Enhancing university building performance: a methodology to investigate maintenance and operational conditions

Maintaining decaying and aging educational buildings and multi-effects of inflation to maintenance cost are complex issues. The connection between quality education and building operational performance is of paramount importance to shape a well-developed educational system in the universities. Commentators asserted that the traditional maintenance procurement practice focuses on reactive maintenance, however little emphasis is given to optimize the long-term in-use costs that have to be paid to prolong the educational building service life. These papers and videos are prepared to present a designed methodology to investigate maintenance condition and operational performance of an education building for teaching and learning in one of the higher educational institutions in Malaysia with the objective to develop a prototype of life cycle cost (LCC) database requirements for a sustainable facilities management system of educational buildings. A qualitative research strategy is proposed for the study encompasses three fieldwork approaches, i.e., semi-structured interview, building condition assessment (BCA), and quick response codes (QR). The designed methodology is expected to serve as a foundational input for carrying out a comprehensive study in the development of prototype of database requirements for life cycle cost analysis of maintenance of education buildings for teaching and learning in the university. The study findings yielded from the proposed methodology is of paramount significance that would add value for improvement of life cycle cost practices in the facilities maintenance management system of the university to be in line with the key drivers of Malaysian Science, Technology, Innovation, and Economy (MySTIE) framework.