Appraisal of the building maintenance management practices of Malaysian universities

Abstract

This article presents the results of a questionnaire survey conducted on the background information of an ongoing research. The article describes the characteristics, size and strategies of university maintenance departments. Questionnaires were administered on 50 university maintenance organizations. With a 66 per cent response rate, the fi ndings suggest that though the expenditure on maintenance is inadequate, poor management of the resource and maintenance services are also contributing greatly to the poor service delivery, the spate of maintenance backlogs and poor user satisfaction. On the basis of the outcomes of the questionnaire survey and a literature review, a schematic value maintenance management model is proposed for university maintenance organization. The maintenance department should be regarded as a business unit. The signifi cant impact it has on the university institution can be illustrated by reviewing it in terms of characteristics. It should be strengthened by including it as one of the university strategic business units. This will also make it more attractive and competitive. The department should not be seen as an engineering-led unit, but as a business-led unit so that it can be creative, innovative and competitive.

Factors affecting the number of building defects and the approaches to reduce their negative impacts in Malaysian public universities’ buildings

“…Moreover, repairs of defects generate waste that affects the sustainability of the surrounding environment. Abdul Lateef et al (2011) confirmed that the scope and size of building maintenance of universities in Malaysia are enormous and the potential is increasing. Figure 2 shows that 11.8% of MPUs allocations for annual maintenance budgets were more than RM 40m, 5.9% of universities allocated RM 31–40m, 23.5% of universities allocated RM 11–20m and 58.8% of the universities had less than RM 10m for their annual maintenance budget.…”

User centric facility maintenance model for public housing

“…Abdul Lateef et al (2011) provides a maintenance performance matrix (MPM) covering eight aspects. However, all the eight factors discusses about the performance of FM agency only without any link to the effectiveness of the processes to enhance building performance.…”

Indicating Users' Risk in Building Performance Evaluation for University Buildings

“…Although new buildings help to upgrade educational facilities and provide better quality education, buildings cannot remain pristine throughout their life span. In response to this significant change, university buildings in Malaysia requires to incorporate elements for users' risk in building performance management that will support and facilitate learning, teaching and research activities (Olanrewaju, Khamidi, & Idrus, 2010). Therefore, a more holistic approach is indispensable to assess the overall long term performance of a building in which the building performance evaluation (BPE) can play an important role.…”