Evolution of Royal Albert Dockland and Continuing Professional Development

This paper analyzes the evolution of Royal Albert Dockland in East London and the impact of its transformation on the region. It also discusses the author's experience of a professional development activity and provides a career development plan.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Professional and Corporate Studies
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Task 1:
Introduction:
The paper is focused on the evolution of Royal Albert Dockland in the East London
region. The transformation of the Royal Albert Dockland into the London’s third business
and financial district produced significant amount of financial, social and environmental
impact on the people of the region (Londonsroyaldocks.com. 2019). The transformation
proved to be significant in the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the
region. The paper analyses the benefits of the mentioned aspects and the offerings of the
transformation to the development of the region. Along with this, the paper also provides an
in depth discussion on my experience of one continuous professional development activity
that I participated in. Apart from this, the paper provides a career development plan in
alignment with my profession.
Background of the development project:
The Royal Albert Dock is considered to be one of the most important dock among the
three docks in the Royal Group of Docks (Londonsroyaldocks.com. 2019). The major reason
behind the consideration is the significant connection of the dock in terms of the
transportation. The dock is connected to the London City Airport. The dock significantly
requires an infrastructural development in the aspect of the transportation as the dock is
facing notable amount of issues in forming the transport links on the north side of the dock.
The transformation project of the dock was observed to include an investment of 1.7 billion
pound and the main focus of the redevelopment was on the construction of the office
buildings, commercial and retail properties along with the residential homes and the
formation of the required facilities for the leisure and community spaces (Newham.gov.uk.

2PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
2019). Along with this, the project included the plan of the redevelopment of the existing
infrastructure of the dock which are the public transport, pedestrian and the cycle routes.
Many of the business researchers were seen to comment on the fact that the project, covering
an area of 4.7 million square feet, was certainly going to increase the effectiveness of the
dock and improve the region’s infrastructure as well. Along with this, the plan of the
infrastructural development or specifically the formation of the commercial houses and office
buildings were significantly triggered with the intention of providing the scope to the Asian
companies for building the European headquarters in the mentioned area. The mayor of
London in the year 2013, Boris Johnson was seen to claim that the development project will
have a span of 10 years and the whole project will be completed in four phases
(London.gov.uk 2019).
Benefits:
Social Sustainability:
The importance of the developmental plan is observed to include various aspects like
the better health of the people of the region, the improvement in the comfort and the
satisfaction of the people residing in that region. The safety and security of the people of the
region which is experiencing the restructure, is also one major aspect of the social
sustainability. Several researchers of the social sustainability are observed to acknowledge
the quality of life, social cohesion and the development of the people to be important
dimensions of the social sustainability (Www1.eere.energy.gov. 2019). The development
plan of the Royal Albert Dockland was focused in the improvement of the public transport,
pedestrians and the cycle routes. Along with that, the plan ensured the construction of the
facilities and the spaces for the community and leisure activities. This was significant in
providing the much needed space for the leisure activities to the people of the East London.

3PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
The improved facilities in the community spaces was significant for the people in having
better health with the construction of the gymnasiums (Www1.eere.energy.gov. 2019). The
construction plan was significant in increasing the fitness of the local people and at the same
time the practice of the cultural and community bond improving activities certainly had the
potential to improve the quality of life for the people of that region. Apart from that, the
construction of the cycle routes and the spaces for people to walk were also significant in
increasing the comfort of leading life for the people. The improvement of the mentioned
facilities were of great significance as it had the potential to improve the integration among
the people the people and create strong bond among the people of the region (Hamiduddin
2015).
Economic Sustainability:
One of the major reason behind the undertaking the project was the intention of
preparing the mentioned dock as one of the most important business and financial location in
Europe. Along with this, the concerned authority responsible for the redevelopment of the
dock was observed to have the aim of providing the business spaces for the headquarters to
the Asian organizations so that they be able to operate their European business conduction
effectively from London. Hence the project for constructing the buildings and residential
homes will be significant for the Asian organizations as that will be helpful for them in
dictating the business conduction from London. It is well known that the increment in the
effectiveness of a business notably depends on the management and the management of the
business conduction becomes significantly easy when the chosen location for operating the
business is at the heart of the operating area (Www1.eere.energy.gov. 2019). Hence the
development plan was of great significance in providing the exact place to the Asian business
organizations.

4PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Along with that, the residential homes will be a significant development as that will
provide the scope of expatriate exchanges for those Asian organizations which will have the
headquarters there in London. Along with the residential homes, the plan included the
construction of the retail and commercial properties which had the potential to attract local
and international business authorities for conducting their usual businesses from London or
starting new ventures from the mentioned location to attract the global and local business
market (Www1.eere.energy.gov. 2019).
The business conduction for the modern day organizations are observed to be easy
with the improvement in the infrastructure associated with it and in that case, the
redevelopment of the existing infrastructure like the roads, the railways, air connectivity and
the public transport were instrumental for the betterment of the business conduction
happening in London. The infrastructural development had the potential to provide the
advantage of easy transport of the goods and equipment, the employees, the raw materials
and the products that the organizations of that region were manufacturing. The ease in the
transport was significant for the organizations in employing competitive pricing which had
the potential to be an advantage for them in the market competition (Www1.eere.energy.gov.
2019).
Environmental Sustainability:
The scope of environmental sustainability in the region was less with the
developmental plan as the construction of the commercial spaces, the residential homes, retail
properties and office buildings were a threat to the balance of the greenery. However the
scope of consideration for the usage of the solar or other renewable sources of energy in the
new infrastructure will be of great significance in maintaining the environmental
sustainability (Stattman and Mol 2014). At the same time, the proper maintenance of the dock

5PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
and the environment surrounding the dock will be a major aspect of the developmental plan.
The beautification of the existing roads, cycle routes and pedestrians with the addition of
greenery will be notable in putting strong emphasis on the environmental sustainability.
Disadvantages:
Social Sustainability:
The mentioned aspects of the development or the transformation plan were
independent of the social sustainability disadvantages. However with the intention of
introducing the Asian organizations can be a disadvantage as well. The choices of the
products which are not significantly appropriate for the society from the part of the Asian
organizations, have the chances to be considered as the social sustainability disadvantage
(Weingaertner and Moberg 2014).
Economic Sustainability:
As mentioned earlier, one of the main reasons behind the project was the intention of
making the region as one of the prime industrial and business location in England. Along
with this, the plan included the consideration of providing the spaces to the Asian
organizations for the development of their headquarters for the European operations. Hence it
has the possibility to impact the local and national business organizations as the foreign
investment in a particular industry in Britain could hamper the business growth of the local
and national organizations (Liu and Zhang 2013).
Environmental Sustainability:
As mentioned earlier, the project was not significant in providing the environmental
benefits to the society. However the construction of the commercial houses, retail spaces
along with the residential houses had the potential of threatening the environment (Epstein

6PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
2018). Along with this, the dock environment and the aspects like the depth of the water or
the disposal of poisonous waste of the residential homes into the water of the dock had the
potential of increasing the impurity in the water. This had the possibility to decrease the
ecological balance in the dock region.
Conclusions:
On a concluding note, it can be said that the development plan was significant for the
Royal Albert Dockland in transforming it into a well decorated commercial location. The
plan was instrumental in making the dockland to be the business capital of the region. Along
with this, the evaluation of the plan ensures the fact that it will be of notable significance for
the local community and the economy of the region.

7PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Task 2:
I, being a professional of the construction industry undertook a project of continuing
professional development from a recognised institution in the form of Chartered Institution of
Civil Engineering Surveyors (Cices.org. 2019). Being a professional of the concerned
industry, I do face significant need of conducting the surveys and in that case, the effective
understanding of the major aspects of the survey like the maintenance of the code of conduct,
focusing on the reduction of the cultural differences and the understanding of the roles and
responsibilities of the professionals in the mentioned industry. In order to operate effectively
in my job role, I need reduce the impact of these issues. Hence the undertaking of the
Continuing Professional Development project was much needed for me.
The event was organized by the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
and was conducted from 2nd of November to 10th December (Cices.org. 2019). The reason for
undertaking the event is the achievement of the benefits that the event provides. During the
conduction of the survey, usually the surveyors face significant amount of issues due to the
cultural differences between them and the respondents (Mulaku 2013). In this case, the
surveyors are often found to be collecting improper responses as the differences in the
culture, language and the effective modes of communication are forcing them to do so.
However, the collection of the improper responses has the potential to cause considerable
amount of vulnerability in the collection of the data which will be important in laying the
plans for the final project (Adjei, Sarfo and Sam 2015). The above mentioned event was able
to hit the absolute concern of the detrimental impact that the cultural differences was to offer.
Hence the improvement in the aspects like the cultural assimilation, language and the social
interactions had the potential to increase my effectiveness in conducting the surveys.

8PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Apart from this, one of the major aspects of the surveys in the civil engineering
projects is the conduction of the operations in accordance to the code of conduct (Mohamad
et al. 2015). Several organizations are observed to implement the code of conduct for their
employees in order to make sure that the operations of the employees of the organization
follows the same structure in each case. The event was significant for me in understanding
the aspects of the code of conduct like the integrity, competence and relationships (Wang and
Buckeridge 2015). Along with that, the event was considerably important to me as it provided
important inputs regarding the dispute management, arbitration, architecture examination and
litigation.
Apart from the inputs on the usual survey operations, the event was of great
significance for me as it produced significant information on the job roles and responsibilities
of various types of surveyors like the quantity surveyors, building surveyors and land
surveyors. Apart from the information on the surveyors, the event also describes the job
responsibilities of the structural engineers, civil engineers, service engineers and project
engineers. It helped me in my development as the event enabled me to have the idea of the
correct person whom I need to approach for a particular issue.
Career Development plan:
Career Step Areas of Strengths Areas to
develop
Developmental
Activities
Short Term
Goal
Surveyor  Good
communicatio
n (Zulch
2014).
 Improved
skills in the
The major
aspects like the
problem
solving skills,
strategic
The
developmental
activities will
include the
participation in

9PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
collecting the
responses.
 Capable of
adapting to
various
conditions
during the
collection of
the responses.
thinking and
the
collaboration
with external
authorities are
the points in
which I
significantly
lack.
the workshops
for improving
my problem
solving skills
and strategic
thinking.
However the
strategy for the
improvement in
the
collaboration is
in need to be
achieved by
effective team
bonding or team
engagement
activities.
Mid Term
Goal
Head of the
surveyors team
 Team oriented
behaviour.
 Significant
focus on the
job and
functionality.
 Capable of
handling
individuals of
The
incapability of
motivating the
team with
introduction of
effective
rewarding
policy is a
The
developmental
activity for this
will be the
seminars on
increasing the
effectiveness as
a leader and the

10PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
different
background.
 Increment in
responsibilitie
s motivates
rather than
producing fear
for me.
 Capable of
managing the
performances
of the team
members
(Zulch
2014).
significant
drawback that I
have in me in
this level.
identification of
the impact of
motivation on
the subordinate
employees.
Long Term
Goals
Senior manager
of Operations
 The improved
skills of
communicatio
n.
 The ability to
assess the
performances
of the
employees in
an effective
manner.
 Improved
The aspects
which I need to
develop to
become
successful at
the mentioned
professional
level is the
problem
solving skills,
practical and
At this
professional
level, the
developmental
activity to
overcome the
mentioned
drawbacks will
be the
undertaking of
the projects

11PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
skills in
employee
management.
strategic
thinking, the
identification of
the methods
which will
decrease the
level of
difficulty in the
conduction of
the surveys.
which will
increase the
competency or
skills in logical
and strategic
thinking and
will increase my
problem solving
skills.
At the same
time, I need to
undertake
several
researches for
the
identification of
the suitable and
effective
techniques
which will
reduce the level
of difficulty
associated with
the conduction
of the surveys.

12PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
Discussion:
Considering the evaluation of the career development plan, it can be said that I have
improved skills in the aspects of communication, gathering of the responses and adaptability.
However considering my short term goal of achieving the position of a surveyor, I need to
develop more in problem solving skills, strategic thinking and the collaboration with external
authorities during the conduction of the survey. The developmental activity for the same is
recognised in the form of participation in the workshops or seminars.
In response to the mid-term goal of mine of being a good leader for my team of
surveyors, it can be said that I have the required skills like the team oriented behaviour,
significant concentration on the job and functionality, the capability of managing different
workforces or employees f different background. Apart from that, I consider that the
leadership increases the responsibility of an employee and in that case, I am a person who do
not fear the increment in the responsibility. Along with this, I feel that, my capability of
managing the performances of my junior team mates will be significant in achieving my mid-
term goal. However I feel that there are significant amount of scope for improvement and
they are majorly in the aspect of motivating individuals with the effective introduction of the
rewarding policy.
Considering the long term goal of mine in becoming the senior manager of operations,
I feel that I have the required qualities like the improved skills of communication and the
ability to manage the workforce in an effective manner. Along with that, my skills of
managing the performances of professionals will be of great significance according to my
consideration. At the same time, I consider that there will still be some difficulty in the
aspects like the strategic decision making and in the identification of the suitable and

13PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
effective methods for the conduction of the surveys which will reduce the difficulty
associated with the conduction of the surveys. For the elimination of the mentioned issue of
the identification of the suitable and effective technique of survey conduction, I will need to
undertake several researches. Along with this, undertaking of the projects which will increase
my skills of strategic decision making and the problem solving skills is expected to be
significant for me in the achievement of my desired professional development.

14PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
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of Surveyors in Complying with Code of Ethics. African Journal of Applied Research
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16PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
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17PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE STUDIES
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