Maintenance issues

Maintenance takes place at component level. Component deterioration varies with material and exposure or use. Planned maintenance should be targeted at component level.

How components are viewed should reflect the business or organisational need of the building users, as well as maintenance systems. Components may be:

• fabric or services;
• internal or external;
• associated with buildings, blocks, rooms or spaces;
• part of larger elements such as walls, roofs, heating system, disposal system;
• components themselves may be assemblies of many components or subassemblies (e.g. a window comprises a frame, opening light, glazing, glazing sealant, handles and locking devices). Services plant comprises many hundreds of subcomponents and assemblies.

On a broader level, items to be maintained are not necessarily building components, e.g. planned maintenance may include landscaping, grass cutting, tree maintenance and maintaining the integrity of a river bank.

It is important to recognise both the fragmented and hierarchical nature of buildings and their components for planned maintenance to be effective:

• Management: it is important to group and structure works.
• Technical: identify the component level at which planned maintenance takes place and determine what the maintenance activities are.