Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2020年7月 亞博匯 74 TECH TALK I n the ultra-competitive world of Asia’s integrated resorts, it is the small details that can make all the difference. And it’s the small mistakes that can prove the most costly. Just ask commissioning management experts Commtech Asia. Since launching into Asia more than 20 years ago, the British-born company has overseen the construction of countless large-scale developments and knows better than anyone the value of getting it right from the outset. “When it comes to buildings as large and as unique as integrated resorts, doing proper testing and commissioning early on is incredibly important,” explains Commtech Asia’s Project Director, Wayne Saunders. “The problem the end user has is that it’s very difficult to maintain a building after it’s occupied. The idea of enforcing commissioning management is to iron out all issues at the start so that when the end user takes over they don’t have any defects to deal with, only maintenance of the equipment.” As the name suggests, testing and commissioning is a step-by-step process of testing, verifying and documenting system integrity to ensure it works to the approved design criteria and to applicable local and international codes. By doing so, any issues that might arise during this early testing process can be quickly and easily rectified, avoiding a more serious and usually far more costly fix later on. But not all commissioning is born equal. In Southeast Asia, for example, the general approach to commissioning is to task the general contractor or sub-contractor with doing it themselves, essentially eliminating an important element of quality control and unbiased reporting and sign-off. Althoughtechnicallyspeakingthe“commissioning” scope is contracted, asking the contractor to verify that their own work is correct to industry standard, and safe, is fraught with danger. “Relying on contractors to commission the systems is always a bad idea because you won’t get transparency if there is a problem,” says Saunders. "That's because problems will also create added cost for the contractors, creating a conflict of interest in reporting such shortfalls. They won’t let you know unless it is a serious problem they can’t get away with. “When Commtech Asia comes in, we’re very transparent with our results. No matter how minor the