An Investigation into the Feasibility of Different Types of Maintenance on Building Services

Abstract

Companies have had to become more competitive with the increased running costs of buildings, therefore competitive maintenance strategies have to be created. Maintenance is very important and contributes to the company‟s strategic goals. The awareness of maintenance on building services in a company is essential, as it plays a vital role of keeping the asset running. Maintenance is a significant area to companies that has only recently been viewed as an activity that contributes to a company‟s strategic goal. Maintenance plays a vital role in building services, as it keeps the equipment and systems running, if correctly maintained. These maintenance costs are an investment in maintenance of the equipment, therefore the company expects there to be a return on investment. This return is difficult to measure as the maintenance work is seen as a cost rather than the benefits gained to improve equipment performance. The best way to measure and show the productivity of maintenance is to use a computerised maintenance management system, which can interpret and analyse the historical data for different pieces of equipment. The aim of this report is to investigate the different types of maintenance that can be used on building services equipment. The report uses case studies, journal articles, compliance documents and text books to answer the following questions, using qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques:-
Question 1: What are the different types of maintenance and why they are required on building services engineering?
Question 2: What level of maintenance is most feasible for different scenarios or systems?
Question 3: How to choose a maintenance strategy to be implemented and what are the effects of maintenance on the built environment?
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The literature review begins with explaining overall management strategy before moving on to maintenance, as this explains how both strategies integrate. It also explains maintenance best practises and selection methods to make an accurate decision.
The results found explain maintenance of building services systems. The results cover reliability centred maintenance and the different forms of maintenance: - corrective, preventative, condition based and also the level required. The second part of the results explains the cost of maintenance over the life cycle of the equipment and how the frequency of the maintenance is determined. Statistical evidence has been collected from both primary and secondary sources. The third part of the results describes selection criteria, looking into safety, cost, added-value and feasibility. Maintenance required for compliance is also described. This report concludes that maintenance is required on building services to protect the safety, health and environment of the people using the building and to save energy. It also concludes that maintenance is profitable to a company if the correct strategy is implemented. Statistical evidence has shown that condition monitoring is the best form of maintenance and has the greatest savings. This report enables the reader to understand why and how maintenance is carried out on building services.