Purpose This paper aims to assess a measurement model of green cleaning for green buildings in Malaysia. Being one of the contributors to the indoor environmental quality performance, green cleaning has become one of the significant aspects that need to be considered for the well-being and performance of a building, particularly in a green building's operations and maintenance performance. Green buildings without green cleaning practices would hinder the benefits that should be rendered economically, socially and environmentally. However, the absence of clear green cleaning components and requirements in Malaysia has become a motivation to undertake this research. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey involving cleaning service providers and green building index (GBI) facilitators was carried out, and the data was then analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. However, this paper will only be focusing on the measurement model assessment. Findings Most of the green cleaning components and requirements are acceptable in the model except integrated pest management (in the cleaning procedure component) and hand soaps (in the product and materials component) due to lower factor loadings. Therefore, these two requirements were removed from the measurement model. Research limitations/implications Due to a paucity of professionals in the field of green cleaning, the researchers have selected GBI facilitators and cleaning service providers as respondents for this research. The researchers assumed that GBI facilitators are aware of acceptable products and materials for green buildings; meanwhile, cleaning service providers know what is the best cleaning technique and process that helps in achieving cost and resource efficiency. This research also assumed that the green cleaning components identified can be applied to any type of green building, regardless of the differences in needs in each type of building. Practical implications This discovery will give the industry, particularly cleaning service providers and green building management teams, a first look at the green cleaning components and requirements. Originality/value This paper fulfills the need to study how green cleaning helps in achieving the benefits rendered by green buildings.

This paper discusses the factors that lead to green buildings operations and maintenance (O&M) problems in Malaysia. Several factors that lead to complexities in managing and maintaining green buildings have been highlighted by several scholars and practitioners in the construction industry. However, the criticality of these factors has yet to be empirically explored in the Malaysian context. A questionnaire survey was carried out involving green building maintenance management teams and Green Building Index (GBI) facilitators in Malaysia. Frequency and criticality index calculations were carried out to rank the factors according to level of criticality. The result indicated that the most critical factor that leads to green building O&M problem is the failure to consider the aspect of maintainability during the design stage. It is hoped that the findings of this study will shed light to green building designers and management teams on the critical aspects that demand scrutiny and consideration for successful O&M of green buildings in Malaysia.

Cleaning being a major contributor to the operations and maintenance expenditure and also Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) issues. Improper and ineffective cleaning can harm the environment and poses greatest risk to health. The use of traditional cleaning products presents a variety of human health and ecological concerns; and may contribute to poor IEQ. As an effort to reduce the issue of operations and maintenance costs and IEQ issues in a building, it is important to establish a green cleaning programme to ensure that the buildings are cleaned in a green way. Numbers of scholars has pointed out the factors which had prevented the green cleaning implementation in hospital buildings. Nonetheless, the significance of these factors has yet to be practically explored in the Malaysian context. Hence, the aim of the paper is to identify the most critical factor that prevents the implementation of green cleaning in Malaysian hospital building. A questionnaire survey and personal communication (i.e. interview) was conducted which involved two groups of respondents. They are the hospital maintenance staff (Cleansing Service Department) and cleaning contractors. Frequency and criticality index calculations have been used to rank these factors according to the level of importance. The result showed that an "unclear components and requirements of green cleaning" indicated as the most critical factor that prevent the implementation of green cleaning in Malaysian hospital building. In the concern for a successful implementation of green cleaning, it is hope that the findings of these studies can be enlightenment to the cleaning contractors as well as the hospital maintenance management team in Malaysia.

Malaysia is a country that is progressively developing that uses energy as the main input for its continuous development. The increasing demand and consumption of energy subsequently led to increase concentration of greenhouse gas emission and resource depletion. To cope with the challenges in mitigating adverse effects and sustaining energy, Malaysia has made efforts in emphasizing on the green building initiatives in the building sector. This has been demonstrated through promulgation of policies (i.e. NTGP, NPCC), impetus in developing ‘greenness’ (i.e. GTFS, GBI) and government-owned green buildings manifests. Considerable attention on green building initiatives can be seen through the increasing number of new green buildings that are presented in the GBI executive summary. However, the existing building stocks remain with less attention. Furthermore, there is a lack of consideration in retrofitting these existing buildings as a mean to contribute to sustainability. Therefore, this paper presents and reviews the measures that have been taken towards Malaysia’s building sector and the emphasis of retrofitting existing buildings to contribute in the sustainability movement.