BUILDINGS CONDITION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

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PRACTICE NOTE 3 BUILDINGS CONDITION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES Note to Readers While information contained in these Practice Notes is believed to be correct at the time of publication, the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia and its NAMS.AU Group, Working Parties and other contributors to these Practice Notes, do not accept any liability for its contents or for any consequence arising from its use. Copyright: This work is copyright of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) and no part may be reproduced by any person without prior written permission from the National Asset Management Strategy Group of IPWEA (NAMS.AU). Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to IPWEA at national@ipwea.org.au. Acknowledgements The provision of documentation and information used during the compilation of these Practice Notes is acknowledged with much appreciation by IPWEA. Our aim has been to tap into the most up-to-date practical experience being demonstrated by users around Australia. Their willingness to make their data and systems readily available means all users of these Guidelines will benefit from their collective wisdom. The sources of material reproduced in the Guidelines are noted throughout the document. These Guidelines draw on concepts contained in the International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM) and the New Zealand NAMS Property Manual. These Practice Notes have incorporated material kindly provided by SPM Consultants Pty Ltd (SPM) who were principle authors of the NAMS Property Manual in New Zealand. We are also indebted to those who have willingly given their time to review and provide comment as these Guidelines have been developed, to ensure we are always reflecting best practice in the field. Those who have been part of the Review Team and have provided comment are acknowledged as follows: Ralph Godau Moonee Valley City Council Victoria Alison Hancock Onkaparinga City Council South Australia Jim Henshelwood Henshelwood and Associates Paul Kellick Joondalup City Council West Australia Bill Keon Justices Department Victoria Jan Korek- Stirling City Council West Australia Graeme Offer Cairns City Council Queensland Darron Passlow Wingecarribee Shire Council New South Wales Steve Waller Rockhampton City Council Queensland Des White West Wimmera Shire Council Victoria Project Manager: Peter Way PSM, Chair IPWEA NAMS.AU Authors: Peter Way PSM Steve Lyons - SPM Consultants Pty Ltd 2

PRACTICE NOTE 3 BUILDINGS CONDITION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES Final Version - Issued June 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 SCOPE OF THESE GUIDELINES 6 1.1 Preamble 6 1.2 General Applicability 6 1.3 Purpose of these Guidelines 7 1.4 How to Use these Guidelines 9 QUICK GUIDE 10 CORE AND ADVANCED FLOW CHARTS 16 2.0 KEY PRINCIPLES OF BUILDINGS ASSET MANAGEMENT PLANNING 18 2.1 The Core and Advanced Approach to Condition Assessment 18 3.0 LEVEL OF SERVICE 20 3.1 Service Lead Planning 20 3.2 Core Approach 22 3.3 Advanced Approach 22 3.4 Property Quality Standards (PQS) 22 4.0 STATUTORY OBLIGATIONS - DUTY OF CARE 24 5.0 RISK AND CRITICALITY 26 5.1 Core and Advanced Approaches to Risk Management 26 5.2 Building Criticality 26 5.3 Component Criticality 28 5.4 Risk Analysis 29 5.5 Monitoring and Reviewing Risk 30 6.0 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 31 6.1 Define the Organisation s Needs First 31 6.2 Information Required 31 6.3 Data Capture Options 32 6.4 Data Analysis and Reporting 32 6.5 Maintaining the Data 32 6.6 Implementation of the Strategy using a Pilot Study 33 6.7 Some Key Messages 33 7.0 BUILDING REGISTERS 34 8.0 CONDITION RATING SYSTEM 36 8.1 Core Approach 36 8.2 Alternative Approaches 37 9.0 SITE ASSESSMENT PROCESS - PRE-ASSESSMENT 39 9.1 Site Selection 39 9.2 Survey Packs 40 9.3 Pre-Survey Interviews 40 9.4 Building Components 41 9.5 Establishing a Data Model 43 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS Cont d 10.0 CONDITION ASSESSMENT DATA COLLECTION 46 10.1 Role of Surveyor 46 10.2 Site Survey 47 10.3 Writing Standard Work Orders 51 10.4 Property Quality Standards Assessments 52 10.5 Completing the Survey 52 11.0 DATA ANALYSIS 53 11.1 Introduction 53 11.2 Analysis Outcomes 53 11.3 Data Validation 53 11.4 Analysis reporting 55 12.0 LIFECYCLE ANALYSIS 56 12.1 New Works-Assessing Building Functionality and Rationalisation of Space 57 12.2 Renewals Based on the Replacement Theory 57 13.0 LONG TERM FINANCIAL PLANNING 61 13.1 Financial Planning Outcomes 62 13.2 Australian Accounting Standards 68 13.3 Capital Expenditure Program 69 14.0 WORKS SCHEDULING 70 14.1 Works Orders for Reactive Maintenance Activities 70 14.2 Pro-Active Maintenance Planning 70 14.3 Capital Expenditure Projects Renewals and Replacements 72 14.4 Capital Expenditure Projects New Construction 73 15.0 IMPROVEMENT PLAN 74 16.0 TOOLKIT 75 16.1 Data Collection Forms and Condition Grading 76 16.2 Renewals Analysis 77 16.3 Building Criticality Matrix 78 16.4 Financial tables 80 16.5 Building Component Guidelines (BCG) 80 Tool Kit Spreadsheets available for download 17.0 REFERENCES 82 APPENDICES 83 Appendix 1 Level of Service Examples 83 Appendix 2 Property Quality Standards 87 Appendix 3 Risk Management and Criticality 93 Appendix 4 Condition Rating Scoring Methods 95 Appendix 5 Building Components 98 Appendix 6 Building Functionality 99 Appendix 7 Quality Checking of Property Survey Data 105 4

ACRONYMS The following acronyms appear throughout this document: BCA Building Code of Australia BCG Building Components Guideline CRC Current (or Capital) Replacement Cost DRC Depreciated Replacement Cost FPE Fixed Plant and Equipment GIS Geographic Information System GRC Gross Replacement Cost IIMM International Infrastructure Management Manual IMS Information Management Strategy IPWEA Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia NAMS.AU National Asset Management Strategy Group Australia NAMS National Asset Management Strategy New Zealand NAMS.PLUS A nationally consistent approach to writing asset management plans PDA Personal Digital Assistant PQS Property Quality Standards SWO Standard Works Order 5

PRACTICE NOTE 3 BUILDINGS CONDITION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES 1.0 SCOPE OF THESE GUIDELIN ES 1.1 Preamble These Practice Notes for Buildings, Condition and Performance Assessment Guidelines are the third in a series of Practice Notes being developed by the National Asset Management Strategy Group (NAMS.AU) of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) to assist practitioners in applying best practice for condition assessment for various asset classes. The aim is to foster a national approach and encourage consistency of data and outputs. These will be living documents, subject to review and update as further and better information comes to hand. These Guidelines should be read in conjunction with the overview Preamble Document (ebook) which sets out the generic principles applicable to all types of assets. The Preamble Document covers the basic concepts of condition assessment, performance measurement, risk management and data management. This overview Preamble Document draws from the excellent work in the International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM). It can be downloaded for free from the IPWEA website at www.nams.au.com and click on Practice Notes. 1.2 General Applicability It is intended that these Guidelines be applicable for typical local government, public works or other organisations (public or private) that rely on a number of buildings and related properties throughout their overall asset portfolio, in order to provide the services that are demanded of them by the community stakeholders, they serve. The term Buildings and Surrounds used throughout should be taken to mean the physical asset being an aggregate of the components such as structure, roof, external fabric, services, internal finishes and site surrounds. There are many specific building assets that are managed by public works organisations in their overall operations. For a typical local government, these include particular purpose buildings such as:- Administration Centres Libraries Community Halls Art Galleries/Cultural Centres Entertainment Centres Sport and Recreation Buildings (Including buildings leased to Sporting Clubs) Housing Works Depots And so on. 6

For other organisations, buildings that these Guidelines would apply to might include the following examples:- Education facilities Prisons Police Stations Courts Hospitals In addition, it is recognised that many services provided by public works entities, rely on buildings and property as a part of that service delivery mechanism. For instance, water supply and sewerage networks typically include various buildings in the form of pump stations, administration and depot buildings, treatment plant buildings etc. It is also recognised that in many cases, Councils may have a responsibility for buildings that are managed on a day-to-day basis by other entities such as sporting clubs, community groups or other such parties that may have built on Council land under some lease arrangement. Often these leases provide for the building ownership to ultimately reside with the Council. Accordingly, these building assets need to be recognised by the Council on its asset base, valued and accounted for under the Accounting Standards. They should also be subject to the normal risk assessment processes and condition monitoring as outlined in these Practice Notes. These Guidelines are accordingly intended to cater for asset managers with responsibility for any of the above buildings (or infrastructure service delivery that includes buildings), to be able to utilise these Guidelines to carry out condition assessment and performance measurement for these buildings. 1.3 Purpose of These Guidelines The intent is that these Guidelines will provide Practitioners with the necessary principles and process to be able to carry out condition and performance assessments of buildings and surrounds with the main outcomes being:- Identifying and establishing a register of Buildings (and surrounds) and breaking them into components. Condition Assessment to rate each component and estimate remaining useful life. Current (or Capital) Replacement Cost (CRC) and Depreciated Replacement Cost (DRC). Risk analysis based on condition to predict the timing of future renewals and replacements of building components. Reporting including a buildings summary report, component schedule, valuation report, and an expenditure profile. Where specified, Quality Assessment to determine the building s performance measured against quality standards. Work schedules (maintenance, renewals and new works) and financial planning. 7

QUICK GUIDE Introduction This Section of the Guidelines is designed to give Practitioners a quick overview of the more detailed content included in the complete document. It is also designed to assist those who may be looking for a very simple basic approach to commence the journey towards improving their asset management performance in the area of building assets. While the main purpose of these Guidelines is to provide direction in the process of carrying out condition assessment for building assets, it needs to be recognised that such cannot successfully be carried out without an appreciation of how that process sits within the overall framework of good asset management. Core and Advanced Approaches These Guidelines are designed to cover the needs of core (those beginning the process) and advanced users. Moving from a core to an advanced approach is one of continuous improvement. It will be noted that throughout the document, reference is made to both core and advanced approaches and it is often prudent to start with a simple core approach rather than trying to commence on a more ambitious process. At the end of this Quick Guide Section are two flow charts that also highlight a step-by-step process that is recommended for either a core or advanced approach to the condition assessment process. Core Approach For the core approach, it is typically a case of selecting those buildings that are deemed to be most critical to the business of the organisation and focusing on these to carry out an initial condition assessment inspection. This will typically identify any risk hazards requiring immediate rectification. It will also provide some basic data on the condition that will enable analysis of longer-term renewal or replacement works required. This then provides the necessary financial data to inform the long-term (10-Year) financial plan. Works identified, immediate and future, can then be bundled into projects, both maintenance and capital in nature, to be carried out and the timeframe for such. Regularly repeating these basic steps with appropriate refinement of the process as resources permit is part of the continuous improvement journey, leading ultimately to a more advanced asset management outcome. A good example of such an approach is that employed by Cairns Regional Council who has developed a simple one-page condition inspection checklist from which they can create a summary, future capital works projections and work scope sheets. 10

Advanced Approach As organisations move into a more advanced phase, they will address their whole portfolio of building assets and apply criticality and risk management principles to better determine the frequency and scope of condition assessment inspections. They will collect more detailed data with greater breakdown into various components. They will apply quality standards to test the level of service being provided and use this to assist the condition assessment process in deciding on future needs. The resultant data will be more rigorously analysed and optimise decision-making typically employed to determine priorities for works. The analysis will give a more accurate picture on the remaining life of the building assets down to their various components, their current replacement cost and their depreciated replacement cost. Most importantly, organisations will be able to demonstrate whether they are sustainably managing their building assets by providing the necessary funds through their long-term financial plans to meet the planned expenditures for replacement, renewal, upgrade and new building assets. Again, an iterative process will provide for continuous improvement over time. Building Asset Registers A logical starting place for the process is to make sure ALL buildings are accounted for on a buildings asset register for the organisation. Be warned this is often not the case. Desirably there should only be the one Register utilised by all stakeholders financial, insurance, maintenance sections etc. Multiple registers lead to inconsistency between those registers. Remember to look carefully at buildings such as local community centres, sporting clubhouses etc built by those entities on Council land under a lease arrangement. Often they will turn out to be Council s responsibility and need to be included on the asset register. So for either the core or advanced approach, it is important to begin with a careful review of the Building Register to ensure all buildings are in fact included. Refer to Section 7 for more detail on this aspect. Key Principles of Building Asset Management Section 2 of the Guidelines provides a brief summary of asset management planning principles relating to building assets and how condition assessment fits into this asset management planning framework. Each of these principles is then addressed in further detail in subsequent Sections of the Guidelines. Level of Service Condition assessment and performance measurement must not only look at the physical condition of the building and its components, but more importantly, how well the building is meeting the needs of all who use it. Hence the need to agree with all stakeholders the level of service required of the building, now and into the future. The Property Quality Standards (PQS) approach detailed in Section 3 and Appendix 2 links the level of service issues with condition assessment to drive decision-making about future investment in building assets. Appendix 1 gives some examples of levels of service typically applicable for building assets. 11

Statutory Obligations Section 4 introduces the need to look at relevant legislation coupled with legal liability issues, which will drive a number of aspects of the condition assessment process. This has a bearing on frequency of inspections, scope of such and the way in which outcomes are decided and what action needs to be initiated. Also over what timeframe. This is largely a risk management issue. Risk and Criticality Section 5 then logically goes on to address risk and building criticality. Intent is that more attention be given to those buildings assessed as being most critical to the business of the organisation. Further refinement is to then look at components of buildings and again focus on those components seen as being most critical. Methods of determining criticality are provided. Traditional risk analysis methodology is provided with matrices to assist in prioritising actions arising from such analysis. The need for ongoing monitoring and review of risk management plans is also highlighted. Appendix 3 gives examples of risk assessment matrices. Information Manage ment Section 6 highlights the importance of consideration of the information management issues right at the outset. Condition assessment processes generate large volumes of data and unless careful consideration is given prior to commencing the process, management of that data can be problematic. There needs to be confidence in the quality of the data and only that data that is necessary to meet the organisation s needs should be collected. Set up a pilot program to test the data collection, data management and subsequent analysis processes to ensure that it all works and the outcomes generated are in accordance with needs. Again start with a core simple approach and avoid collecting unnecessary data. Recognise that data needs to be kept up-to-date to be of value so factor that into the process. Make sure that the computer software used will perform the desired task whether it be simple spreadsheets or a more sophisticated dedicated asset management system. Finally, ensure that the organisation is prepared to commit sufficient resources in people and equipment to the information management task. Rating Systems for Condition Asse ssment Often one of the most debated points Should it be 1 to 5, 1 to 10 or something else?. We follow the IIMM approach of preferring the 1 to 5 1 being Very Good Condition and 5 being Very Poor Condition. Section 8 details this and various other more advanced rating systems. Appendix 4 gives full detail on each rating level and how to apply that to building components. Site Assessment Pre-Assessment Process Section 9 highlights the important steps that should be taken before going on-site to do the actual survey. Obviously, gathering as much data as possible into a Survey Pack through desktop analysis of already available records makes good sense. It deals with selecting the buildings to be surveyed, interviewing relevant staff and what should be included in the Survey Pack. Very importantly, this Section also deals with how to break the building down into its various components. Guidelines on this are also provided in Appendix 5 and the Toolkit Section. It gives detail on setting up a data model and how to categorise the various components. 12

Condition Assessment Data Collection Now we are ready to go on-site and do the actual condition assessment survey. Section 10 begins with commentary on desirable attributes for those doing the survey. It looks at frequency of surveys and various types of survey. Workplace Health and Safety issues associated with the survey process itself are highlighted. Data Analysis This Section then goes into detail on assessing each of the building components and the typical scope of survey data required. Pro-forma data collection sheets are included in the later Toolkit Section. As well as the condition rating, surveyors are required to make an estimate of remaining life, quantities and unit rates for replacement of components and a confidence rating on the data collected. Importantly, photos of the building and various components are also required. Building surrounds are also referenced. The writing of works orders that will typically arise to address immediate maintenance needs or any hazardous issues is covered. The process for carrying out a Property Quality Standards assessment as part of the condition assessment process is also detailed. Finally, the steps to be taken in completing the survey are spelled out to ensure nothing is missed. This is where the value derived from the whole process begins, as we start to analyse the data. Section 11 outlines the various outcomes expected of the analysis phase including financial data such as the Current Replacement Cost (CRC) and Depreciated Replacement Cost (DRC) at both a component level and whole-of-building level. Estimates of remaining useful life of the components and a schedule of replacement/renewal works to feed into the long-term financial plan are developed. Where specified, a Property Quality assessment will also be produced. Work schedules for both short-term maintenance and longer-term capital expenditure similarly allow for budgeting and financial planning. This Section begins by highlighting the important first step of validating the data about to be analysed. In this way, users can be satisfied that all necessary data has been collected and informed as to the accuracy of such, for each component. Reporting the outcomes of the analysis is the next important step and the spreadsheets as demonstrated in the Toolkit Section provide for a simple, easy to interpret collation of all the necessary relevant data. This format means data is also easily transferred into other formats such as for the long-term financial plan. 13

Lifecycle Analysis Section 12 deals with the analysis outcomes from the perspective of ensuring sustainable management of the building assets to deliver the required levels of service now and into the future. It considers planned expenditures arising from the analysis, for both capital and operational budgeting. Categories of such expenditure include: Short-term reactive maintenance to address immediate concerns identified. Longer-term pro-active planned maintenance activities. Long-term replacement or renewal capital expenditure of various components. Longer-term expenditures for construction of new assets. The Section goes into some detail about addressing building functionality typically arising from the PQS process that often leads to decisions about the needs for new buildings or major refurbishment of an existing building. Renewals expenditure is typically at the component level and caters for replacement of such components of the building asset to return its service potential to the original level. This might include works such as replacing a roof. Replacement of special components such as fixed plant and equipment is another common activity covered in this Section. Long-Term Financial Planning This is the logical conclusion in travelling down the path of sustainability. Any organisation can demonstrate responsible asset management of its building assets if it has a properly developed asset management plan that informs its overall ten-year long-term financial plan. This Section explains the process for calculating the Current Replacement Cost (CRC) for the building both for the gross replacement cost of all of the surveyed components and the CRC of the whole building from available construction cost handbooks such as Rawlinsons. The difference provides an estimate of the residual structure value of the building. This Section also explains the calculation of Fair Value or Depreciated Replacement Cost (DRC) valuation in the context of the Australian Accounting Standards. It also goes on to explain two typical methods of valuing building assets - one by the more traditional method and the other being more useful for asset planning purposes. Also explained in some detail is the treatment of depreciation for building assets and distinguishes such from the funding of the renewals program identified through the condition assessment process. It also highlights the Australian Accounting Standards restrictions on condition-based depreciation and the need for suitable rigour in how it is applied if it is to meet the Accounting Standards. 14

Work Schedules Section14 deals with the important task of translating all of the foregoing analysis into action on the ground. It begins with the treatment of works orders for reactive maintenance requiring urgent attention, then addresses the planning for proactive maintenance that is identified as being necessary to build into regular annual maintenance programs to ensure the planned life of the asset components is achieved. Next it focuses on capital expenditure projects for renewals and replacements, being above the capitalisation threshold set by the organisation. Based on data input from the earlier work, factors such as criticality, risk etc can be used to assist in prioritising and developing a smoothed program of various projects across the whole buildings portfolio on a year-by-year basis. Improvement Plan As part of any good asset management planning process, Section 15 concludes with a discussion on the need to invoke a continuous improvement philosophy into the condition assessment exercise. In this way, as better information is gathered over time, skills are enhanced, and greater confidence in the data is built up, organisations can look forward to more complete and meaningful asset management plans for their building assets. The Toolkit Section This Section 16 focuses on a number of resources available through the Guidelines and the associated Spreadsheets. These include: Appendices Pro-forma for the collection of data. A condition grading tabulation that specifies how to determine the condition grading for each component. A renewal analysis spreadsheet that can produce a renewals expenditure profile cycling up to 100 years. The spreadsheet also provides an automated way to validate data. A matrix to assist in deciding the importance of particular buildings. This criticality assessment is necessary input to the prioritising of projects derived from the analysis. Financial Tables in spreadsheet form to develop all operational and capital expenditure proposals with due account of the prioritisation steps to provide input into the long-term financial plan of the organisation. Similarly it can feed into associated spreadsheets such as those developed in the NAMS.PLUS Program. Building Component Guidelines (BCG). These have been developed for the Australian building industry and cover 90% of the most common building components. The spreadsheet provides detail on base, upper and lower bound useful lives and a criticality rating for each component. Unit rates for construction or replacement of the components can be derived from the various construction cost handbooks (such as Rawlinsons or Reeds). Some of the material available in the Appendices has been mentioned already. Other useful information includes a detailed treatise on building functionality at Appendix 6 and the data validation checklist at Appendix 7. 15

CORE & ADVANCED FLOWC HARTS Core Condition-Based Survey Flowchart 16

Advanced Flowchart 17

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