to Michael W. Apple and Nancy R. King, â€Å"schools seem by and large, to do what they are supposed to do, at least in terms of roughly providing dispositions and propensities â€Å"functional† in later life in a complex and stratified social and economic order† (Apple and King 341). To clarify, Apple and king believe that schools have their own function to prepare students in the real life.The last concept above is inversely reflected with the case of Never Let Me Go novel. In the novel, Kathy H as the narrator show the readers that in hailsham student do not get sufficient knowledge about life. Most of the time in hailsham, they only do painting and philosophies. Guardians or teachers do not teach them life skills. In the novel, Kathy H, as the narrator told us that â€Å"looking back now, I can see we were pretty confused about this whole area about sex, that’s hardly surprising, I suppose, given we were barely sixteen.But what added to the confusion-I can see it more clearly now-was the fact that the guardians were themselves confused† (Ishiguro 95). This is the evidence that students do not get educated about sex sufficiently. Another example is when Kathy H said that â€Å"there was incidentally , Something I noticed about this veteran couples at the cottages-somethi ng Ruth, for all her close study of them, failed to spot-and this was how so many of their mannerisms were copied from the television† (Ishiguro 120).In other words, Kathy observes that their seniors are copying certain behaviors that are depicted from the movies in order to reflecting a normal person in life. This case shows that students are lack of understanding of the world until they have moved from hailsham. Educational institutions such as hailsham can be hazardous due to the production of knowledge that is designed to keep students from knowing the truth. Boarding schools such as hailsham can prevent students from growing properly. Their lack of understanding of the world produces insecurity and anxiety to face the actual life.Moreover, they are designed not to be rebellious instead, they are steered to be obedient and hopeless due to the lack of life skills and they are told in the first place that they are destined to be donors with short life. Works Cited Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go : New York : Vintage Canada, 2005. Hall, Stuart. Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices. London: SAGE, 2003. Apple, Michael W. , King, Nancy R.. †What do Schools Teach? †. Curriculum Inquiry 6:4. 1977:341-358.

Auditing issues in Enron case - 2114 Words

1 Auditing issues in Enron case Independent Needed for the Houston office of Andersen, an audit partner that understands the role of being a public watchdog with ultimate allegiance to the creditors and shareholders . Arthur Anderson abandoned its roles as independent auditor by turning a blind eye to improper accounting, including the failure to consolidate, failure of Enron to make $51million in proposed adjustments in 1997, and failure to adequately disclose the nature of transactions with subsidiaries . Another example is Lord Wakeham joined Enron as a non-executive director in 1994 and also sat on Enrons audit and compliance committee. In addition, Andersen also provides internal audit service to Enron, which in fact impact†¦show more content†¦When Enrons stock price subsequently fell, the SPEs value also fell, triggering the Enron guarantees, which guarantee payments in turn apparently further reduced Enron stock value, triggering additional guarantees. Other guarantees would eventually buffet Enron. In the case of Braveheart, CIBC World Markets made a $115.2 million investment in return for a promise of nearly all of Enrons profit from the venture for 10 years. Whats more, Enron agreed to repay CIBC its investment, if Braveheart failed to make money. The role guarantees play in distributions to creditors Any time an enterprise guarantees the indebtedness of another in material amounts, the enterprise must disclose the nature and amount of the guarantees in the notes to the financial statements. When Enrons SPEs sought credit, the lenders often required that Enron guarantee the debt. On several occasions, Enron guaranteed amounts that various SPEs borrowed by promising to pay cash or to issue additional common shares to repay the debt if the market price of Enrons common shares dropped under a set amount or if Enrons bond rating fell below investment grade. 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