Mohammad A. Hassanain

Factors affecting outsourcing decisions of maintenance services in Saudi Arabian universities

Purpose – The objectives of this paper are to identify the critical factors that influence the decision to outsource maintenance services in public Saudi Arabian universities, and to investigate the relative importance of each of the identified factors based on the expressed opinions of the in‐house maintenance managers in the concerned maintenance departments in these universities.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a comprehensive review of the literature in the fields of maintenance management and outsourcing practices to achieve a thorough understanding of the issues involved, and identifying the crucial factors affecting the outsourcing decision of maintenance services. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess each factor influencing the decision to outsource maintenance services in the public Saudi Arabian universities. The survey included 38 factors grouped in six major groups. The respondents who have opted to outsource several of their maintenance services to specialty contr...

Factors affecting the development of flexible workplace facilities

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the provision of sustainable and flexible office workplace in built‐facilities, and further, classify these factors under several categories, where commonalities are shared.Design/methodology/approach – The author has analyzed the published literature for the purpose of reviewing the origin of office workplace design and the reasons that promoted the development of flexible workplace in office‐based environments. A sum of 18 factors for facilitating the provision of the flexible workplace were identified. These factors were classified under four categories, including planning of the building, layout of the physical workplace, information technology networking, and building service systems.Findings – The survey of literature has revealed that there is no comprehensive overview of factors that designers, developers, investors, facility managers, and planners can use to provide sustainable and flexible workplace facilities, where flexi...

A framework model for outsourcing asset management services

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present a framework model for outsourcing asset management services in municipalities.Design/methodology/approach – The authors have analysed the outsourcing of asset management services in the municipal sector. A survey document containing a series of questions was developed and issued to administrative (policy‐making) staff members at senior management level. These staff members are concerned with the strategic planning of facilities beyond the five‐year horizon.Findings – The survey indicated that outsourcing is being utilized in almost all functions relating to the management of municipal infrastructure, and that the criterion for selecting a specific contractor for a service is lowest price. The findings section in the paper also presents a list of the advantages of outsourcing along with the rated priority of each, the disadvantages of outsourcing along with the rated severity of each, and the strategies that could be followed to achieve a successful outcome fro...

IFC-Based Data Model for Integrated Maintenance Management

This paper presents an object model for maintenance management of roofing systems as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of a proposed generic framework for integrating the maintenance management of built-assets. The model builds upon the Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) (Releases 2.0 and 2.x) to define object requirements and relationships for the exchange and sharing of maintenance information between applications. Maintenance Management is one of the defined projects within the Facilities Management (FM) domain committee of the International Alliance of Interoperability (IAI). The paper proposes several extensions to the IFC’s including the representation of functional requirements, assessed conditions of objects, inspection and maintenance tasks, and libraries of non-project specific information. Usage scenarios are provided to illustrate the use of the model to carry out selected processes. Résumé Ce document présente un modèle objet de gestion de l’entretien des couvertures de bâtiments; il s’agit d’une étude de cas visant à montrer l’applicabilité d’un cadre générique d’intégration de la gestion de l’entretien des biens bâtis. Ce modèle, basé sur les Industry Foundation Classes (IFC, versions 2.0 et 2.x), définit les exigences et relations objets en vue de l’échange et du partage de l’information de gestion entre les applications. La gestion de l’entretien est l’un des projets définis au sein du comité de gestion des installations de l’International Alliance of Interoperability (IAI). Le document propose plusieurs ajouts aux IFC, en particulier la représentation des exigences fonctionnelles, l’évaluation des conditions des objets, les tâches d’inspection et d’entretien, ainsi que des bibliothèques d’information non propre à tel ou tel projet. L’auteur présente des scénarios d’usage pour illustrer l’utilisation du modèle en vue de la mise en oeuvre de certains processus. Introduction The efficient practice of asset maintenance management requires sharing of technical and administrative information among various computer applications, in addition to sharing information among individuals. This data sharing, in turn, demands common data standards that can enable information to be exchanged from one application to another. The International Alliance of Interoperability (IAI), an industry based consortium for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and 1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4, mohammad@civil.ubc.ca 2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4, tfroese@civil.ubc.ca, http://www.civil.ubc.ca/~tfroese/ 3 Senior Research Officer, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1A 0R6, dana.vanier@nrc.ca

Factors affecting maintenance cost of hospital facilities in Saudi Arabia

Purpose – The objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of hospital facilities.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a literature review on hospital maintenance cost to identify the factors affecting the cost of maintenance and interviewed a selected group of ten experienced facilities managers of both public and private hospitals. 33 factors were identified, and synthesized in seven groups. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess the factors. Responses were obtained on the developed questionnaire survey by interviewing the facilities managers of the full population of the 40 hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 20 of which were public hospitals and the other 20 were private hospitals. The data received were analyzed to identify the level of importance for the factors. The factors were ranked according to their importance index values.Findings – The most important factors from the perspectives of public hospitals ...

Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Housing Facilities: Overview and Summary of Methods

AbstractAlthough post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is an old tool with hundreds of studies, it is yet to become routine in the housing industry. The growing complexity of buildings and emerging trends in the industry further reinforces the need to carry out more POE studies. Though some studies exist, a holistic approach is yet to be given priority in the industry. This paper presents an overview of POE; it presents a broad introduction, levels of investigation, POE methods, performance elements related to the housing context, and POE tools and frameworks. It also highlights key benefits to be derived from a POE and barriers forestalling its adoption in the industry. The goal of this paper is to provide a foundation and source of reference for current research in housing evaluation studies.

A multi‐phase systematic framework for performance appraisal of architectural design studio facilities

Purpose – The objectives of this paper are to present the development of an indicative multi‐phase systematic framework for performance appraisal of architectural design studio facilities, and to present the findings of the post‐occupancy conditions of an architectural design studio facility as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the developed framework.Design/methodology/approach – The authors carried out a number of activities. These include reviewing the published literature to address the significance of the architectural design studio as a resource for students majoring in architectural design, and ascertaining the significance of post‐occupancy evaluation as a performance appraisal methodology in educational facilities. On the development of the proposed framework, the authors carried out a case study in one of the studios of the Architecture Department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The authors utilized a series of data collection methods, inc...

Approaches to qualitative fire safety risk assessment in hotel facilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate approaches pertaining to qualitative fire risk assessment of existing hotel facilities, for the purpose of identifying and eliminating fire hazards, and meeting requirements of the current legislation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper carries out several research activities, including: identifying the set of factors that render hotel facilities a high‐risk type of facilities in fires; investigating potential high‐risk areas to fires in hotels; exploring the role of hotel managers towards operating safe hotel facilities; discussing the concept of fire risk management, and the role of fire safety inspections as a risk mitigation strategy to ensure the adherence of existing hotels to fire safety legislation; and describing a methodical approach that fire safety inspectors can follow while conducting fire safety inspections. The paper also presents the development of a qualitative fire risk assessment tool, whereby existing hotel facilities can be as...

Causes of Failure of Small Contractors in Saudi Arabia

Abstract The construction industry in Saudi Arabia is currently flourishing due to increased earned revenues from the oil industry. Small contractors are finding more opportunities for business. The objective of this paper is to understand the reasons behind failure of small contractors and identify the most important factors contributing to their failure. A questionnaire survey was developed and distributed among 43 small contractors for obtaining their feedback and to assess the most critical reasons behind failure of small contractors in the Saudi market. The research concluded that the most crucial causes of small contractors’ failure are management incompetence, poor accounting systems and records, difficulties in attracting good personnel, dependency on a very limited customer base and lack of effective business plans. Based on the results of the study and the severity of the causes of failure, a series of recommendations were developed that could lessen the failure of small contractors.

On the challenges of evacuation and rescue operations in high‐rise buildings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges faced by occupants and fire fighters during evacuation and rescue operations in high‐rise buildings.Design/methodology/approach – The paper has analysed the published literature for the purpose of identifying and examining the factors that make high‐rise buildings a high‐risk type of facility to fire and the common avenues of fire spread in high‐rise buildings. The paper then investigates a number of evacuation strategies in high‐rise buildings and the set of human factors affecting high‐rise evacuations. It also discusses the challenges that building occupants and fire departments face during a fire emergency.Findings – The paper has established that high‐rise buildings are a high‐risk type of facility in fire emergencies due to a combination of three risk factors. The characteristics of the occupants to consider when designing the means of escape were identified, and the challenges faced by fire fighters during rescue operation in high...