Expecting a building to maintain zero defects throughout their lifespan is simply impossible. As a building ages, the frequency and needs of maintenance have to be strengthen as components reached their functional lifespan. Hence, repairment and replacement of such components is important for a building to carry on its daily function such as education of university student, as a shopping area, relaxing corner, heritage attraction and so on. In Malaysia, building maintenance will only be considered and carried out conditionally when there is money and also obvious defects of the building. Maintenance problems regardless size or owner of the buildings has been arising and need attention from public to aware and understand the importance of building maintenance. Nearly billions of ringgit lose in Malaysia indirectly due to lack of maintenance of public buildings, according to Prime Minister of Malaysia. Complaints regarding conditions and functionality of university building in Malaysia has been a concerned issue, however, the reason of this happening and corrective actions are not being figured out.
As our project looks into the maintenance of the University of Malaya Faculty of Medicine building, it is important to note the reasons for this. Maintenance of a university faculty building helps produce a conducive surrounding which gives impact to the learning and teaching processes. Maintenance of the building will also make certain that the building will have preserved peak performance throughout its lifespan. Since there are many complaints regarding maintenance of the facilities within the university, it is essential to carry out a study to assess the level of understanding about building maintenance in University of Malaya. The main objective of this study is to assess the knowledge and awareness regarding the maintenance of the University of Malaya Faculty of Medicine building among the users of the building. The targeted users are all the students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya which consist of undergraduates and postgraduates.
2.0 Literature Reviews
2.1 Maintenance Definition
The definition of maintenance is different for different people. Because of that, the term maintenance has continuously been defined and redefined by different writers. However, the definitions by different writers still revolve around building protection or preservation. One of the many definitions of maintenance is the required procedures and services carried out to sustain, secure, upgrade and care for the building’s structures and utilities in line with the existing standards in order to allow the building to perform its purpose throughout its lifespan without extremely disrupting its fundamental features and uses.
According to BS 3811:1993, maintenance is the mixture of all technical and related administrative measures intended to preserve an asset in or bring it to a position where it is able to carry out its purpose (RICS Practice Standards, UK Building maintenance: strategy, planning and procurement Guidance Note, 2009).
2.2 Types of Maintenance Strategies
Maintenance can be done through three types of strategies which are corrective maintenance, preventative maintenance and also predictive maintenance. Corrective maintenance is defined as the action which is taken to restore the system to its functioning and operational status when the system has failed. Since the failure time of the components is usually unpredictable, corrective maintenance is usually conducted as necessary when there is a need. Generally, corrective maintenance involves three steps. Firstly, diagnosing the key problem and determining the main failure cause which is important to proceed with the suitable corrective action plan. Secondly, repairing or replacing defective components according to the determination of root cause. Lastly, confirming and verifying the system is operated and functioned correctly again after repairing or replacing.
Preventive maintenance is effective to prevent breakdown or defect of an equipment or facilities before it happen, hence, prolonging the the lifetime of facilities or equipment and also minimize the risk of failure. Consequently, hazardness and danger to users caused breakdown of facilities or equipment may also reduce. The replacement of worn components is performed regularly according to preset schedule and at a time which is convenient for building users. Predictive maintenance tend to forecast the failure of component and plan to conduct the maintenance before the failure actually happen. Monitoring, testing and inspecting the building envelopes and building systems from time to time help in identifying which component need replacement prior to failure. Combination of preventive and predictive work effectively together in a system and as a maintenance strategy for a building.
2.3 Scope of Work for Maintenance in University
Irrespective of building’s age and types, defects can be occur in many forms and to vary extend. Basically, there are few types of defects, including building defect, services installation defect, slopes and retaining wall defect and others components which defect occur in the building. Maintenance work should cover all the aspect but not only on the structure of the building. Maintenance of all the components and systems under the buildings should be performed as well.
Common defects in the building including defective concrete, spalling or loose plaster in ceilings, water seepage from external wall, window, roof, or from ceiling, structural cracks in walls, columns and beams, non-structural cracks, and defective external walls. Structural defects need to seek immediate attention because when the part of building stress beyond its capacity, a sudden collapse may occur. When there are any sudden developed crack or widening of the crack, the findings should be reported urgently to the Building Department. Detailed investigation of the cause and effects on the structure must be performed by building professional like registered structural engineer. Supervision of works like repairment and replacement of such structural defects must be performed by building profesional as well.
Defects in building services installation including water supply, electric supply, fire services, lift and escalator, and air conditioning. Most of these mechanical components have shorter lifespan compared to building structure, therefore, it is necessary to carry out replacement of those components regularly followed schedule to avoid sudden breakdown of services that cause undesirable consequences to users. These kind of defects are responsible to registered electrical constructor, registered fire service installation contractor, and others contractor respective to the system. For lift and escalators system, daily visual inspection and pre-detection should be done and repair it immediate if there are defects. Report and proposal on the status of the system should be submitted to the client every month. For air conditioning, electrical and lightning system, it should be maintained in such a way like lift and escalator system also, in addition, also to ensure optimum use of energy. For fire prevention system, scheduled maintenance work has to be done and if possible, to organize fire drill exercise with client and the fire department.
2.4 Importance of Building Maintenance in University
Regular maintenance is vital to ensure the continued performance of the university building throughout the pre-set life in order to provide a comfortable environment that enhances daily routine activities such as teaching, research, learning, experiment, meeting, discussion and practises. When the assets in university are well maintained in meeting the requirement of education-related activities, a more unique and exclusive environment will be created and hence, this will attract students and staff to meet projected growth targets. Proper maintenance keep the building safe and healthy and as a prevention for spending ineffective cost during a emergency maintenance. Studying and teaching in a safe and healthy environment is essential for students, lecturers, lab assistants and others people who work in university as they spend almost half of their times staying inside the university building.