An-Najah Staff

Research has shown that a major part of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems’ operation and maintenance challenges is attributed to the extent of the decisions made during the design stage of projects. Transfer of knowledge from the maintenance team to the design team provides a potential for avoiding the repetition of costly design defects that maintenance teams usually encounter during the functional life of the project. This research has two objectives. The first is to identify and assess the importance of HVAC design defects caused by the lack of maintenance feedback to the design team. These defects have been identified from the literature and interviews with operation and maintenance experts. The study emphasized the importance of all the identified defects based on the judgment of the maintenance experts in 13 public universities in Saudi Arabia. The second objective is to present three sets of validated maintainability guidelines developed to reduce the occurrence of the identified defects in HVAC systems. These guidelines could be considered at three design completion phases (i.e. 30%, 60%, and 90%). This research provides a useful focus to design engineers aiming to design maintainable facilities and maintenance administrators striving to provide high-quality services to facility users.

The majority of operation and maintenance challenges in building projects are attributed to the decisions made during the design phase. The timely involvement of the maintenance team in the design development and review stages provides a potential for reducing maintainability problems during the functional life of buildings. This paper identifies and assesses the significant water supply and drainage systems’ design defects that commonly occur in the building projects in Saudi Arabia as a consequence of the lack of maintenance feedback to the design team. These defects were identified based on knowledge from the published literature and professional practice. The research reported in this paper endorsed the importance of all the recognized defects based on the appraisal of the executives of the campus maintenance departments in the 13 public Saudi Arabian universities renowned for operating and maintaining substantial building stock. The paper then presents a series of validated maintainability design review checklists by the survey participants, derived to reduce the occurrence of the identified defects. These checklists are available for consideration by design professionals at two main design completion stages, i.e., (1) 60%, and (2) 90%. This paper is of practical value to design professionals aiming to design maintainable building projects, and maintenance managers striving to provide the most efficient level of service to occupants and property owners.

Planning for maintenance should start during the design phase and continue throughout the useful life of the building. This research aims to emphasize the significance of the provision of maintenance feedback to the design team during the design development and review stages. The objective of this article is to identify and assess significant architectural defects that are attributed to lack of maintenance feedback to the design team. These defects were identified based on knowledge from international literature and professional practice. The research confirmed the importance of all the identified defects based on the assessment of the maintenance department managers of 13 public Saudi Arabian universities that operate and maintain an extensive infrastructure in their campuses. The paper also recommended a set of guidelines to be considered by the architectural design team at different project design stages (i.e. 30%, 60% and 90% design completion) to reduce the amount as well as the complexities of unplanned maintenance activities in buildings. This article has the potential to raise awareness among professionals in the built-environment community about the significance of the interaction as well as communication between the maintenance and design teams throughout the design phase.