Selection criteria of building material for optimising maintainability

Highlights

• Structural relationship model between maintainable building material selection criteria and building maintainability.

• Criteria of TPM, DD, MPM, CPM, ME and SB are the most significant ones for optimising building maintainability.

• It is advocated that these sets of criteria need to be used in selecting materials for achieving building maintainability.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principles and criteria that govern selection of building materials in achieving building maintainability. The methodological approach used findings generated from extant literature to establish a set of principles and respective criteria for selecting building materials in respect of their influence in achieving building maintainability in post construction (occupancy) period. Further, a modified Delphi method, comprised of a series of questionnaire surveys among the sample of experts drawn from relevant fields including architecture, maintenance, structural engineering and so on, was conducted and the data obtained from which were used to reveal the relationships between the criteria and building maintainability. This paper presents findings on material selection criteria and their relationship to building maintainability. A structural relationship model showing the relationship between maintainable building material selection criteria - attributed to respective principles - and building maintainability is presented. Principles like “Technical Performance of Materials”, “Documentation and Details”, “Mechanical Properties of Materials”, “Chemical Properties of Materials”, “Material Economy” and “Social Benefit” have been identified as the most significant ones for optimising building maintainability in general. It is advocated that these sets of criteria attributed to respective principles need to be formally used in selecting materials for achieving building maintainability. This research is context-bound exclusively to the Malaysian construction industry. Its wider implications need further investigations. This study contributes to the building industry and maintainability research in at least one significant aspect that it widens understanding on maintainability criteria to be considered in selecting maintenance friendly materials and their influence in partially achieving post construction maintainability. The model presented in this paper would enable decision makers to ascertain, during the design phase, what maintainability principles and criteria would require more attention than others to achieve building maintainability.

Introduction

Building maintainability is crucial to successful performance of a building throughout its life cycle. There is a rising consensus that suitable actions and strategies are essential to create built facilities more maintainable [1], [2], [3], [4]. Consequently, the maintainability approach is understood to have high potential to contribute to building maintainability. Among these is the maintainability approach to the selection of building materials [2], [3], [5] as it is one of several factors that can influence maintainability of a building [2], [3], [5], [6], [7], [8]. Selection of materials during the design process plays a vital role during the life cycle of a building [3], [5], [9]. Careful selection of maintainable building materials has been identified as the easiest way for designers to incorporate maintainability principles in building projects [2], [3]. Chen revealed that building materials were chosen mainly based on experience rather than scientific means [10]. Though numerous studies on maintainability are available, selection of building materials with reference to maintainability has not been examined thoroughly [11]. It is evident that failure to consider maintainability criteria in building material selection has posed maintenance workloads throughout the post construction phase; increasing the maintenance problems and maintenance cost [3]. Majority of the experts participated in a survey had agreed that ‘maintenance requirements’ was one of the major factors to be considered in choosing materials [12].

The first effort in building material assessment was made by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) [13]. This was known as the first commercially available and most widely used method for building material selection. Subsequently, several standards and tools for material selection have been developed, including Environmental Preference Method (EPM), Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), ENVEST, Eco-Quantum, ATHENA, Environmental Resource Guide (ERG). However, these are criticised for over-stressing on the environmental features [14] and having limited scope for assessing maintainability features. Another criticism was that most of the assessment methods being used in building material selection were focusing little on the life cycle of the building [15]. Simultaneously, these methods have also failed to identify the features or criteria of the building materials that would have a positive effect on buildings’ operability, with respect to maintenance, during their life [15], [16], [17]. This raises the question of what those criteria are in the first place and their relativity to building maintainability in the post occupancy stage. This paper therefore investigates the key principles and respectively the relevant criteria to be considered in selection of building materials so that building maintainability attributed by materials could be partially achieved during the design stage. Finally, it elicits the relationships between maintainable building material selection criteria and building maintainability.