The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) eyes to roll out a new design-for-maintainability framework by end-2017, and tighter façade maintenance regime, reported Channel News Asia.
This comes as building maintenance is both a productivity and safety issue that “takes up a lot of manpower”, said Dr John Keung, the outgoing CEO of BCA.
“We are consulting the industry before we roll out the guideline to get the architects and engineers to see what we can do upfront – to design buildings in such a way that it is easy to maintain.”
Some of the measures that will be looked into include the types of paints and building materials that require less maintenance as well as on how buildings can provide easier access for cleaning.
Meanwhile, he noted that façade maintenance is important given the city-state’s high-rise, high-density environment.
“In the past when our buildings were still young, we had less of such problems. But going forward, as our buildings are getting older, you need to do a lot more to make sure that the facades are properly maintained,” said Dr Keung.
With this, courses on façade inspection are being developed by BCA Academy. BCA said the courses are set for launch later in the year.
After more than 10 years as BCA’s CEO, Dr Keung will step down from 1 June and serve as dean of BCA Academy, where he will oversee the development of a “zero energy” medium-rise building and a “super-low energy” high-rise building.
“We want to walk our talk. We cannot be asking the industry to do it and we don’t do it ourselves,” said Dr Keung, referring to its push for a more sustainable and productive construction techniques.
This article was edited by Denise Djong.
