Public Building Maintenance and Rehabilitation

Abstract

The public buildings such as high schools, kindergartens, nurseries, universities, dormitories and buildings in their service used by the general public are valuable assets, normally built with substantial investment in a long period of time. These assets are not always managed with the care that they require. As a result, depreciation and destruction in time reducing the ability of these buildings to fulfil their functions by reducing the time of use, durability. General usage costs will also be higher because of the buildings require costly renovations or replacements of materials frequently than might be necessary if they are maintained regularly. Limited funds are often considered as a reason for inadequate maintenance. Enough funds are needed, but very good results can be achieved with very limited budgets, if maintenance work is done in a systematic way with welldefined priorities. The paper tries to answer the question if the maintenance and rehabilitation of the existing public buildings is the most effective way for the improvement of their contemporary standards. In the first part after the background a theoretical description of the building performance management, maintenance and rehabilitation issue. A brief description of the building deterioration and depreciation is done. In the second part the performance the public buildings situation in Albania is given throw analyses of a big number of key studies. Analyses of the cons and pros of rehabilitation are followed by the analyses of costs and the feasibility. In the end is given the answer to the question: to rehabilitate or build

Current situation, challenges and future development directions of facilities management in Kosovo

“…FM is a fledgling sector in Kosovo; however, it has been neglected by the government, architects, builders and spatial planners (Norman, 2014). According to Nepravishta et al (2012), the FM in Kosovo has not paid sufficient attention to maintenance and care of valuable assets such as universities, high schools kindergartens, nurseries, dormitories and buildings. FM as a concept is still unknown and new in countries such as Albania and Kosovo (Kemetsm€ uller et al, 2014).…”

“…In Kosovo, there are numerous challenges with regard to FM. They are mainly related to the lack of attention to the building management, lack of awareness with regard to financial costs arising from improper building maintenance, lack of trained staff and execution of many of FM tasks by half-specialized staff (Nepravishta et al, 2012). Absence of buildings performance benchmarks related to energy is especially notable in Kosovo (Hoxha and Shala, 2019).…”

“…Recently, the idea of FM occupying a strategic position in organizational objectives has really taken off, as people become more aware of the strong link between the workplace – for which FMs are responsible – and an organization's levels of productivity (RICS, 2020). In Kosovo, the lack of policies that make the FM occupy a strategic position make it more difficult for decision makers to pay sufficient attention to the management of public buildings (Nepravishta et al. , 2012).…”

Proper maintenance way for the multifunctional windows

“…Usually, higher costs are incurred for window replacements or renovations than if they are maintained constantly. Appropriate maintenance requires funding, but notable results can be obtained at a limited price [24]. Almost all windows' function efficiency is connected to their maintenance achievement, as windows cannot provide internal spaces with heat, daylight, fresh air, and views; avoid pollutants, dust, and pests; and maintain a good internal ambient environment for the users if not cleaned regularly.…”