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Shapoorji Pallonji Exhibiting 145 Years of Construction Excellence Our gallery, of course, is the globe

145 years, 20 sectors and over 22,000 employeesThe Shapoorji Pallonji Group continues to grow stronger

Construction & Real Estate

IT/ ITES l SEZs l Hospitals l Hotels l Multi Storeyed TowersMetro Stations l Plants for Steel, Power & Automobile

Residential Buildings & Townships l Commercial Complexes

InfrastructurePorts l Jetties l Wharves l Roads l Bridges

Tunnels l Expressways l Toll Ways l Transmission Lines

Other BusinessesMEP Services, DG Sets, HVAC l Facades & External Cladding

Business Automotion l Desalination PlantsInteriors & Fitouts l Water Purifiers & Vacuum Cleaners Shipping & Logistics

www.sp-group.co.in

A L e g a c y o f L a n d m a r k s

41/44, Minoo Desai Marg, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005.

Email: we@shapoorji.comTel:+91 22 6749 0000 • Fax:+91 22 6633 8176

Editorial TeamMukesh Rao

Prabal Kansal

Saurabh Chaturvedi

Prashanti Kutty

Disclaimer: We@SP is for private circulation only. The views and opinions expressed or implied herein are of the contributors and may not necessarily reflect those of SPCL. Material in this publication should not be reproduced, in part or in whole, without the consent of the editorial team.

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2010 VOLUME - 12, ISSUE 4

Shapoorji Pallonji Corporate Magazine

We@We@

Happ

yNew Year 2011

Head Office Annual Day Celebrations

An Overview of Damac Park Towers

International Strategy Conclave at Dubai

European Holiday Travel Log

The Seat of Government, Accra, Ghana

Park Tower, Dubai

The Imperial, Mumbai

Main Feature

Damac Park Towers, Dubai

Damac Park Towers is a two-tower commercial / residential project on the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Road in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, a stone’s throw away from the world’s tallest building - Burj Khalifa, the world’s largest mall- Dubai Mall and the world’s largest fountain situated between the two. The developer - DAMAC Properties, is a leading residential, leisure and commercial developer in Dubai who has expanded rapidly into North Africa, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. To date they have delivered more than 3029 units in projects at IMPZ (The Crescent), TECOM (Executive Heights), JLT (Lake View and Lake Terrace) and The Marina (The Waves and Marina Terrace).Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast LLC (SPML) are the main contractors and the value of the contract is AED 500 Million The other stakeholders are: Concept Designer : GenslerEngineering Designer : Engineering Consulting GroupMEP Consultant : Ian Banham Associates (IBA)Aluminium Glazing : Arabian AluminiumLifts : Thyssen KruppMEP Contractor : OMEGAThe complex with a total built up area of 17.3 lakh sq.ft., comprises 3 basements, 7 podiums and 41 floor twin towers. The basements are for parking 1059 cars. The podiums house 108 retail outlets and 120 offices while the twin towers contain 530 one, two and three bedroom apartments. The height of the buildings is 182 m (600 feet). Recreational facilities include a temperature controlled

swimming pool, health club and gymnasium, a spacious steam and sauna room, jacuzzi, tennis court and barbecue area.Business facilities include a concierge desk offering 24 hour service, an elevated coffee lounge providing dazzling views of the Financial Centre, a business centre with all facilities including a round-the-clock manned help desk. A banquet hall and meeting room have also been provided for private parties and business meetings.Work on the project commenced in February 2007. The major challenge was the unique shape of the building which was varying in shape and area - horizontally and vertically. Co-ordination with the specialist subcontractors in MEP, Post Tensioning and Glazing works was challenging as the layout changed on every floor. Despite this, SPML completed the 41 upper floors in 10 months time with a minimum cycle time of 4 days in some floors. The structure was completed in November 2009. The formwork system for the core was PERI’s auto climbing system while RMD table form was used in slab decking. The short cycle time was achieved by working on all parallel fronts. Block work and plastering is almost complete while MEP works, tiling, lifts and glazing are in progress.The unique façade system in this project is unitized panel glazing - the first of its kind in the region. It comprises 6323 triangular panels - each averaging 2.5 SM in size. It was a big challenge managing the huge number of panels, each panel of an unique size, fabricating and erecting them especially due to the obstructions created by the temporary vertical access to the building in the form of tower cranes and builder hoists.The 15 elevators in the building have a speed of 4 m/s and capacity of 1050 kgs. The installation was done in two

ndphases by closing the core at 22 floor. Two window cleaning cradles have been installed at the top of each tower. The telescopic jib of 32 m - one of the longest in the Middle East- permits access to every external corner. Restraint sockets have been provided to hold the 250 kg capacity cradle in any position.SPML can be proud that they achieved 10 million safe man hours in this project.Major Items:1. Concrete : 83,253 CM2. Steel : 7,735 MT3. Masonry : 1,20,618 SM4. Flooring : 80,629 SM

SP Infocity, ChennaiA breathtaking challenge taken with pride by SP Real Estate in Chennai, SP Infocity stands out among the many IT parks in Chennai. An iconic design by the renowned architect, Hafeez Contractor, the fourteen storey structure is the tallest structure in its vicinity.The structure is also a “Gold Rated Green Building.”The major quantities were:1. Concrete : 95,300 CM2. Reinforcement : 12,400 MT3. Formwork : 3,17,000 SM4. Blockwork : 46,000 SM5. Plastering : 73,000 SM6. Granite : 9800 SM

View of the towers from Sheikh Zayed Road

- Anjani Pathak, SPINT, Dubai

Artist's Impression02

Hello,

As you are reading this, we have entered another New Year. We hope you are sticking to your New Year resolutions. The editorial team wishes you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year. Be happy. Keep fit. Do good. Be generous. Donate your PL to a needy colleague (read about the Vacation Donation Program in this issue).

The previous year did not conclude on a happy note for India. The nation is beset by scams and scandals on every front. Our own sector is facing mounting problems the paramount of which is the shortage of skilled labour. The entire construction industry is furiously debating the solution. The answer is skill development. We have taken the first step by training unskilled workers as Carpenters in our sites at Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. Other regions will follow.

However, problems have not deterred our Regions from taking on challenges like constructing South India’s tallest residential tower - Mantri Pinnacle - in Bengaluru and` 450 crore office towers project for Phoenix at Hyderabad. In the International arena, we have entered Kenya and Saudi Arabia. The details are given below. The recently concluded International Strategy Conclave, featured in this issue, will give a further thrust to our International operations.

Safety is first in our company and it was with immense pride that we accepted the Golden Safety Award - the nation’s top accolade - from National Safety Council of India (NSCI) for our General Motors Project, Pune. Our congratulations to the Project Team and Safety Department. Read about it in this issue. Our Corporate Safety head, Mr. Alok Shrivastava, has also written about his new initiative - National and

New Projects

• Turnkey Construction of Serviced Apartments and Mall for Riverside Ten Ltd. in Nairobi, Kenya.

• Civil and Structural work for Water Treatment Plant for Thermax Ltd. at Raigarh.

• Development and Construction of Residential Units for Peninsula Land Ltd. at Ashok Ayatan, Nashik.

• Construction of proposed Formulation Facility for Flamingo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. at Nanded.

• Construction of King Abdullah Financial District for Saudi Binladin Group at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• Construction of Office Building at R&D plot for Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. at Santacruz, Mumbai.

• General Civil work for Tractors India Ltd. at TIL, Kharagpur.

• Construction of Administration and R&D Protoshop Building for Diamler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. at Oragadam, Sriperumbudur.

• Construction of Shell & Core for Proposed Township for Vadinar Properties Ltd. at Vadinar, Jamnagar, Gujarat.

• Civil, Architectural and Structural Steel work for Carbon Plant at Aditya Aluminium Smelter Project for Hindalco Industries Ltd. at Lapanga, Sambalpur, Orissa.

• Construction of Office Space at Notified IT / ITES SEZ Project - HITEC-CITY – 2 for Phoenix Infocity Pvt. Ltd. at Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

• Civil and Structural works for project IRIS for Tata Motors Ltd. at Belur Industrial Area, Dharwad.

• Main Contract Works for Mantri Pinnacle - Premium High Rise Residential Development for Mantri Dwellings Pvt. Ltd. at Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.

• Civil and Structural Works for Tata Aerostructure Ltd's. Facility at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

• Design and Construction of residential development of Godrej Frontier for Godrej Properties Ltd. at Gurgaon.

Editorial

01

Regional Safety Conferences and an informative article on managing noise pollution.

Another new initiative we have covered is the first Vendors Meet at Bengaluru. We hope to cover more such meets in

rdthe future. You will also find a report on the 3 Group Practice Sharing Forum which discussed practices in operations, functional expertise and technology.

Its official. The best project of 2009-10 was DLF 10, Gurgaon. Kudos to the Project Team and Delhi Region. The team received the award in the biggest event of the social calendar - our Annual Day. Read about the function which was special because of the presence of our Chairman, Mr. Pallonji Mistry. We will cover the Annual Day functions in our regions in the next issue. Our regions have been busy with social, health and sporting initiatives. There is a lot happening in our “Happenings” section.

We haven’t forgotten to inform you on what is happening on our projects. Read about an IT park (SP Infocity), Premium Residential Development (DAMAC Park Towers, Dubai) and a Thermal Power Plant (Chhabra, Rajasthan). We have also covered two major road interchanges constructed in Delhi by our Group Company, AFCONS.

On the lighter side, if you are planning a holiday abroad, read what Mukesh Rao had to say about his recent trip to Europe. You are advised not to go in for a Netbook or iPad without reading Saurabh’s expert comments. ‘Your Space’ is meant to be just that - your space. Please send in your articles. Share your experience with the SP Family.

Happy reading and send us your bouquets (and brickbats).

- The Editorial Team

Main Feature

Damac Park Towers, Dubai

Damac Park Towers is a two-tower commercial / residential project on the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Road in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, a stone’s throw away from the world’s tallest building - Burj Khalifa, the world’s largest mall- Dubai Mall and the world’s largest fountain situated between the two. The developer - DAMAC Properties, is a leading residential, leisure and commercial developer in Dubai who has expanded rapidly into North Africa, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. To date they have delivered more than 3029 units in projects at IMPZ (The Crescent), TECOM (Executive Heights), JLT (Lake View and Lake Terrace) and The Marina (The Waves and Marina Terrace).Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast LLC (SPML) are the main contractors and the value of the contract is AED 500 Million The other stakeholders are: Concept Designer : GenslerEngineering Designer : Engineering Consulting GroupMEP Consultant : Ian Banham Associates (IBA)Aluminium Glazing : Arabian AluminiumLifts : Thyssen KruppMEP Contractor : OMEGAThe complex with a total built up area of 17.3 lakh sq.ft., comprises 3 basements, 7 podiums and 41 floor twin towers. The basements are for parking 1059 cars. The podiums house 108 retail outlets and 120 offices while the twin towers contain 530 one, two and three bedroom apartments. The height of the buildings is 182 m (600 feet). Recreational facilities include a temperature controlled

swimming pool, health club and gymnasium, a spacious steam and sauna room, jacuzzi, tennis court and barbecue area.Business facilities include a concierge desk offering 24 hour service, an elevated coffee lounge providing dazzling views of the Financial Centre, a business centre with all facilities including a round-the-clock manned help desk. A banquet hall and meeting room have also been provided for private parties and business meetings.Work on the project commenced in February 2007. The major challenge was the unique shape of the building which was varying in shape and area - horizontally and vertically. Co-ordination with the specialist subcontractors in MEP, Post Tensioning and Glazing works was challenging as the layout changed on every floor. Despite this, SPML completed the 41 upper floors in 10 months time with a minimum cycle time of 4 days in some floors. The structure was completed in November 2009. The formwork system for the core was PERI’s auto climbing system while RMD table form was used in slab decking. The short cycle time was achieved by working on all parallel fronts. Block work and plastering is almost complete while MEP works, tiling, lifts and glazing are in progress.The unique façade system in this project is unitized panel glazing - the first of its kind in the region. It comprises 6323 triangular panels - each averaging 2.5 SM in size. It was a big challenge managing the huge number of panels, each panel of an unique size, fabricating and erecting them especially due to the obstructions created by the temporary vertical access to the building in the form of tower cranes and builder hoists.The 15 elevators in the building have a speed of 4 m/s and capacity of 1050 kgs. The installation was done in two

ndphases by closing the core at 22 floor. Two window cleaning cradles have been installed at the top of each tower. The telescopic jib of 32 m - one of the longest in the Middle East- permits access to every external corner. Restraint sockets have been provided to hold the 250 kg capacity cradle in any position.SPML can be proud that they achieved 10 million safe man hours in this project.Major Items:1. Concrete : 83,253 CM2. Steel : 7,735 MT3. Masonry : 1,20,618 SM4. Flooring : 80,629 SM

SP Infocity, ChennaiA breathtaking challenge taken with pride by SP Real Estate in Chennai, SP Infocity stands out among the many IT parks in Chennai. An iconic design by the renowned architect, Hafeez Contractor, the fourteen storey structure is the tallest structure in its vicinity.The structure is also a “Gold Rated Green Building.”The major quantities were:1. Concrete : 95,300 CM2. Reinforcement : 12,400 MT3. Formwork : 3,17,000 SM4. Blockwork : 46,000 SM5. Plastering : 73,000 SM6. Granite : 9800 SM

View of the towers from Sheikh Zayed Road

- Anjani Pathak, SPINT, Dubai

Artist's Impression02

Hello,

As you are reading this, we have entered another New Year. We hope you are sticking to your New Year resolutions. The editorial team wishes you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year. Be happy. Keep fit. Do good. Be generous. Donate your PL to a needy colleague (read about the Vacation Donation Program in this issue).

The previous year did not conclude on a happy note for India. The nation is beset by scams and scandals on every front. Our own sector is facing mounting problems the paramount of which is the shortage of skilled labour. The entire construction industry is furiously debating the solution. The answer is skill development. We have taken the first step by training unskilled workers as Carpenters in our sites at Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. Other regions will follow.

However, problems have not deterred our Regions from taking on challenges like constructing South India’s tallest residential tower - Mantri Pinnacle - in Bengaluru and` 450 crore office towers project for Phoenix at Hyderabad. In the International arena, we have entered Kenya and Saudi Arabia. The details are given below. The recently concluded International Strategy Conclave, featured in this issue, will give a further thrust to our International operations.

Safety is first in our company and it was with immense pride that we accepted the Golden Safety Award - the nation’s top accolade - from National Safety Council of India (NSCI) for our General Motors Project, Pune. Our congratulations to the Project Team and Safety Department. Read about it in this issue. Our Corporate Safety head, Mr. Alok Shrivastava, has also written about his new initiative - National and

New Projects

• Turnkey Construction of Serviced Apartments and Mall for Riverside Ten Ltd. in Nairobi, Kenya.

• Civil and Structural work for Water Treatment Plant for Thermax Ltd. at Raigarh.

• Development and Construction of Residential Units for Peninsula Land Ltd. at Ashok Ayatan, Nashik.

• Construction of proposed Formulation Facility for Flamingo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. at Nanded.

• Construction of King Abdullah Financial District for Saudi Binladin Group at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• Construction of Office Building at R&D plot for Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. at Santacruz, Mumbai.

• General Civil work for Tractors India Ltd. at TIL, Kharagpur.

• Construction of Administration and R&D Protoshop Building for Diamler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. at Oragadam, Sriperumbudur.

• Construction of Shell & Core for Proposed Township for Vadinar Properties Ltd. at Vadinar, Jamnagar, Gujarat.

• Civil, Architectural and Structural Steel work for Carbon Plant at Aditya Aluminium Smelter Project for Hindalco Industries Ltd. at Lapanga, Sambalpur, Orissa.

• Construction of Office Space at Notified IT / ITES SEZ Project - HITEC-CITY – 2 for Phoenix Infocity Pvt. Ltd. at Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

• Civil and Structural works for project IRIS for Tata Motors Ltd. at Belur Industrial Area, Dharwad.

• Main Contract Works for Mantri Pinnacle - Premium High Rise Residential Development for Mantri Dwellings Pvt. Ltd. at Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.

• Civil and Structural Works for Tata Aerostructure Ltd's. Facility at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

• Design and Construction of residential development of Godrej Frontier for Godrej Properties Ltd. at Gurgaon.

Editorial

01

Regional Safety Conferences and an informative article on managing noise pollution.

Another new initiative we have covered is the first Vendors Meet at Bengaluru. We hope to cover more such meets in

rdthe future. You will also find a report on the 3 Group Practice Sharing Forum which discussed practices in operations, functional expertise and technology.

Its official. The best project of 2009-10 was DLF 10, Gurgaon. Kudos to the Project Team and Delhi Region. The team received the award in the biggest event of the social calendar - our Annual Day. Read about the function which was special because of the presence of our Chairman, Mr. Pallonji Mistry. We will cover the Annual Day functions in our regions in the next issue. Our regions have been busy with social, health and sporting initiatives. There is a lot happening in our “Happenings” section.

We haven’t forgotten to inform you on what is happening on our projects. Read about an IT park (SP Infocity), Premium Residential Development (DAMAC Park Towers, Dubai) and a Thermal Power Plant (Chhabra, Rajasthan). We have also covered two major road interchanges constructed in Delhi by our Group Company, AFCONS.

On the lighter side, if you are planning a holiday abroad, read what Mukesh Rao had to say about his recent trip to Europe. You are advised not to go in for a Netbook or iPad without reading Saurabh’s expert comments. ‘Your Space’ is meant to be just that - your space. Please send in your articles. Share your experience with the SP Family.

Happy reading and send us your bouquets (and brickbats).

- The Editorial Team

03

7. False Ceiling : 3,000 SM8. POP Work : 2,700 SM9. Internal Painting : 17,200 SM10. External Texture

Painting : 20,200 SM11. Structural Steel : 321 MTConstruction commenced in September 2006 with mass excavation. The schedule was in 3 phases with basements of all the phases taken up at one stretch. All major works of the first phase in Block A were finished by early August 2009. Mr. A. Balaji (AGM, Projects) was the Project-in-charge and was guided by Mr. Anand Rao (AVP, SPRE), Mr. D. Santhosh (DGM, SPCL) and Mr. Tarapore (GM, SPCL HO) The staff strength at the peak - August to November 2008 - touched 230.The project presented several challenges. The multi level car park was provided under the building by excavating 0.35 million CM of rock filled earth. Vertical transportation was

provided by 14 Mitsubishi elevators with a speed of 2.5 m/sec. For air conditioning the building, chillers weighing up to 5 tonnes were lifted 65m above the ground. NANO films with U/V reflectors reduced the effect of Chennai heat inside the building. Refuge areas were provided in every module to give a common space to occupants. Accentuated by curved beams on the elevation, the refuge areas provide an aesthetic detailing for the whole building.The architects took Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright’s dictum “The space within becomes the reality of the building” when it came to designing the internal spaces. The granite finished common areas lend elegance to the interiors and are eye catching.A major part of the building has been handed over to the clients and the project has vastly augmented SPCL’s capability of building international class IT parks.

- Adeep Jecob, Chennai

CTPP, Chhabra, Rajasthan

Chhabra Thermal Power Plant (CTPP)to meet the growing energy demand of Rajasthan. client-Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL), has engaged Indure Private Limited (IPL) as their EPC contractor and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) as their consultant on this project.

CTPP is a coal fired, sub critical plant situated on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, 150 kms from Kota in Rajasthan and 250 kms from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. It is situated in a remote area of the state and temperature here ranges between 50 and 5 degree Celsius. The plant has been constructed near the bank of Parvati River, which is the feeding source of water for the plant. Two units of 250 MW are already in operation and the construction of next two units of 250 MW each is in progress. It is a zero discharge plant. The water from Parvati River is used for generating power, after which it gets treated in the effluent treatment plant system and is ultimately reused for irrigation. Another unique feature of the plant is that it is environment friendly and 99.9% of ash is absorbed by electrostatic precipitator, keeping the surrounding area clean and healthy.

is being constructed The

Construction of both these facilities is under the scope of SPCL.

SPCL has complete civil construction under its scope. The structures included are power house building, coal handling plant, boiler foundation, ESP foundation & control room, clarified water channels, fore bay, pump house, de-mineralization plant, switchyard, transformer yard and turbo generator foundation, columns, deck slab etc. Here, it is imperative to mention a couple of challenges the team faced during the course of construction in wagon tippler area and turbo generator area.

The earth in general around this area consists of various strata of soft and hard rock beneath the initial thin layer of Black Cotton soil. So, for the construction of any foundation, controlled blasting was required. Setting off charges at 2m intervals, the team had to blast the way down to 20 meters depth to achieve the desired level in wagon tippler area. Around 2,50,000 cum of blasting has been done already. In view of the fact that blasting work gets frequently interrupted by continuous seepage, two operations-blasting and round the clock dewatering are being done simultaneously.

Another challenging area was the construction of Turbo Generator raft, columns and deck slab. All three structures i.e. raft, columns and deck slab have temperature controlled concreting. SPCL is casting 28 nos. 14 meters high columns in one pour. The temperature of the concrete is maintained strictly at 23°C by mixing 250 kgs ice in water for every cum of concrete. This cold water is continuously sprinkled over aggregates and then mixed with cement, sand and pre cooled aggregate to get the required temperature. It is not the normal activity which takes place every day on a construction site, with three-tier stringent inspection by the clients.

Salient features of the project

Project Cost : ` 80 Crore

Concrete : 1,40,000 Cum

Reinforcement Steel : 14,000 MT

Blasting : 2,50,000 Cum

- Alok Rajan, Ahmedabad

Bird's eye view of the construction site

Managing Noise Pollution: A definite need

Safety

Outdoor noise control - Barriers. Indoor noise control - Curtains.04

Noise can be defined as unwanted or undesired sound. Usually 80 decibel is the level at which sound becomes physically painful and can be termed as noise. Humans, animals, plants and even inert objects like buildings and bridges have been victims of the increasing noise pollution caused in the world. Be it human or machine-created, noise disrupts the activity and balance of life. Its effects on our health are elucidated below:-- Continuous exposure to noise in the range of 90 to 140

dB is harmful which, in the construction activities, is caused by drilling, grinding, fabrication and erection, compressors, generators, winches, heavy vehicles, concrete pumps, batching plants, cranes and material handling. It may result in:• Auditory Effects: Rupture of drum, auditory fatigue,

hearing loss.• Non-Auditory Effects: Annoyance, irritability,

interference in speech, difficulty in communication, low night vision, difficult colour perception, vague muscular pains, lack of sleep, indigestion, heartburn, high blood pressure, ulcers and heart disease.

- Effects of noise are gradual and often painless, person often fail to recognize these.

- Hearing loss may also occur immediately on exposure to sudden intense form of noise energy.

- Hearing loss is attributable to destruction of cells in inner ear. These cells are neither repaired nor replaced by body and t he re fo re t he HEAR ING LOSS I S PERMANENT.

Action by sites to reduce the noise pollution:- Controlling air borne / structure borne sound by;

• Regular servicing and maintenance, enclosing entire machine / parts, reducing the v ibrat ions in components, replacing metal parts with sound absorbing materials.

• Fitting muffler of the exhaust, changing type of pneumatic equipment to reduce high frequency components, proper fastening of parts, isolating the workplace containing noisy equipment.

• Avoiding banging / knocking of materials, reducing height of fall in bins or yard, reducing sharp blows by using rubber / plastic covering, reducing speed of conveyor belts / motors and other moving parts, if possible.

• Covering walls / ceilings with sound absorbing porous materials, using sound absorbing screens, building sound proof control areas / rest rooms.

• Providing sound barriers / curtains around high noise areas like cutting, grinding and drilling etc.

- Avoiding continuous exposure to noise by:• Job rotation: Change the tasks performed by

employees.

• Work scheduling: Give breaks in noisy activities to avoid continuous exposure.

• Identify high noise areas & display signs to wear PPE’s like ear muffs / plugs.

Statute on Noise:At Workplace: As per Schedule VI of Rule 34 of “The Building and Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Central Rules, 1998” pertaining to the “Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996”. Permissible Total Time of Exposure and Corresponding Sound Pressure Level

Sound pressure Total Time of Exposure (Continuouslevel in dB(A) or a number of short term

exposure) per day in hours

90 8100 2110 0.5115 0.25

For Outside Environment: As per “The Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules, 2000”.Ambient Air Standards in Respect of Noise

Category of Limits in dB Limits in dBArea / Zone (A) Leq* Day (A) Leq* Night Time

Time (600 -2200 (2200- 600 Hrs.) Hrs.)

Industrial 75 70Commercial 65 55Residential 55 45*Silence Zone 50 40

Note:

Silence Zone is defined as an area comprising not less than 100 meters around hospitals, educational institutions and courts. The silence zones are zones which are declared as such by the competent authority. 1. Mixed categories of areas may be declared as one of the

four above mentioned categories by the competent authority.

2. *dB(A) Leq denotes the time weighted average of the level of sound in decibels on scale A which is relatable to human hearing.

3. A "decibel" is a unit in which noise is measured. 4. "A", in dB (A) Leq, denotes the frequency weighting in the

measurement of noise and corresponds to frequency response characteristics of the human ear.

5. Leq: It is an energy mean of the noise level, over a specified period.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO

03

7. False Ceiling : 3,000 SM8. POP Work : 2,700 SM9. Internal Painting : 17,200 SM10. External Texture

Painting : 20,200 SM11. Structural Steel : 321 MTConstruction commenced in September 2006 with mass excavation. The schedule was in 3 phases with basements of all the phases taken up at one stretch. All major works of the first phase in Block A were finished by early August 2009. Mr. A. Balaji (AGM, Projects) was the Project-in-charge and was guided by Mr. Anand Rao (AVP, SPRE), Mr. D. Santhosh (DGM, SPCL) and Mr. Tarapore (GM, SPCL HO) The staff strength at the peak - August to November 2008 - touched 230.The project presented several challenges. The multi level car park was provided under the building by excavating 0.35 million CM of rock filled earth. Vertical transportation was

provided by 14 Mitsubishi elevators with a speed of 2.5 m/sec. For air conditioning the building, chillers weighing up to 5 tonnes were lifted 65m above the ground. NANO films with U/V reflectors reduced the effect of Chennai heat inside the building. Refuge areas were provided in every module to give a common space to occupants. Accentuated by curved beams on the elevation, the refuge areas provide an aesthetic detailing for the whole building.The architects took Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright’s dictum “The space within becomes the reality of the building” when it came to designing the internal spaces. The granite finished common areas lend elegance to the interiors and are eye catching.A major part of the building has been handed over to the clients and the project has vastly augmented SPCL’s capability of building international class IT parks.

- Adeep Jecob, Chennai

CTPP, Chhabra, Rajasthan

Chhabra Thermal Power Plant (CTPP)to meet the growing energy demand of Rajasthan. client-Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL), has engaged Indure Private Limited (IPL) as their EPC contractor and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) as their consultant on this project.

CTPP is a coal fired, sub critical plant situated on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, 150 kms from Kota in Rajasthan and 250 kms from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. It is situated in a remote area of the state and temperature here ranges between 50 and 5 degree Celsius. The plant has been constructed near the bank of Parvati River, which is the feeding source of water for the plant. Two units of 250 MW are already in operation and the construction of next two units of 250 MW each is in progress. It is a zero discharge plant. The water from Parvati River is used for generating power, after which it gets treated in the effluent treatment plant system and is ultimately reused for irrigation. Another unique feature of the plant is that it is environment friendly and 99.9% of ash is absorbed by electrostatic precipitator, keeping the surrounding area clean and healthy.

is being constructed The

Construction of both these facilities is under the scope of SPCL.

SPCL has complete civil construction under its scope. The structures included are power house building, coal handling plant, boiler foundation, ESP foundation & control room, clarified water channels, fore bay, pump house, de-mineralization plant, switchyard, transformer yard and turbo generator foundation, columns, deck slab etc. Here, it is imperative to mention a couple of challenges the team faced during the course of construction in wagon tippler area and turbo generator area.

The earth in general around this area consists of various strata of soft and hard rock beneath the initial thin layer of Black Cotton soil. So, for the construction of any foundation, controlled blasting was required. Setting off charges at 2m intervals, the team had to blast the way down to 20 meters depth to achieve the desired level in wagon tippler area. Around 2,50,000 cum of blasting has been done already. In view of the fact that blasting work gets frequently interrupted by continuous seepage, two operations-blasting and round the clock dewatering are being done simultaneously.

Another challenging area was the construction of Turbo Generator raft, columns and deck slab. All three structures i.e. raft, columns and deck slab have temperature controlled concreting. SPCL is casting 28 nos. 14 meters high columns in one pour. The temperature of the concrete is maintained strictly at 23°C by mixing 250 kgs ice in water for every cum of concrete. This cold water is continuously sprinkled over aggregates and then mixed with cement, sand and pre cooled aggregate to get the required temperature. It is not the normal activity which takes place every day on a construction site, with three-tier stringent inspection by the clients.

Salient features of the project

Project Cost : ` 80 Crore

Concrete : 1,40,000 Cum

Reinforcement Steel : 14,000 MT

Blasting : 2,50,000 Cum

- Alok Rajan, Ahmedabad

Bird's eye view of the construction site

Managing Noise Pollution: A definite need

Safety

Outdoor noise control - Barriers. Indoor noise control - Curtains.04

Noise can be defined as unwanted or undesired sound. Usually 80 decibel is the level at which sound becomes physically painful and can be termed as noise. Humans, animals, plants and even inert objects like buildings and bridges have been victims of the increasing noise pollution caused in the world. Be it human or machine-created, noise disrupts the activity and balance of life. Its effects on our health are elucidated below:-- Continuous exposure to noise in the range of 90 to 140

dB is harmful which, in the construction activities, is caused by drilling, grinding, fabrication and erection, compressors, generators, winches, heavy vehicles, concrete pumps, batching plants, cranes and material handling. It may result in:• Auditory Effects: Rupture of drum, auditory fatigue,

hearing loss.• Non-Auditory Effects: Annoyance, irritability,

interference in speech, difficulty in communication, low night vision, difficult colour perception, vague muscular pains, lack of sleep, indigestion, heartburn, high blood pressure, ulcers and heart disease.

- Effects of noise are gradual and often painless, person often fail to recognize these.

- Hearing loss may also occur immediately on exposure to sudden intense form of noise energy.

- Hearing loss is attributable to destruction of cells in inner ear. These cells are neither repaired nor replaced by body and t he re fo re t he HEAR ING LOSS I S PERMANENT.

Action by sites to reduce the noise pollution:- Controlling air borne / structure borne sound by;

• Regular servicing and maintenance, enclosing entire machine / parts, reducing the v ibrat ions in components, replacing metal parts with sound absorbing materials.

• Fitting muffler of the exhaust, changing type of pneumatic equipment to reduce high frequency components, proper fastening of parts, isolating the workplace containing noisy equipment.

• Avoiding banging / knocking of materials, reducing height of fall in bins or yard, reducing sharp blows by using rubber / plastic covering, reducing speed of conveyor belts / motors and other moving parts, if possible.

• Covering walls / ceilings with sound absorbing porous materials, using sound absorbing screens, building sound proof control areas / rest rooms.

• Providing sound barriers / curtains around high noise areas like cutting, grinding and drilling etc.

- Avoiding continuous exposure to noise by:• Job rotation: Change the tasks performed by

employees.

• Work scheduling: Give breaks in noisy activities to avoid continuous exposure.

• Identify high noise areas & display signs to wear PPE’s like ear muffs / plugs.

Statute on Noise:At Workplace: As per Schedule VI of Rule 34 of “The Building and Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Central Rules, 1998” pertaining to the “Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996”. Permissible Total Time of Exposure and Corresponding Sound Pressure Level

Sound pressure Total Time of Exposure (Continuouslevel in dB(A) or a number of short term

exposure) per day in hours

90 8100 2110 0.5115 0.25

For Outside Environment: As per “The Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules, 2000”.Ambient Air Standards in Respect of Noise

Category of Limits in dB Limits in dBArea / Zone (A) Leq* Day (A) Leq* Night Time

Time (600 -2200 (2200- 600 Hrs.) Hrs.)

Industrial 75 70Commercial 65 55Residential 55 45*Silence Zone 50 40

Note:

Silence Zone is defined as an area comprising not less than 100 meters around hospitals, educational institutions and courts. The silence zones are zones which are declared as such by the competent authority. 1. Mixed categories of areas may be declared as one of the

four above mentioned categories by the competent authority.

2. *dB(A) Leq denotes the time weighted average of the level of sound in decibels on scale A which is relatable to human hearing.

3. A "decibel" is a unit in which noise is measured. 4. "A", in dB (A) Leq, denotes the frequency weighting in the

measurement of noise and corresponds to frequency response characteristics of the human ear.

5. Leq: It is an energy mean of the noise level, over a specified period.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO

Happenings

SPCL Head Office celebrates Annual Day

November 12, 2010. SPCL Head Office’s Annual Day was celebrated at the JK Banquets. It was a remarkable evening as the chairman, Mr. Pallonji Mistry walked in amidst a warm cheerful welcome, followed by the Managing Directors - Mr. Shapoor Mistry and Mr. Cyrus Mistry. The inaugural lamp was lit by them. Mr. Varghese Mathew, Chief People Officer, gave a welcome address to start the evening proceedings.

Mr. Pallonji Mistry addressed the gathering, recounting the growth of the company over the years and the role of the management and employees in taking the company to new heights. He looked forward to continued efforts from the employees in meeting the ambitious targets set for the company’s 150th anniversary in 2015.

Mr. Pallonji Mistry lighting the inaugural lamp.

05

Mr. Pallonji Mistry addressing the gathering

Having a good time!

Mr. Hanumanta Jamlaiya Dasari: Mr. Faroakh Jehangirji Hilloo : SP Centre - HOMr. Kishor Vasudeo Sharma : Ahemdabad/Surat - ROMr. Viraf Jamshed Dastoor: SP Centre - HO

Mumbai - RO35 YEARS

Mr. Dominic Barthol Kadam: Pune - ROMr. Deepak Dhondu Keshe: Nasik - ROMr. Sarad Datatre Lad: SP Centre - HOMr. Munir Dadesaheb Ismailmagdum: Pune - ROMr. Mohan Dass Saini: SP Centre - HOMr. Sherbahadur Kumarsingh Lama: SP Centre - HOMr. Pradeep Raghunath Poipkar: SP Centre - HOMr. Eknath Abaji Gangurde: Nasik - ROMr. Shankar Shivaji Rathod: Mumbai - ROMr. Ramdas Bapurao Ghumre: Mumbai - RO

25 YEARS

Mr. Srinivasa Vijay Kumar: Bengaluru - ROMr. Qutubuddin Khan: Mumbai - ROMr. Lakshmi Narayanan: Chennai - ROMr. Md Sahidul Islam: Kolkata - ROMr. Madanlal Rampyare Jaiswar: SP Centre - HOMs. Vijaya Lakshmi B.c.: Chennai - ROMr. Subhashchandra N Shetty: Pune - ROMr. Narendra Prabhakar Pathade: Nagpur - ROMr. Atul Bhatnagar: Delhi - ROMr. Ravindra Bipinkumar Shah: SP Centre - HOMr. Aravamudhan Balaji: Chennai - ROMs. Kavita Ajay Gujar: Pune - ROMr. U Mukesh Rao: SP Centre - HOMr. Sanjay Chandrapal Lanjile: Pune - ROMs. Preejy Lonappan: Real Estate - MumbaiMr. Martin Luke: Bengaluru - ROMr. Avay Kumar Verma: Hyderabad - ROMr. Prabhat K. Rakheja: Delhi - ROMr. Sukomol Sen: Kolkata - ROMr. Chandan Sarkar: Kolkata - ROMr. Natwar Samal: Hyderabad - ROMr. Rakesh Kumar Singh: Kolkata - ROMs. Regina Arjya Kumar Patro: Pune - ROMr. Sandeep Bolke: Manjri Horse Breeders Farm Pvt. Ltd.Mr. Rupesh Khedekar: Magpie Finance Pvt. Ltd.

10 YEARS

Long Service Awards

DLF 10 bags the ‘Best Project Award’ for FY 09-10

‘DLF 10’ project, executed by Delhi RO, bagged the ‘Best Project Award’ for the FY 09-10. The scope of work involved construction of a commercial building with a total built-up area of 3.7 million sq. ft. One of the most notable

The DLF, Delhi team receiving the award

06

The ‘Best Project’ Award was given to DLF-10 Project, Delhi Region. Mr. P.K. Rakheja (Director, Operations), Mr.Shammi Khurana (Additional GM, Projects, Delhi) and Mr. Anil Kumar Tomar (Project Manager) collected the award.The event came alive with music performed by ‘90 Degree’ The staff of SPCL took to the dance floor and enjoyed themselves. Besides song and dance, people relished a variety of cuisines. Amidst all fun and entertainment, employees got the opportunity to bond well with one another.

- Shikha Banerjee, SPRE HO

The heads of various business units - Mr. Kekoo Colah (SP Real Estate), Mr. Mukundan (SP Infra), Mr. Kannan (EPC division) and Dr. A.K. Gupta (on behalf of Mr. N. Dharmaraj,

SP Agri business), spoke on the projects and future plans of their business.On the occasion, Mr. Cyrus Mistry gave the 10 year long service awards and Mr. Shapoor Mistry the awards for 25 years service. Mr. Saini, CEO of SPCL, was a distinguished recipient of the 25 years service award (see above) Mr. Pallonji Mistry felicitated employees who completed 35 years of service. Mr. Hiloo, (DGM, Accounts) was one of the proud recipients (see below).

achievements by the project team was clocking 5 million safe man hours.

This is an initiative to recognize the best projects selected from the Regions based on their performance against the following parameters: sales, profit, wastage, cost of quality, client satisfaction, safety, receivables, productivity, delivery time and leadership training/ organisation building initiatives.

Projects completed in FY 09-10 were eligible for the reckoning. The Evaluation Committee compared the performance of the nominated projects on aforementioned parameters and was particularly stringent on the safety and quality issues.

Mr. Cyrus Mistry presented the ‘Best Project’ trophy to Mr. Shammi Khurana - Project Co-ordinator and Mr. Anil Kumar Tomar – Project Manager at the HO Annual Day

thfunction held on 12 November, 2010. Mr. P. K. Rakheja, Head - Delhi Region was also present during the award ceremony.

- Sohan Mohanty, SP HO

Happenings

SPCL Head Office celebrates Annual Day

November 12, 2010. SPCL Head Office’s Annual Day was celebrated at the JK Banquets. It was a remarkable evening as the chairman, Mr. Pallonji Mistry walked in amidst a warm cheerful welcome, followed by the Managing Directors - Mr. Shapoor Mistry and Mr. Cyrus Mistry. The inaugural lamp was lit by them. Mr. Varghese Mathew, Chief People Officer, gave a welcome address to start the evening proceedings.

Mr. Pallonji Mistry addressed the gathering, recounting the growth of the company over the years and the role of the management and employees in taking the company to new heights. He looked forward to continued efforts from the employees in meeting the ambitious targets set for the company’s 150th anniversary in 2015.

Mr. Pallonji Mistry lighting the inaugural lamp.

05

Mr. Pallonji Mistry addressing the gathering

Having a good time!

Mr. Hanumanta Jamlaiya Dasari: Mr. Faroakh Jehangirji Hilloo : SP Centre - HOMr. Kishor Vasudeo Sharma : Ahemdabad/Surat - ROMr. Viraf Jamshed Dastoor: SP Centre - HO

Mumbai - RO35 YEARS

Mr. Dominic Barthol Kadam: Pune - ROMr. Deepak Dhondu Keshe: Nasik - ROMr. Sarad Datatre Lad: SP Centre - HOMr. Munir Dadesaheb Ismailmagdum: Pune - ROMr. Mohan Dass Saini: SP Centre - HOMr. Sherbahadur Kumarsingh Lama: SP Centre - HOMr. Pradeep Raghunath Poipkar: SP Centre - HOMr. Eknath Abaji Gangurde: Nasik - ROMr. Shankar Shivaji Rathod: Mumbai - ROMr. Ramdas Bapurao Ghumre: Mumbai - RO

25 YEARS

Mr. Srinivasa Vijay Kumar: Bengaluru - ROMr. Qutubuddin Khan: Mumbai - ROMr. Lakshmi Narayanan: Chennai - ROMr. Md Sahidul Islam: Kolkata - ROMr. Madanlal Rampyare Jaiswar: SP Centre - HOMs. Vijaya Lakshmi B.c.: Chennai - ROMr. Subhashchandra N Shetty: Pune - ROMr. Narendra Prabhakar Pathade: Nagpur - ROMr. Atul Bhatnagar: Delhi - ROMr. Ravindra Bipinkumar Shah: SP Centre - HOMr. Aravamudhan Balaji: Chennai - ROMs. Kavita Ajay Gujar: Pune - ROMr. U Mukesh Rao: SP Centre - HOMr. Sanjay Chandrapal Lanjile: Pune - ROMs. Preejy Lonappan: Real Estate - MumbaiMr. Martin Luke: Bengaluru - ROMr. Avay Kumar Verma: Hyderabad - ROMr. Prabhat K. Rakheja: Delhi - ROMr. Sukomol Sen: Kolkata - ROMr. Chandan Sarkar: Kolkata - ROMr. Natwar Samal: Hyderabad - ROMr. Rakesh Kumar Singh: Kolkata - ROMs. Regina Arjya Kumar Patro: Pune - ROMr. Sandeep Bolke: Manjri Horse Breeders Farm Pvt. Ltd.Mr. Rupesh Khedekar: Magpie Finance Pvt. Ltd.

10 YEARS

Long Service Awards

DLF 10 bags the ‘Best Project Award’ for FY 09-10

‘DLF 10’ project, executed by Delhi RO, bagged the ‘Best Project Award’ for the FY 09-10. The scope of work involved construction of a commercial building with a total built-up area of 3.7 million sq. ft. One of the most notable

The DLF, Delhi team receiving the award

06

The ‘Best Project’ Award was given to DLF-10 Project, Delhi Region. Mr. P.K. Rakheja (Director, Operations), Mr.Shammi Khurana (Additional GM, Projects, Delhi) and Mr. Anil Kumar Tomar (Project Manager) collected the award.The event came alive with music performed by ‘90 Degree’ The staff of SPCL took to the dance floor and enjoyed themselves. Besides song and dance, people relished a variety of cuisines. Amidst all fun and entertainment, employees got the opportunity to bond well with one another.

- Shikha Banerjee, SPRE HO

The heads of various business units - Mr. Kekoo Colah (SP Real Estate), Mr. Mukundan (SP Infra), Mr. Kannan (EPC division) and Dr. A.K. Gupta (on behalf of Mr. N. Dharmaraj,

SP Agri business), spoke on the projects and future plans of their business.On the occasion, Mr. Cyrus Mistry gave the 10 year long service awards and Mr. Shapoor Mistry the awards for 25 years service. Mr. Saini, CEO of SPCL, was a distinguished recipient of the 25 years service award (see above) Mr. Pallonji Mistry felicitated employees who completed 35 years of service. Mr. Hiloo, (DGM, Accounts) was one of the proud recipients (see below).

achievements by the project team was clocking 5 million safe man hours.

This is an initiative to recognize the best projects selected from the Regions based on their performance against the following parameters: sales, profit, wastage, cost of quality, client satisfaction, safety, receivables, productivity, delivery time and leadership training/ organisation building initiatives.

Projects completed in FY 09-10 were eligible for the reckoning. The Evaluation Committee compared the performance of the nominated projects on aforementioned parameters and was particularly stringent on the safety and quality issues.

Mr. Cyrus Mistry presented the ‘Best Project’ trophy to Mr. Shammi Khurana - Project Co-ordinator and Mr. Anil Kumar Tomar – Project Manager at the HO Annual Day

thfunction held on 12 November, 2010. Mr. P. K. Rakheja, Head - Delhi Region was also present during the award ceremony.

- Sohan Mohanty, SP HO

Vendors Meet 2010, Bengaluru

As part of SPCL’s corporate strategy, several key initiatives were undertaken to achieve the company’s vision and mission. One of the initiatives under “Vendor Development and Management” was undertaken by the Bengaluru Region which organized the first “Vendor Meet”. The meet, under

ththe guidance of Mr. N. D. Sadri, was held on 9 October, 2010 at Hotel Mathan, Bengaluru.

The meet was targeted at 15 specific product categories and brought together more than 75 participants from 50 companies. Mr. Prashant Mahajan (Additional GM, BD, Bengaluru) welcomed the gathering and briefed them on the importance of organizing such events in the construction industry. He also took the opportunity to apprise everyone about the current status of projects in the Bengaluru Region.

The meet was formally inaugurated by Mr. T. Mallikarjuna (VP, Bengaluru region) who lit the inaugural lamp along with Mr. Debasis Mitra (Director, Operations), Mr. N.D. Sadri (Addl GM, Materials & QM), Mr.Sarang Tribhuvan (GM, Commercial) and Mr. Shiva Kumar (DGM, Purchase, Bengaluru).

Mr. Mallikarjuna highlighted the status of SPCL in the construction industry and drew attention to its rapid growth. Mr. Mitra delivered the key note address delineating the policies of SPCL and its growth in recent years.

Mr. Sadri announced the theme for the meet “Lets collaborate and together multiply the success in future”.

Outlining the purpose of the meet, he urged the vendors to collaborate with SPCL in discussing and resolving technical and commercial issues, improvisation of delivery mechanism and facilitate smooth exchange if ideas to pave the way for innovation and accelerate the growth momentum. The vendors were felicitated and awarded certificates of appreciation based on their performance. This was followed by a cultural event on the theme of collaboration.

The meet conc luded w i th a vo te o f thanks by Mr. Shivakumar followed by cocktails and dinner.

- Nozer Sadri, SP HO

Every year SPCL sponsors a few deserving employees to the exclusive Executive Post Graduate Program in Management at NICMAR, Pune. This 16 month contact-based program, exclusively conceptualized and developed for SPCL, aims at developing professional project engineers / managers with the skills to handle Construction Project Management problems. Participants are carefully chosen based on their past performance and leadership potential exhibited in their current roles.

Participants spend ten weeks on the Pune campus, three weeks every term and one week at the end of the course for the final exam and viva voce. SPCL bears the entire course fee, lodging and boarding expense incurred for the program.

NICMAR has recently announced the results of the 6th Batch of E-PGPM course. We congratulate the following successful participants of the 6th Batch

NICMAR E-PGPM Batch 6

1 Ms. Doris Mukesh Mehta HO2 Mr. Nitin Ramesh Mohorikar Bengaluru – RO4 Mr. Ashish Kumar Gupta Delhi - RO5 Mr. Uttam Kumar Pal Delhi - RO6 Mr. Puranam Virupakshaiah Hyderabad - RO7 Mr. Siddhartha Nath Kolkata - RO8 Mr. Saugata Mazumder Kolkata - RO9 Mr. Vinod Ramrao Surve Nasik - RO10 Mr. Tushar M. Hire Nagpur - RO11 Mr. Pravin Lanjewar Pune - RO12 Mr. Rajesh Sharma Real Estate-Delhi13 Mr. Sumit Goswami EPC - Kolkata14 Mr. Goutam Nandi EPC - Kolkata15 Mr. Sudip Mitra EPC - Kolkata16 Mr. Vishal P Borude Mumbai - RO17 Mr. Balbir Bisht Delhi - RO18 Mr. Murali Krishna Hyderabad - RO

- Sohan Mohanty, SP HO07

Group Practice Sharing Forum IIIrdThe 3 practice sharing forum of the Shapoorji Pallonji

thGroup was held on 11 November, 2010, at Sunville Banquets, Worli, Mumbai.

The theme for the third quarter was “Operations, Functional Expertise and Technology”. Presentations were made by teams f rom Forbes Technosys ( FTL ) , AFCONS Infrastructure, Forbes-Engineering Division, SPCL and Sterling and Wilson.

Mr. Sandeep Bhatia unfolded the FTL success story in deploying 500 kiosks for SBI, India’s largest bank. The kiosks were a result of an increasing need to have an alternate delivery channel to ATMs and branch banking. The implementation and operational challenges included conceptualizing, identifying kiosk models, selection of vendors for each stage in the process, carrying out user acceptance tests; al l of this not withstanding their inexperience in projects of this scale in the past and limited manufacturing capacity (for kiosks). He also elaborated the post bid activities to ramp up their capabilities by deploying SAP, deploying account managers, getting the software and the engineers ready to deliver. Creation of multi functional task force was the key element in the successful delivery of this project.

The second session had three presentations from the AFCONS team viz, ‘Culture of Collaborative Effort in

AFCONS at Tender Stage’ by Mr. Giridhar Rajagopalan (Technica l Director) , ‘Contract Management and Administration’ by Mr. S. Sankar (Executive Vice-President, Contract), and ‘Excel lence through Execution’ byMr. V. Manivannan (Vice-President, CPE). Mr. Giridhar shared the innovative approach adopted in the Chennai Central station project especially in rock excavation which was done without using Nxburst chemicals and without disrupting the smooth running of traffic in the crowded metro. Mr. Shankar brought out the ethos of managing contracts and also building deeper relationships and understanding customers’ needs and situations. He used the Seven Habits Framework (Stephen Covey) to brilliantly highlight contract management. Mr. Manivannan shared 5 case studies highlighting execution excellence.

The Forbes Eng ineer ing turnaround s tory us ing differentiations such as service and cost leadership was interesting as was the energy vertical narration on the strategic shift to small power turbine requirements, the key success factors being acquiring Technology for Assembly/ Manufactur ing of Turbines, provid ing fu l l - f ledged Refurbishing/ Service Activities on demand, building Team for Sales and execution of O&M/ EPC Contracts and setting up Power Projects in 15-30 MW range using BOOT model.

Sterling and Wilson shared their success stories in Nokia Siemens and ISTA hotels amongst others and highlighted the

International Strategy Conclave - 2010

Dubai was the venue for the International Strategy Conclave - 2010 for SPCL’s International Operations and was hosted

th thby SP International FTZ (SPINT) on the 7 and 8 December’10.

This conclave was chaired by Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry & Mr. M.D. Saini and was anchored by Mr. Prabal Kansal, Strategy Department, SPCL. The broad agenda of the conclave was to brainstorm on “The Way Forward” i.e. brainstorming the future strategic action plans with senior management of the company for all countries where SPINT already has a presence and also the countries of interest in the future.

The participants for the conclave included all country heads, respective department heads and senior officials at SP International. The meeting commenced with Mr. M.D. Saini welcoming all the participants and sharing the purpose of

organizing this event. The meet focused on identifying the company’s prospective clientele, countries and business segments, services and products to be offered. The company’s strategies for strengthening the resources to meet clients’ expectations were also discussed in the conclave.

Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry welcomed all the participants and shared the vision for SPCL & SP International for the next 5 years. During the two-day conclave, country heads from UAE, Sri Lanka, Libya, Sudan, Nigeria, Qatar, Ghana, Algeria, Sub Saharan Countries, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia (KSA) apprised everyone present of their business plans. Brand building and international human resource practices were also discussed at length in the conclave. The conclave concluded with a vote of thanks to all participants.

- Prabal Kansal, SP HO

operations management in these projects using technology.

Mr. Nozer Tarapore and Mr. Sagar Gandhi shared the Virtual Design & Construction tool that would help SPCL in planning, visualization, execution and is being tried out on a pilot basis.

The success of this forum is around the implementation of the ideas that have worked in one business in other businesses. No doubt they will have to be modified to the needs and the context of the business, but they can certainly be implemented.

- Vasant Sanzgiri, SP Group Centre

Mr. Cyrus Mistry & Mr. Saini with the participants at the conclave.

Mr. Cyrus Mistry with the SPCL team.

Inauguration by Mr. T Mallikarjuna. Towards left are Mr. Mitra, Mr. Tribhuvan, Mr. Sadri & Mr. Shivkumar.

08

Vendors Meet 2010, Bengaluru

As part of SPCL’s corporate strategy, several key initiatives were undertaken to achieve the company’s vision and mission. One of the initiatives under “Vendor Development and Management” was undertaken by the Bengaluru Region which organized the first “Vendor Meet”. The meet, under

ththe guidance of Mr. N. D. Sadri, was held on 9 October, 2010 at Hotel Mathan, Bengaluru.

The meet was targeted at 15 specific product categories and brought together more than 75 participants from 50 companies. Mr. Prashant Mahajan (Additional GM, BD, Bengaluru) welcomed the gathering and briefed them on the importance of organizing such events in the construction industry. He also took the opportunity to apprise everyone about the current status of projects in the Bengaluru Region.

The meet was formally inaugurated by Mr. T. Mallikarjuna (VP, Bengaluru region) who lit the inaugural lamp along with Mr. Debasis Mitra (Director, Operations), Mr. N.D. Sadri (Addl GM, Materials & QM), Mr.Sarang Tribhuvan (GM, Commercial) and Mr. Shiva Kumar (DGM, Purchase, Bengaluru).

Mr. Mallikarjuna highlighted the status of SPCL in the construction industry and drew attention to its rapid growth. Mr. Mitra delivered the key note address delineating the policies of SPCL and its growth in recent years.

Mr. Sadri announced the theme for the meet “Lets collaborate and together multiply the success in future”.

Outlining the purpose of the meet, he urged the vendors to collaborate with SPCL in discussing and resolving technical and commercial issues, improvisation of delivery mechanism and facilitate smooth exchange if ideas to pave the way for innovation and accelerate the growth momentum. The vendors were felicitated and awarded certificates of appreciation based on their performance. This was followed by a cultural event on the theme of collaboration.

The meet conc luded w i th a vo te o f thanks by Mr. Shivakumar followed by cocktails and dinner.

- Nozer Sadri, SP HO

Every year SPCL sponsors a few deserving employees to the exclusive Executive Post Graduate Program in Management at NICMAR, Pune. This 16 month contact-based program, exclusively conceptualized and developed for SPCL, aims at developing professional project engineers / managers with the skills to handle Construction Project Management problems. Participants are carefully chosen based on their past performance and leadership potential exhibited in their current roles.

Participants spend ten weeks on the Pune campus, three weeks every term and one week at the end of the course for the final exam and viva voce. SPCL bears the entire course fee, lodging and boarding expense incurred for the program.

NICMAR has recently announced the results of the 6th Batch of E-PGPM course. We congratulate the following successful participants of the 6th Batch

NICMAR E-PGPM Batch 6

1 Ms. Doris Mukesh Mehta HO2 Mr. Nitin Ramesh Mohorikar Bengaluru – RO4 Mr. Ashish Kumar Gupta Delhi - RO5 Mr. Uttam Kumar Pal Delhi - RO6 Mr. Puranam Virupakshaiah Hyderabad - RO7 Mr. Siddhartha Nath Kolkata - RO8 Mr. Saugata Mazumder Kolkata - RO9 Mr. Vinod Ramrao Surve Nasik - RO10 Mr. Tushar M. Hire Nagpur - RO11 Mr. Pravin Lanjewar Pune - RO12 Mr. Rajesh Sharma Real Estate-Delhi13 Mr. Sumit Goswami EPC - Kolkata14 Mr. Goutam Nandi EPC - Kolkata15 Mr. Sudip Mitra EPC - Kolkata16 Mr. Vishal P Borude Mumbai - RO17 Mr. Balbir Bisht Delhi - RO18 Mr. Murali Krishna Hyderabad - RO

- Sohan Mohanty, SP HO07

Group Practice Sharing Forum IIIrdThe 3 practice sharing forum of the Shapoorji Pallonji

thGroup was held on 11 November, 2010, at Sunville Banquets, Worli, Mumbai.

The theme for the third quarter was “Operations, Functional Expertise and Technology”. Presentations were made by teams f rom Forbes Technosys ( FTL ) , AFCONS Infrastructure, Forbes-Engineering Division, SPCL and Sterling and Wilson.

Mr. Sandeep Bhatia unfolded the FTL success story in deploying 500 kiosks for SBI, India’s largest bank. The kiosks were a result of an increasing need to have an alternate delivery channel to ATMs and branch banking. The implementation and operational challenges included conceptualizing, identifying kiosk models, selection of vendors for each stage in the process, carrying out user acceptance tests; al l of this not withstanding their inexperience in projects of this scale in the past and limited manufacturing capacity (for kiosks). He also elaborated the post bid activities to ramp up their capabilities by deploying SAP, deploying account managers, getting the software and the engineers ready to deliver. Creation of multi functional task force was the key element in the successful delivery of this project.

The second session had three presentations from the AFCONS team viz, ‘Culture of Collaborative Effort in

AFCONS at Tender Stage’ by Mr. Giridhar Rajagopalan (Technica l Director) , ‘Contract Management and Administration’ by Mr. S. Sankar (Executive Vice-President, Contract), and ‘Excel lence through Execution’ byMr. V. Manivannan (Vice-President, CPE). Mr. Giridhar shared the innovative approach adopted in the Chennai Central station project especially in rock excavation which was done without using Nxburst chemicals and without disrupting the smooth running of traffic in the crowded metro. Mr. Shankar brought out the ethos of managing contracts and also building deeper relationships and understanding customers’ needs and situations. He used the Seven Habits Framework (Stephen Covey) to brilliantly highlight contract management. Mr. Manivannan shared 5 case studies highlighting execution excellence.

The Forbes Eng ineer ing turnaround s tory us ing differentiations such as service and cost leadership was interesting as was the energy vertical narration on the strategic shift to small power turbine requirements, the key success factors being acquiring Technology for Assembly/ Manufactur ing of Turbines, provid ing fu l l - f ledged Refurbishing/ Service Activities on demand, building Team for Sales and execution of O&M/ EPC Contracts and setting up Power Projects in 15-30 MW range using BOOT model.

Sterling and Wilson shared their success stories in Nokia Siemens and ISTA hotels amongst others and highlighted the

International Strategy Conclave - 2010

Dubai was the venue for the International Strategy Conclave - 2010 for SPCL’s International Operations and was hosted

th thby SP International FTZ (SPINT) on the 7 and 8 December’10.

This conclave was chaired by Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry & Mr. M.D. Saini and was anchored by Mr. Prabal Kansal, Strategy Department, SPCL. The broad agenda of the conclave was to brainstorm on “The Way Forward” i.e. brainstorming the future strategic action plans with senior management of the company for all countries where SPINT already has a presence and also the countries of interest in the future.

The participants for the conclave included all country heads, respective department heads and senior officials at SP International. The meeting commenced with Mr. M.D. Saini welcoming all the participants and sharing the purpose of

organizing this event. The meet focused on identifying the company’s prospective clientele, countries and business segments, services and products to be offered. The company’s strategies for strengthening the resources to meet clients’ expectations were also discussed in the conclave.

Mr. Cyrus P. Mistry welcomed all the participants and shared the vision for SPCL & SP International for the next 5 years. During the two-day conclave, country heads from UAE, Sri Lanka, Libya, Sudan, Nigeria, Qatar, Ghana, Algeria, Sub Saharan Countries, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia (KSA) apprised everyone present of their business plans. Brand building and international human resource practices were also discussed at length in the conclave. The conclave concluded with a vote of thanks to all participants.

- Prabal Kansal, SP HO

operations management in these projects using technology.

Mr. Nozer Tarapore and Mr. Sagar Gandhi shared the Virtual Design & Construction tool that would help SPCL in planning, visualization, execution and is being tried out on a pilot basis.

The success of this forum is around the implementation of the ideas that have worked in one business in other businesses. No doubt they will have to be modified to the needs and the context of the business, but they can certainly be implemented.

- Vasant Sanzgiri, SP Group Centre

Mr. Cyrus Mistry & Mr. Saini with the participants at the conclave.

Mr. Cyrus Mistry with the SPCL team.

Inauguration by Mr. T Mallikarjuna. Towards left are Mr. Mitra, Mr. Tribhuvan, Mr. Sadri & Mr. Shivkumar.

08

The National Safety Council of India (NSCI) aimed at recognising and encouraging establishments for achieving “Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety Management System in Construction Projects” by init iat ing the “Sarvshreshtha Surakhsha Puraskar Scheme” in 2005. SPCL’s General Motors project at Talegaon, Pune won this prestigious NSCI Golden Safety Award (‘Sarvshreshtha Surakhsha Puraskar’) for the year 2009.

The robust “Health, Safety and Environment Management System” (HSEMS) of SPCL was in place right from day one of the project. The concept of not giving a single day’s leeway and HSEMS rules and procedures proved very crucial in establishing the mind set of site team. Even the client, General Motors, reinforced the HSEMS of SPCL by further infusing it with their relevant practices and procedures that are acknowledged worldwide.

With the, amalgamation of these two proven safety cultures and all necessary collaboration, coupled with various

SPCL Site Bags the NSCI Safety Awards

innovative and fresh concepts that were enforced in totality, there was hardly any probability of an unsafe practice during the execution phase and this is what happened precisely.

“Safety First” is a mindset which each and every employee at SPCL believes in and given utmost importance by our MD, Mr. Cyrus Mistry. It was indeed a superlative achievement that was contributed by:

• Sheer dedication and hard work put in by the site and regional team

• Absolute support and commitment of the client

• Decisions and actions by top management to boost the HSE movement

Though continuously strengthening existing HSEMS systems played a complementary role, it is the inherent culture which contributed towards adding one more feather in our crown.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO

CEO-SPCL, Mr. MD Saini receiving the NSCI Golden Award from Union th Labour Minister Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge on 30 October, 2010 accompanied by

Head HSE-SPCL, Mr. Alok Shrivastava. Also seen in the picture are DG- NSCI, Mr. VB Sant, Secretary-Ministry of labor, Mr. Anup Pandey and Vice Chairman-NSCI, Mr. Galav.

thNSCI Award ceremony photographs, 30 October, 2010, Manager-SPCL, Mr. Rahul Mazumdar, DGM-SPCL, Mr. KU Ramu, and Regional Head HSE. Pune-SPCL, Mr. Tushar Banekar- with the honorable minister.

To bolster the safety culture across the Company, it was mooted by the corporate HSE department (CHSED) to hold one-day 'Safety Conferences', involving key senior management representatives and safety personnel from HO, ROs as well as from the project sites.

As a result, the first safety conference was held at SP Centre having participation from the corporate team and regional teams represented by the Regional Head (RH) and Regional Safety Coordinator (RSC). All RHs had made presentations for their respective regions in the prescribed format.

Subsequently, a conference was organised for each region attended by the RH, Project Coordinators, Project Managers, RSC and Safety Off icers. CHSED was represented in each of the regional safety conferences and a training session of two hours on 'Awareness, Principles and Guidelines of Safety' was imparted to the participants. Project Managers made presentations on the safety aspects of their sites in the prescribed format. Details of the conferences are as follows-

Safety Conference

Total safety conferences : 9 (one at HO, 8 at RO's)

Number of sites participated : 96

Participants : 245

To organise the Safety Conference on a regular basis was unanimously agreed by all the participants. Therefore, it is proposed to have annual HO conference and RO conferences twice in a year.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO 1009

As you may be aware, SPCL HR Department introduced six policies in October aimed at motivating and rewarding meritorious performances of employees and their children and increasing the bonding among the employees.

One such policy was the Vacation Donation Programme. Sometimes, circumstances compel an employee to take more leave than is available to him/her. The policy encourages ‘caring’ employees to come to the aid of his/her colleague by donating PL from his/her account to the colleague without any expectation on his/her part.

One such employee, Ms Shraddha Trasi of Corporate HR

who was a beneficiary under this scheme. Shraddha was

away from office for 4 weeks to take care of her mother

Vacation Donation Programme

who had a fall and required full time care. Having recently

joined the company, she had no leave to her credit and was

on leave without pay during this emergency. Then, a

benefactor (who wishes not to be named) donated 6 days

Privilege Leave. This unexpected act of generosity touched

Shraddha. She said: “I felt good. His act helped a lot and I

was thrilled. I had read about the policy but never thought

that I could benefit from it. I am so glad that our company is

different from others. We are the only one to have this

policy.”

Let us all take a pledge that in the New Year we will reach

out and help our colleagues in need.

- Mukesh Rao, SP HO

ELP Training, Hyderabad

‘Empowered Leadership Development’ the managerial cadres at Hyderabad region from the

th th 9 to 11 December, 2010. Twenty nine staff members from Planning, QS, Execution, MEP, Tender & QA/QC depts. attended the program. This was a residential program organized in a serene environment at a resort. Feedback from a few participants is given below:

1. Mr. Govind Sharma, Manager (Construction), EMAAR MGF Site says, “I feel that this program may be conducted at other regions also as this program has given a different thought process and lateral thinking. This will help the individual to identify their red and green behaviors which they are not aware of. This program has given a different view to think about your own strengths which you can utilize for achieving your goals in life effectively.”

2. Mr. Y. Babji, Dy. Manager (QS & Planning), ITC Bhadrachalam says, “This type of program may not give an instant result but constant application will show good result both for the participant and the organization. It has the potential to make a change in behavioral skills, goal setting, and conflict resolution.”

3. Mr. Tonmoy Mukherjee, Dy.Manager (Construction), HHIPL Site, Vizag says, “It was a wonderful program. Firstly the venue selected was the correct place for such a

program was held for

The session in progress

Participants taking the safety oath

program. I think every body should try to follow as much as possible from this program. It will certainly improve our leadership quality with values & self esteem. I am sure that through this light of knowledge every body will prosper in life with a specific goal.”

4. Mr. P.G.C. Santosh, Manager (Planning), EMAAR MGF Site said,“The key learnings from the program are

a. Listen to anyone without a burden to agree.

b. No break through happens inside comfort zone.

c. Win and keep winning, but not by making others lose.

5. Mr G.Chakravarthy, Senior Manager (Planning) from AKES Site said “The ELP work shop has made a transformation in my life. It really touched my emotions and fuelled my passion for doing something extraordinary not only for organizational growth but also for entire human kind. I am thankful to the entire faculty who showed us our destiny. Now this group is called HYDERBAD GOLDEN EAGLES and this team will develop more powerful teams in future.I thank management for giving this wonderful opportunity to be a learner at ELP.”

- Aziz Tayyaba, Hyderabad

The National Safety Council of India (NSCI) aimed at recognising and encouraging establishments for achieving “Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety Management System in Construction Projects” by init iat ing the “Sarvshreshtha Surakhsha Puraskar Scheme” in 2005. SPCL’s General Motors project at Talegaon, Pune won this prestigious NSCI Golden Safety Award (‘Sarvshreshtha Surakhsha Puraskar’) for the year 2009.

The robust “Health, Safety and Environment Management System” (HSEMS) of SPCL was in place right from day one of the project. The concept of not giving a single day’s leeway and HSEMS rules and procedures proved very crucial in establishing the mind set of site team. Even the client, General Motors, reinforced the HSEMS of SPCL by further infusing it with their relevant practices and procedures that are acknowledged worldwide.

With the, amalgamation of these two proven safety cultures and all necessary collaboration, coupled with various

SPCL Site Bags the NSCI Safety Awards

innovative and fresh concepts that were enforced in totality, there was hardly any probability of an unsafe practice during the execution phase and this is what happened precisely.

“Safety First” is a mindset which each and every employee at SPCL believes in and given utmost importance by our MD, Mr. Cyrus Mistry. It was indeed a superlative achievement that was contributed by:

• Sheer dedication and hard work put in by the site and regional team

• Absolute support and commitment of the client

• Decisions and actions by top management to boost the HSE movement

Though continuously strengthening existing HSEMS systems played a complementary role, it is the inherent culture which contributed towards adding one more feather in our crown.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO

CEO-SPCL, Mr. MD Saini receiving the NSCI Golden Award from Union th Labour Minister Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge on 30 October, 2010 accompanied by

Head HSE-SPCL, Mr. Alok Shrivastava. Also seen in the picture are DG- NSCI, Mr. VB Sant, Secretary-Ministry of labor, Mr. Anup Pandey and Vice Chairman-NSCI, Mr. Galav.

thNSCI Award ceremony photographs, 30 October, 2010, Manager-SPCL, Mr. Rahul Mazumdar, DGM-SPCL, Mr. KU Ramu, and Regional Head HSE. Pune-SPCL, Mr. Tushar Banekar- with the honorable minister.

To bolster the safety culture across the Company, it was mooted by the corporate HSE department (CHSED) to hold one-day 'Safety Conferences', involving key senior management representatives and safety personnel from HO, ROs as well as from the project sites.

As a result, the first safety conference was held at SP Centre having participation from the corporate team and regional teams represented by the Regional Head (RH) and Regional Safety Coordinator (RSC). All RHs had made presentations for their respective regions in the prescribed format.

Subsequently, a conference was organised for each region attended by the RH, Project Coordinators, Project Managers, RSC and Safety Off icers. CHSED was represented in each of the regional safety conferences and a training session of two hours on 'Awareness, Principles and Guidelines of Safety' was imparted to the participants. Project Managers made presentations on the safety aspects of their sites in the prescribed format. Details of the conferences are as follows-

Safety Conference

Total safety conferences : 9 (one at HO, 8 at RO's)

Number of sites participated : 96

Participants : 245

To organise the Safety Conference on a regular basis was unanimously agreed by all the participants. Therefore, it is proposed to have annual HO conference and RO conferences twice in a year.

- Alok Shrivastava, SP HO 1009

As you may be aware, SPCL HR Department introduced six policies in October aimed at motivating and rewarding meritorious performances of employees and their children and increasing the bonding among the employees.

One such policy was the Vacation Donation Programme. Sometimes, circumstances compel an employee to take more leave than is available to him/her. The policy encourages ‘caring’ employees to come to the aid of his/her colleague by donating PL from his/her account to the colleague without any expectation on his/her part.

One such employee, Ms Shraddha Trasi of Corporate HR

who was a beneficiary under this scheme. Shraddha was

away from office for 4 weeks to take care of her mother

Vacation Donation Programme

who had a fall and required full time care. Having recently

joined the company, she had no leave to her credit and was

on leave without pay during this emergency. Then, a

benefactor (who wishes not to be named) donated 6 days

Privilege Leave. This unexpected act of generosity touched

Shraddha. She said: “I felt good. His act helped a lot and I

was thrilled. I had read about the policy but never thought

that I could benefit from it. I am so glad that our company is

different from others. We are the only one to have this

policy.”

Let us all take a pledge that in the New Year we will reach

out and help our colleagues in need.

- Mukesh Rao, SP HO

ELP Training, Hyderabad

‘Empowered Leadership Development’ the managerial cadres at Hyderabad region from the

th th 9 to 11 December, 2010. Twenty nine staff members from Planning, QS, Execution, MEP, Tender & QA/QC depts. attended the program. This was a residential program organized in a serene environment at a resort. Feedback from a few participants is given below:

1. Mr. Govind Sharma, Manager (Construction), EMAAR MGF Site says, “I feel that this program may be conducted at other regions also as this program has given a different thought process and lateral thinking. This will help the individual to identify their red and green behaviors which they are not aware of. This program has given a different view to think about your own strengths which you can utilize for achieving your goals in life effectively.”

2. Mr. Y. Babji, Dy. Manager (QS & Planning), ITC Bhadrachalam says, “This type of program may not give an instant result but constant application will show good result both for the participant and the organization. It has the potential to make a change in behavioral skills, goal setting, and conflict resolution.”

3. Mr. Tonmoy Mukherjee, Dy.Manager (Construction), HHIPL Site, Vizag says, “It was a wonderful program. Firstly the venue selected was the correct place for such a

program was held for

The session in progress

Participants taking the safety oath

program. I think every body should try to follow as much as possible from this program. It will certainly improve our leadership quality with values & self esteem. I am sure that through this light of knowledge every body will prosper in life with a specific goal.”

4. Mr. P.G.C. Santosh, Manager (Planning), EMAAR MGF Site said,“The key learnings from the program are

a. Listen to anyone without a burden to agree.

b. No break through happens inside comfort zone.

c. Win and keep winning, but not by making others lose.

5. Mr G.Chakravarthy, Senior Manager (Planning) from AKES Site said “The ELP work shop has made a transformation in my life. It really touched my emotions and fuelled my passion for doing something extraordinary not only for organizational growth but also for entire human kind. I am thankful to the entire faculty who showed us our destiny. Now this group is called HYDERBAD GOLDEN EAGLES and this team will develop more powerful teams in future.I thank management for giving this wonderful opportunity to be a learner at ELP.”

- Aziz Tayyaba, Hyderabad

Kolkata Regions Football match for the underprivileged childrenKolkata Region conducted a friendly football match on

th14 August, 2010 for underprivileged children. The football match was conducted in two parts. The first half was for underprivileged children from schools in the age group of 10 - 15 years. Six teams from various schools of Kolkata participated in the match. The event started at 9.00 am at the Salt Lake GD Block football ground where members of the recreation club along with staff of SPCL and the school teams gathered. The matches were conducted in knockout format and each half was of 15 minutes with a break of 10 minutes. Though a friendly event, the matches were played with great competitive spirit. Bidhannagar Municipality School won the competition. Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly, renowned footballer of West Bengal, was the chief guest. He congratulated the teams on their participation. Mr. Pranob Roy, former member of Indian Cricket Test Team, distributed the prizes. On behalf of club, Mrs Kalpanath Banerjee presented a memento to Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly and Mr. Pranob Roy. In the second half a friendly match was played between KB-XI and TSR-XI. It looked amazing when AGMs, DGMs and VP along with engineers and officers ran after a football. At the end KB-XI won 4-0.

Mr. Kalpanath Banerjee and Mr. Pranob Roy with the budding footballers.

11

The second edition of the iSpace Corporate Cricket Tourney thconcluded at SP Infocity Pune on 17 November, 2010.

Encouraged by the success of the inaugural tourney in 2009, iSpace Club invited entries from various companies on campus to participate this year as well. The response was phenomenal with 40 teams registering as opposed to 24 last year, inspite of the entry fees being higher.

The iSpace Corporate Cricket Tourney 2010

Mr. Shailesh Korgaokar with the winners.

th6 World Organ Donation DayStaff of SPCL Delhi Region along with their families participated in the Mass Awareness campaign on the

thoccasion of the 6 World Organ Donation Day held at India thGate, New Delhi on 27 November, 2010. The event in

which SPCL raised the slogan “Organ Donation - A Gift for Life”, was organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organisation (WHO). Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, CM of Delhi and Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health were present on the occasion which also witnessed performances from Daler Mehndi and Raju Srivastava. SPCL, Delhi Region regularly participates in other awareness campaigns too like World AIDS Day and Food Safety Day.

Airtel Delhi Half MarathonEight staff members from Delhi also ran in the Airtel Delhi

stHalf Marathon on 21 November, 2010. Running under the slogan - Safety First in Construction Industry - they all improved on their previous timings. Delhi had also sent a representative to run in the Stanchart Mumbai Marathon and its Cricket and Football teams regularly participate in tournaments held at Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh.

TMLL Site bags Award

TATA Motor Lucknow (TML) arranged the ‘Service thProviders Annual Meet 2010’ on 20 September, 2010.

Happening in Delhi Region Happening in Kolkata Region

Pond Cleaning at Nayalanka Pond

Team lead by Mr. Kalpanath Banerjee on the job

12

Health Camp, Guwahati

A health checkup camp for workers was organized at Radisson thHotel, Guwahati site, on 11 September, 2010.

Dr. Madhukar Choudhury (MD) of Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital, a premier govt. hospital at Guwahati, conducted the checkup. He advised the workers to take necessary health measures and also spoke at length to them about general wellbeing.

- Abhilash Choudhury, Kolkata

Health camp for workers

Forbes, a group concern of SP, is involved in numerous activities like water harvesting and cleaning of ponds. Our MD. Mr. Cyrus Mistry, had expressed his desire that SPCL should also be engaged in creating a better environment. Motivated by his vision, the Recreation Club of SPCL, Kolkata got involved in the cleaning of the 300 year old Nayalanka Pond in Barasat.

th On the 15 of August, 2010, staff of the Recreation Club along with local residents got into action and conducted a ‘Shramdan’ to clean the pond. The enthusiasm with which the local residents engaged in this activity further motivated the club members. Everyone has committed to continue with the cleaning and beautification of the pond.

- Usha Venkatesan, Kolkata

TML thanked SPCL for support in achieving the milestone of 34,926 numbers of Vehicles Production in FY 2009 – 2010 and presented the trophy to SPCL.

Mr. Alok Saxena, Plant Head, TML, Lucknow and Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta, AGM (Commercial) also appreciated the TMLL team of SPCL and presented the Gold Award in Project Services for 2009 – 2010 and the Excellent Safety Performance Award – Plant Head Service Provider Safety Trophy for 2009 – 2010.

This year the teams donned a full cricket uniform with each team’s color, logo, names and numbers of individual players. The prize money was also increased to ` 40,000 for the winner and ` 25,000 for the runner up team. There were also individual prizes for best bowler and best batsman of the tourney.

The event was sponsored by Croma, Sanjay Maintenance Services, Ansec Security Services, Rajeshwari Landscaping, Om Enterprises, Wastu Painting Services, Unique Electricals, Adventure Plus, Sodexo, Citrus Check Inns, Vedant Facility Services, Sabcons & Balaji Caterers.

Each team was allowed to field 7 players. All had to bowl an over in the innings and there were fun rules for scoring runs & declaring a batsman out. The finalist were ‘Oceans IX’ and ‘ADP A’ with the latter successfully defending their total of 46 runs.

The ‘Best Batsman’ prize went to Aniket of ‘ADP A’ and Nithi of ‘Oceans IX’ was the ‘Best Bowler’. Nachiket of ‘SPCL Fighters’ was recognized as the ‘Best Player’ of the tourney. Mr. Lalchand Rajput was the guest of honor for the event. and gave away the prizes.

- Shailesh Korgaokar, SP Infocity, Pune.

SPCL in WODD Rally at India Gate

TMLL site team with the award.

The SP team members had also made provision for breakfast and lunch which the children thoroughly enjoyed. It was overwhelming to see the joy on the faces of these children. The memory of the sporting event will always stay with the members of the Recreation Club.

- Usha Venkatesan, Kolkata

Mr. and Mrs. Kalpanath Banerjee presenting mementoto Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly.

Mr. P. K. Rakheja, Sr. V. P. (North), Mr. Kalyan Kumar Kanji, G. M. and Mr. Sandeep Kool, Project Manager, TMLL were present at the award ceremony held at Lucknow and accepted the trophy, awards and recognition on behalf of TMLL site team.

- Gautam Sarkar, Delhi

Free eye testing campAn eye camp was organized in association with Mahavir International, a Delhi based Trust. The camp was organized at two of the company sites in Greater Noida (GVM and CSCT).Preliminary vision testing was performed by the ophthalmic team using vision charts and E type charts. Patients who had problems with their vision were given glasses free of cost.Clinical conditions such as external eye infection and presence of cataract were also examined. Test findings were evaluated and after examination, doctors made the final diagnoses and prescribed necessary treatment.Around 821 labourers benefited from the camp and 200 pairs of spectacles were distributed.

- Preeti Sehgal, Delhi

Kolkata Regions Football match for the underprivileged childrenKolkata Region conducted a friendly football match on

th14 August, 2010 for underprivileged children. The football match was conducted in two parts. The first half was for underprivileged children from schools in the age group of 10 - 15 years. Six teams from various schools of Kolkata participated in the match. The event started at 9.00 am at the Salt Lake GD Block football ground where members of the recreation club along with staff of SPCL and the school teams gathered. The matches were conducted in knockout format and each half was of 15 minutes with a break of 10 minutes. Though a friendly event, the matches were played with great competitive spirit. Bidhannagar Municipality School won the competition. Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly, renowned footballer of West Bengal, was the chief guest. He congratulated the teams on their participation. Mr. Pranob Roy, former member of Indian Cricket Test Team, distributed the prizes. On behalf of club, Mrs Kalpanath Banerjee presented a memento to Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly and Mr. Pranob Roy. In the second half a friendly match was played between KB-XI and TSR-XI. It looked amazing when AGMs, DGMs and VP along with engineers and officers ran after a football. At the end KB-XI won 4-0.

Mr. Kalpanath Banerjee and Mr. Pranob Roy with the budding footballers.

11

The second edition of the iSpace Corporate Cricket Tourney thconcluded at SP Infocity Pune on 17 November, 2010.

Encouraged by the success of the inaugural tourney in 2009, iSpace Club invited entries from various companies on campus to participate this year as well. The response was phenomenal with 40 teams registering as opposed to 24 last year, inspite of the entry fees being higher.

The iSpace Corporate Cricket Tourney 2010

Mr. Shailesh Korgaokar with the winners.

th6 World Organ Donation DayStaff of SPCL Delhi Region along with their families participated in the Mass Awareness campaign on the

thoccasion of the 6 World Organ Donation Day held at India thGate, New Delhi on 27 November, 2010. The event in

which SPCL raised the slogan “Organ Donation - A Gift for Life”, was organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organisation (WHO). Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, CM of Delhi and Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health were present on the occasion which also witnessed performances from Daler Mehndi and Raju Srivastava. SPCL, Delhi Region regularly participates in other awareness campaigns too like World AIDS Day and Food Safety Day.

Airtel Delhi Half MarathonEight staff members from Delhi also ran in the Airtel Delhi

stHalf Marathon on 21 November, 2010. Running under the slogan - Safety First in Construction Industry - they all improved on their previous timings. Delhi had also sent a representative to run in the Stanchart Mumbai Marathon and its Cricket and Football teams regularly participate in tournaments held at Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh.

TMLL Site bags Award

TATA Motor Lucknow (TML) arranged the ‘Service thProviders Annual Meet 2010’ on 20 September, 2010.

Happening in Delhi Region Happening in Kolkata Region

Pond Cleaning at Nayalanka Pond

Team lead by Mr. Kalpanath Banerjee on the job

12

Health Camp, Guwahati

A health checkup camp for workers was organized at Radisson thHotel, Guwahati site, on 11 September, 2010.

Dr. Madhukar Choudhury (MD) of Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital, a premier govt. hospital at Guwahati, conducted the checkup. He advised the workers to take necessary health measures and also spoke at length to them about general wellbeing.

- Abhilash Choudhury, Kolkata

Health camp for workers

Forbes, a group concern of SP, is involved in numerous activities like water harvesting and cleaning of ponds. Our MD. Mr. Cyrus Mistry, had expressed his desire that SPCL should also be engaged in creating a better environment. Motivated by his vision, the Recreation Club of SPCL, Kolkata got involved in the cleaning of the 300 year old Nayalanka Pond in Barasat.

th On the 15 of August, 2010, staff of the Recreation Club along with local residents got into action and conducted a ‘Shramdan’ to clean the pond. The enthusiasm with which the local residents engaged in this activity further motivated the club members. Everyone has committed to continue with the cleaning and beautification of the pond.

- Usha Venkatesan, Kolkata

TML thanked SPCL for support in achieving the milestone of 34,926 numbers of Vehicles Production in FY 2009 – 2010 and presented the trophy to SPCL.

Mr. Alok Saxena, Plant Head, TML, Lucknow and Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta, AGM (Commercial) also appreciated the TMLL team of SPCL and presented the Gold Award in Project Services for 2009 – 2010 and the Excellent Safety Performance Award – Plant Head Service Provider Safety Trophy for 2009 – 2010.

This year the teams donned a full cricket uniform with each team’s color, logo, names and numbers of individual players. The prize money was also increased to ` 40,000 for the winner and ` 25,000 for the runner up team. There were also individual prizes for best bowler and best batsman of the tourney.

The event was sponsored by Croma, Sanjay Maintenance Services, Ansec Security Services, Rajeshwari Landscaping, Om Enterprises, Wastu Painting Services, Unique Electricals, Adventure Plus, Sodexo, Citrus Check Inns, Vedant Facility Services, Sabcons & Balaji Caterers.

Each team was allowed to field 7 players. All had to bowl an over in the innings and there were fun rules for scoring runs & declaring a batsman out. The finalist were ‘Oceans IX’ and ‘ADP A’ with the latter successfully defending their total of 46 runs.

The ‘Best Batsman’ prize went to Aniket of ‘ADP A’ and Nithi of ‘Oceans IX’ was the ‘Best Bowler’. Nachiket of ‘SPCL Fighters’ was recognized as the ‘Best Player’ of the tourney. Mr. Lalchand Rajput was the guest of honor for the event. and gave away the prizes.

- Shailesh Korgaokar, SP Infocity, Pune.

SPCL in WODD Rally at India Gate

TMLL site team with the award.

The SP team members had also made provision for breakfast and lunch which the children thoroughly enjoyed. It was overwhelming to see the joy on the faces of these children. The memory of the sporting event will always stay with the members of the Recreation Club.

- Usha Venkatesan, Kolkata

Mr. and Mrs. Kalpanath Banerjee presenting mementoto Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly.

Mr. P. K. Rakheja, Sr. V. P. (North), Mr. Kalyan Kumar Kanji, G. M. and Mr. Sandeep Kool, Project Manager, TMLL were present at the award ceremony held at Lucknow and accepted the trophy, awards and recognition on behalf of TMLL site team.

- Gautam Sarkar, Delhi

Free eye testing campAn eye camp was organized in association with Mahavir International, a Delhi based Trust. The camp was organized at two of the company sites in Greater Noida (GVM and CSCT).Preliminary vision testing was performed by the ophthalmic team using vision charts and E type charts. Patients who had problems with their vision were given glasses free of cost.Clinical conditions such as external eye infection and presence of cataract were also examined. Test findings were evaluated and after examination, doctors made the final diagnoses and prescribed necessary treatment.Around 821 labourers benefited from the camp and 200 pairs of spectacles were distributed.

- Preeti Sehgal, Delhi

ACP Cladding: the new trend in architecture

Introduction

Cladding in the context of building construction refers to the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements or for aesthetic purposes.

Aluminium Composite Panel Composite Material (ACM) is a widely used term describing flat panels that consist of a non-aluminium core bonded between two aluminium sheets. Aluminium sheets can be coated with PVDF or Polyester paint. ACPs are frequently used for external cladding of buildings (building facades), for insulation and for signage. ACP is very rigid and strong despite its light weight. Aluminium can be painted in any kind of colour and ACPs are produced in a wide range of metallic and non-metallic colours as well as patterns that imitate other materials, such as wood or marble. Applications of ACPs are not limited to external building cladding, but can also be used in any form of cladding such as partitions, false ceilings etc. The core is commonly low density Polyethylene or an insulating material.

History

Cladding in construction has existed through the early times when, in Norway, it was used on large barns to protect the bare walls from the natural elements. However, more formal research into cladding and its use as a weather elements excluder was a more recent process initiated in the 1940’s. The Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was one of the first very large buildings to utilise modern rainscreen cladding.

In 1969, through a joint invention between Alusingen and BASF, the first ACP was introduced to the world. In spite of the invention of the product in 1969, it was not until the mid 80s that mainstream architecture discovered the use of the material. Since then the process of ACP cladding has progressed in leaps and bounds and now along with aluminium curtain-walls and glass, ACP materials dominate the facade industry.

There are many modern cities that have been built with these materials. The impressive Burj al Arab, symbol of the city of Dubai is a prime example and a benchmark project for ACP cladding.

Advantages of ACP

• Light weight and impressive strength-to-weight ratio

• Material adaptability and flexibility

• Durability

• Harmony with the environment

• Variety of colours

(ACP) or Aluminium

Disadvantages of ACP

• Fire Hazard

• Poor Impact Resistance

Preparation for Installation

Prior to installing the ACP system, verify that the building is properly protected with a weather resistant barrier (WRB).

Ventilation spaces should allow for uninhibited vertical airflow. The design of the ACP rain screen system allows it to be fastened directly to the wall framing or furring strips. Achieving a ventilation compartment is accomplished by spacing the system from the wall. Without this essential spacing, the system will not breathe correctly and will likely trap water, condensation, or other moisture.

High Level Steps

• The bracket layout is marked

• Brackets are fixed & aligned.

a) Position bracket

b) Fix Fasteners

c) Provide packing using Shims

• The ACP Cladding panels shall be lifted up to respective floors by using an internal material hoist and then distributed outside the building vide openings i.e. windows.

• Panel Installation

a) Fix grids

b) Position panels using plumb line to ensure alignment of panels

c) Lock panels into the grid using locking arrangements

Note: An electrical gondola / cradle shall be used for all the external façade.

Design Loads

The ACP cladding is subjected to various loads, generated by the environment and occupancy, including windloads, self weight and impact loads. Inappropriate design can lead to cladding collapsing or being torn from the structure. Excessive deformation may compromise the effectiveness of weather seals. Wind flowing round a building causes pressure and suction on the surfaces. The cladding should be designed to have adequate strength, both in the panels and their connections to the structure.

14

Focus on group companies

Projects by AFCONSGhazipur Project

Construction of main flyover, underpass, slip roads, bridge widening over drain, footbridge, bus bays, cycle tracks, drainage, electrical, landscaping, and allied works at Ghazipur crossing of NH – 24 and Road No. 56, is one of

the prestigious Common Wealth Game projects to be completed by AFCONS.

The project worth ` 183 Cr at completion was inaugurated thon schedule on 29 June, 2010 by the Chief Minister of

Delhi.

The scope of work included 770 m long main flyover with 8 lanes for vehicular traffic, 6630 m underpass with 4 lanes plus 3 m carriageway on each side for non-motorized vehicles, rotary of 80 m, surface level 8 numbers of slip road each of 3500 m length and 11m width on either side of flyover and underpass.

The construction of the PSC slab was done by using Balance Cantilever Bridge Builder Technique. This technique has been implemented for the first time in a Delhi flyover.The Maximum length of Single Span of Carriage way is 75 m & width 15.2 m which is also a first in Delhi. The record time cycle of 6 days was achieved with balance cantilever bridge builder technique in the complete construction of segments of 3 mtrs. each.

Mukarba Chowk Project

Construction of the Grade Separator at Mukarba Chowk at GT Karnal Road on Outer Ring Road junction, New Delhi, was the first Common Wealth Game project to be completed by AFCONS. It won the best project award from the Ministry of PWD. The completely Signal Free Junction comprised the Construction of Main Flyover including Loops, Slip Roads, Bridges, Subway, Cycle Tracks, Drainage, Electrical, Landscaping and allied works.

The value of the project at completion was ` 173 crores and stit was inaugurated on 1 March, 2009.

Mukarba Chowk Intersection on GT Karnal Road-Outer Ring Road in North Delhi is the gateway to five states of India viz. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir and also to Delhi. It is one of the busiest junctions of Delhi. Access to the capital city of India through this constructed Grade Separator at the said intersection provides a pleasing view, soothing effect and a profound respite to the eyes and mind of the people.

The project consisted of:

• Completely Signal Free Junction

• Flyover joining on Outer Ring Road with viaduct on RCC piers over pile foundation and composite steel structure of tub shape.

• Four Slip Roads for left turns and Four Clover Leaves for right turns with three lane carriageway (9.0 meter each) on integrated and continuous Voided Slab avoiding bearing usage and minimizing expansion joints / RCC Box / Re-Wall / Embankments.

• 2950 meter long and 4 meter wide dedicated Cycle Track / Footpath.

• Bus bays on Flyover and Ground Level below Flyover.

• Staircase and Ramps (For physically challenged and senior citizens), Subway for crossing for both cyclists and pedestrians and future provisions for Lifts and Escalators.

• Landscaping, Street Lighting etc.

• Aesthetically pleasant Electric Poles on Slip Roads and Cloverleaves providing better lux level on carriageway.

• Extensive use of imported GOMACO Slip Form Paver for construction of RCC Crash Barriers.

• Managing huge volume of traffic.

Achievements:

• Appreciation from Client for completing 1450 cum of continuous concreting of voided slab in the loop of

th4 quadrant in a record time of 24 hours.

• Appreciation from Client for completing 200 nos of 1200 mm diameter piles in a month.

• Unique shape of piers, pier caps & voided slabs in various loops, slip roads & main flyover.

• Appreciation from Client for fabricating 2460 MT of Steel Tub Girder at Ropar Workshop.

• Mobile Arrangement for Anti-Carbonation paint application underneath the deck.

• Successful use of slip form pavers for construction of RCC Crash Barrier-First time in Delhi.

- Team AFCONS13

View of underpass and flyover

View of main flyover from Rohini end

Performance testing of cladding

In buildings where the cladding system is complex, performance testing for weather tightness may be required as part of the contract conditions to demonstrate compliance with specified performance criteria. The testing regime depends on the type of cladding system.

Computer Associates, Hyderbad

ACP Cladding: the new trend in architecture

Introduction

Cladding in the context of building construction refers to the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements or for aesthetic purposes.

Aluminium Composite Panel Composite Material (ACM) is a widely used term describing flat panels that consist of a non-aluminium core bonded between two aluminium sheets. Aluminium sheets can be coated with PVDF or Polyester paint. ACPs are frequently used for external cladding of buildings (building facades), for insulation and for signage. ACP is very rigid and strong despite its light weight. Aluminium can be painted in any kind of colour and ACPs are produced in a wide range of metallic and non-metallic colours as well as patterns that imitate other materials, such as wood or marble. Applications of ACPs are not limited to external building cladding, but can also be used in any form of cladding such as partitions, false ceilings etc. The core is commonly low density Polyethylene or an insulating material.

History

Cladding in construction has existed through the early times when, in Norway, it was used on large barns to protect the bare walls from the natural elements. However, more formal research into cladding and its use as a weather elements excluder was a more recent process initiated in the 1940’s. The Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was one of the first very large buildings to utilise modern rainscreen cladding.

In 1969, through a joint invention between Alusingen and BASF, the first ACP was introduced to the world. In spite of the invention of the product in 1969, it was not until the mid 80s that mainstream architecture discovered the use of the material. Since then the process of ACP cladding has progressed in leaps and bounds and now along with aluminium curtain-walls and glass, ACP materials dominate the facade industry.

There are many modern cities that have been built with these materials. The impressive Burj al Arab, symbol of the city of Dubai is a prime example and a benchmark project for ACP cladding.

Advantages of ACP

• Light weight and impressive strength-to-weight ratio

• Material adaptability and flexibility

• Durability

• Harmony with the environment

• Variety of colours

(ACP) or Aluminium

Disadvantages of ACP

• Fire Hazard

• Poor Impact Resistance

Preparation for Installation

Prior to installing the ACP system, verify that the building is properly protected with a weather resistant barrier (WRB).

Ventilation spaces should allow for uninhibited vertical airflow. The design of the ACP rain screen system allows it to be fastened directly to the wall framing or furring strips. Achieving a ventilation compartment is accomplished by spacing the system from the wall. Without this essential spacing, the system will not breathe correctly and will likely trap water, condensation, or other moisture.

High Level Steps

• The bracket layout is marked

• Brackets are fixed & aligned.

a) Position bracket

b) Fix Fasteners

c) Provide packing using Shims

• The ACP Cladding panels shall be lifted up to respective floors by using an internal material hoist and then distributed outside the building vide openings i.e. windows.

• Panel Installation

a) Fix grids

b) Position panels using plumb line to ensure alignment of panels

c) Lock panels into the grid using locking arrangements

Note: An electrical gondola / cradle shall be used for all the external façade.

Design Loads

The ACP cladding is subjected to various loads, generated by the environment and occupancy, including windloads, self weight and impact loads. Inappropriate design can lead to cladding collapsing or being torn from the structure. Excessive deformation may compromise the effectiveness of weather seals. Wind flowing round a building causes pressure and suction on the surfaces. The cladding should be designed to have adequate strength, both in the panels and their connections to the structure.

14

Focus on group companies

Projects by AFCONSGhazipur Project

Construction of main flyover, underpass, slip roads, bridge widening over drain, footbridge, bus bays, cycle tracks, drainage, electrical, landscaping, and allied works at Ghazipur crossing of NH – 24 and Road No. 56, is one of

the prestigious Common Wealth Game projects to be completed by AFCONS.

The project worth ` 183 Cr at completion was inaugurated thon schedule on 29 June, 2010 by the Chief Minister of

Delhi.

The scope of work included 770 m long main flyover with 8 lanes for vehicular traffic, 6630 m underpass with 4 lanes plus 3 m carriageway on each side for non-motorized vehicles, rotary of 80 m, surface level 8 numbers of slip road each of 3500 m length and 11m width on either side of flyover and underpass.

The construction of the PSC slab was done by using Balance Cantilever Bridge Builder Technique. This technique has been implemented for the first time in a Delhi flyover.The Maximum length of Single Span of Carriage way is 75 m & width 15.2 m which is also a first in Delhi. The record time cycle of 6 days was achieved with balance cantilever bridge builder technique in the complete construction of segments of 3 mtrs. each.

Mukarba Chowk Project

Construction of the Grade Separator at Mukarba Chowk at GT Karnal Road on Outer Ring Road junction, New Delhi, was the first Common Wealth Game project to be completed by AFCONS. It won the best project award from the Ministry of PWD. The completely Signal Free Junction comprised the Construction of Main Flyover including Loops, Slip Roads, Bridges, Subway, Cycle Tracks, Drainage, Electrical, Landscaping and allied works.

The value of the project at completion was ` 173 crores and stit was inaugurated on 1 March, 2009.

Mukarba Chowk Intersection on GT Karnal Road-Outer Ring Road in North Delhi is the gateway to five states of India viz. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir and also to Delhi. It is one of the busiest junctions of Delhi. Access to the capital city of India through this constructed Grade Separator at the said intersection provides a pleasing view, soothing effect and a profound respite to the eyes and mind of the people.

The project consisted of:

• Completely Signal Free Junction

• Flyover joining on Outer Ring Road with viaduct on RCC piers over pile foundation and composite steel structure of tub shape.

• Four Slip Roads for left turns and Four Clover Leaves for right turns with three lane carriageway (9.0 meter each) on integrated and continuous Voided Slab avoiding bearing usage and minimizing expansion joints / RCC Box / Re-Wall / Embankments.

• 2950 meter long and 4 meter wide dedicated Cycle Track / Footpath.

• Bus bays on Flyover and Ground Level below Flyover.

• Staircase and Ramps (For physically challenged and senior citizens), Subway for crossing for both cyclists and pedestrians and future provisions for Lifts and Escalators.

• Landscaping, Street Lighting etc.

• Aesthetically pleasant Electric Poles on Slip Roads and Cloverleaves providing better lux level on carriageway.

• Extensive use of imported GOMACO Slip Form Paver for construction of RCC Crash Barriers.

• Managing huge volume of traffic.

Achievements:

• Appreciation from Client for completing 1450 cum of continuous concreting of voided slab in the loop of

th4 quadrant in a record time of 24 hours.

• Appreciation from Client for completing 200 nos of 1200 mm diameter piles in a month.

• Unique shape of piers, pier caps & voided slabs in various loops, slip roads & main flyover.

• Appreciation from Client for fabricating 2460 MT of Steel Tub Girder at Ropar Workshop.

• Mobile Arrangement for Anti-Carbonation paint application underneath the deck.

• Successful use of slip form pavers for construction of RCC Crash Barrier-First time in Delhi.

- Team AFCONS13

View of underpass and flyover

View of main flyover from Rohini end

Performance testing of cladding

In buildings where the cladding system is complex, performance testing for weather tightness may be required as part of the contract conditions to demonstrate compliance with specified performance criteria. The testing regime depends on the type of cladding system.

Computer Associates, Hyderbad

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is investing over ` 100 billion, one of its largest investments, in the development of an integrated port and power facility in Junagadh District of Gujarat.

SP Group has won a concession through competitive bidding for setting up a deep draft, all weather, multi-user and multi-cargo port at Chhara with an investment of approximately ` 12 billion in the first phase. On completion, it would be one of the few ports in India that can berth cape-size vessels, large container vessels apart from current generation LNG carriers and liquid cargo.

The Group is also implementing a coal based thermal power project with an initial capacity of 1,320 MW with capacity to expand to 2,640 MW. The first phase is being implemented at an investment of over ` 70 billion.

SP Initiatives in Junagadh The power plant has already executed an agreement for sa le o f 800 MW to Gujara t and ac t ive s teps in implementation of these projects are in progress. The plant will have latest super critical technology boilers for power generation together with use of low ash and low sulphur coal and an extensive green belt with environment conservation measures.

The land for these projects are being procured directly from the land owners and inline with the philosophy of the SP Group promoters, noteworthy efforts are being made to ensure that these projects benefit the local communities. The following initiatives, undertaken at the project location, have received overwhelming response f rom the villages/local communities:

1. A Mobile Dispensary with full time qualified doctor and assisting staff is operational since November, 2010. Medicines are distributed free of cost to those treated by this primary care dispensary. A grand function was organized at Central Kodinar to inaugurate this van. As of date, on average, over 90 persons are being treated everyday as the dispensary travels to the four villages covered by the projects.

2. SP Group have entered in a MOU with BAIF, a leading NGO based on Gandhian Principles, for a period of 5 years to take up activities for cattle breeding, cattle health camp, and training of locals in income generating schemes. Subsequently, a BAIF team is already operating in the villages.

SP Group, being a socially responsible corporate, will continuously endeavor to promote the welfare of local communities through such activities.

- Bevin Mathews, SP Infra15

Your Space

European Holiday (A travel log by Mukesh Rao, SP HO)

In mid September, my wife and I toured Europe. The 15 day package tour organised by a reputed travel company covered 9 locations - Italy, Vatican City, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and United Kingdom. On completion of the tour, we extended our stay in the United Kingdom by two weeks.

It would be a gross understatement to say that we enjoyed the trip. We loved every minute of it and the memories will stay with us throughout our life. I strongly urge you to make the trip if you get an opportunity.

The tour started in Rome. In our three days in Italy, we also covered Florence, Pisa and Venice. These places are noted for their history and culture. The Colisseum in Rome may not impress us Indians who are used to magnificent ruins, but the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican as well as interiors of the St. Peters Basilica will blow your mind away. More magnificent renaissance art follows in Florence till the richness of it all leaves you hoping for a change of scene. Venice and its canals were unique though the water was dirty.

We were happy to see the rich greens of mountain meadows, the quaint hillside houses and the bubbling streams as we climbed into Austria. We stayed in Innsbruck which is a ‘hill station’. Wonderful old style buildings. Graceful people. It seemed a different world. Pity, we stopped for just a day there. Austria is definitely worth returning to and would compete with Switzerland for the most enchanting scenery.

The three days in Switzerland were the best. All lake and mountain country. We took a train to the top of Europe- Jungfraujoch - which, at 11,500 feet, has perennial snow and ice. It felt great to play in and slide down the snow - something that we would never experience here. The scenery is breathtaking. We also got to see waterfalls inside a mountain.

Our next stop was Germany. We had a cruise down the Rhine admiring the pretty houses and the odd castle on the banks. We spent some time at the Black Forest - black because of the thick density of trees. German villages are picturesque. We saw the awesome cathedral at Cologne. A massive traffic pile up on the Autobahn reduced our stay at Heidelberg Castle. German towns are clinical in their looks and architecture. Very modern and efficient.

We drove into the flat and tiny countries of Belgium and The Netherlands. We were now in Western Europe. The weather is colder, the scenery is less wild. There are more people and English is widely understood. At Brussels, we saw the grand buildings lined along the aptly named ‘Grand Place’ and enjoyed eating waffles. We cruised along the canals in Amsterdam. As a Civil Engineer, I tend to enjoy

these cruises more because of the architecture of the buildings along the banks.

Our last stop in continental Europe was Paris in France - the most visited nation on Earth. The Eiffel Tower did not disappoint nor did the most famous road in Paris - Champs d’Elysees. We warmed up to Paris as it reminded us of Mumbai - full of life and variety. We took a cruise on the Seine and wished we had more time at the Louvre, one of the world’s greatest museums. Frankly, I felt Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was over hyped. 16

The mobile dispensary

The River Inn in Inbnsbruck

Mt Titlis, Switzerland

In sealed systems (such as many forms of curtain walling) a representative sample of the wall, a minimum of one bay of the building, including all the details of the intended design is constructed. The tests generally include:

Static pressure and water flow - A vacuum is applied to the rear of the sample and water flow is directed using a series of spray bar nozzles. The inside of the wall is then inspected for water leakage.

Dynamic testing - The static test creates a positive pressure across the cladding, the dynamic test endeavours to create more realistic conditions by developing a turbulent pattern of wind driven rain across the external face of the cladding. In some test arrangements an aircraft engine is used to provide a dynamic wind pattern.

Trends:

Self Cleaning Facades

Aluminium composite panel consists of two sheets of a luminium bonding a layer of LDPE ( low density polyethylene) core in a continuous high pressure and thermal compositing process. In self cleaning facades the surface aluminium is roller-coated with quality NANO PVDF lacquer with the back coated in anti-rust PET coating. Surface plastic film for protecting surface of panels can be peeled off.

- Team SPFAB

Austria

The covered wooden bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland

Mac Solutions, Hyderabad

Tishman, Hyderabad

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is investing over ` 100 billion, one of its largest investments, in the development of an integrated port and power facility in Junagadh District of Gujarat.

SP Group has won a concession through competitive bidding for setting up a deep draft, all weather, multi-user and multi-cargo port at Chhara with an investment of approximately ` 12 billion in the first phase. On completion, it would be one of the few ports in India that can berth cape-size vessels, large container vessels apart from current generation LNG carriers and liquid cargo.

The Group is also implementing a coal based thermal power project with an initial capacity of 1,320 MW with capacity to expand to 2,640 MW. The first phase is being implemented at an investment of over ` 70 billion.

SP Initiatives in Junagadh The power plant has already executed an agreement for sa le o f 800 MW to Gujara t and ac t ive s teps in implementation of these projects are in progress. The plant will have latest super critical technology boilers for power generation together with use of low ash and low sulphur coal and an extensive green belt with environment conservation measures.

The land for these projects are being procured directly from the land owners and inline with the philosophy of the SP Group promoters, noteworthy efforts are being made to ensure that these projects benefit the local communities. The following initiatives, undertaken at the project location, have received overwhelming response f rom the villages/local communities:

1. A Mobile Dispensary with full time qualified doctor and assisting staff is operational since November, 2010. Medicines are distributed free of cost to those treated by this primary care dispensary. A grand function was organized at Central Kodinar to inaugurate this van. As of date, on average, over 90 persons are being treated everyday as the dispensary travels to the four villages covered by the projects.

2. SP Group have entered in a MOU with BAIF, a leading NGO based on Gandhian Principles, for a period of 5 years to take up activities for cattle breeding, cattle health camp, and training of locals in income generating schemes. Subsequently, a BAIF team is already operating in the villages.

SP Group, being a socially responsible corporate, will continuously endeavor to promote the welfare of local communities through such activities.

- Bevin Mathews, SP Infra15

Your Space

European Holiday (A travel log by Mukesh Rao, SP HO)

In mid September, my wife and I toured Europe. The 15 day package tour organised by a reputed travel company covered 9 locations - Italy, Vatican City, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and United Kingdom. On completion of the tour, we extended our stay in the United Kingdom by two weeks.

It would be a gross understatement to say that we enjoyed the trip. We loved every minute of it and the memories will stay with us throughout our life. I strongly urge you to make the trip if you get an opportunity.

The tour started in Rome. In our three days in Italy, we also covered Florence, Pisa and Venice. These places are noted for their history and culture. The Colisseum in Rome may not impress us Indians who are used to magnificent ruins, but the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican as well as interiors of the St. Peters Basilica will blow your mind away. More magnificent renaissance art follows in Florence till the richness of it all leaves you hoping for a change of scene. Venice and its canals were unique though the water was dirty.

We were happy to see the rich greens of mountain meadows, the quaint hillside houses and the bubbling streams as we climbed into Austria. We stayed in Innsbruck which is a ‘hill station’. Wonderful old style buildings. Graceful people. It seemed a different world. Pity, we stopped for just a day there. Austria is definitely worth returning to and would compete with Switzerland for the most enchanting scenery.

The three days in Switzerland were the best. All lake and mountain country. We took a train to the top of Europe- Jungfraujoch - which, at 11,500 feet, has perennial snow and ice. It felt great to play in and slide down the snow - something that we would never experience here. The scenery is breathtaking. We also got to see waterfalls inside a mountain.

Our next stop was Germany. We had a cruise down the Rhine admiring the pretty houses and the odd castle on the banks. We spent some time at the Black Forest - black because of the thick density of trees. German villages are picturesque. We saw the awesome cathedral at Cologne. A massive traffic pile up on the Autobahn reduced our stay at Heidelberg Castle. German towns are clinical in their looks and architecture. Very modern and efficient.

We drove into the flat and tiny countries of Belgium and The Netherlands. We were now in Western Europe. The weather is colder, the scenery is less wild. There are more people and English is widely understood. At Brussels, we saw the grand buildings lined along the aptly named ‘Grand Place’ and enjoyed eating waffles. We cruised along the canals in Amsterdam. As a Civil Engineer, I tend to enjoy

these cruises more because of the architecture of the buildings along the banks.

Our last stop in continental Europe was Paris in France - the most visited nation on Earth. The Eiffel Tower did not disappoint nor did the most famous road in Paris - Champs d’Elysees. We warmed up to Paris as it reminded us of Mumbai - full of life and variety. We took a cruise on the Seine and wished we had more time at the Louvre, one of the world’s greatest museums. Frankly, I felt Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was over hyped. 16

The mobile dispensary

The River Inn in Inbnsbruck

Mt Titlis, Switzerland

In sealed systems (such as many forms of curtain walling) a representative sample of the wall, a minimum of one bay of the building, including all the details of the intended design is constructed. The tests generally include:

Static pressure and water flow - A vacuum is applied to the rear of the sample and water flow is directed using a series of spray bar nozzles. The inside of the wall is then inspected for water leakage.

Dynamic testing - The static test creates a positive pressure across the cladding, the dynamic test endeavours to create more realistic conditions by developing a turbulent pattern of wind driven rain across the external face of the cladding. In some test arrangements an aircraft engine is used to provide a dynamic wind pattern.

Trends:

Self Cleaning Facades

Aluminium composite panel consists of two sheets of a luminium bonding a layer of LDPE ( low density polyethylene) core in a continuous high pressure and thermal compositing process. In self cleaning facades the surface aluminium is roller-coated with quality NANO PVDF lacquer with the back coated in anti-rust PET coating. Surface plastic film for protecting surface of panels can be peeled off.

- Team SPFAB

Austria

The covered wooden bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland

Mac Solutions, Hyderabad

Tishman, Hyderabad

Mobile computing has been around for a decent period now and we all know about the signature gadget in this field – the laptop computer or the notebook. Laptops transformed computing trends as they allowed the computer to be carried out of office or home and this opened up immense possibilities. Today, laptops have taken over the corporate and home computing world in a big way. However, mobile computing has advanced further and newer platforms and devices with more focused use have emerged. We take a look at a couple of these devices in this article.

The Netbook

The Netbook is like a mini version of the laptop – it is smaller and lighter and is called so because it is like a small notebook or laptop and is primarily used to connect to the net and for basic computing needs. H o w e v e r , n o w Netbook have grown significantly in terms of

their processing capabilities and features.

The device is increasingly becoming popular as it offers better mobility and ease due to lower weight compared to full fledged laptops. Things have been changing rapidly and now dual core processor Netbook is entering the market; hard disk capacities have gone over 200 GB and multimedia capabilities have increased tremendously.

Netbook does not have CD/DVD drive but it does feature multiple USB ports, WiFi, Blutooth, Camera and many other features found on laptops. External CD/DVD drives can be connected via USB. A Netbook can by and large do almost everything that a laptop can; with some limitations for applications requiring high processing capabilities. Netbook has very good battery life. A 6 - cell battery can give anywhere between 4-7 hours of life to the Netbook. The battery life for dual core processor Netbook may be lesser due to higher power requirement of these processors. Netbook, due to the very form and purpose of providing portability and connectivity on the move, has smaller screens and lower resolutions than a laptop. Netbook screen is generally of around 10-12 inches as against a laptop screen of 14-15 inches.

So if your computing requirements are not very demanding in terms of processing power and you need to be on the move, a Netbook is a very good option.

As Netbook are growing in terms of processing power, so are the prices. Today, a top of the line Netbook from a leading brand could set you back by almost ̀ 30,000. However, there are a number of decent netbooks in the range of ̀ 15,000 to ` 20,000. So you need to take a call on price-performance ratio based on your usage and requirements. Netbooks are available from various reputed brands such as Lenovo, HP, HCL, Dell, Asus, MSI and others.

Tablet PC

Tablet PCs, mostly referred to as Tablet are different from Netbook and laptops. These are basically flat pad design

Mobile Computing - New platforms, Newer possibilities.

1817

We then crossed under the tunnel in the “Eurostar” to London. We can’t feel the high speeds - 200 kmph, I guess. London is home for us Indians. The language is familiar, the culture and customs are not strange and Indians and their restaurants are everywhere. After nearly 2 weeks, I got to read English papers and scan the cricket scores.

Here, my wife was thrilled to be photographed with Sachin at Tussauds. We saw London from the giant wheel - London Eye - and had a tour on the ground. Anyone who has played ‘Monopoly’ in his childhood will be thrilled at discovering Trafalgar Square, Euston Road, Piccadilly, Bond

Street etc. The Tower of London was a bit dull and many in our group were griping about t h e ‘ Ko h i n o o r ’ being stolen from our country. We a l s o s a w t h e ornate ly carved S w a m i n a r a y a n t e m p l e i n t h e suburbs.

From hereon, we stayed back in UK. We were put up in Reading, 64 kms

from London. The trains cover the distance in 25 mts. but the return fare is as much as a 2 tier AC train ticket from Mumbai to Bengaluru. In our 14 days here, we explored scenic towns like Oxford, Bath and Salisbury; historic Stonehenge; and the Thames at Henley. We saw more of London - its museums (British Museum, Greenwich), gardens (Kew), Westminster Abbey and even a musical at a West End Theatre. But the highlight undoubtedly was a 2 day trip to Scotland. We stayed in Edinburgh - the whole city is a UNESCO heritage site - and took a tour to the wild highlands and Loch Ness. Remote and grim like our Ladakh, but ethereally beautiful.

We can’t recall a single bitter experience in our trip. We never regretted taking a package tour despite the fact that we had no control over the itinerary. But the advantages are many:

1) Vegetarian Indian breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout though we did sample local delicacies like apple strudel, potato rosti, etc.

2) Accommodation in good hotels.

3) No standing in queues anywhere. All entries were arranged.

4) No language problems as we had a tour manager.

5) No time wasted in locating sights or restaurants.

6) Discipline as we had to be off at 8 a.m. On solo trips, we may have been lazy.

Eiffel Tower - Paris

Guild Halls, Brussels

Street View - Rome

gadgets. Tablet PCs generally have two formats, a convertible model with an integrated keyboard and display that rotates 180 degrees and can be folded down over the keyboard, or a slate style flat panel design. Central to a tablet’s design is a touch screen interface that allows the user to navigate easily and quickly. Although there are versions of tablets that have a keyboard, the main input source

is still the touch screen, using handwriting recognition. Touch screens are also very handy in case you want to draw. With multi-touch input points, these touch screens are very capable surfaces. The screen sizes of tablet PCs are usually in the range of 6 inches to 10 inches. Since tablet computers are meant to be used on the move, they are always exposed to tougher environments. However, now most tablet PC manufacturers have taken steps to further strengthen their devices and are even producing rugged versions.

The main feature or USP of the tablet PC is portability. Weighing approximately between 800 gm to 1.3 kg, the tablet PC can be used as a high powered PDA or trimmed-down notebook, depending on your point of view. The tablet PC hopes to fill a niche market for executives on the go. It is not very high in terms of processing power but is able to carry out all activities which one would require while being on the move. Wireless internet browsing, emails, video conferencing, e-book reading, GPS, games, music, videos, document viewing and editing are all possible on a tablet. In addition a number of other applications can be downloaded or installed. Most new tablets use the latest rage – Google’s open source operating system for mobile devices – Android. However, iPad, the tablet from Apple, uses their proprietary OS. The tablet can also run on a specialized version of Windows XP operating system. Most tablets have small inbuilt storage space compared to a Netbook but allow memory cards to be used for additional space. With high processing power, long battery life, wireless connectivity and very light and small form factor, the tablet is here to stay and is rapidly gaining popularity across the world.

iPad is the tablet that created a buzz around the world. It is still a fast selling product. Samsung has recently launched a very capable tablet called Samsung Galaxy Tab which has an amazing processor speed of 1Ghz. Tablets are available from other brands such as Sony, HP, Dell, Archos etc. However, these may not be officially available in India. The grey market price of an iPad is approx. ` 35,000. Samsung Galaxy Tab is officially available at ̀ 38,000. Another tablet launched in India is the Olivepad which is available at an official price of approx.` 25,000. A number of unbranded tablet PCs are also available in the market. Most of them are of Chinese make and are available in the price range of ` 7,000 to ` 14,000. These, however, do not have any warranty and are not as powerful as Samsung or Apple in terms of processing. However, they do suffice many requirements of mobile computing and are becoming quite popular, especially amongst students.

- Saurav Chaturvedi, SPRE HO

Prehistoric Stonehenge, England

Europe is beautiful and orderly. The roads are excellent. They go to great lengths to preserve their environment. It’s not difficult to move on your own as signages, guide maps and public transport are excellent. I felt more at home in London than in Kolkata. The intricate underground ‘tube’ is easy to use. Language is not much of a problem except in Paris. Seven of the nine countries share one currency - Euro. After immigration in Rome, our only other border control (Passport Check) was at Paris as we boarded the Eurostar. Infact, you can’t make out the border when you cross from The Netherlands to Belgium. But Europe is also extremely expensive and you are likely to be shocked by the prices.

But it’s all worth it. Go for it. It’s bound to be an experience of a lifetime.

Mobile computing has been around for a decent period now and we all know about the signature gadget in this field – the laptop computer or the notebook. Laptops transformed computing trends as they allowed the computer to be carried out of office or home and this opened up immense possibilities. Today, laptops have taken over the corporate and home computing world in a big way. However, mobile computing has advanced further and newer platforms and devices with more focused use have emerged. We take a look at a couple of these devices in this article.

The Netbook

The Netbook is like a mini version of the laptop – it is smaller and lighter and is called so because it is like a small notebook or laptop and is primarily used to connect to the net and for basic computing needs. H o w e v e r , n o w Netbook have grown significantly in terms of

their processing capabilities and features.

The device is increasingly becoming popular as it offers better mobility and ease due to lower weight compared to full fledged laptops. Things have been changing rapidly and now dual core processor Netbook is entering the market; hard disk capacities have gone over 200 GB and multimedia capabilities have increased tremendously.

Netbook does not have CD/DVD drive but it does feature multiple USB ports, WiFi, Blutooth, Camera and many other features found on laptops. External CD/DVD drives can be connected via USB. A Netbook can by and large do almost everything that a laptop can; with some limitations for applications requiring high processing capabilities. Netbook has very good battery life. A 6 - cell battery can give anywhere between 4-7 hours of life to the Netbook. The battery life for dual core processor Netbook may be lesser due to higher power requirement of these processors. Netbook, due to the very form and purpose of providing portability and connectivity on the move, has smaller screens and lower resolutions than a laptop. Netbook screen is generally of around 10-12 inches as against a laptop screen of 14-15 inches.

So if your computing requirements are not very demanding in terms of processing power and you need to be on the move, a Netbook is a very good option.

As Netbook are growing in terms of processing power, so are the prices. Today, a top of the line Netbook from a leading brand could set you back by almost ̀ 30,000. However, there are a number of decent netbooks in the range of ̀ 15,000 to ` 20,000. So you need to take a call on price-performance ratio based on your usage and requirements. Netbooks are available from various reputed brands such as Lenovo, HP, HCL, Dell, Asus, MSI and others.

Tablet PC

Tablet PCs, mostly referred to as Tablet are different from Netbook and laptops. These are basically flat pad design

Mobile Computing - New platforms, Newer possibilities.

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We then crossed under the tunnel in the “Eurostar” to London. We can’t feel the high speeds - 200 kmph, I guess. London is home for us Indians. The language is familiar, the culture and customs are not strange and Indians and their restaurants are everywhere. After nearly 2 weeks, I got to read English papers and scan the cricket scores.

Here, my wife was thrilled to be photographed with Sachin at Tussauds. We saw London from the giant wheel - London Eye - and had a tour on the ground. Anyone who has played ‘Monopoly’ in his childhood will be thrilled at discovering Trafalgar Square, Euston Road, Piccadilly, Bond

Street etc. The Tower of London was a bit dull and many in our group were griping about t h e ‘ Ko h i n o o r ’ being stolen from our country. We a l s o s a w t h e ornate ly carved S w a m i n a r a y a n t e m p l e i n t h e suburbs.

From hereon, we stayed back in UK. We were put up in Reading, 64 kms

from London. The trains cover the distance in 25 mts. but the return fare is as much as a 2 tier AC train ticket from Mumbai to Bengaluru. In our 14 days here, we explored scenic towns like Oxford, Bath and Salisbury; historic Stonehenge; and the Thames at Henley. We saw more of London - its museums (British Museum, Greenwich), gardens (Kew), Westminster Abbey and even a musical at a West End Theatre. But the highlight undoubtedly was a 2 day trip to Scotland. We stayed in Edinburgh - the whole city is a UNESCO heritage site - and took a tour to the wild highlands and Loch Ness. Remote and grim like our Ladakh, but ethereally beautiful.

We can’t recall a single bitter experience in our trip. We never regretted taking a package tour despite the fact that we had no control over the itinerary. But the advantages are many:

1) Vegetarian Indian breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout though we did sample local delicacies like apple strudel, potato rosti, etc.

2) Accommodation in good hotels.

3) No standing in queues anywhere. All entries were arranged.

4) No language problems as we had a tour manager.

5) No time wasted in locating sights or restaurants.

6) Discipline as we had to be off at 8 a.m. On solo trips, we may have been lazy.

Eiffel Tower - Paris

Guild Halls, Brussels

Street View - Rome

gadgets. Tablet PCs generally have two formats, a convertible model with an integrated keyboard and display that rotates 180 degrees and can be folded down over the keyboard, or a slate style flat panel design. Central to a tablet’s design is a touch screen interface that allows the user to navigate easily and quickly. Although there are versions of tablets that have a keyboard, the main input source

is still the touch screen, using handwriting recognition. Touch screens are also very handy in case you want to draw. With multi-touch input points, these touch screens are very capable surfaces. The screen sizes of tablet PCs are usually in the range of 6 inches to 10 inches. Since tablet computers are meant to be used on the move, they are always exposed to tougher environments. However, now most tablet PC manufacturers have taken steps to further strengthen their devices and are even producing rugged versions.

The main feature or USP of the tablet PC is portability. Weighing approximately between 800 gm to 1.3 kg, the tablet PC can be used as a high powered PDA or trimmed-down notebook, depending on your point of view. The tablet PC hopes to fill a niche market for executives on the go. It is not very high in terms of processing power but is able to carry out all activities which one would require while being on the move. Wireless internet browsing, emails, video conferencing, e-book reading, GPS, games, music, videos, document viewing and editing are all possible on a tablet. In addition a number of other applications can be downloaded or installed. Most new tablets use the latest rage – Google’s open source operating system for mobile devices – Android. However, iPad, the tablet from Apple, uses their proprietary OS. The tablet can also run on a specialized version of Windows XP operating system. Most tablets have small inbuilt storage space compared to a Netbook but allow memory cards to be used for additional space. With high processing power, long battery life, wireless connectivity and very light and small form factor, the tablet is here to stay and is rapidly gaining popularity across the world.

iPad is the tablet that created a buzz around the world. It is still a fast selling product. Samsung has recently launched a very capable tablet called Samsung Galaxy Tab which has an amazing processor speed of 1Ghz. Tablets are available from other brands such as Sony, HP, Dell, Archos etc. However, these may not be officially available in India. The grey market price of an iPad is approx. ` 35,000. Samsung Galaxy Tab is officially available at ̀ 38,000. Another tablet launched in India is the Olivepad which is available at an official price of approx.` 25,000. A number of unbranded tablet PCs are also available in the market. Most of them are of Chinese make and are available in the price range of ` 7,000 to ` 14,000. These, however, do not have any warranty and are not as powerful as Samsung or Apple in terms of processing. However, they do suffice many requirements of mobile computing and are becoming quite popular, especially amongst students.

- Saurav Chaturvedi, SPRE HO

Prehistoric Stonehenge, England

Europe is beautiful and orderly. The roads are excellent. They go to great lengths to preserve their environment. It’s not difficult to move on your own as signages, guide maps and public transport are excellent. I felt more at home in London than in Kolkata. The intricate underground ‘tube’ is easy to use. Language is not much of a problem except in Paris. Seven of the nine countries share one currency - Euro. After immigration in Rome, our only other border control (Passport Check) was at Paris as we boarded the Eurostar. Infact, you can’t make out the border when you cross from The Netherlands to Belgium. But Europe is also extremely expensive and you are likely to be shocked by the prices.

But it’s all worth it. Go for it. It’s bound to be an experience of a lifetime.

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OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2010 VOLUME - 12, ISSUE 4

Shapoorji Pallonji Corporate Magazine

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Happ

yNew Year 2011

Head Office Annual Day Celebrations

An Overview of Damac Park Towers

International Strategy Conclave at Dubai

European Holiday Travel Log

The Seat of Government, Accra, Ghana

Park Tower, Dubai

The Imperial, Mumbai