Building maintenance policy and strategy is one of the main aspects in management of

building maintenance operation processes (Lee, 2008; Lee and Scott, 2008).

Maintenance policy is a tool for maintenance personnel to plan their appropriate

maintenance strategies. The maintenance policy consists of five major components, and
different maintenance strategies are developed from these components. Without defining
this policy, maintenance operation processes will be in a haphazard order.
The three essential elements for formulating the maintenance policy are;

I. the choice of maintenance strategy,

II. defining maintenance standard and
III. allocation of maintenance resources

The five major components of a maintenance policy are as follows:

• The length of time for maintaining for their present use.
• The life requirements of the buildings and their fittings and services.
• The standard to which the building and its services are to be maintained.
• The reaction time required between a defect occurring and a repair being carried
out.
• The legal and statutory requirements shall also be considered.

Following with these five major components in maintenance policy, the sequences for
formulating maintenance policy and strategy is summarized in the figure below:

Sequences for formulating building maintenance policy and strategy.

The key objectives of the Building Maintenance Policy are to –

 Specify minimum requirements for the management of maintenance.

 Ensure that building assets are adequately maintained.
 Ensure that the buildings are managed in line with regulatory, statutory, and
legislative compliance.
 Ensure that the risks to the Authority are effectively managed
 Ensure that health, safety and security objectives are met.
 Ensure effective maintenance at operational level.

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  Ensure that the Authority has necessary information for the monitoring,
maintenance, condition and performance of buildings assets at an organizational
level and
 Ensure that there is adequate information at operational level, to undertake
maintenance including the ability to review new policies and strategies, analysis
lifecycle costs, plan for replacements and upgrades and improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of maintenance.

NATIONAL BUILDING MAINTENANCE POLICY SESSIONAL NO 1 OF 2018

(Self-study)
Need for the National Building Maintenance Policy
Man spends 80% of his time in the built environment. Buildings and Infrastructure are
important National Assets and investments since they are a measure of our national
wealth and capital formation.
The state of the built environment reflect complex socio economic factors and level of
prosperity of community and nation. As a result the maintenance and repair of the built
environment must be done to preserve the asset and protect the occupants. The need for
the maintenance Policy was due to:
• Rundown investments that are uneconomical and unsustainable
• Existence of multiple Legislations on building maintenance.
• Lack of a National Maintenance Policy.
• Backlog of maintenance work that is expensive and difficult to clear.
• Sick buildings that are unhealthy and unsafe.
• Decaying environment that contributes to poor health, low productivity and anti-
social behaviour.
• Frequent hazards related to buildings.
• Collapsed buildings.

Benefits of the National Building Maintenance Policy

• Ensure compliance with the constitution.
• Creation of awareness on the importance and benefits of proper maintenance of
buildings and related infrastructures.
• Inculcate a maintenance culture.
• Capacity building.
• Establishment of efficient, effective and economic use of scarce maintenance
resources.

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 • Establishment of legal, regulatory and institutional framework on building
maintenance issues.
• Creation of education and training framework for maintenance personnel at all
levels.
• The Establishment of an information management framework.
• Ensure good Visual appeal of all buildings and the built environment.
• Minimize risks and hazards in the built environment.

BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANUAL

A Building Maintenance manual is a compilation of specific maintenance actions, standards
and guidelines for use in maintenance of a building, building services and its surrounding.
It is a compilation of guidelines for use in maintenance of building and associated
infrastructure.
A building maintenance manual is a guide which ensure that the building can:

 Function at its designed level at all times.

 Function during the normal life span of the building.
 Resist the effects of an extreme natural event like hurricanes, floods, and
earthquakes, provided that the original design, construction, and materials were
satisfactory for these demands.

Benefits of Building Maintenance Manual

A disciplined approach to the preparation of a building manual should generate the
following benefits.

 Enable a better dialogue to exist between the designer and the maintainer, and also
have the effect of promoting some feedback to the design team.
 Enable a property to be maintained more effectively, both in the organizational
sense, and to the proper technical standard.
 Enable and encourage the building owner to plan the effective maintenance of the
building, in terms of both planning maintenance programmes, and assisting in the
formulation of budgets. It may, in addition, provide an important tool for the
maintainer when he seeks maintenance funding.
 By helping to ensure that the building is used properly, it contributes to the
reduction of avoidable maintenance tasks.
 It fosters a more rigorous consideration of the effectiveness of the building in use,
and may encourage a critical appraisal of how well intentions were defined, and
then met. In this sense it provides some sort of testing ground for the assumptions
made at the earliest stage of the project. If the original brief is developed in full
expectation of a building manual being produced at hand-over, this will

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 undoubtedly act as an important stimulus to give more complete consideration of
performance, including maintenance. Similarly, during detailed design it may serve
to encourage a rational approach.
(See the Building Maintenance Manual check list)
BUILDING DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE

Maintenance plays and important role in the life cycle of cost analysis of building
holistically.

The degree to which the design of a building embraces maintenance considerations has a
major impact on its performance. The performance of buildings is enhanced if designers
are cognizant of maintenance-related matters.

In most building projects maintenance and design are frequently treated as if the two
activities are unconnected whereas Maintenance professionals need to be involved from
the first meeting on the design of a building and adequate time to review all the
documents.

Thus, initiatives should be taken during the design stage considering about the issue of
maintenance. In the meanwhile, architects, engineers and other consultants are supposed
to ensure the design of building is maintenance-friendly and sustainable throughout the
entire life of building.

Faults in building design place a heavy burden on the building for rest of its life and there
is no compensation for it. In such situations, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the
designer in that they must think carefully with full concentration and consideration towards
completion of their design project.

Explaining the link between maintenance and building design, Ramly (2006) suggests that
four sectors of building design should be considered and regarded as important if one is to
avoid the need for unplanned maintenance at the post-occupation stage. These sectors are:

 The main fabric which includes walls, floors, roofs, doors and windows;

 Internal finishes which includes ceiling and wall finishes as well as floors;

 Special design features such as decorative elements for the doors, windows, glass,
air vents and special brick and stone work;

 The cleaning and housekeeping of all building components.

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Considerations during Design should include:
Materials
 Designers often select different materials for the façade of a building in order to
create interest, visual depth and contrast. But a range of materials will need careful
design if the junctions of these materials are not to cause a need for early remedial
work.

Impact of choice of material on maintenance

Ventilation
 Poor ventilation design in buildings can be well understood in the context of human
morphology. Ventilation components in buildings such as windows, exhausts and
ventilation ducts and air passages, serve as the respiratory organs and passages for
buildings. But in the case of substandard design, these ventilation channels require
more maintenance also if they are not to affect the health of the residents

Impact of poor ventilation on maintenance

Wet areas
 Wet areas in a building are always vulnerable to deterioration and decay and
require more attention and maintenance. The implication of their failure is so severe

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 that it can even cause partial collapse. Water seepage in these wet areas is likely to
cause major defects if they arise at the post-occupational stage. Seepage results
mainly from poor design, poor construction and the use of substandard materials,
while poor workmanship and the deterioration of building materials are the root
cause of dampness within walls

Floors
 Floors are also subject to developing defects that lead to a need for maintenance at
the post-occupational stage if the correct design and materials have not been
specified as part of the design. Curling of concrete and cracking of screeds are
common defects arising because of incorrect concrete mixing and inadequate curing
time. But it is evident that both defects are related to different stages of the design
process.

Building lifespan
 The life of the building is an important factor and is often little considered at the
briefing stage during design. A building that has had to have major repairs or has
been demolished early in its expected life is always associated with faulty design. A
well-maintained building can be expected to have a good life span provided that
the design has not imposed excessive maintenance costs.

Building Life Cycle Costs

There are numerous costs associated with acquiring, operating, maintaining, and
disposing of a building
Building-related costs usually fall into the following categories:
 Initial Costs (e.g. Purchase, Acquisition, Construction costs)
 Fuel Costs
 Operation, Maintenance, and Repair Costs
 Demolition and Disposal Costs
 Replacement Costs
 Residual Values (e.g. Resale or salvage Values or Disposal Costs
 Finance Charges (e.g. Mortgage Payments)
 Non-Monetary Benefits or Costs

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The sequence of the life cycle phases is described, in engineering terms, in BS 3811, and
for the life of a building are:

 Brief collection and development

 Design
 Construction
 Commissioning
 Maintenance
 Modification
 Replacement.

Life cycle cost analysis of building

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EMERGING TRENDS IN MAINTENANCE
Green building
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a
structure and the using of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-
efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation,
maintenance, renovation, and demolition. In other words, green building design involves
finding the balance between homebuilding and the sustainable environment. This requires
close cooperation of the design team, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all
project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building
design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.

Green buildings significantly differ from conventional buildings in many aspects from
design, materials used, equipment and maintenance requirements. They can also require
extensive documentation and reporting if environmental certification is a project goal. The
unique characteristics of green construction require adjustments to traditional project
management practices to minimize risks and improve the chances of delivering the project
within acceptable costs.

A critical issue for Green Buildings is the consideration of maintenance works at the design
stage of a project. Maintenance planning should start at the design stage of any building
project and should continue throughout the life of that building. In this, the building owner
and or user, must play an active part

Intelligent/ smart buildings

The terms ‘intelligence’ and ‘smart’ are commonly used interchangeably in reference to
building operations. In simple terms, they mean automation control of components and
systems in buildings for purposes of energy efficiency, comfort of occupants and
longevity of the building.
The term “intelligent building” has been in use since the early 1980s and you would think
that a globally accepted definition of the attributes of an intelligent building would have
been established by now.

Although several organizations have attempted to establish a universal definition, there are
a multitude of definitions with different levels of detail and varying degrees of emphasis
on various aspects of building intelligence.

The first definition, coined by the Intelligent Buildings Institute, defines an intelligent
building as “one which provides a productive and cost-effective environment through
optimization of four basic elements: structure, systems, services and management, and the

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interrelationship between them.” According to this initial definition, an intelligent building
is one that optimally matches its four elements to the users’ needs with an emphasis on the
technology that makes the interrelationship between the elements possible.

As intelligent buildings began to take hold around the world in the late 1980s and 1990s,
many competing definitions were put forward. In Europe, the European Intelligent
Buildings Group coined a new definition stating that an intelligent building “creates an
environment which maximizes the effectiveness of the building’s occupants while at the
same time enabling efficient management of resources with minimum life-time costs of
hardware and facilities,” tilting the spotlight towards the occupant’s needs to be served by
technology. In Asia, the definitions focused on the role of technology for automation and
control of building functions.

The definition of the term intelligence has been expanding over time, which has made it
very wide and as such indefinite, contrary to what the updated definitions were trying to
achieve. However, the following characteristics stand out as common:

 Comfort and satisfaction of occupants

 Energy and efficiency in resource utilization
 Operation and maintenance for building longevity

The innovative technologies in smart buildings drastically reduce operating and

maintenance costs thanks to their ability to collect and analyse data, which previously
was unattainable. In addition, sensors placed on equipment can automatically
programme maintenance activities, which are therefore based on use rather than pre-
scheduled intervals. Predictive maintenance is cheaper than a reactive approach,
traditionally achieved when the damage has already occurred. Moreover, with smart
building management technologies, owners are informed of potential problems before
the equipment actually fails.

CULTURE AND ITS IMPACT ON MAINTENANCE

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by
everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining
culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and
understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a
group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.

Maintenance culture defines the values, way of thinking, behaviour, perception, and the
underlying assumptions of any person or group or society that considers maintenance as a

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matter that is important (priority) and practices it in their life. When a person or group has
maintenance culture, they would have the attitude to maintain, preserve and protect the
public facilities. The attitude in question is towards the maintenance work, which is
embedded in each individual or group, although in practice, the maintenance tasks have
been programmed, planned and scheduled, it is only when one understands the
responsibility entrusted to implement it that creates a proper awareness of maintenance
work and whereby it is done automatically, spontaneously without any direction and
thought (Suwaibatul et. al, 2012).sxz

Many communities in Kenya don’t even have the word maintenance in the culture. This
might explain why many assets in real estate are left to deteriorate while people watch.
We all have seen houses falling on people due to maintenance needs which have been
ignored.

This is worse in public realms, estates are kept to decay and nobody wants to take
responsibility. All this has to do with our cultural inclinations

Culture of Maintenance is important to elevate maintenance performance which

would directly lead to enhanced facilities performance. It is an alternative for improving
maintenance commitment and creating maintenance awareness among all parties in
maintenance management. Culture is not something that can be described only by the
treatment and the actions of each member of the group interact with one another.

Therefore culture is an important element of acting in creating individual behaviour and

then it transmit whole group in organization. It has referred conventional way of how the
group members think and act, understand and appreciate the reality and identify problem
solving in organizations. Aim developing maintenance culture is build general awareness
of importance of maintenance concerning maintenance work.

Building maintenance in Kenya has not received much attention in the past as the emphasis
is on the development of new buildings. It has been observed that there is apparent lack
of maintenance culture, and that focus has solely been on the construction of new buildings
and pretty much total neglect of maintenance which commences immediately the builder
leaves site.

MAINTENANCE RECORDS AND DOCUMENTATION.

Building maintenance log book
Building maintenance log books may include:
 A description of key responsibilities.
 A schedule of contacts.
 A description of the overall building, including zoning and occupancy.
 A description of the building's operational strategy.

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  A description of the building's services plant, controls and management systems.
 Changes that have been made to the building.
 Health and safety considerations.
 Maintenance requirements.
 Metering and monitoring strategy.
 The data used to calculate the TER (target CO2 emission rates) and BER (building
CO2emission rates), see emissions rates.
 The recommendations report produced along with the construction energy
performance certificate.
 Building performance in use investigations and targets.
 References to other documents.

MAINTENANCE PROCUREMENT
According to Love et al (2002) procurement is defined as “an organisational system that
assigns specific responsibilities and authorities to people and organisations”. Meanwhile,
maintenance procurement is defined as the process on how maintenance works are carried
out (Wordsworth, 2001).
Maintenance procurement is quite a different aspect because the infrastructure is already
in place, but it needs to be maintained properly and rehabilitation and/or improvements
need to be provided before any major deformation or deterioration that affect safe usage
occurs. Oyegoke (2004) define procurement as the overall method used by a client/or
representatives so as to arrive at a tender figure and other operation towards the selection
of a contractor to deliver a project at an agreed time and conditions. According to
Ogunsanmi (2001), the procurement process is also concerned with the form of
procurement whether by contract or direct labour, and with the quality of delivery of both
the work carried out and the level of service provided.

The types of procurement method for building maintenance includes:

 Direct Labour or In house

 Outsourcing :Outsourcing can trade of service under several types of contract
which include:-
(a) Lump Sum Contract
(b) Term Contract
(c) Repair and Maintenance Contract (RMC)
(d) Cost Reimbursement Contract

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 (e) Service Level Agreement

 Out-tasking
 Public Private Partnership (PPP)
 Total Facilities Management (TFM)
 Traditional
 Partnering
Different procurement method will have different effect on the time, quality and cost of
the project therefore it is very crucial to consider all factors in the selection of the most
appropriate procurement strategy. This is be- cause each type of procurement system has
its own feature and peculiarity that will have effect on the quality, cost and time of the
project which is more likely to be known as project performance. Thus, selecting an
appropriate procurement method is very essential to obtain optimum project
performance.

TYPICAL BUILDING DEFECTS

Building defect is one of the major components of building problems that significantly
need attention. Building defect occurs to either the new building or the old ones. Defects
are defined as the deterioration of building features and services to unsatisfactory quality
levels of requirement of the users.

CATEGORY OF BUILDING DEFECTS:

The defect can be divided into two categories, which are:

i) STRUCTURAL DEFECT

Structural defect means any defect in a structural element of a building that is attributable
to defective design, defective or faulty workmanship or defective material and sometimes
any combination of these. Building structure includes earth retaining walls, columns, beams
and flat slabs. According to the Engineering Encyclopedia, structural defect can be
categorized as cracks in foundations (Substructure), cracks in floor or slabs (superstructure),
and cracks in walls (superstructure). These defects can be caused by improper soil analysis,
inappropriate site selection, and the use of defective materials. Most of the structural
problem can be avoided by implying the exact and detail of the design and planning.
Structural defects in a building can occur over time due to deterioration, wear and tear,
overloading, and poor maintenance. They must be repaired to maintain the building’s
structure and to prevent any further failures..

ii) NON-STRUCTURAL DEFECT

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A non-structural defect in a residential building is described as a defect in a non-structural
element of the building as a result of defective residential building work. According to the
Engineering Encyclopedia, non-structural defect includes defect in brick work, dampness in
old structures, and defects in plaster works.

CAUSES OF DEFECTS

Defects occur in various forms and to different extents in all types of buildings irrespective
of age. The followings all contribute to the occurrence of buildings defetcs:

I. large varieties of building materials used that may not be well congruent with one
another;

II. construction techniques that may not be defect proof,

III. inconsistent substandard workmanship;

IV. use of unsuitable construction details

V. extreme site conditions undermining performance standards

VI. natural deterioration

VII. attacks by pollutants and other chemicals

VIII. Improper uses of the completed buildings.

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 GENERAL/COMMON BUILDING DEFECTS

DEFECT SYMPTOM POSIBLE CAUSE

Defective concrete, Surface with water/rust Defective concrete as a result

spalling or loose plaster in staining, water leakage of ageing is commonly found
ceilings in old buildings.
• Patterned cracking
Persistent water leakage may
• Bulging, falling off of affect the steel
concrete patches with reinforcement. Weak
reinforcement exposed, concrete caused by the use of
often rusty salty water in concrete mix,
or overloading are also
• falling off of plaster/tiles
common causes in spalling

Water seepage from Water staining External water seepage could

external wall, window, be due to a variety of
roof, or from ceiling • Peeling off of paint or reasons including cracks on
wall paper external wall, honey comb
concrete, defective sealant at
• Water dripping
window, defective
• Growth of fungus waterproofing membrane at
roof, defective external
• Defective conc water and drainage pipes,
etc

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 Structural cracks in walls Cracks that penetrate Structural cracks may be
through finishes into the caused by many factors, e.g.
concrete or bricks excessive movement of the
building structure, unwanted
• Long, continuous cracks ground settlement, serious
across width of wall overloading, weaknesses
caused by corrosion /
• Diagonal cracks at
deterioration of materials, or
corners of window or
damage by accidents, or
door
poor design/ construction,
• Cracks with rust staining etc.

Detailed investigation must

be carried out to identify the
cause(s) which must be
removed or rectified before
the cracks are repaired

Structural cracks in Cracks that penetrate Same as item (iii) above.

columns & beams through finishes down to
the concrete or bricks

• Spalling

Non-structural cracks Hairline cracks Cosmetic shrinkage cracks in

(usually in plaster or other plaster or other forms of
finishes with cement sand • multi-directional cracks finishes will affect the
rendering as base) (shrinkage cracks) appearance only and do not
pose any safety concern.
• Cracks between panel
walls and structural They are small hairline cracks
elements e.g. brick wall developed within the finishes
and beams/columns layer not penetrating down
to the reinforced concrete
structure

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