Identifying Building Types That May Fail: Strategies for Short, Medium, and Long-Term Success
Effective capacity planning and identifying building types that may face challenges or fail are critical for managing large building portfolios. Whether you’re managing a diverse estate of schools, heritage buildings, or urban developments, assess how buildings are constructed, why they deteriorate over time, and how to strategically manage them for the future.
A combination of building physics, pathology, and a structured asset management approach is necessary to do this effectively. Here are practical solutions and actions for short-, medium–, and long-term planning.
Short-Term Solutions: Immediate Actions to Protect Your Assets
1. Use Building Physics and Pathology
Understanding how buildings were initially constructed and why they may deteriorate helps inform immediate maintenance actions. By focusing on the root causes of deterioration, you can address problems early before they escalate.
2. Conduct Building Condition Surveys
Regular building condition surveys, like quinquennial (five-year) surveys, help you monitor the state of your buildings across portfolios. These surveys should focus on technical issues rather than visual defects, providing more accurate assessments.
3. Apply Digital Modelling Technology
Leverage Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology and digital performance simulations to assess how buildings perform under different conditions. This can be done in early design phases to avoid costly retrofits later.
4. Immediate Risk Reduction
Use empirical data to de-risk design development, ensuring that projects are based on proven methodologies to avoid future failure. This is especially important in time-sensitive projects.
Medium-Term Strategies: Proactive Approaches to Strengthen Building Performance
1. Strategic Asset Management Approach
Take a strategic asset management approach to analyse your entire estate. This allows you to identify which buildings will likely present challenges based on their age, materials, and construction methods.
2. Targeted Retrofit Solutions
Use the information gained from building physics and pathology to target retrofit solutions for specific building types. For example, older buildings of materials may benefit from interventions like insulation upgrades or structural reinforcements.
3. Identify Recurring Issues
By analysing similar building types within your estate, you can predict future problems. Proactively addressing recurring issues such as moisture ingress or thermal inefficiency across multiple buildings can mitigate them.
4. Apply Legislative and Technical Frameworks
Understand the legislative and technical frameworks around conservation and building regulations. This knowledge helps you advise on appropriate interventions that comply with regulations while preserving the integrity of the buildings.
Long-Term Solutions: Building a Sustainable Future for Your Estate
1. Whole Portfolio Analysis
Invest in a whole portfolio analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of your buildings’ current conditions and future performance. This will allow you to predict challenges decades in advance, giving you time to plan accordingly.
2. Predictive Retrofit Roadmaps
Develop predictive retrofit roadmaps that outline the specific interventions needed over time to ensure the long-term sustainability of your buildings. These roadmaps should be based on an in-depth understanding of each building type’s construction methods and materials.
3. Prototypical Strategies for Common Building Genres
Create prototypical strategies that can be applied to specific building genres within your estate. You can streamline maintenance and retrofit processes by developing standardised approaches to common building types.
4. Experience Delivering Risk-Reducing Projects
Focus on de-risking design development to build on your experience delivering projects that reduce risk. With an evidence-based approach, you can ensure long-term compliance and performance, minimising future maintenance and failure risks.
By combining building physics, digital technology, and strategic asset management, you can identify and address the challenges within your estate. Understanding why buildings deteriorate, predicting future issues, and implementing targeted retrofit strategies will ensure that your buildings remain safe, functional, and efficient for decades. Whether through immediate actions or long-term roadmaps, proactive management is critical to avoiding costly failures and extending the life of your building portfolio.