Design for maintenance : a case study on the potential of GBI design verification in improving the maintenance quality of mosque

Abstract

Mosque properties are Waqf assets that are non-removable and are meant to be in operation, managed and sustained for an extended period of time. The main challenge is that the mosques are usually run voluntarily by a group of community leader that plays the role of mutawwali (trustee) to waqf properties. Yet, the mutawwali is seldomly trained in building maintenance management. The two key issues identified are inconsistency in maintenance management and the lack of proper guidelines in building maintenance. The introduction of Green Building Index (GBI) rating system, whilst offering green benefits to building, does offer the potential solutions for these issues, especially the requirement of produces Building User Manual (BUM) that encourages the designing and planning of maintenance management process in buildings from the initial design phase. It is envisaged that with a proper BUM design verification process, a proper building maintenance will be ensured throughout the building life-cycle. The research used a cross-sectional descriptive research on two mosques that show distinct green building qualities and GBI certification. This research was guided by relevant literature on maintenance management and green buildings verification process. The result shows that despite the fact that GBI design verification process mostly concentrate on equipment performance, particularly in the green building features. The availability of BUM highly affect on the overall performance of building maintenance management. The mosques were better in most of the maintenance management areas, especially in the proper documentation, standard operation procedure, response duration and regular monitoring of mosque performance. The research also found that the main obstacles to the fullest potential of BUM in improving mosque maintenance are weakness in the management of funds as well as the knowledge gap between the design and maintenance teams. The research concludes that even though GBI design verification and BUM have not been utilised to the fullest potential, they have laid a good foundation for preventive management practice and a great potential for improving the quality of mosque maintenance management. Keywords: Maintenance management, green building, building user manual, design verification, mosque, Malaysia