Abstract:
A building fabric is referred to as an ‘environment envelope’ because it is the means by
which the natural or external environment may be modified to produce a satisfactory
internal environment for a person to live in. The deterioration of building hampers its
ability to perform adequately, therefore it is important to ensure proper maintenance to
prevent deterioration. Due to the neglect of the maintenance component of building in
this country, a lot of residential and public buildings are in a state of disrepair. In view
of the above, this study was designed to assess the current condition of residential and
public buildings. Identify the major causes of poor maintenance to buildings, analyse
the maintenance policy and practice of the maintenance department in residential and
public institution in this country to make suggestion and recommendation towards the
adoption of effective maintenance policy and practice. The field investigation focused
on residential and public building in the Ayawaso sub metro in Accra metropolis. Three
different housing types were defined for data collection and analyses including
bungalows, tenant houses and single unit houses. Method of data collection was
purposive and random sampling techniques. A number of houses were covered in the
survey. The survey revealed that there is a real housing maintenance problem in the
public and residential building sectors in Ghana particularly in the Ayawaso sub metro
and also buildings have deteriorated and need to be repaired, the buildings was not
properly designed and constructed, they lacked preventive or regular maintenance and
that estate managers, occupants, personnel (expects) are to be blamed that maintenance
work on buildings should start from the planning stage (design stage) to the life span of
the building. The study also established the following factors as being responsible for
the poor maintenance of public and residential buildings: the age of the building, lack
of maintenance culture, inadequate funds and cost of maintenance, pressure on
buildings facilities by number of users and poor construction work and maintenance
work done by maintenance personnel of public institutions. Stake holders in the housing
sector also add to the problem that has arisen as a result of lack of preventive
maintenance plan, low capacity of maintenance personnel in terms of staffing and
training, absence of a national maintenance policy, apathy and lack of patriotism on the
part of some public employees occupying government bungalows.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of CONSTRUCTION AND WOOD
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION, Faculty of TECHNICAL EDUCATION,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Technology
(Construction) degree.
DECEMBER, 2014