MTN400S

UNDERSTANDING
BUILDING/INFRASTRUCTURE
2020
LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of
buildings and infrastructure.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of
shearing layers and relate the concept to buildings
and infrastructure maintenance management.
3. Distinguish the different life of
buildings/infrastructure.
4. Make a distinction between deterioration and
obsolescence of buildings/infrastructure.
5. Illustrate and explain the concept of performance
gap.
WHAT ARE INFRASTRUCTURE & BUILDINGS?
 Infrastructure are:
 the basic physical and organisational structures
needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
 the services and facilities necessary for an economy to
function.
 Examples are roads, utilities, sewage, solid waste facilities,
buildings, sports and recreation facilities etc.

 Buildings are not just bricks and mortar.

 Buildings are:
 “structures enclosing a space and providing protection
from the elements; typically including walls, a roof and
other components” (Bucher, 1996:69).
 Like all living organisms, buildings and
infrastructure go through the fundamental stages in
natural cycle
Birth

Rebirth
Growth

Death Maturity

Decay Decline
THE FUNCTIONS OF BUILDINGS
• Protection
• privacy
• Security
Shelter • Safety
• Regulate indoor environment

Economic Cultural
investment symbol

Functions

Social Part of Built

investment Environment

Image
promotion
THE NATURE OF BUILDINGS
THE NATURE OF BUILDINGS

Shearing layers Description Typical lifespan

Site Location and context Permanent
Structure Bones 30-300 years
Skin Envelope 20 years +
Services Lifeblood 7-20 years
Space plan Interior layout 3 years
Stuff Furniture and equipment less than 3 years
THE NATURE OF BUILDINGS

Note:
 All layers function differently and operate somewhat
independently, however, each layer influences the
layers closest to it.
 The combined layers make up the whole system.

 Lower layers are slow whilst upper layers are fast.

 The lower layers sustain the upper layers.

 Very important: each layer has different change-

rates and different scales of size.
 The fast layers gets all the attention; but, the
slow layers has all the power. Discuss.
 How does the knowledge of shearing layers
benefit the maintenance manager? Discuss
three points.
 THE LIFE OF A BUILDING
Time over which the functional
Time over which performance continues to
building remains efficiently support the
physically sound Functional operations carried in it
Life

Physical
Life

Economic Life

Period over which asset is

most cost effective for meeting
it’s objective
OBSOLESCENCE VERSUS DETERIORATION

Discuss in class

 Distinguish between deterioration and obsolescence

of infrastructure. Highlight the causes.

 Classify the different forms of obsolescence.

OBSOLESCENCE VERSUS DETERIORATION

Obsolescen Deterioratio
ce n
Not always
Physical in nature
physical

Uncertain event Use and care

Cannot be
Predictable
forecast easily

Process is Process is
random continuous

Not easy to control Comparatively easy

& remedy to control & remedy
 BUILDING LIFE AND OBSOLESCENCE
Condition Definition Examples
Deterioration
Physical in nature Gradual decline of condition Structural decay of building
components
Obsolescence
Technological Advances in sciences and Office unable to
engineering – outdated bldgs accommodate modern ICT

Functional Original designed can no Manufacturing factories

longer adequately perform converted to retail shopping
required function space
Economic Cost objectives can be Site value is worth more
achieved in a better way than value of current activity

Social Changes in needs of society Secure townhouse

development preferred to
free standing homes
Legal Legislation results in Asbestos, fire regulations,
prohibitive use environmental
FACTORS AFFECTING DETERIORATION OF MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS
OF BUILDINGS

Weathering factors Radiation

Temperature
Water
Biological Fungi
Stress Loading
Incompatibility Chemical
Physical
Use factors Design
Manufacture and construction

Use over time

Maintenance
PERFORMANCE GAP
CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE GAP

Requirements

Performance gap
Performance

Performance

Time
CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE GAP

 The gap between performance and current

requirements of a building/infrastructure.
 planned (requirements/expectation) and real (actual) performance

 Building/infrastructure development is undertaken to

satisfy expressed or perceived need
 Meets conditions at specific point in time
 Initial performance therefore closely matches requirements
 Limit is however placed on ability to respond to
changing requirements.
 CAUSES OF PERFORMANCE GAP

1. Obsolescence + 2. Deterioration
Changing requirements due to: Gradual decline of condition due
 Changing legislation to:
 Technology  Poor design & construction
 Commercial factors  Weathering factors
 Social tastes  Use over time
 Standards  Lack of/poor maintenance

PERFORMANCE GAP

Could design and construction cause performance

gap? Discuss.
 The performance gap is widened with the inability of the
physical characteristics of the building to cope with
changing demands

 To slow down the rate of divergence between

requirements and performance:
1. regular maintenance
2. adaptation
REFERENCE
 Ashworth, A. 1996b. ‘Assessing the life expectancies of buildings
for life cycle costing’. Proceedings of COBRA ’96, RICS.
 Bucher, W. (ed.) 1996. Dictionary of building preservation. New
York: Preservation Press/John Wiley and Sons Inc.
 How buildings learn: what happens after they’re built (Brand,
1994)
 Douglas, J. 2006. Building adaptation. 2nd ed. Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
 Douglas, J. and Ransom, W.H.B. 2007. Understanding building
failures. 3rd ed. Taylor & Francis.
 Lam, K. C. 2000. Planning and execution of business-centered
maintenance for perfect buildings. Retrieved 16th March 2011
from: http://www.cibse.org/pdfs/Centerd%20maintainance.pdf
 Leaman, A. and Bordass, B. 1993. ‘Building Design,
Complexity and Manageability’. Facilities, 11(9)16-27.
 Wood, B. 2009. Building maintenance. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.