Building Transformation articles Future Façades | Page 12

Accumulating Asset Stress Model
Traditional procurement plays a big part in why building managers and owners allow the façade to decay, the stress to build and
material to fail.Many buildings receive nothing more in the way of routine maintenance than regular window cleaning – until
one day it becomes impossible to ignore the façade any longer which has now deteriorated to a seriously bad condition. This
becomes detrimental to business and undermines the value of the building as an asset.
Commonly seen in the UK, this takes the form of 5-10 year façade cleaning
cycles. Being a reactive approach, however, this cycle creates more expensive
façade restoration projects as the façade deterioration and repairs increase
overtime. However, during these cycles clients continue to spend large sums
money on traditional window cleaning procurement, leaving the building
envelope to look unbalanced and a negative reflective of their brand or
commercial objectives. It creates accumulating asset stress as seen in this
five-yearly cleaning model:
You can see how the
asset stress zone grows
bigger between major
cleans, reflecting the
accumulating damage
which of course leads to
rising maintenance costs.
Proactive Asset Protection
Paying more up front and in a timely manner means
paying less in the long term. It is a choice between
pouring large resources every several years into a
building in terminal decline, or trickling the same
resources more strategically and effectively into
less expensive and inconvenient preventative
maintenance.
You can see the benefits of applying a holistic
and proactive approach here, where strategic
maintenance kicks in during the building’s fourth
year and then maintains consistent condition for
another ten years plus.
Result – the asset stress zones have gone, replaced
by a stable Protection Zone, meaning the building
is maintained at an effective constant level. A more
creative approach could also help save money while
increasing the life span and quality of your property,
thus supporting sustainability objectives. Building
materials could maintain their original design
qualities, environment reflect positive commercial or
simply outlast their expected lifespan.