Maintenance and Climate Impact – A Study of the Practice for Private Rented Out Housing Estates

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the practice of building maintenance in Facilities Management (FM) companies responsible for managing and operating private rented out housing estates and how considerations for environmental sustainability and climate impact maintenance strategies. The study started with a pre-study including a literature review and consultations with experts to define the specific scope. The main study focused on preventive maintenance and renovation and included semi-structured interviews with managers from six of the largest companies in the market in Denmark. The study showed that the companies are organised in a similar way with departments for operation and maintenance, for renovation and building projects, and for sustainability and energy. The companies all had high professional internal competencies and worked actively with 10 years maintenance plans. The most important focus for sustainability was energy. The companies were engaged in becoming more sustainable and this was also given priority by property owners but less by tenants. The currently increasing energy prices will without doubt increase the focus on reducing energy cost also among tenants. However, the climate impact of maintenance is difficult to measure and document except for the consequences of energy reductions and changes in energy supply. A main benefit of preventive maintenance and renovation is reducing the need for producing new building materials and thereby reducing the related effects on resource use and climate impact. The results can give inspiration to other FM companies in Denmark and other countries to improve the sustainability of their maintenance practice. The study identified topics for further research and development.