An empirical method was developed for the prediction of the service life of building components, based on an evaluation of their actual performance and on the identification of failure mechanisms affecting their durability. The service life of exterior components subjected to normal service conditions is predicted. Four types of exterior claddings are exemplified: cementitious mortar, synthetic rendering, ceramic mosaic, and wet-fixing stone cladding. The proposed prediction models yield high degrees of fit to the data ( R -super-2 in the range of 0.86 to 0.93 at a 0.0001 level of significance). Life cycle costs (LCC) analysis - following service-life prediction results - leads to the conclusion that maintenance and replacements costs account for 10-80% of initial capital costs. Synthetic rendering exhibited the highest LCC effectiveness, reflecting durability and low capital costs. The method can be used for planning preventive maintenance, evaluating economic implications of failures, and planning service life.

Following increases in national demands on healthcare facilities and services, healthcare facilities management (FM) has gradually matured to become an established research and development topic. This paper reviews the state of the art in the main domains related to healthcare FM and defines the central themes in the development of a healthcare FM model. FM, maintenance management and performance management are reviewed in a wider context, and the main domains of healthcare FM are discussed. The five salient topics included in healthcare FM are maintenance management, performance management, risk management, supply services management, and development. These five core domains are interrelated, and can be integrated using information and communications technology, which provides the desired environment required for the challenging decision making and development prevalent in healthcare FM.

Condition‐Based Maintenance (CBM) is a common solution for the maintenance of large complex facilities under tight economic conditions. Effective implementation of CBM requires the development of performance indicators for building components and systems. The objectives of the proposed methodology are: (1) to monitor the condition of building components, based on systematic performance scales; (2) to develop a parameter that ensures clear detection of building elements that are in failing condition; and (3) to provide a Key Performance Indicator, based on a unified scale, for the comparison of the performance of different buildings. Two rating scales are used: one for the individual components (P_n ) and a second for the entire building – the Building Performance Indicator (BPI). The first scale combines criteria regarding the physical state, performance, fitness for use, and preventive maintenance of various building components. The second scale, the BPI, is a 100‐point scale that covers 10 of the building's main systems. The proposed methodology was implemented in 17 public health care facilities in Israel. The survey results show that the overall state of the facilities is that of deterioration (BPI = 68.9). One building system, the communication and low voltage system, was consistently found to be in poor condition (P_n = 39.4), four systems (exterior envelope, interior finishing, water and waste‐water, and HVAC) were in deteriorating condition (60d ≤ P_n < 70), and five were in satisfactory or higher condition. Validity of the methodology was tested by means of a survey executed by 14 trained surveyors on the same facility. The variance of the results was relatively slight.

Increasing demands are made on maintenance programmes to provide tools that will support maintenance planning. Among of the most important parameters affecting the efficiency of maintenance management are the precision and the reliability of the predicted service life (PSL) of building components. The main objective of this study was to develop a methodology for the establishment of databases listing deterioration patterns of building components based upon their actual condition. The methodology consists of four steps: (1) identification of failure patterns, (2) determination of the component performance (CP), (3) determination of the life expectancy of deterioration path (LEDP) and (4) evaluation of the predicted service life (PSL). The proposed methodology can be used for planning of maintenance activities, for evaluation of economic implications caused by intensive decay and for maintenance management.

The salient phases in a facility’s service life that are most decisive for the effectiveness of its facilities management (FM) are the preliminary design, construction, and maintenance. The effectiveness of facilities is vastly affected by decisions pertaining to the strategy of the organization that owns or uses the facilities. The goal of this study was to develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for strategic FM that will provide a conclusive approach towards the facility’s service life conditions. Parameters were developed by means of field surveys and statistical analyses, and were validated by means of case studies. The research resulted in a series of 11 KPIs for strategic healthcare FM, which can be classified into four categories: development, organization and management, performance, and maintenance efficiency parameters. The study proposes age and occupancy coefficients as essential parameters for the assessment of large healthcare facilities needs, as an effective measure for long term facility maintenance planning, and for measuring FM effectiveness. The paper stresses that strategic healthcare facilities management must integrate quantitative performance, manpower, and maintenance indicators.