Individual Project

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maintenance of the Government Buil

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The maintenance of the building envelopes involve actions of planning, execution, evaluation and
control of the different activities that aim to keep the buildings within the level of performance for
which they were designed.
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Abstract
A building exists to serve the user's space requirement. The building envelope, being the
interface between the building and the environment, controls the interactions between them. It
does so by firstly filtering out the undesirable external environmental elements and subsequently
affecting the amount and rate of resource consumption and environmental deterioration by the
building in order to regulate the interior conditions.
The importance of maintenance is therefore to maximize the service life of a building, by

delaying deterioration, decay and failure. Building envelope maintenance is a thought process
that involves planning, directing, controlling and organizing resources for the sustenance of the
building's functional performance. However, building maintenance does not only involve
constructive issues; maintenance processes also impact directly legal, social, economic, cultural
and environmental issues (Nour, 2003).
There is need for building envelope maintenance practice in Trinidad and Tobago, as the
historical buildings show signs of deterioration, decay and many fell to the ground. Newly built
buildings will also face this faith if the building envelope maintenance does not take place. The
Government Plaza and Waterfront Centre are new buildings which were erected and handed
over, but were never in operation. Because of the change in Government, these buildings were
left unattended and not maintained for a few years. When the Government changed, the
buildings were then placed into operations. However, the building envelopes were stained from
moss and dust, making the windows look blur. These new buildings will underperform in
relation to the purpose for which they have been built, in order to prevent such, they must be
maintained. There is a need to address some questions to ensure these buildings perform their
purpose: why is the Government of Trinidad and Tobago not properly maintaining the new
buildings? How can a condition assessment provide restoration works on these new buildings?
The purpose of this paper is to observe the practices of maintenance of historical buildings
through extensive research and provide a proposal for building envelope maintenance for the
new buildings. This study concentrates on identifying the issues experienced by the Government
of Trinidad and Tobago on building maintenance. In attaining the objectives of this study, the
researcher administered questionnaire in order to gather data for analyzing, as well as used
literature review.
The findings of the research helped in developing a building envelope maintenance plan for the
achievement of sustainable buildings in order to maximize the service life of the building. The
developed maintenance plan can be used by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to maintain
the buildings. The study also provided recommendations and benefits for maintenance of the
building envelopes.
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Table of Content
Purpose............................................................................................................................................6
Background......................................................................................................................................6
Introduction......................................................................................................................................8
 Building Envelope.....................................................................................................................8
 Function and performance of the building envelope...............................................................10
 Energy Efficiency in the Building envelope............................................................................11
Statement of Problem....................................................................................................................14
Justification....................................................................................................................................15
Research Aim and Objective.........................................................................................................16
Literature Review..........................................................................................................................17
 What is Maintenance?..............................................................................................................17
 Poor Maintenance of Building Envelops lead to Deterioration...............................................17
 The importance of Building Envelope Maintenance...............................................................19
 Building Maintenance Types...................................................................................................20
 Maintenance Planning and Estimating....................................................................................21
 Types of building envelope maintenance................................................................................22
 Types of building envelope tests.............................................................................................23
 Types of building investment costs of its lifespan...................................................................23
 Benefits of Building Envelope Maintenance...........................................................................24
Research Design and Methodology...............................................................................................25
Observation and Outcomes............................................................................................................26
 Governmental issues affecting the maintenance of the building envelopes............................26
 Poor Maintenance on the building envelope of the Heritage buildings...................................28
Data and Results............................................................................................................................31
Overview of K. D. Engineering Firm............................................................................................35
Proposal for Waterfront Centre Towers........................................................................................36
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 Condition Assessment.............................................................................................................36
 Restoration Works...................................................................................................................37
 Maintenance Proposal..............................................................................................................37
Execution of Maintenance......................................................................................................37
 Cost..........................................................................................................................................38
 Gantt Chart...............................................................................................................................40
HSE and Risk Assessment for the Building Envelope..................................................................41
Key performance indicators for this report....................................................................................43
PESTLE for Building Envelope Maintenance...............................................................................43
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................45
 Solutions for proper building envelope maintenance..............................................................45
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................47
References......................................................................................................................................49
Appendix........................................................................................................................................52
 Questionnaire...........................................................................................................................52
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List of Figures
Figure 1 - Government Plaza...........................................................................................................7
Figure 2 - Waterfront Centre...........................................................................................................7
Figure 3 - Components of the Building Envelope...........................................................................8
Figure 4 - The connection between Building Envelope and building sustainability.......................9
Figure 5 - Systems that integrate with the Building Envelope......................................................10
Figure 6 - Environmental Loads on Building Envelopes..............................................................11
Figure 7 - Components of Building Envelope...............................................................................12
Figure 8 - Calculation for U - Value..............................................................................................13
Figure 9 - Ministry of Works Building in Bahamas......................................................................19
Figure 10 - Types of Maintenance.................................................................................................21
Figure 11 - Building Roof with and without Maintenance............................................................22
Figure 12 - Examples of Simple Building Envelope Maintenance...............................................23
Figure 13 - Distribution of Life Cycle Costs of a Typical Building..............................................24
Figure 14 - The Honeycomb of Research Methodology...............................................................25
Figure 15 - Project Life Cycle.......................................................................................................27
Figure 16 - Heritage Buildings of Trinidad and Tobago...............................................................28
Figure 17 - Red House Restoration...............................................................................................28
Figure 18 - Collapse of the President's Roof.................................................................................29
Figure 19 - The Greyfriars Church and Hall.................................................................................30
Figure 20 - Chart 1.........................................................................................................................31
Figure 21 - Chart 2.........................................................................................................................31
Figure 22 - Chart 3.........................................................................................................................32
Figure 23 - Chart 4.........................................................................................................................32
Figure 24 - Chart 5.........................................................................................................................33
Figure 25 - Chart 6.........................................................................................................................33
Figure 26 - Chart 6.........................................................................................................................34
Figure 27 - Riverside Plaza (Now a place where homeless people live)......................................47
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List of Tables
Table 1 - Proposal Cost..................................................................................................................38
Table 2 - Work At Height - Indicative Risk Assessment Guidance..............................................42
Table 3 - PESTLE for Government of Trinidad and Tobago Building Envelope Maintenance...44
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Purpose
To present a Proposal for the maintenance on the Government Buildings envelope (Government
Plaza and Waterfront Centre) located downtown Port of Spain, in order to provide operational
and process improvement for the sustainability of the buildings.
Background
In Trinidad and Tobago one of our amazing wonders to our Caribbean neighbors are our skyline
in our nation’s capital. Under the Patrick Manning regime and during our oil boom, vision 2020
was the forecast for our nation’s capital, which included beautifying its landscape and
waterfront. Utilizing 1.154 million square foot quadrangular piazza and 23 storeys in the urban
skyline, the Government Plaza was built costing 40 million US dollars and 1.7 million square
foot at 22 storeys high the Waterfront Centre was erected costing 220 million US dollars.
During the years, it is known that existing government owned or government leased buildings
are in a dilapidated state and an eyesore in the nation’s capital. This was evident with the late
Salvatori Building, the Riverside Plaza, Trinidad House and other buildings. Even though mild
repairs were done to keep continuity for working conditions, what was always neglected was the
building envelope or the building shell. The fact that the government spent over 268 million
dollars of taxpayers money to reward the nation with this gift of enhancement, heading to the 21 st
century, there is the need to maintain the downtown wonders to ensure its exterior display
lifespan and does not shorten like the other buildings in the past.
The erection of the Government Plaza was completed in May 2017. This intrinsic design is one
of the largest curtain wall and cladding projects undertaken by a single local contractor in the
region. The government plaza which is located on Richmond Street and Wrightson Road in Port
of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago provide public access and the services of four major government
ministries and agencies. These are namely:
 The Inland Revenue Division (IRD) Tower (23-storeys)

 The Customs and Excise Headquarters Building (10-storeys)
 Ministry of National Security Immigration Division Building (10-storeys)
 The Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA) Tower (23-storeys)
The Port of Spain Waterfront Centre emerged as a beacon in the nation’s capital and transformed
the western shoreline into a majestic, modern coastal facility. Completed in 2009, its towers have
become a defining feature of the downtown landscape and are testament to the burgeoning
development of Trinidad and Tobago. The Waterfront Centre is the new hallmark of an ever-
evolving Port of Spain. This Waterfront Centre features two 26-storey office towers with retail
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spaces, the 22-storey Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Centre, a seven-storey car park and
the refurbished Breakfast Shed.
The Government Plaza and Waterfront Centre will not only provide superior office
accommodation to boost the morale of employees and adequate parking to reduce hassle and
save valuable time, but it will also improve the visual appeal of downtown Port of Spain with an
attractive public plaza.
Figure 1 - Government Plaza
Figure 2 - Waterfront Centre
This paper will provide information for the maintenance of the building envelope for the
Government Plaza located on Richmond Street and the Waterfront Center located on Wrightson
Road, Port of Spain, over a three years’ period. The proposal will present maintenance for the
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Waterfront Centre first and a full project cycle will be prepared giving an example to set the
trend for the maintenance on the Government Plaza.
Introduction
Building Envelope
The Building envelope is such an amazing thing; it protects the exterior from the forces of nature
through the building’s lifespan. Architects usually put their best efforts when designing a
building, because its shows all their engineering skills and art all in one. This usually gives the
architect its signature of first impression in the minds of the passersby and interest of also seeing
the interior of the building knowing the envelope looks this amazing.
The Building envelope on the island of Trinidad and Tobago comprises of a series of
components and integrated systems that protect the interior community from the effects of the
tropical weather and forces of nature, like high winds or hurricanes, precipitation, summer
temperatures, humidity and ultraviolet radiation. Basically, the building envelope can be stated
as the roof, walls, windows, doors and foundation of the building.
The building envelope does not do a building well if its exterior affects the way the building
operates with full occupancy on a weekly basis, with rain or shine, as well as when employees,
employers, customers, janitorial staff and the maintenance staff are all present. A building energy
efficiency strongly depends on the building envelope, it is the physical barrier between the
conditioned environment (heated or cooled) and the unconditioned environment. If the envelope
leaks air or conduct too much heat, this can easily cause energy intensive equipment such as
HVAC systems to overwork resulting to a high energy consumption bills. So proper routine
building envelope maintenance should be scheduled by the building Facilities Manager for the
maintenance and repairs on a bi-annual or annual basis.
Figure 3 - Components of the Building Envelope
The interior of the building envelope includes machinery, equipment, HVAC, building materials,
lighting and fixtures, furnishings and the occupants (human concerns of safety, security and task
success). As mentioned above the building envelope includes everything that separates the
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interior of a building from the outdoor so even the basement walls, foundation, floor slab and
non-structural elements connected to the building structure.
Technically the building envelope is dissected in to systems which include:
 Below Grade construction

 Exterior Walls, both structural (providing support for the building) and non-structural
(supported by the building structure)
 Fenestration, both windows and metal/glass curtain walls
 Roofs, both low- and steep-slope
 Atria.
These systems are all integrated into the design of the building envelope and should be evaluated
and balanced to ensure the most suitable accommodation for the end-users and the efficiency of
the building simultaneously without affecting the desired levels of acoustics, thermal and visual
comfort along with the health, safety, accessibility and aesthetics excellence. The entire building
envelope system are guided by the local building codes and standards of the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago.
Figure 4 - The connection between Building Envelope and building

sustainability
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Figure 5 - Systems that integrate with the Building Envelope
Function and performance of the building envelope
The function and performance of a building envelope was described by Dr. Eric Burnett and Dr.
John Straube stating that the building envelope "experiences a variety of loads, including, but
not limited to, structural loads, both static and dynamic, and air, heat and moisture loads." The
enclosure must then support structural loads and control environmental loads, which include
both long-term and short-term loads. The enclosure is also often used to carry and distribute
services within the building. The building envelope is one of the four main building systems of
any building, the others are, structure, mechanical and interior.
The building envelope functions are divided into three categories:
 Support: to ensure strength and rigidity; providing structural support against internal and
external loads and forces.
 Control: to control the exchange of water, air, condensation and heat between the interior
and exterior of the building.
 Finish: this is for aesthetic purposes. To make the building look attractive while still
performing the support and control functions.
From a study, it showed that buildings near coastal areas are exposed to more elements than
those inland. Sea air is denser and moist and has high levels of salt which causes corrosion faster
to materials like metals, wood, cement and paint. Failing to carry out maintenance on coastal
buildings causes the life expectancy to be reduced which will result in many kinds of energy
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efficiency issues and health and safety concerns. This can result to building cracks, damp, mold
buildup, and loose render being very costly to be repaired. The Waterfront Centre towers are
near the pier and would be exposed to sea damage.
Energy Efficiency in the Building envelope
All buildings around the world energy emissions of CO 2, account for about 1/3 of the world's
total CO2 emissions. Energy efficient buildings depends on the type of building materials and
components use to build the structure from its foundation straight to its roofing components. To
get the best energy efficiency in the building systems the control of thermal energy through
conduction convection, radiation and air infiltration needs to be controlled. The building
envelope walls, roofs, windows and skylights, are responsible for about 25% of all building
energy used, but can impact up to 42% of residential use and 57% of commercial use. The
building envelope environmental loads consists of interior and exterior loads; this is shown in the
diagram below.
Figure 6 - Environmental Loads on Building Envelopes
Foundation: - the entire substructure that transmits loads from the building which consists of
reinforced concrete walls, slabs and footings. It must be designed to control the transfer of
moisture and thermal energy into the interior space. To control this thermal transfer,
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insulation is placed between the interior and exterior environments, along with waterproofing
using liquid asphaltic damping roofing and sufficient drainage around the perimeter
preventing underwater submersion of the waterproofing membrane.
Wall assembly: - a system of components that support, control and finish function of the
building envelope. Components of the wall must be integrated into the rest of the building
envelope to achieve a complete and system of enclosure. There are four common types of
wall assemblies, namely, Face-Sealed, Rain Screen, Concealed Barrier and Stucco and EIFS
Systems. External thermal insulations are used for heating buildings in the cold and hot
regions reducing heat loss due to thermal bridges, avoiding the condensation in thermal
bridge position. It also extends service life of the main structure, due to the insulation on the
outside wall of the building structure, that covers the building just like a coat around the
building, that buffer the stress caused by temperature change, this reduces the maintenance
cost.
Walls construction consists of:
 Rainwater control
 Air control layer
 Vapour control layer
 Thermal control layer
Figure 7 - Components of Building Envelope
Roof:- the roof of any building is exposed to the strongest solar radiation, it takes up a large
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proportion of heat consumption, that occupies 5% to 10% of total energy consumption of the
building, and it also occupies about 40% of consumption to the top floor. In order to improve
indoor thermal environment improvements, the roof insulation need to be applied. Flat roof
adiabatic has four forms of basic structure:
 entity materials energy-saving roofing,

 ventilation and thermal insulation roofing,
 vegetation roofing
 water storage roofing
Roof construction consists of:
 Water leakage
 Air barrier
 Flashing
 Expansion joints
Doors and windows: Building doors and glazing are the weak link to cooling preservation and
energy savings and is also one of the important factors affecting indoor quality. Energy loss on
doors and windows are mainly through thermal radiation, heat convection, conductive and air
leakage.
Energy efficiency of building envelope materials used in the construction are also to be
considered to minimize heat transfer. The resistance value or R-value is used to measure how
well a material can resist heat flow through it. Sunlight coming from through the window is not
included in R-values. R-values is related to the U-value (1/R) and thermal conductivity which is
a property of a material and on how well it conducts heat. The higher the R-value, the more
effective the material is at preventing heat transfer. The U-value is used to measure how well a
specific type of insulation can resist heat flow. The lower the U-value, the more effective the
material is at preventing heat transfer. U-Value deals with thermal conductivity within the
property of the material determining how well it conducts heat. These calculations are used on
windows doors and skylights determining how well they are insulated. If the R-value is known,
simply calculate the inverse of the R-value to obtain the U-value. In addition, if it is not known
the U-value can be calculated as:
Figure 8 - Calculation for U - Value
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Where,
 ΔT is the temperature difference inside and outside the house in °F
 Area is the area of the wall (or ceiling) that's being insulated in ft2
 Time is how long the measurement took place in seconds
 Heat Loss is how much heat is lost through the wall or window in BTU
Statement of Problem
The concept of a building envelope relates to design and construction of the exterior of the
building. A good building envelope involves using exterior wall materials and designs that are
climate-appropriate, structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing. The building envelope is the
interface between the interior of the building and the outdoor environment, including its physical
components like the walls, roof, floor, doors and windows (Saleh, 2007). The building envelope,
which acts as a thermal barrier, plays an important role in regulating indoor temperatures and
helps to determine the amount of energy required in order to maintain thermal comfort. Building
envelopes require maintenance and care to achieve their full lifespans. For a building that has
been well designed, constructed and maintained, the envelope or assets can be expected to last
their full predicted service life cycle. Conditions deteriorate over time as a result of a variety of
factors such as weather and wear and tear (daily use by occupants of the building). Without
adequate maintenance, the building envelope will deteriorate faster and their life span may be
diminished.
The main function of maintenance is to ensure safety of occupants, visitors and the general
public. The design team frequently neglects consideration of maintenance aspects and there is
great need to decrease the gulf between design and maintenance. This is because it is at the
design stage that the maintenance burden can be positively influenced in terms of future running
and replacement cost.
In Trinidad and Tobago, it is known that existing government owned or government leased
buildings are in a dilapidated state and an eyesore in the nation’s capital. Some of the factors
contributing to the dilapidated structures are inadequate funding for maintenance, political
motivated spending and construction starve for maintenance fund when parties change power,
weak lease agreement, subvention and approvals, inconsistent strategies between political
parties, health and safety issues and energy waste issues. Poor maintenance and lack of
maintenance of the building envelop has contributed largely to the downfall of buildings in
Trinidad and Tobago.
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There is insufficient maintenance of buildings in Trinidad and Tobago. The buildings have become
unattractive and many times unacceptable to users. The fact that the government spent over 268
million dollars of taxpayers’ money to reward the nation with the gift of enhancement and built
the Government Plaza located on Richmond Street and the Waterfront Centre located on
Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, it is necessary to have these building envelopes maintained so
they can live out their lifespan and does not shorten like the other buildings in the past.
Justification
The primary focus of this project is to show the importance of being proactive rather than
reactive in the maintenance and care of buildings. The building envelope is responsible for
holding the building together in more ways than one. The foundation, roof, walls, windows and
doors are all considered part of the building envelope, and they contribute to keeping the
building standing via structural support. A scheduled maintenance of a building envelope helps
to protect property value, maximizes lifespan of building assets, minimizes disruption to daily
business and occupants, reduces safety risks, results in lower long-term costs and enhances the
appearance of a building.
The envelope blocks the entry of water and wind, helping to prevent interior damage and
disruptions and to maintain a comfortable environment. A comprehensive building envelope
maintenance proposal can deliver a range of important benefits to organizations. It can prevent
building deterioration, reduce long-term maintenance costs, improve a building’s appearance,
and reduce occupant disruptions caused by such problems as leaks.
If maintenance is not done to building envelopes, then it will result in failures and deterioration,
which can prove costly in the long run. A proactive approach to exterior maintenance can
prevent these occurrences, reduce liability and keep occupants happy. Since public buildings are
important to Trinidad and Tobago because they provide various services for the citizens, this
proposal will contribute in highlighting the need for maintaining the building envelope.
This study is essential in the sense that it would not only contribute to knowledge and theory, but
will also contribute to good maintenance practice for Government buildings in Trinidad and
Tobago. The study will attempt to find out the issues that have contributed to the present state of
non-maintenance of public buildings some of which have been abandoned due to its state of
deterioration and recommend appropriate remedial actions to be taken for new buildings. It will
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assist decision makers in the Government to become aware of the current state of their building
infrastructure and its effect on the safety and health of personnel and customers and to also put in
place adequate innovative measures to prevent new buildings from suffering deterioration which
ultimately lead to increased cost in restoring these buildings to their original state.
Research Aim and Objective

The aim of this paper is to present a proposal to maintain the Government Plaza located on
Richmond Street and the Waterfront Centre located on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain in order to
provide operational and process improvement for the sustainability of the buildings.
The objective of this paper is to:
 Investigate issues on why the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is not properly
maintaining the new buildings.
 Propose a condition assessment for the Waterfront Centre Towers in order to conduct
restoration works.
 Propose a maintenance plan for a period of three years.
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Literature Review
What is Maintenance?
The word maintenance comes from the French verb maintenir, which means to hold, retain,
prolong or preserve the building or structure to an acceptable standard. According to Chudley
(1981) maintenance can be defined as act of maintaining. In the act of maintaining, repairs or
replacement may be necessary, but the main objectives of all maintenance procedures is to
prevent as far as practicable the need to repair or replace the structure, furnishings, services,
equipment or fittings which collectively make up the total environment of any building
(Chudley, 1981). Lee (1981) defines maintenance as a combination of any actions carried out to
retain an item in, or restore it, to an acceptable condition. Wood (2009) on the other hand,
defines maintenance as keeping an item at a certain level or of restoring it that position of
acceptability, although it does not identify who it is that determines the acceptability condition.
The Building Maintenance Committee in British defined maintenance as work undertaken in
order to keep, restore or improve every facility, that is, every part of a building, its services and
surrounds, to a currently accepted standard and to sustain the utility and value of the facility.
Poor Maintenance of Building Envelops lead to Deterioration
Poor maintenance causes physical factors that negatively affect the durability of the building.
The durability of a built facility is a measure, in an inverse sense, of the rate of deterioration of a
material or component (Afranie and Osei, E 1999). According to Afranie and Osei (1999), the
British Standard Institution (BSI) Code of Practice defines durability as the quality of
maintaining a satisfactory appearance and performance of required functions. The code measures
this parameter in terms of the minimum number of years of satisfactory life. The three major
causes of deterioration and maintenance problems are, age or period of construction,
environmental and location factor.
“It is a waste of taxpayers’ money to restore historical buildings and then allow them to
deteriorate,” the words of former head of the Public Service of Trinidad and Tobago, Reginald
Dumas. He described prolonged restoration and repair works undertaken on a number of
historical buildings in Port-of-Spain which has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
He questioned why there was no maintenance programme for the buildings which were left to
decay. Mr. Dumas also highlighted that the White Hall located in Port of Spain, the capital of
Trinidad and Tobago was repaired and refurbished more than twice, causing a considerable loss
of funds and waste of taxpayers’ money. After millions are spent to repair and restore these
heritage buildings, they slip back into disrepair because of the lack of building maintenance to
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the envelope.
A former University of the West Indies history lecturer Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh mentioned that
it was an insult to the country to have the buildings vacant for years “because it has historical
value which we do not appreciate but view as white elephants. His view that persons should be
held accountable and as such, a five per cent deduction from every Parliamentarian monthly
salary should be applied and put into a repair building fund. It should never come out of
taxpayers’ money.
Building maintenance in Kenya has not received much attention in the past as the emphasis is on
the development of new buildings (Coetzee, 1999). This is also echoed by other researchers,
(see Yiu, 2008 and Wood:2003) who observed that there is apparent lack of maintenance culture,
and that focus has solely been on the construction of new buildings and pretty much total neglect
of maintenance which commences immediately after the builder leaves site. Several forums
have addressed the crisis of maintenance of especially public buildings in Kenya, and an
emergent observation is that need for creation of a tradition for maintaining the building facilities
does exist and is real. The realization envisages a situation where a reliable system of
organization ought to be in place so as to address the issue when the need arises and, to
continuously monitor the state of the building stock. To do this, it is necessary to institute
measures at an institutional level from where a culture may permeate down to the general public.
Studies have shown that the buildings in the public institutions of Ghana reveals a rather bad
state of building management. The facilities in these public institutions in Ghana are either
poorly maintained or managed. A visit to Bawku Senior High School and Bawku Technical
Institute explains a rather poor state of maintenance of the buildings in the schools. The poor
state of maintenance of the buildings might not only be seen as a manifestation of the inability of
management to perform proper building maintenance services (Mavalankar et al, 2005) but also
put the lives of the people habiting such structures on the line as well as showcasing a poorer
facility management outlook of the schools.
The Ministry of Public Works building on John F. Kennedy Drive in New Providence, Bahamas
has seen much better days. With concrete falling off the sides of the exterior walls, the building
is in a dire state of disrepair. It is just one of the government buildings across New Providence
that is in need of upgrades. Some have been condemned and sit empty. The Minister of Public
Works mentioned that government buildings have generally not been properly maintained.
Researched showed that the building which houses the Ministry of Works was built in 1970 and
1971. The challenge is that these government buildings have not been maintained well over the
years, and they are showing it. Staff work under poor conditions and it is a risk to their health
and safety. Figure 9 illustrates the appearance of the building due to poor maintenance.
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Figure 9 - Ministry of Works Building in Bahamas
The importance of Building Envelope Maintenance
Building maintenance is considered as a major activity in the construction industry because it is

essential whether the buildings are large or small, simple or complex, located in urban or suburb.
The first impression someone gets of a well-maintained building is the way its exterior envelope
looks. The building looks young and attractive and certainly adds to the value of the building and
individual units. Maintaining the building envelope is necessary in order to preserve the assets
and protect the building and its occupants. Proper building maintenance makes sure that the
building and the environment remain healthy, clean and a safe place to work or reside. On the
contrary, this also causes the value of a building to be higher.
Maintenance is crucial in keeping building, infrastructure, and equipment in the best form for
normal use. Maintenance is not limited to a certain type of building or location. The external
exposure to a building due to the natural environment like the rain, beating hot sun and wind
causes the building to weather over a certain period of time. Maintaining the building, prevents
the building to deteriorate easily and makes it durable on a long run.
Proper maintenance of a building includes regular inspection of buildings which helps to identify
the deteriorated elements, so that they can be timely fixed on time. The dilapidation and
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irregular maintenance of the building leads to a loosening of tiles, spalled walls and concrete
floors which is unsafe for anyone.
Maintaining the envelope of the building contributes to the following:
 Saving of Money - emergency repairs are more expensive than the periodic maintenance.
Periodic and proper maintenance of building ensures that a building is properly
maintained and completely free from damage, costly problems and the need for constant
urgent repairs.
 Limits the dangers - poor maintained building contributes to a poor environment. The
damaged building or premises can increase the dangers and liabilities of someone getting
injured because of damage to the building.
 Managing Expenses - scheduling of periodic repairs at periodic intervals is easier, while

emergencies might lead to a budget issue. Emergencies can cause unpredictable and
heavy expenses. Maintaining a building allows for the arrangement of emergency repairs
fund which keeps it economic, accurate and correct with easy maintenance cost.
 Keeping assets in utmost working condition in order to minimize downtime and

disruption to services.
 Keeping assets from deteriorating in appearance and aesthetics.
 Keeping facilities so as to optimally achieve their full potential service life.
 Leveraging efficiencies that can be reflected on the owner’s statement of financial

position.
 Satisfying a legislated duty that is owed to owners, occupants and guests on the property.
 Preventing unnecessary damage to assets or facilitation that may result in their

performance failure.
Building Maintenance Types
According to Chudley (1980), maintenance can be defined as any work undertaken in order to
keep or restore every part of a building to an acceptable standard. There are two common terms
of maintenance types. These are planned/preventive maintenance and corrective/unplanned
maintenance. Planned or preventive maintenance aims to prevent major breakdowns to ensure a
building continues at peak efficiency through regular inspection and repair (Madureira et al.,
2017). Preventive maintenance is planned, based on cyclic maintenance actions such as
20
cleaning, local repair and local replacement and treatment to prevent deterioration in advance
(Ruparathna et al.,).
Corrective or unplanned maintenance consists of repair and replacement elements due to the
failure of preventive maintenance or natural wear and tear that sometimes is called reactive
maintenance (Ruparathna et al., 2018).
Figure 10 - Types of Maintenance
(Chanter and Swallow, 2007)
Maintenance Planning and Estimating
According to El‐Haram and Horner (2002), maintenance cost includes all costs of keeping the
building up to an acceptable standard. It relates to the direct cost of maintenance such as spares,
labours, equipment and tools as well as indirect costs such as administration, management and
the inevitable overhead costs. Having a proper preventive maintenance strategy can reduce
corrective maintenance cost, leading to reach optimal maintenance zone. The optimal zone is
where the two costs are balanced. Once funds are approved for the maintenance budget, efficient
use of this money requires wise internal allocation of the funding at the operational level or
locating this optimal zone. Although cost estimates for building maintenance are normally
prepared over the period to predict the likely cost of such works over the life of the buildings,
they can be considered in a single annual maintenance programme.
21
Types of building envelope maintenance
Maintenance and renewals planning should start at the design phase of a project and not be left
as an afterthought for the owners to address once the building is handed over. Maintenance on a
building envelope is usually done annually or biannually according to the type of seasonal
climate it is exposed to. In the Caribbean, the tropical climate are rain or sunshine but other
elements and natural disasters exist too like hurricanes and earthquakes, so biannual building
check is necessary. Buildings are required to withstand multitude of forces that impact the long-
term performance of materials that make up the building assets. If left unchecked risk of
unexpected failure may increase and the assets may have to be replaced before its service
lifespan. Without adequate maintenance on to the building envelope, assets will deteriorate faster
than the time it is expected to last. Below is graph that represents an example of a building roof
with and without maintenance.
Figure 11 - Building Roof with and without Maintenance
Before building envelope maintenance is carried out, the assessment ensures that it is functional
and safe and no major works are needed for example, roof replacement, window replacement and
sealing amounts of openings in the backup wall construction. Once this is done a maintenance
plan can be developed, which include:
• visual surveys of deterioration and openings in roofs

• annual repairs of detected deterioration
• infrared surveys of roofs
• visual survey of wall-system components annually
• sealants in wall systems and window perimeters
• window glazing gaskets
• cracks and openings in wall-system components
22
• interior survey of openings in wall systems above the ceiling
• infrared survey of wall components
Figure 12 - Examples of Simple Building Envelope Maintenance
Types of building envelope tests

 Infrared thermography (Thermal imaging cameras).
 Water intrusion testing
 Air leakage testing (Building pressure testing).
 Blower door test
The best approach to evaluate the building envelope is by conducting the tightness test.
Performing the airtightness test will help in quantifying the air leakage and identify the air
leakage pass through. Blower door test is the method that will assist in determining how much
energy the building is unnecessary consuming.
Types of building investment costs of its lifespan

During the initiation stage of a construction project of building maintenance renewals, planning
usually occurs at the design phase and not left as an afterthought for the owners to address once
the building is handed over. The building owners usually invest in various types of activities to
sustain the functionality and building performance of the building during the service life. These
investments entail:
 Operating Costs: These are the costs required to run the building. Utilities
(electricity, gas) and insurance are typical examples of operating costs.
 Maintenance and Repair Costs: Costs for routine maintenance activities for the
building envelope system to keep assets in good working condition this include:
cleaning of debris from roof drains, washing of the windows or inspecting the
23
sealants. Minor building repairs are included in the same category as maintenance
costs.
 Renewals Costs: These include costs to replace or refurbish the assets when they
have reached the end of their service lives. For example, the replacement of the roof
every 15 to 25 years.
 Adaptation Costs: These include expenditures required to adapt the building to the
evolving needs of the users and to address new legislative requirements and standards
that may be imposed by public orders. An example of this may be the requirement to
retrofit the fire safety equipment in multi-unit residential buildings.
The chart below shows the percentages or ratios of cost over the lifecycle of a typical building
from the design phase to disposal, at the end of its life span. This also shows that the bad
decisions made in the design phase can have a serious impact on the construction and also on the
maintenance process of building upkeep.
Figure 13 - Distribution of Life Cycle Costs of a Typical Building
Benefits of Building Envelope Maintenance
Some benefits derived from good building envelope maintenance are:

 Decrease of the government’s maintenance costs and repair works
 Secured and efficient working building envelope

24
Longevity of the building lifespan
 Decrease in insurance premium
 Approved certification of building codes and energy efficiency by IBC
 Less moisture and corrosion
Research Design and Methodology
This paper consisted of a descriptive

research that included literature review,
on site
research, and quantitative approach. In
the descriptive research, the facts are
observed,
registered, analyzed, classified and
interpreted, without researcher’s
interference (Lakatos
and Marconi, 2007).
The institution of study belongs to the
Judiciary Administration in the state of
Pernambuco, Recife city in Brazil.
The institution organogram has an
engineering and architecture
coordination, which is
25
formed by the engineering and
architecture sections, and is directly
linked to the
administration secretariat, which is
subordinated to the General Board. It
should be
emphasized that in the internal
administrative regulations there is no
maintenance provision.
However, the engineering and
architecture coordination created the
sector. Figure 1 shows the
simplified organizational chart of the
institution.
The internal regulations of the institution
provide that it is the responsibility of the
administration secretariat to monitor the
processes related to construction works,
reforms
26
and other engineering services. The
coordinator of engineering and
architecture is
responsible for coordinating the
planning, organization, direction,
supervision and control of
all engineering and architectural
activities required to maintain, construct,
renovate and
adapt the institution’s buildings;
preparing annual work plan and budget;
managing
requests for engineering services
necessary to carry out the activities; and
adopting
measures necessary for the acquisition
of real estate.
The maintenance department has never
undergone any type of sizing that allows
27
verifying the amount necessary of
servers for fulfilling tasks. Currently, the
sector has ten
professionals, being three judicial
analysts (one civil engineer, one
electrical engineer and
one mechanical engineer), two judicial
technicians (both civil engineers), two
technicians
(both with training in Business) and
three civil engineering interns.
The sector operates equipment and
furniture repair and maintenance; layout
change and
suitability; provision of electricity and
grid points; installation and maintenance
of hydraulic
pumps and sanitary sewage; repair and
installation of sanitary ware;
maintenance and repair
28
of lining, floor and walls; blacksmithing
and joinery services; repairs on roofs;
maintenance of
elevators, generators, artesian wells and
substations; provision of refrigerated air
and
maintenance of air conditioners and
maintenance of fire protection systems
and alarms.
It is inferred from the services
relationship in the maintenance sector
that it deals not
only with problems of building
maintenance, but also with the repair
and maintenance of
on site
29
observed,
and Marconi, 2007).
linked to the
should be
30
institution.
reforms
architecture is
31
renovate and
managing
adopting
of real estate.
sector has ten
32
technicians
change and
of hydraulic
maintenance of
and
33
and alarms.
that it deals not
and maintenance of
on site
observed,
and Marconi, 2007).
34
linked to the
should be
institution.
35
reforms
architecture is
renovate and
managing
adopting
36
of real estate.
sector has ten
technicians
change and
37
of hydraulic
maintenance of
and
and alarms.
that it deals not
38
and maintenance of
Research methodology is an important component of any study and provides the framework on
which the whole process is based (Brown, 1996). This section presents and discusses the
research approach, population of the research, sample of the research, research tool and the steps
that followed to carry out this research. The Honeycomb of Research Methodology helps to
simplify the concept of research methodology.
Figure 14 - The Honeycomb of Research Methodology
This paper consisted of a descriptive research that included literature review and site research. A
qualitative approach which guided the process for inquires and in-depth understanding of
problems and issues faced by the government of Trinidad and Tobago on building maintenance.
In the descriptive research, the facts were observed, analyzed and interpreted.
The research tool used was a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions and it was distributed to
39
sample population of 11 people from various a In order to achieve the objective of this research,
a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions were developed and distributed to 11 random persons.
Primary and secondary data was used in this study. The primary data was gained from the
feedback of the questionnaire respondents, while the secondary data was collected from the
internet, government websites and books.
Observation and Outcomes
Governmental issues affecting the maintenance of the building envelopes.
When we think of a building we will think of its frame and structure but the building envelope is
made up of a major part of its skeletal frame, so whatever is exposed to the outer elements will
soon start to crumble inside. Earth movement cause cracks in the concrete and glass that will
cause leaks from rainfall, which will cause corrosion from exposed steel, from the moisture from
the interior and exterior climate. Here everything will crumble after a matter of time, if building
repairs or corrective maintenance is not carried out regularly. In Trinidad and Tobago in the
early 2000s the government started to modernize the capital by the construction of new
government buildings around the city to continue to outstand just like the historic heritage
buildings. This time there was an oil boom and under the PNM government, the late Prime
Minister Patrick Manning and his vision was to transform Port of Spain into a metropolis
achieving developed-country status by 2020. Along with all the other transformations like free
education, tertiary education assistance Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (Gate)
Programme, improvement of land and sea transport, fast ferries to Tobago and affordable
housing.
Before historic government owned buildings and privately owned buildings lease by the
government were mostly in used but became dilapidated, due to the cause of poor maintenance
and no maintenance sometimes. The building envelope beauty was never a significant issue to
restore or maintain. Project management for buildings were more a district thing and not a one
project manager to one building, facilities manager only restored the inside by changing blown
bulbs, painting, sealing cracks and making sure the buildings were cool for staff. The culture
exists on a reactive platform and not on a preventative one, monies were always budgeted for
building maintenance, but there never seemed to be any work shown for its use.
Organizations which were in charge of building care and social infrastructure namely, NIPDEC,
a private limited liability company, who provides a diversified portfolio of services including
project management, procurement management, facilities management and commercial services
for the government since 1977 are usually contracted to carryout building maintenance and other
services and also UDECOTT which is government owned since 1994 and is responsible for
managing projects and facilities in the urban spaces and social infrastructure projects in Trinidad
and Tobago.
40
At the time, these two organizations had the same Chairman, Calder Hart and he was described
in an article saying “He obviously enjoyed a tremendous level of confidence at the very highest
levels of government. It is equally clear, from the Uff Report, that that confidence was woefully
misplaced. Huge contracts granted via sole selective tendering, without competition. That means
they gave the contracts to their chosen contractor and consultants. Huge payments made before
works were done or materials purchased. Article by Afra Raymond (Learning the Lessons of the
UDeCOTT fiasco - Part 2).
From the said Uff Report mentioned in his article the Chairman and board members were
removed from office, in saying this to answer some of the issues relative to poor maintenance of
buildings were due to poor management and corruption. From a study it showed the top ten
overall ranking for causes of government construction failure and they include:
1. political interferences
2. delays in payment
3. partisan politics
4. bureaucracy
5. corruption
6. poor supervision
7. lack of commitment by project leaders
8. poor planning
9. starting more projects than government can fund
10. change in government.
11. accountability
Sadly, in the list shown above, all have been experienced by our past and present governments.
What have been forgotten or tossed aside is that a commercial building project starts in the
initiation phase, ends at disposal phase and not after the construction phase or closeout phase. So
operations and maintenance are continuously carried out, even on the heritage building structures
for preservation purposes. The full project management cycle was not utilized for these
buildings.
Figure 15 - Project Life Cycle
41
Poor Maintenance on the building envelope of the Heritage buildings
Afra Raymond, in another article, spoke about the heritage buildings, on the neglect they are
given and how some of their structures are too weak to repair and may have to be demolish. He
also mentioned the restoration of some heritage buildings that benefited during the oil boom
which are Queens Royal College, Knowlsey National Museums and Art Gallery, Former Shell
Sports Club and Police Headquarters.
Figure 16 - Heritage Buildings of Trinidad and Tobago
Queens Royal College Knowlsey National Police Headquarters

Museums and Art Gallery
The construction of new buildings is really a big move for any country to take in the process of
its development. But what about our historic buildings? They can be restored and be reused by
the government or leased by any private entity. In our oil boom our historic buildings were on
the agenda to be restored. Most of them are located around the Queens Park Savannah and others
are located in other areas in the city. Recently the restoration of the Red House was completed
after over a decade of project delays and political controversy. This is where the seat of
Parliament is usually held but it was temporarily relocated in Tower D of the Port-of-Spain
International Waterfront Centre in 2012.
Figure 17 - Red House Restoration
42
Similarly, project delays occurred on the restoration of our historic buildings and they are just
another political fiasco. A good example of poor building maintenance on the envelope of a
historic structure is, the collapsing of the western wing of the President’s House. The western
wing was in use up until the day before it fell. This could have ended fatally if this occurred
when occupants were there. This also shows that the residence lacks a proper Facilities Manager
and a HSE officer.
Figure 18 - Collapse of the President's Roof
In a World Heritage Day 2017 conference held by the Trinidad and Tobago National Trust,
speaker and architect Rudylynn Roberts mentioned the urge to start restoring the historical
buildings which can give Trinidad and Tobago the opportunity to stand out in the Caribbean
43
crowd and drive tourism numbers up. This can be the key to modern tourism and those historical
sites can make Trinidad and Tobago unique instead of trying to mimic major cities. the speaker
even went on to say: “This is where we seem to be heading with our architecture…everywhere
looks like everywhere else,” she said, showing a presentation slide of the Port of Spain skyline
compared to other major cities.” “They don’t talk about us, they do not talk about our culture,
where we are from, our experiences, they don’t say anything, they could be anywhere in the
world. The skylines are interchangeable.”
The recycling of buildings to give them new life so they can live again, these same buildings
which were built by our people or great grandparents, displaying their art and talent. The
Greyfriars Church and Hall just opposite the City Hall on Frederick Street, is a good example of
neglect, it was demolished by a local businessman who purchased the property and got approvals
to do so and was not stopped in the act of starting but was stopped when most of the building
was demolished. The building was privately owned and the preservation of it was out the hands
of the government and the The National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago which was established
under the Act No 11 of 1991. But this property could have been bought by the government and
be preserved. It was on the Heritage Asset register but it was not preserved by the owners and
protected by the Government.
Figure 19 - The Greyfriars Church and Hall
44
Some buildings that were not fortunate to be fully restored are the Trinidad Public Library,
Bossiere House, National Museum Building and some of the Magnificent 7. As stated by Afra
Raymond, The failure to repair or maintain so many essential buildings is a tragic symbol of our
disdain for history and the simple sense of proper maintenance”.
Data and Results

This results were gathered based on questionnaire responses, discussions and observations. The
analysis was done in keeping with the research objectives. A questionnaire consisting of 14
questions were distributed to 11 random citizens for feedback on the observation of the building
maintenance. All respondents provided feedback. The results to the questions can be seen
below.
Question: Do you think that the government is doing enough to maintain the building envelope
on new buildings in the capital city?
Figure 20 - Chart 1
45
Maintenance of Building Envelope
46%
54%
Agreed Disagreed
The pie chart in Chart 1 shows that 54% of the respondents agreed that the Government is not
doing enough, while 46% disagreed. Some of the comments voiced were also that Trinidad and
Tobago does not have a maintenance culture, but waits until the buildings fall to rebuild.
Question: Do you think that political parties properly handover existing building projects to the
new party?
Figure 21 - Chart 2
Proper Hand Over of Existing

12 Projects
10
8
6
4
2
0
Yes No
All 11 respondents agreed that proper handover of existing building projects by political parties
are not conducted. Governments get into office and just start on their own agendas.
Question: In your thinking, should a Facilities Manager also be a Project Manager in order to
manage building maintenance properly? State why?
Figure 22 - Chart 3
A Facilities Manager should be a

Project Manager
19%
Yes
46
No
81%
According to the respondents in Chart 3 above, 81% agreed that the Facilities Manager should
also be a Project Manager, while 19% disagreed. Some suggested if the Facilities Manager have
project management skills, they will advise better on building maintenance and not just focus on
the changing of bulbs, temperature of the inside, but they will take into consideration the
building envelope maintenance.
Question: Do you believe that the building envelope (exterior) is more important than the
interior of the building?
Figure 23 - Chart 4
Is the Building Envelope more Important

than the Building Interior ?
7
6
7
5
4
4
3
2
1
0
Yes No
As shown in Chart 4, 7 respondents agreed that the building envelope is more important than the
interior of the building, while 4 respondents disagreed.
Question: Do you think that energy efficiency is greatly affected when the building envelope is
not properly maintained? Please explain your answer.
Figure 24 - Chart 5
47
Energy Efficiency is affected by poor
building maintenance
19%
81%
Agreed Disagreed
Energy Efficiency is greatly affected when building envelope is not properly maintained, this
was shown by the results of the respondents where in Chart 5, 81% agreed, while 19% disagreed.
Question: What measures should be done for the government to see the need to have a proper
building maintenance plan to execute?
Figure 25 - Chart 6
Value of Restoration vs Value of

Maintenance
Value of Restoration 0
Value of Maintenance 11
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
A combination of the responses showed that the respondents thought that the Government should
focus on building maintenance so as to save money and preserve the buildings. They basically
mentioned that the Government should have scheduled maintenance and ensure it is executed.
This will help the Government to recognize the value of maintenance vs the value of restoration.
Question: Would you say that the tropical weather we experience in Trinidad and Tobago is the
reason why our building envelopes deteriorate and look dilapidated, or its just poor maintenance?
48
Figure 26 - Chart 6
Reasons why our building envelopes deteriorate
9
8
8
7
6
5
4
3
3
2
1
0
0
Tropical Weather & Poor Maintenance Tropical Weather
Poor Maintenance
Chart 6 illustrates 8 respondents agreed that both tropical weather and poor maintenance is the
reason for building envelope deterioration and dilapidation, 3 agreed with only poor maintenance
and 0 blamed the weather.
The data compiled from the questionnaire showed that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago
does not concentrate on proper building maintenance. There is much more work to be done as it
relates to building maintenance, especially on the envelopes. A maintenance plan will certainly
assist the Government to preserve the buildings while saving much funds.
The next section of this paper will present a maintenance proposal to help the Government with
building envelope maintenance.
49
Overview of K. D. Engineering Firm
K. D. Engineering Firm was contacted to present a maintenance plan. This plan will be used by
the Government of Trinidad and Tobago as a consideration for maintenance of the buildings
envelopes for the Government Plaza and the Waterfront Centre.
K. D. Engineering Firm is a leading consultancy and project management provider with over 15
years in existence. We provide the following services:
 Advice in commercial management

 Risk-based advisory
 Dispute resolution services and strategic communications counsel on complex projects
across all construction and engineering industries.
 Project management expertise
Our professionals are industry leaders who understand technical, business, regulatory and legal
matters and are seasoned in giving expert testimony. We represent top talent across disciplines,
including engineers, architects, accountants, quantity surveyors, planning and scheduling
specialists, cost engineers, project managers and strategic communications professionals.
With experience in commercial contracting and professional industry practices, our consultants
understand technical, business, regulatory and legal matters, allowing them to identify key issues
quickly and find the best solutions for our clients. We take pride in ensuring our clients are
satisfied and work executed meets all the required standards.
50
Proposal for Waterfront Centre Towers
This proposal will be prepared in three parts. It will consist of:
 A Condition Assessment
 Restoration Works
 Maintenance Proposal for 3 years
Condition Assessment
A condition assessment also known as a facility condition assessment is an inspection conducted

on the building structure and systems. The assessment evaluates the condition of a building’s
envelope performance, structural foundation and superstructure, and mechanical systems,
including heating and cooling. This inspection is detailed and consists of:
 Structural components, including walls, floors, roofs, windows, and doors
 Systems, including plumbing, HVAC, and electrical
 Interior components, including finishes and fixtures
 Exterior components, including finishes and fixtures
Based on the inspection, the BCA provider delivers a report including:
 A brief description of each building component

 Identification of any issues or deficiencies in that component
 A table of expected costs to remedy those issues and deficiency
K. D. Engineering will commence a condition assessment on the Waterfront Centre Towers.

This condition assessment will be done to determine the existing conditions and the nature and
causes of poor performance and visible deterioration. This assessment will focus largely on the
aims and objectives of the restoration works. A thermographic scan of the exterior building
envelope will be a tool used to establish the condition of the building envelope. This assessment
is estimated for 4 weeks and will consist of inspection on the:
 Roof
 Cladding
 Glazing
 Exposed concrete surfaces
 Landscaping and surroundings
At the completion of this assessment a detailed report will be prepared.

51
Restoration Works
After the condition assessment is completed, the detailed report will be reviewed and then
development packages for Restoration Works will be prepared based on the report. This will
take an estimated time of 4 weeks, thereafter restoration works will be conducted over a 2
months period.
Maintenance Proposal
After restoration works are completed, it will be easy to commence maintenance of the
Government Plaza and the Waterfront Centre. The table below highlights the works to be
executed and the frequency.
Description Frequency
Visual survey for deterioration and openings in
Bi-Annually
roofs
Repairs to detected deterioration When required
Visual survey of wall-system components Bi-Annually
Repairs to cracks and openings in wall-system
When required
components
Sealants in wall systems and window perimeters When required
Window Washing Every 4 months
Power Washing Every 4 months
Landscaping Works Monthly
Labour 36 months
Equipment and rentals When required
Execution of Maintenance
Management, health and safety procedures, risk management and project management principles
will be implemented to manage the necessary resources (both materials and human) on the Port
of Spain Waterfront Centre firstly, and this will show how the task will be executed on the
52
Government Plaza which comprises of four buildings. Also, green measures will be indicated
for the minimal use of water for window-washing and recommendations for the heat load and
energy savings.
Cost
The cost is broken down into categories as follows:
Table 1 - Proposal Cost
Category Amount Comments

Condition assessment $25,000.00 for first Building
(Waterfront Centre)
If proposal is accepted the
cost to assess the
Government Plaza will
$20,000.00
Maintenance of Overall Cost for 3 years $3,096,0000.00 Yearly cost will be
 Annual Total cost $1,032,00.00
 Chemicals
 Equipment
 Insurances, PPE and administration cost
 Labour
Please note the cost for the Restoration Works is not included in this proposal, this cost can only
be provided after the condition assessment is completed.
The payment structure will require an annual contract down payment of 40% before the job
commences. This is called a mobilization fee in order to prepare all that is necessary to start the
job. Then for the first maintenance/restoration of 60% (balance of payment) will be given for 12
months.
The method of maintenance approach will be decided after the condition assessment is
conducted.
53
Gantt Chart
This schedule shows the estimated time for works.
40
HSE and Risk Assessment for the Building Envelope
At the completion of a building erection, maintenance and repair work begins, this continues
throughout the life span of the building. A well-developed maintenance plan can provide much
cost savings and preserve the building. However, safety measures are important for
constructions works. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the statutory legislation which
guides the design of safe access for maintenance and repair works. All maintenance projects
should follow the required procedures of this Act. Also, projects requiring these access
provisions will also fall under the auspices of the Construction (Design and Management)
Regulations 2007 (CDM2007).
The Workplace Regulations and Building Regulations are other health and safety regulations
which provides safe access guidelines. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 are of particular
relevance to access issues. This regulation will be required to be followed for the maintenance
of the building envelope. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 requires that work should not be
carried out at height where it is reasonably practicable to carry the work out safely other than at
height where work is carried out. Suitable and sufficient measures should be taken to prevent,
as far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.
To obtain general insurance for building maintenance the need to demonstrate that risks are
managed and controlled in a structured manner will be required. Therefore, provision of safe
access for maintenance and repair must be carefully documented and demonstrated.
The HSE and Risk assessment will be used to guide the condition assessment, restoration works
and the maintenance plan for the Government Plaza and the waterfront Centre under the
following classifications:
 Light: work such as inspection, painting, cleaning and maintenance. This will involve a
single operative and limited materials and equipment.
 Medium: work such as plastering and repairs, which may involve more than one
operative and small quantities of materials.
 Heavy: work such as part-replacement of cladding or services, re-glazing, which is likely
to involve a small team of operatives and or larger quantities of materials and equipment.
The project team will use these regulations to eliminate, reduce and control risk as an
opportunity to manage health and safety risks.
41
Table 2 - Work At Height - Indicative Risk Assessment Guidance
A detailed HSE and Risk assessment for all works to be conducted will be prepared and provided
if this proposal is accepted.
42
Key performance indicators for this report
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure the performance of a person, department,
project, or company over time, and how effective they are at achieving their aims. K. D.
Engineering will use the points listed below as a measure to achieve its maintenance objectives.
 Efficiency
 Costs and spending
 Safety and compliance
 Asset performance
 Downtime
 Work order management
 Inventory management
PESTLE for Building Envelope Maintenance
PESTLE stands for the analysis of the external factors which are beneficial when conducting
research before beginning a new project or to help conduct market research. These factors are:
 Political – Laws, global issues, legislation and regulations which may have an effect on
your business either immediately or in the future.
 Economic – Taxes, interest rates, inflation, the stock markets and consumer confidence
all need to be taken into account.
 Social – The changes in lifestyle and buying trends, media, major events, ethics,
advertising and publicity factors.
 Technological – Innovations, access to technology, licensing and patents, manufacturing,
research funding, global communications.
 Legal – Legislation which has been proposed and may come into effect and any passed
legislations.
 Environmental – Environmental issues either locally or globally and their social and
political factors
43
Table 3 - PESTLE for Government of Trinidad and Tobago Building Envelope
Maintenance
PESTLE Factors affecting/improving
Political  Change in Government

 Lack of policies for building maintenance
 Lack of accountability
 Lack of project management skills
Economic  Delay in payments due to rescission
 Increase in taxes
 Inflation
 Labour Cost
Social  Government culture
 Lack of training towards building maintenance
Technological  Lack of updated technology
 Implementation of a Building Maintenance System
 Implementation of Building Information Modeling
Legal  Misuse of Acts in relation to construction
 Types of Contracts suitable for the required work
Environmental  Renewable energy

 Energy efficiency programmes
After the Government of Trinidad and Tobago reviews this proposal and makes a decision on
contracting K. D. Engineering, a SWOT Analysis will be prepared to give assurance of the
success of this agreement and project. The analysis will provide solutions to work around any
possible problems effectively in order to avoid failure.
44
Recommendations
The external exposure of a building due to the natural environment like the rain, beating hot sun
and wind are natural elements that cause deterioration over a certain period of time. Maintaining
the building, prevents the building to deteriorate easily and makes it durable on a long run.
Proper maintenance of building also includes regular inspection of buildings which helps to
identify the deteriorated elements, so that they can be timely fixed. The dilapidation and
irregular maintenance of the building leads to a loosening of tiles, spalled walls and concrete
floors which is not definitely safe for anyone.
After conducting this research and compiling data which proved that the Government of Trinidad
and Tobago should develop the attitude of conducting proper building maintenance on all
government buildings to preserve the building. The following is recommended to help the
Government with moving forward to a better start.
Listed below are some recommendations which the Government can implement to assist with
proper maintenance:
 Create a Policy for continued building maintenance no matter the change of Government.
 Conduct restoration of historical buildings and offer rentals of the buildings.
 Recruit Competent Project Manager and Consultant expertise to work on building
maintenance.
 Implementation of Accountability measures for building maintenance.
 Implement Credible Procurement procedures
 Implement Quality Control for labour and materials for building works
 Document Health and Safety Measures and share with all stakeholders.
Solutions for proper building envelope maintenance

The following bullet points are recommendations for proper building envelope maintenance:
 Take a comprehensive inventory of individual building envelope components.

 Perform diagnostics and surveys of the building, or an entire building portfolio, with
aerial infrared scanning.
 Qualify the results with an expert in building envelope diagnostics.
 Analyse the financial implications of the survey findings and remediation strategies.
 Develop a condition-based maintenance plan, rather than replacing components
according to their estimated lifespans.
 Measure and evaluate results.
45
 Partnering with a reputable third-party consulting and engineering service company
can help ensure an objective and accurate analysis.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago can also follow best practices for their buildings that
are near the costal. This preventative maintenance can assist the Government in preserving the
buildings and saving cost as per maintenance. Let us look at some practices below that can help
the Government with making decisions based on proposals put forward by contractors when
buildings are to be erected:
The use of stainless steel or corrosion resistant metals. This may be costly but the reduction in
maintenance costs will make up for the initial investment.
Ensure quality control is done and contractors treat all wood to ensure it does not rot. Make sure
any wood features, especially those that are structural and exposed, are treated correctly.
Invest in durable cladding.
Consider the use of using fiberglass framed doors and windows to avoid them from corroding.
Use property maintenance experts’ services. This prepares the way for preventative
maintenance.
46
Conclusion
It is a common trend in Trinidad and Tobago when political parties are ruled out and the new one
is sworn in, that most of the projects from the previous government are unattended to and are left
to deteriorate through neglect of repair and maintenance which brings shame and disgust because
of ignorance. Examples of projects that were left unattended are, Brian Lara Stadium and the
Red House refurbishment. But most of them were taken up by the Commission of Enquiry and it
was noted that most of the issues that reoccurred were similar on different types of government
projects such as housing, road construction and infrastructure and sporting facilities.
Despite the government projects completed or started by one party, taxpayers’ monies should
never be wasted nor should the project stop, but continue by the new party, because in the long
run the common goal is to develop our nation for all citizens and benefit their lives and new way
of living. The building envelope may be more fragile than the main foundation or skeletal of an
entire building, but it holds its end of the bargain withstanding all types of weather and climate
thrown at it. Once properly maintained its beauty not only looks good but it handsomely reaps
great rewards within the exterior building systems. Energy efficiency depends on the building
envelope and its building performance. Buildings can easily surpass a century once properly
maintained and some buildings are built to last even through the worst treatment for example the
Riverside Plaza.
Figure 27 - Riverside Plaza (Now a place where homeless people live)
47
The paper is not just to highlight the issues and show what can be done to solve it, but to show
that continuity in building maintenance is the practical thing to do. This will preserve our
skyline and our new face to our capital city and our Caribbean neighbours. The Waterfront
Centre Towers were the best choice to make a proposal on to state our case due to its location to
the naked Gulf of Paria. From this proposal the trend really is to convince the government to
soon limit their poor decisions with building maintenance to its envelope and redirect them
elsewhere in a nonpolitical manner but a preventative one. The facilities manager expertise
should fall under a project management requirement, so building management and building
operation reports can be sent to the government on an annual or biannual basis for an update of
the health of the infrastructure in our capital city, towns and boroughs.
Heritage buildings reflect existence to project the priceless form of architecture existed by our
ancestors and built by indentured labours and slaves. These buildings should be restored and be
on display through tourism or leased out to private firms. This way the income received from
them can be used to maintain itself without the government having to study where income will
be found to maintain these cultural wonders.
Accountability is one of the main issues exposed to the Trinbagonian government culture lacks,
so responsibilities of maintaining assets revolve around the main political parties’ rivalry and
more of as a blame game instead of corrective action causing deterioration and depreciation.
Corrective action now can reverse the negative direction the of bad spending, reduce risk within
the building for failure to building systems, indoor air quality and also the risk of the outside
building envelope for corrosive fixtures and fittings of falling building parts from high winds.
This can also reduce the insurances and neutralize the way the building depreciates and its
lifespan.
48
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51
Appendix
Questionnaire
1. Do you think that the government is doing enough to maintain the building envelope on
new buildings in the capital city?
Yes 
No 
If no give an example of one and show your concerns.
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Do you think that the Government is preserving historical buildings in the capital city?
Yes 
No 
If no give an example of one and show your concerns.
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Do you think that political parties properly handover existing building projects to the new
party?
Yes 
No 
4. Is corruption the major reason why the building envelopes are not properly maintained?
____________________________________________________________________
5. Do you think that any existing government cares about restoring historical buildings?
____________________________________________________________________
6. Is the government culture a preventative culture or a reactive one when it comes to

building maintenance?
Please state a reason why you chose your answer.
_____________________________________________________________________
52
7. In your thinking, should a facilities manager also be a project manager in order to manage
building maintenance properly? State why?
_____________________________________________________________________
8. Do you believe that the building envelope (exterior) is more important than the interior of
the building?
Yes 
No 
If no, please show your concerns.

____________________________________________________________________
9. Would you say that the tropical weather we experience in Trinidad and Tobago is the
reason why our building envelopes deteriorate and look dilapidated, or its just poor
maintenance?
_____________________________________________________________________
10. Do you thing that proper building envelope maintenance make a building more
sustainable?
_____________________________________________________________________
11. Do you think that energy efficiency is greatly affected when the building envelope is not
properly maintained? Please explain your answer.
_____________________________________________________________________
12. What measures should be done for the government to see the need to have a proper
building maintenance plan to execute?
_____________________________________________________________________
13. Do you think that UDECOTT and NIPDEC does a great job restoring and maintaining
our government owned heritage buildings and sky scrapers?
53
_____________________________________________________________________
14. Do you think that the privately owned historical buildings should be bought by the
government and be preserved?
_____________________________________________________________________
54

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maintenance of the Government Buil

The importance of maintenance is therefore to maximize the service life of a building, by

Table 2 - Work At Height - Indicative Risk Assessment Guidance..............................................42

 The Inland Revenue Division (IRD) Tower (23-storeys)

Figure 1 - Government Plaza

Figure 2 - Waterfront Centre

Figure 3 - Components of the Building Envelope

Technically the building envelope is dissected in to systems which include:

 Below Grade construction

Figure 4 - The connection between Building Envelope and building

Function and performance of the building envelope

The building envelope functions are divided into three categories:

Energy Efficiency in the Building envelope

Figure 6 - Environmental Loads on Building Envelopes

Walls construction consists of:

Figure 7 - Components of Building Envelope

 entity materials energy-saving roofing,

Roof construction consists of:

Figure 8 - Calculation for U - Value

Research Aim and Objective

The objective of this paper is to:

Poor Maintenance of Building Envelops lead to Deterioration

The importance of Building Envelope Maintenance

Building maintenance is considered as a major activity in the construction industry because it is

 Managing Expenses - scheduling of periodic repairs at periodic intervals is easier, while

 Keeping assets in utmost working condition in order to minimize downtime and

 Keeping assets from deteriorating in appearance and aesthetics.

 Keeping facilities so as to optimally achieve their full potential service life.

 Leveraging efficiencies that can be reflected on the owner’s statement of financial

 Preventing unnecessary damage to assets or facilitation that may result in their

Building Maintenance Types

Figure 10 - Types of Maintenance

(Chanter and Swallow, 2007)

Maintenance Planning and Estimating

Figure 11 - Building Roof with and without Maintenance

• visual surveys of deterioration and openings in roofs

Types of building envelope tests

Types of building investment costs of its lifespan

Figure 13 - Distribution of Life Cycle Costs of a Typical Building

Benefits of Building Envelope Maintenance

Some benefits derived from good building envelope maintenance are:

Research Design and Methodology

This paper consisted of a descriptive

Figure 14 - The Honeycomb of Research Methodology

Observation and Outcomes

Governmental issues affecting the maintenance of the building envelopes.

Figure 15 - Project Life Cycle

Figure 16 - Heritage Buildings of Trinidad and Tobago

Queens Royal College Knowlsey National Police Headquarters

Figure 17 - Red House Restoration

Figure 18 - Collapse of the President's Roof

Figure 19 - The Greyfriars Church and Hall

Data and Results

Proper Hand Over of Existing

A Facilities Manager should be a

Is the Building Envelope more Important

Value of Restoration vs Value of

 Advice in commercial management

This proposal will be prepared in three parts. It will consist of:

A condition assessment also known as a facility condition assessment is an inspection conducted

Based on the inspection, the BCA provider delivers a report including:

 A brief description of each building component

K. D. Engineering will commence a condition assessment on the Waterfront Centre Towers.