A systematic approach to strategic maintenance and renovation planning in multifamily buildings

Abstract: The satisfactory lifetime performance of residential buildings is of critical importance to the acceptable energy performance of the real estate sector and the sustained social development of a modern society. Maintenance and renovation planning in multifamily buildings require considered analysis of both the building performance and the total cost accrued over the entire service-life. The lack of a proper long-term plan can lead to financial difficulties specially in older buildings in need of extensive maintenance and renovation measures. These difficulties are more pronounced in less-attractive markets where maintenance and renovation budgets are limited and there are socio-economic problems. Both market and internal deficiencies have made maintenance and renovation planning a complicated task for the housing owners (property managers). These plans should be devised while taking into consideration multiple and often competing criteria in terms of condition, energy demand and service-life cycle costs. Current planning tools/methods are not efficient or capable of addressing the complexity of the problem. This study therefore proposes a systematic approach to strategic maintenance and renovation planning that combines a modified deterioration function with a service-life cycle cost analysis and facilitates planning using a multi-objective optimization process. This multi- objective approach leads to a large pool of alternative maintenance and renovation solutions that helps decision makers in their choice of maintenance and renovation strategies in difficult market situations and/or under budget constraints.