Maintenance

Maintenance programmes

The development of an annual maintenance programme should not rely solely on utilising the AMP data on condition. You will need to have inspection systems in place with responsibilities for identifying, reporting and actioning issues raised. This should normally be formally recorded and is in addition to the surveys carried out to inform AMP condition records.

The day-to-day maintenance of buildings relates to work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve the premises, with preventative maintenance work being carried out at pre-determined levels. Repairing and maintaining buildings can be a very detailed, complicated and time consuming area of an establishments property responsibilities. The Council intends to put in place Building Development Plans for all it's school premises in 2009/2010 which will incorporate a maintenance plan.

Identifying

Identifying areas for maintenance will require some form of inspection:

consider health and safety information,
be proactive not reactive

Regular inspection and preventative maintenance, when undertaken in a phased and programmed manner, will reduce the volume of day-to-day and more costly responsive repairs. A planned approach to maintenance will preserve the building asset and reduce energy costs.

Whilst some of this work may be implemented by others it is important that schools have a comprehensive checklist available. A schedule is provided in the Statutory Testing section.

Reporting

Be methodical:

regularly check all rooms, corridors, stores, toilets so that defects do not remain undetected.
record the date of inspection and defects identified (including nil defects) which should incorporate ad-hoc reporting by pupils, staff and others.

Actioning

Be clear whose responsibility is:

to action faults identified and
to commission any resulting works.

Development of a maintenance programme

To meet the responsibilities of both planned and emergency maintenance, it is important to plan a maintenance programme. As a general guide, the following process should be followed:

Identifying works - use AMP data, inspection routines, schedule of statutory testing; establish responsibility (LEA, School or others in respect of non-school buildings).
Prioritise works - establish the relative priority of works (e.g. statutory requirement/curriculum impact/consequence of non-repair).
Cost - establish the cost of repair.
Access available resources - confirm budget available (preferably differentiate that under Local Management of Schools and Fair Funding, if applicable); level of Devolved Capital; identify other resources available (e.g. reallocate from within school budget, PTA, local charities; other Funding).
Establish an annual programme - list the projects in order of priority together with estimated cost and any other factors such as periods of unavailability.
Monitor implementation - order and supervise work, monitor progress, record cost variation and manage by adding to or deleting from the programme.
Review - review individual scheme outcome (e.g. on time, on budget, impact upon school, consultant and contractor performance).
Grounds Maintenance

Schools also need to consider the improvement and development of accommodation. This will be undertaken through a Building Development Plan, which Property and Asset Management will provide assistance to develop.

Preventative Maintenance

The Preventative Maintenance Table (located under the 'Downloadable documents' heading on the right hand section of this page)gives examples of commonly encountered maintenance issues facing premises and suggestions of likely remedies or actions. It is not an exhaustive list and if you are in any doubt about any particular problem, then you should seek specialist advice.

Energy Management

Energy prices have risen sharply in recent years and this trend is likely to continue.

The Council has a dedicated and experienced officer to assist you in the important task of reducing energy consumption, to control spiralling costs and limit the damaging environmental effects.

For further information and guidance, please contact the Mechanical, Electrical & Energy Manager or telephone 01275 884 411