Example Housing Essay

Assessing the implementation of a Planned Preventative Maintenance Programme for Strategic Estate Planning.

In order to understand the implementation of a plannedpreventative maintenance programme for estate planning, one will first need tounderstand the practice of condition surveys and the meaning attached to theconcept. The Audit Commission (1988), with regard to condition surveys havebeen critical of most local authority practice in the UK of estimatingmaintenance expenditure by simply taking a notional percentage of the propertyvalue, and urge the use of proper condition surveys to derive more accurateestimates of maintenance expenditure. Condition surveys should, however becommissioned for more than just budgeting purposes, as they have a widerapplication in the managing of building condition, Bargh (1987).

A majorobstacle to carrying out the first comprehensive survey is the expense. On anational scale the UK building stock possesses very poor condition records andthis represents a massive impediment to developing good maintenance managementpractices. Some progress has been made in recent years, particularly withrespect to local authority buildings, where the prompting of the AuditCommission has had some effect. Within the private sector in the UK, there is still a startling reluctance amongst property managers to commit funding andcommission detailed condition surveys of their buildings, Sahai (1987). Withinthe public sector as well condition surveys now being carried out are strictlylimited in their scope. In many cases they are carried out for very specificpurposes, usually related to financial management, rather than as part of aprofessional approach to managing building condition, Colston (1987).Condition surveys also include, building surveys, manual surveys, optical marksurveys, bar-code reader, hand-held computer, and reports. These are all usedto carry out condition surveys. With this in mind one can now talk about theuse of this concept in a planned preventative maintenance programme forstrategic estate planning.

The process of planning for maintenance work hasmuch in common with the planning of any construction activity. Therefore thebasic principles of planning should be firmly understood before consideringmaintenance planning specifically. As the nature of the product or activitybecomes more complex a point is reached where it becomes necessary to commitsome, or all, of this plan to paper and a formal programme is produced, Sahai(1987). At a simple level this may only involve writing dates into a diarywhilst, at a more advanced level, the use of a powerful computer basedmanagement technique may be necessary. Planning as an intellectual processpermeates all activities in one form or another, always with some objective inmind, whether or not this is overtly stated.

The clear identification ofobjectives is an essential prerequisite of the whole process, but particularlyprior to the committal of a plan to the formal programming process. In theconstruction industry, planning has all too often been afforded insufficientcredence. In many cases this is because not enough attention is given to thepurposes for which a plan is required, leading to a failure to produceprogrammes that are consistent with the planning objectives, TavistockInstitute (1966). This tends either to bring the planning process intodisrepute, or to the setting up of an intensely bureaucratic management regime.

Now, there are a number of aspects of maintenance that require planning, whichmay not necessarily be part of a formal planned maintenance programme. Forexample, it may have been decided to institute a programme of plannedinspections to verify that statutory requirements are being fulfilled, or consideredprudent to operate a planned replacement policy, as part of a preventivemaintenance programme, Chanter and Swallow (2005). This may operate separatelyfrom an on-going planned maintenance programme. Within any maintenanceorganisation there will be planned and unplanned work. The balance between thetwo will vary, depending on the nature of the organisation and its attitude tobuilding maintenance.

A low level of planned maintenance in an organisationdoes not necessarily reflect a poor attitude, as it may be appropriate for thegiven situation. It is quite possible to envisage a scenario where theintroduction of a sophisticated planned system is not justifiable. Forexample, the owner of an estate consisting of one relatively simple building maychoose to carry out all maintenance on demand, and plan only relatively obviousitems, such as a redecoration every four years. The latter mentioned may becarried out on an ad-hoc basis.

This closely mirrors the approach of theowner/occupier of a dwelling house, and is an inevitable consequence of workwhich is characterised by a large number of relatively small, low leveloperations and a small number of larger ones, Gibson (1979). The latter aremore likely to be foreseeable ones, and hence planned for. They are likely tofall into two categories, namely,

. A regular on-going requirement to perform certain operations,such as decoration. These tasks will tend to be cyclical in nature and, intheory at least, quite conveniently form part of a rolling programme.

. Major renewal or repair projects which, from time-to-time becomenecessary. For example, there may be a programme instituted by a housingassociation to replace all flat roof coverings over a fixed time period.

Some of these larger exercises fall into the category of whatmay be termed preventive maintenance, and need to have been subjected to arigorous decision making process, Lees and Wordsworth (2001). For example, adecision to replace flat roof coverings ahead of failure is a preventivemeasure. In reaching this decision, account would have been taken of thedisruption and possible consequential damage of not replacing until failure hadoccurred. In addition to this the aims of planned maintenance programmes withregard to estate planning are extremely diverse and, hence, many types ofprogrammes will be encountered.

The applications of the basic principles ofplanning are of paramount importance to estate planning, Chanter and Swallow(2005). In particular, it is essential to define the objectives of maintenanceplans very accurately at the outset, to ensure their relevance, and to enablethem to be realistically formulated. These objectives may include all or acombination of the following:

. To help ensure that major defects are rectified and that thebuilding fabric is maintained to a defined acceptable, safe and legallycorrect, standard.

. To sustain the building condition at an acceptable level andprevent undue deterioration of the building fabric and services by preventivemeans.

. To preserve the utility of the estate as an asset, and maintainits value

. To maintain the engineering and utility services in an optimumcondition to safeguard the environmental conditions of the building, and henceits productive capacity.

. By effective planning, to ensure that maintenance is conducted,over a number of years, in a sensible sequence which reflects a carefulconsideration of priorities.

. By proper planning, to ensure that maintenance operations arecarried out in the most effective way to ensure that best value for money isbeing obtained and the best use is being made of scare resources.

. To provide a tool for financial management, in particularbudgetary control, and to assist maintenance managers in bidding for financialresources.

. As part of a broader facilities management scenario, to assistmanagement to relate programmed repairs and maintenance to other demands andalternatives, such as refurbishment, redevelopment or changes in leasingpolicy.

The characteristics of maintenance work make accurate andcomprehensive long-term predictions rather difficult. It is thereforenecessary to define carefully what is realistically possible, and have anexplicit recognition of levels of uncertainty. Because of this all programmeswill need to have built into them some flexibility to permit modification ifnecessary and up-dating in order to ensure their continuing relevance.

CONCLUSION

It will be worthwhile to conclude that although the relevanceof condition surveys to the implementation of planned preventative maintenanceprogrammes for strategic estate planning enables an efficient allocation ofscare resources such as funds and management expertise through periodicinspections of a property portfolio; its practice in scope within the UK is rather limited. Hence, authorities such as the audit commission should promote andensure that condition surveys are carried out at the beginning of an estatemanagement plan in which an adherence should be complied to, so that resourceswith regard to property portfolio are used efficiently, rather than wasted.