Analyzing the computer-aided maintenance data of a commercial building complex

Commercial buildings in metropolises are increasing in number or in sophistication or both. The facilities therein, including building works and services installations, entail effective maintenance to ensure satisfactory performance. Owing to uncommon use of fully-automated maintenance systems and concerns with disclosure of maintenance data, there are so far very limited research studies on maintenance performance in such buildings to inform improvements. A landmark commercial building complex in Hong Kong, consisting of 60 storeys of office premises atop 15 storeys of shops, has been equipped with a computer-aided system (CAS) to record its maintenance data in a semi-automated manner. Reported in this paper is an exploratory study on the maintenance records retrieved from the CAS of that building for a period of 12 months. The study revealed that the amounts of maintenance work orders pertaining to the office and the shop areas were comparable but the downtimes of facilities in the office area were generally shorter. The technicians responded promptly to the majority of the works, including electrical, air-conditioning, builder's work, and plumbing and drainage, and a significant correlation between the downtimes and the volumes of work orders was observed. Further investigations are needed to obtain a more detailed picture of the demand, manpower utilization and performance of the maintenance works.