Developing an Eco-Village in Mothecombe with Enough Space for a Future Expansion - Report Example

Reflective Log (Insert Name) (Institution Affiliation) Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to reflect on the work I have done and analyze the things I have achieved individually as well as what the group has gained from the project activities. It will also help in describing how each and every event took place and the people involved together with what they gained as a result of their involvement. It also describes my personal growth during the academic activity and other significant experience that was derived from the project. Introduction I was part of the team 8 which a group of six people that formed the eco living limited company, that undertook an Inter – disciplinary design project whose aim was to develop an eco-village in Mothecombe which will accommodate about two thousand residents and leave enough space for a possible future expansion that will enable it to comfortably accommodate an extra 3000 residents to have a total capacity of around five thousand residents. The proposed eco-village was supposed to be ecologically and environmental friendly and was to be designed to aid the South Hams district councils Local Development Framework to provide required social, economic, environmental benefits and affordable housing to the area. The proposed eco-village was also expected to meet the proposed development framework and provide affordable and sustainable housing and social facilities. To achieve all these, we designed the eco-village which consisted of an eco-school and sports complex which was my part; the other group members were to design eco-housing to accommodate all the residents; eco-energy for green energy generation; an eco-infrastructure which will include roads, paths, sewage systems, electricity and telecommunication systems and finally eco-water management which will also include conservation and management of rain water. This paper aims at looking back at the achievements of the group, clarify our thoughts, understand the important aspect of the IDDP project, identify the area where we need more, work out strategies of overcoming our limitation and analyse the work that we have already completed. It will me also asses my personal achievement and contribution to the group and thus enable me to learn from mistakes of the past and be able to act wisely in the future projects (Watton, Collings, Moon, 2001). This paper will also stand as evidence of my own learning and skills development as a result of active participation in the project. Group forming Since the the interdisciplinary design project basically required a team with members from different technical disciplines to develop a fully integrated design eco-village, a group was formed. Each group member was assigned a different role and was expected to use their skills to provide expertise in the areas they were assigned within the project (Bertcher, 1994). The project team compromises of; Ali Ali who has an MSc Civil Engineering, Philippa Carter, and Bradley Mitchell; both with MEng Civil and Coastal Engineering, Shane Crowley with a Masters of engineering in Mechanical Engineering and lastly David Molnar and Scott Woolford both with MEng Civil Engineering. The group was comprised with three major academic qualification and skill sets which comprised of mechanical, civil and coastal engineering. However, despite this limitation of academic skills, the group members were assigned different roles and responsibilities that fit closely their individual skills but all team members were capable of helping each other if needed. Personally, I was assigned the role of Public building manger as the lead designer for school and sport complex. Bradley Mitchell due to his extensive leadership skills was made the project manager and was expected to oversee all the work, time scale and from time to time assess the work load. My friend Shane Cowley was the energy manager and the lead designer for the green energy generation. David Molnar war the infrastructure manager in charge of the design the overall town layout while Scott Woolford was the assigned water manager and the lead designer for sewerage and entire water systems. Weekly meetings with the project leaders were organized in order to provide the opportunity to receive valuable feedback and allow the project team to review complete work ensuring that the project goals and objectives are being successfully achieved (Bertcher, 1994). We met every Monday morning and each group member gave his or her progress report. Members who needed any assistance with their part were also helped by the group members during these scheduled meetings. Solid communication channels, which included emails and phone calls, were also put in place to ensure group members were in touch throughout the week and were able to work together towards achieving the project goals (Alison, 1995). Assessment 1 Presentation This was a group presentation assessment. It happened several days ago at the Plymouth University. The presentation was part of the course work and it was about an inter-disciplinary design project we were undertaking as a team. All the group members had a part to play in the presentation. We decided to use Power Point to do the presentation (Vandervelde, 2002). Personally I was not easy about it and I was a bit tensed since I have often seen it go wrong during previous presentations. However, it was the most common channel of presentation at the university and I had no better option. The group chairman and the project manager Bradley Mitchell introduced both the project and the group members clearly stating the role played by each one of us. He also explained why we choose the location and the importance of the project to the residents of the area before inviting the other group members to do their part. All the other team members did great in their parts and when my time came, I was scared about saying the right thing or being unable to answer the questions fired by the audience. I did the last part of the presentation which included the lessons learned by the group from the project as well as the conclusion. I also handled the questions from the audience with the help of my team. I really wanted to do the presentation well probably as well as the presentations were done the week before by other teams. Maybe I wanted too much to do well than the rest of my team members and other groups. Previous presentations have been interesting, clear, exciting and informative and I thought the hand-outs from them were good and could be of great help. Also I noticed that those who gave the best presentation gave enough but not too much information on a given topic. The session went well as expected. This left me with a comfortable feeling. I was proud with myself after completing the presentation successfully. I also congratulated my team members for the beautiful work they did at the stage. The Power Point did not go wrong as I had earlier anticipated. Despite the tension that had grasped me, my colleagues actually told me that I was able to remain calm and i looked well composed during the entire period. Some of the things that helped me are my old acting skills that helped me to engage the audience and garner confidence to walk them through every stage slowly and carefully. Furthermore, since I was the one working on the eco-school, i was well conversant with the design concepts of the school and the community centre and I was able to cover all the design aspects with ease. Some of the most valuable lessons learned by the group include: Skills about managing the project Skills in communicating and debating on different solution with group members (King, 2002). Using individual skills in different parts of the project to keep progress. Keeping up with progress on time and as scheduled from the group manager. Gained extra and different skills from group members to be used on the different areas of the project (Adair, 1997). I also learned a lot about team work and during our next presentation we decided that we will incorporate presentation notes while preparing our Power Point slides which were forgotten. The notes will help the person doing the presentation to cover all the important aspects without the need of carrying extra notes on papers. Assessment 2 Project Execution Plan This assessment involved coming up with a document which defines the project detail, detailed schedules, stakeholders and team players, reporting and tracking methods of the project activities. The Inter-Disciplinary Design project was a mega project and for it to succeed, it required a solid execution plan with clear focus on what needs to be done, how to do it and when it should be done (Watton, Collings, Moon, 2001). The project execution plan was would also define the scope of the project and identify the management processes that need to be put in place to ensure the project is completed in time, within the stipulated budget and expected quality. The role of each group member was clearly defined in the execution plan. The project execution plan was drafted through joint meetings which involved all the team. Some of the things that were incorporated in the execution plan are: the general overview of the project which was basically a brief overview of the proposed project and plans for future expansion. The team members also outlined the goals and objectives of the project and in order to achieve them, all the team members were required to go an extra mile and use their individual strengths and technical expertise to a full extent so that the interdisciplinary project team works effectively and efficiently to produce fully developed design solutions for the successful achievement of a final fully integrated Eco-village design (Adair, 1997). Other things that we include in the execution plan include: quality management, risk management plans, project scope, support plan, communication plan to be used by the team members to ensure good coordination of the project activities (ISO, 2012). Skill assessment was also conducted on all the group members in order to establish the role in which everyone fits most. The financial management plans and the proposed plan budget estimates were also discussed in the plan. The estimates were based mostly on the current market trends. There were several lessons that the group learnt while undertaking the delivery of the project execution plan. Among the major ones include: The importance of pre- planning in any design project. It was evident that a good execution plan will enhance the chances of completion of the project in time and in the expected quality (King, 2002). This stage is crucial since it sets guidelines for the rest of the project activities and eliminates all ambiguities in the entire process. The team also gained decision making skills which were required to avoid time delays in case of differences in opinions among the members (Alison, 1995). This is because brainstorming and individual opinion forming activities were used in order to arrive at the ideal solution and it was always difficult to have everyone was happy with a given solution. The execution plan required an extensive research to be undertaken by each group member. Personally, the research techniques gained during this assessment were indispensable. The process also included a lot of brain storming which enhanced my skills as a team player (Bertcher, 1994). The skill assessment also helped me to know my weakness and strengths. Assessment 3 Video This assessment required the use of a video presentation. The video was presented to the module leaders who were the key stakeholders in the project. The video summarized the project execution plan, challenges faced, possible solutions to the challenges and the key project deliverables (Marbek, 2012). The voiceover in the video was done by Bradley Mitchell who is the group chairman and the executive project manager in charge of the inter-disciplinary design project. Scott Woolford was the presentation director while David Molnar was in charge of the camera and cut. Shane Crowley, Philippa Carter and I formed the presentations team. The video prepared by the members of eco-living limited was supposed to give the major stakeholders a brief overview about the entire project. The main aim of the project as stipulated in the video was to provide affordable houses to the residents of Mothecombe, enhance the community spirit and build a self-contained eco-village with sustainable green energy. The major stakeholders are: Plymouth University which requires a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary design solution, the local residents who require a non-disruptive construction process, environmental agencies, future residents who require enough and affordable houses and local authorities who are in charge of infrastructural development and green energy generation. The video also contained information about the key design elements which include: Education facilities, water catchment and treatment systems, social and sports facilities, housing, proper infrastructure, green energy sources and all other facilities required for the village to be self-contained (ISO, 2012). All the designs were optimized to come up with the most economical and strategic place of constructing specific structure. Details about each of the key design elements were also covered in depth in the video. This assessment helped the group member learn some aspects of video recording and editing. Since it required the coverage of the entire project, all members had to present their work and as a team, we deliberated on what to include in the video and what should be left out (Adair, 1997). On the things we were not able to reach a consensus, a decision was reached on a simple majority basis. The only thing that could be done differently next time is that every member of the team would be interviewed and allowed to share their opinions directly. Each member will present his or her part of expertise. Some little editing will also be incorporated to enhance the video quality. References 7/11/2012.wbdg. (2012). Building Envelope Design Guide - Glazing. Available: http://www.wbdg.org/design/env_fenestration_glz.php#desc. Last accessed 12/1/2013. Adair, J. (1997), Leadership Skills, Training Extras, IPD Books Assiter, Alison. 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