Establishing Effective Operation and Maintenance that Enhances the Energy Performance of Green Office Buildings in Malaysia

The increasing concern of global warming occurring at an exceptional rate has led to a massive shift in the construction industry. Subsequently, the development of green buildings is on the rise. Along with the emergence of green buildings, the evaluation of the sustainability of a project is a necessity to ensure that the building operates according to the best practices. Various studies have shown that some green buildings are underperforming compared to their initial designs. Some are even found to be performing even worse than the conventional buildings. In addition, the operation and maintenance (O&M) aspect is often neglected in the initial design stages, despite its significance on the life span, performance, and operational expenses of the building. Therefore, this research aims to study the implementation of O&M in relation to the energy performance level of green office buildings in Malaysia. To achieve the objectives of this research, a qualitative method is used whereby the data are obtained through literature review and interviews. Qualitative data are analysed to explain the influence of O&M aspects on energy performance. It is found that the green office buildings with better implementation of O&M, particularly on the maintenance strategy and building occupant behaviour, are likely to achieve the smaller operational energy performance gap. Therefore, various practices are suggested to enhance the energy efficiency of green building, such as appropriate selection and implementation of maintenance strategy, adoption of building automation system, impose of incentives for energy efficient practices, and occupant involvement in O&M

Establishing Effective Operation and Maintenance that Enhances the Energy Performance of Green Office Buildings in Malaysia

The increasing concern of global warming occurring at an exceptional rate has led to a massive shift in the construction industry. Subsequently, the development of green buildings is on the rise. Along with the emergence of green buildings, the evaluation of the sustainability of a project is a necessity to ensure that the building operates according to the best practices. Various studies have shown that some green buildings are underperforming compared to their initial designs. Some are even found to be performing even worse than the conventional buildings. In addition, the operation and maintenance (O&M) aspect is often neglected in the initial design stages, despite its significance on the life span, performance, and operational expenses of the building. Therefore, this research aims to study the implementation of O&M in relation to the energy performance level of green office buildings in Malaysia. To achieve the objectives of this research, a qualitative method is used whereby the data are obtained through literature review and interviews. Qualitative data are analysed to explain the influence of O&M aspects on energy performance. It is found that the green office buildings with better implementation of O&M, particularly on the maintenance strategy and building occupant behaviour, are likely to achieve the smaller operational energy performance gap. Therefore, various practices are suggested to enhance the energy efficiency of green building, such as appropriate selection and implementation of maintenance strategy, adoption of building automation system, impose of incentives for energy efficient practices, and occupant involvement in O&M

The Relationship between the Maintenance Management Problems and the Maintenance Performance of High-Rise Residential Buildings

Building maintenance is the practice to retain the property habitable and functioning as it is designed for. However, the effectiveness of maintenance management appears to be the issue in housing context. Many maintenance management problems still exist up to date. They are likely to influence the service quality and resident satisfaction. Therefore, the objective of this research is to establish the relationship between the maintenance management problems and the maintenance performance. The research adopted quantitative approach to achieve the research aim. The approach comprised of literature review, questionnaire survey using google form that included both close-ended and open-ended questions. Based on the literature review, fourteen (14) maintenance management problems of high-rise residential buildings are identified. From the correlation analysis result, two (2) significance correlations are determined. The maintenance budget overrun is significantly correlated with the ratio of actual maintenance spent to planned maintenance cost (cost variance) of high-rise residential building, and a significant correlation occurs between unavailability of spare parts and ratio of actual to planned maintenance downtime (equipment effectiveness) of high-rise residential building. Besides, the opinions and strategies on solving the maintenance management problems were provided, including educating the residents about the Strata Management Act 2013, selecting qualified maintenance contractor, outsourcing the maintenance services, implementation of preventive maintenance (PM), hiring specialist to perform special maintenance work, providing training for maintenance staffs, formulating the building maintenance regulation, ensuring transparency of financial account, and setting up maintenance policy

Office building maintenance: Cost prediction model

Troškovi održavanja zgrada naglo rastu u slučaju neprimjerenog održavanja u prethodnom razdoblju. U ovom radu određene su karakteristike planiranog održavanja. Ustanovljeno je da karakteristike planiranog održavanja uvijek utječu na troškove te je nužno uspostaviti njihov odnos. Za predviđanje održavanja izrađen je regresijski model, a za prikupljanje podataka usvojen je triangulacijski pristup koji uključuje pregled literature, anketiranje putem upitnika i usmeno anketiranje. Zaključeno je da se uspostavljeni regresijski model može koristiti u praksi.Building maintenance costs are increasing rapidly due to poor maintenance in the past. In this paper, attempts are made to identify the characteristics of scheduled maintenance. It has been established that the characteristics of scheduled maintenance always affect the cost performance. Therefore, this research aims to establish their relationships. Then, regression model is produced for maintenance prediction purposes. The triangulation approach that includes literature review, questionnaire survey, and interviews, has been adopted for data collection. Consequently, the regression model can be adopted by practitioners

A study of overcrowding factors in public low-cost housing in Malaysia

The provision of affordable and quality housing has been a major focus of the Malaysian government in ensuring the overall well-being of households, especially for the B40 groups. Despite efforts by the government many of these buildings are overcrowded, and thus are inimical to people’s health and wellbeing. Therefore, this study attempts to identify the contributing factors that cause overcrowding problems which affect the occupants’ quality of life. A survey questionnaire has been conducted based on122 households from two different public low-cost housing in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, examining the causes that lead to cramped living conditions. Using the quantitative Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, the study demonstrates that proximity to workplace and expensive rental housing as the main factors that contribute to overcrowding problems. The result also shows that a majority of the residents disagree with the current standard of measuring overcrowding. This implies loophole in the existing mechanism of controlling overcrowding. This paper concludes with the recommendation that the approach to overcome overcrowding problems should seek not only the perceptions of the decision making groups but also from the public at large

The relationship between preventive maintenance characteristics and the maintenance performance of high-rise office buildings in Malaysia / Au Yong Cheong Peng

Sustainability of buildings is one of the main aims in the construction industry. In achieving sustainability, maintenance of building and its facilities which include planning, implementation and outcome of maintenance activities become an important criterion. However, building maintenance costs are continuously increasing as a result of poor maintenance. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop solutions to reduce the maintenance costs while optimizing the maintenance performance. It is a long term strategy to manage the issue of maintenance performance. Thus, a study of the maintenance strategies is aimed to improve the maintenance performance. Taking into cognizance the aim of the study, this thesis seeks to identify significant characteristics of scheduled and condition-based maintenance. This study is also dedicated to examine the relationship between the characteristics and maintenance performance, as well as to develop the regression models for maintenance planning and prediction. Furthermore, the research introduces participative mechanisms as a measure to improve the performance. The study adopts triangulation approach that includes quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, questionnaires were distributed to relevant respondents from research population of 398 to collect factual data regarding the characteristics of scheduled and condition-based maintenance, maintenance performance, as well as the opinion on participative mechanisms. The research identified the importance of the variables through ranking analysis. Then, correlation analysis was performed to test their relationship to the performance. Moreover, the study developed regression models for prediction purpose in practical. In order to validate the questionnaire results, semi-structured interview and archived documentation were executed to obtain further details about the characteristics and participative mechanisms in enhancing the efficiency of the maintenance strategies. Fifteen (15) experienced building managers were interviewed and four (4) high-rise office buildings were selected for archived documentation. The findings highlight the variables of maintenance characteristics and participative mechanisms that are significantly correlated to the maintenance performance. They are level of labour skill and knowledge, budget allocation for spare part and material, level of spare part and material stock, quality of spare part and material, length of vi predetermined maintenance interval, as well as amount of failure and maintenance downtime for scheduled maintenance; level of manager skill and knowledge, budget allocation for equipment and technique; availability of equipment and technique, capability to adopt equipment and technique, budget allocation for acquisition of maintenance data, reliability of maintenance data, frequency of monitoring and inspection as well as for condition-based maintenance; provision of knowledge-sharing and communication platform, provision of training, clients‟ commitment, as well as users‟ satisfaction and feedback for participative mechanisms. Then, the result produces most significant logistic regression models for characteristics of scheduled and condition-based maintenance respectively as below: Scheduled maintenance, P[over-budget]: Z = 1.237 – 0.963 LSK + 0.728 LPM Condition-based maintenance, P[downtime extension]: Z = 3.734 – 1.061 CAT As a conclusion, the planning and application of scheduled and condition-based maintenance strategy should consider their significant characteristics and make reference to the resulting regression models. Meanwhile, the research recommends introduction of participative mechanisms in maintenance management to enhance the performance

Enhancing Building Maintenance Cost Performance with Proper Management of Spare Parts

<p><b>Purpose:</b> Scheduled building maintenance requires appropriate and adequate spare parts to replace existing parts on a regular basis. Management of spare parts is seen as an important criterion to ensure the efficiency of scheduled maintenance. Thus, this paper aims to identify the contributors of spare parts management and investigate the relationship between these contributors and maintenance cost performance.</p> <p><b>Design/Methodology/Approach: </b>This research adopted a quantitative approach, which utilised questionnaire surveys to study the relationship between the contributors of spare parts management and maintenance cost performance. The data was analysed through descriptive analysis, correlation, and regression analysis. Additionally, a case study was examined to validate the results obtained from the survey. </p> <p><b>Findings: </b>The results of this research demonstrated that the quality of spare parts, budget allocation for acquisition of spare parts, and level of stocks were significantly correlated to the maintenance cost variance. Moreover, the results of the regression analysis indicated that the quality of spare parts was the significant predictor of maintenance cost variance. <b></b></p> <p><b>Originality/Value: </b>This research highlights the importance of spare parts management in building maintenance. It recommends that maintenance management set up a spare parts management department for updating stocks frequently. Meanwhile, the management should avoid ad-hoc acquisition of spare parts, as this is always more expensive. The management should also select spare parts based on quality instead of lowest cost. In addition, building managers should also apply the developed regression model in practice to predict and improve maintenance performance. <b></b></p

Relationship between Predetermined Maintenance Interval and Maintenance Performance

<p>Currently, lack of preventive measure is the problem that implicates poor maintenance outcome. Scheduled maintenance is claimed as a maintenance strategy to tackle the problem. However, the effectiveness of scheduled maintenance can be greatly influenced by the length of predetermined maintenance interval. Thus, this paper aims to study the relationship between length of predetermined maintenance interval and maintenance performance. The literature review identifies the length of predetermined maintenance interval as an importance characteristic of scheduled maintenance strategy. A quantitative approach is adopted and carried out through questionnaire survey. Subsequently, descriptive analysis and correlation analysis are used to analyse the collected data. Then, research result demonstrates that the length of predetermined maintenance interval is significantly correlated to the maintenance performance. The length of predetermined maintenance interval must be considered in maintenance planning and execution. The research recommends continuous monitoring or regular inspection of building systems and components to identify their condition and update the length of predetermined maintenance interval regularly. Consequently, the effective maintenance execution helps to avoid systems failure occurs and optimises maintenance performance. </p

Influences of key stakeholders’ involvement in maintenance management

<div>Purpose – Proper maintenance management ensures a long-term investment and provides a support function in business continuity to achieve organisational goal. However, inadequate involvement and participation of key stakeholders in maintenance management limit the continuous improvement of maintenance performance. Currently, there is a lack of studies about the influence of key stakeholders’ involvement in maintenance. Thus, this paper deals with enhancement of maintenance management through the involvement of key stakeholders. </div><div>Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted mixed method approach to determine the relationship between involvement of key stakeholders in maintenance management and maintenance effectiveness. The approach comprised of literature review, questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews.</div><div>Findings – This research suggests a positive correlation between involvement of maintenance manager, maintenance staff, organisation, user and maintenance service provider in improving the effectiveness of maintenance management. The logistic regression analysis indicated that the involvement of maintenance manager and service provider are significant predictors of maintenance effectiveness. The research further identified that there was a lack of involvement of the user and service provider in maintenance management. </div><div>Originality/value – The research demonstrated that all key stakeholders should value the important roles of their participation in maintenance management to ensure an optimum return on a long-term investment. To create the awareness for the involvement of key stakeholders in building maintenance, studies on the advantages of participating in building maintenance and the impacts of ignorant towards building maintenance can be beneficial to the industry.</div><div><br></div

Significant Characteristics of Scheduled and Condition-Based Maintenance in Office Buildings

Sustainability of buildings is one of the main aims in the construction industry. In achieving sustainability, maintenance of buildings and its facilities, which include planning, implementation, and outcome of maintenance activities, becomes an important criterion. This paper aims to identify the significant characteristics of scheduled and condition-based maintenance in office buildings through reviews of relevant literature and a questionnaire survey. The significance of the characteristics was identified through ranking analysis. A semistructured interview was conducted to obtain further details on the characteristics and measures to enhance efficiency of the characteristics. The findings reveal that the dominant characteristics for scheduled maintenance include quality of spare part and material, the level of labor skill and knowledge, and budget allocation for maintenance labor, whereas for condition-based maintenance, the dominant characteristics are the level of manager skill and knowledge, reliability of maintenance data, and financial allocation for the maintenance manager. The study concludes that these dominant characteristics should be considered in the implementation of maintenance strategies