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BEAM P
LUS FOR
E
XISTING
B
UILDINGS
S
ITE
A
SPECTS
(S
A
)
V
ERSION
1.2
S
A
7 B
UILDING
S
ERVICE
O
PERATION AND
M
AINTENANCE
Copyright © 2012 BEAM Society Limited. All rights reserved.
Page 41
is likely to be jeopardised, or the environment is threatened.
However, proper maintenance involves requirements far exceeding the
regulatory requirements. Building owners and maintenance personnel
may be held liable from breaching of the duties of care that they are
required to exercise under Common Law. There exists the concept of
duty of care, whereby a reasonable man must take reasonable care to
avoid acts or omissions that would be likely to injure his neighbour, which
he can reasonably foresee!
Effective operation and maintenance of the building services systems
and equipment can have a significant impact on building performance. It
will also help to prevent unexpected breakdowns and prolong the life of
equipment, avoiding unnecessary use of resources for premature
replacements.
All documentation, including operating manuals and maintenance
instructions should be clearly written, detailing the design approach and
describing the actual systems and equipment and controls installed [3,4].
Unfortunately, there is much evidence to show that this is not always
adequate and that the lack of care for detail can have significant negative
impact on the indoor environment and/or efficiency of energy use.
The Building Maintenance Guidebook [5] provides guidelines on building
maintenance work which embraces also building services maintenance,
but the coverage is confined to the basic provisions such as electrical,
fire services, lift and escalator and water supply. Good maintenance
management planning includes proper cost analysis and a process to
ensure that occupant comfort and health, energy use, and safety and
security systems are at optimal levels of performance for the installed
systems and equipment [ 6 ]. The effectiveness of operation and
maintenance may be assessed through a systematic audit [7].
N
OTE
Additional management, operation and maintenance actions are covered
elsewhere in BEAM Plus for Existing Buildings.
3
American Society of Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigerating Engineers. ASHRAE Guideline 4. Preparation of
Operating and Maintenance Documentation for Building Systems.
4
Building Services Research and Information Association. Application Guide AG 1/87.1. Operating and maintenance
manuals for building services installations.
5
Buildings Department. Building Maintenance Guidebook.
http://www.info.gov.hk/bd/english/documents/code/bmg/BDG_ENG.pdf6
Building Services Research and Information Association. Application Guide AG 1/98. Maintenance programme set-up.
7
Building Services Research and Information Association. Application Guide AG 24/97. Operation and maintenance audits.