Factsheet: Maintenance Good Practice

Prioritising repair and maintenance is essential to stop the building falling into disrepair, safeguard occupant health and wellbeing, and ensure that retrofit interventions have the impact expected and work as intended.

For example, poorly fitting doors and windows are a significant source of heat loss and can contribute to thermal discomfort through draughts. Defects in the fabric of the building, such as damp or cracks in masonry, also increase heat loss and can pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of occupants due to mould growth and poor air quality.

Building services such as heating, ventilation and lighting, also require regular maintenance to operate efficiently and ensure they are in good working order to service the building at the required human comfort levels. Timely maintenance and repair:

• Optimises the building's thermal performance, helping to reduce energy consumption.
• Prevents faults developing into major defects and the need for larger, more costly invasive works.
• Is an essential prerequisite to implementing any measures to improve energy efficiency.
• Are integral to a whole building approach to energy efficiency and climate resilience.

Good maintenance and management practices also extend the lifespan of a building and its components, reducing the need for premature replacement and helping to limit material consumption and waste.

Maintenance can be planned and monitored using a Maintenance Plan, which sets out a process for managing inspections and undertaking routine and responsive maintenance and repair.  

Maintenance plans for older buildings

Maintenance plans should be proportionate to the size and complexity of the building. For large buildings, or those with complex uses, a maintenance plan may form part of a comprehensive asset management plan.

For smaller buildings, it might consist simply of a checklist to be used during an inspection, such as this example inspection checklist. Maintenance plans also provide a useful resource for new owners, and may go some way towards ensuring continuity of good maintenance practices.

While much maintenance is routine, there will be occasions when the need for action is triggered by unforeseen events, such as accidental damage or extreme weather. A good maintenance plan should make provision for dealing with such eventualities.

The understanding of the building and its behaviour gained through regular surveys will help to identify areas that might be at risk. For example, if it is known that gutters and gullies are prone to blockage with leaves they should be checked during and after autumn gales.

The plan should highlight all areas particularly at risk and assign responsibilities to individuals for ad hoc inspections and action.

Devising the maintenance plan

The building as a whole, including its interior and surrounding site, should be considered and understood so that any factors that might cause problems are taken into account.

Orientation and location will also have an effect on the building. The maintenance requirements for a building in an exposed upland area or in close proximity to the sea will be different to one on a sheltered inland site.

The maintenance plan should also make provision for building services, both those that protect the building such as fire detection systems and conservation heating, as well as those that pose a potential risk to historic fabric such as electrical and plumbing systems.

Maintenance inspections

There are two types of maintenance inspection:

• Periodic inspections - carried out at determined intervals depending on the nature of the building
• Occasional inspections - carried out following severe weather

All inspections and maintenance work should be recorded. Using basic checklists that are completed during the inspection makes this easy.

Photographs are helpful for monitoring the condition of various elements of the building.