Abstract

Sustainable management and new design of public buildings for long term performance require a good understanding of the deterioration process, which is a function of many parameters. A good management model requires an integration of the building attributes, condition data collection method, deterioration prediction and the decision making both at management and procurement stages. A current research project at RMIT University in Melbourne is aimed at developing a reliability based approach for efficient management of community buildings. The paper presents a comprehensive review of the current building management practices of six local councils in Australia, and captures the gaps in knowledge which hinders an efficient management process. In seeking a better solution, a comprehensive review of literature has been conducted to identify a suitable deterioration prediction method which can be developed and validated using existing condition data obtained from local councils. Paper presents a comparison of the different methods of deterioration prediction, analyses the advantages and disadvantages and presents the hybrid approach proposed based on the Markov process selected for the current project. The process for implementation of the new method is outlined with a sample set of condition data selected from one of the local councils in Australia.