Building Design - Is it missing building science?

Lunacy of 'Green Building' Design

A short discussion about the disconnect that exists in the architectural world from good building science. 

Are Strata Properties being properly Maintained?

I was reviewing the news storey regarding the Sussex Square residents’ dispute with their leaseholders Westsea Construction and Capital Construction Supplies. At the heart of this dispute is the fact that the buildings they live in have $10M worth of repairs required to a leaky building envelope.  The residents feel that they should not have to pay because in their opinion, the building was not adequately maintained (or designed and built, but I am going to concentrate on maintained), and it is this lack of maintenance that caused the building enclosure to fail.

Is this a valid argument?  I know that most home warranty programs have clauses stating that if you do not maintain your home and damage occurs due to the lack of maintenance, they will not cover you.  Is this case not the same thing?  The leaseholders had a responsibility for the maintenance of the buildings.  If it can be shown that the damage was a result due to the lack of maintenance, should they not be responsible for the repair?  Why should the residents (who are in this case acting as the ‘insurance funders’) have to pay for this work.

This leads me to another question.  Do most building managers have the skills to properly manage the maintenance of the buildings in their portfolio?  I do not believe so. 

Back in the 90’s the rules changed making it mandatory that all Strata managers become licensed by the Real Estate Council in BC.  This was a good step as it started to ensure that the public could expect a level playing field with all managers meeting a minimal level of training.  It also requires all managers to complete ongoing education in two year cycles. But is this enough? 

Looking through the initial training course, there is only 2 out of 25 chapters that deal with Buildings (building design and construction & controls, maintenance, and energy conservation).  The rest is administrative type topics (the paperwork portion of the job) or the CYA topics (the Law and ethics).  Only two weeks out of the suggested 25 weeks is dedicated to gaining knowledge that would allow you to properly manage the maintenance of the buildings.

Next looking at the list of approved ongoing education courses, not one of them deal with the maintenance of the building and in fact a majority of them deal with topics that the average manager will never need, like selling real estate, time shares, and marketing, topics suitable for Real Estate agents but probably not for property managers.

I have met a lot of building managers in my job.  The vast majority of them appear to have a good handle on the day to day administration portion of the job, but few have exhibited any significant degree of building knowledge and appear particularly ignorant to building enclosure science.  The goods ones are out there; during the 10 year period of time that I owned a Condo and was on the Strata, we worked with an excellent manager who did realize the importance of proactive maintenance and the savings achieved by spending a little bit more up front to do it right.  In fact, his practices had a lasting effect on how I approach maintenance and repairs to this day.  But unfortunately, he appears to be one of the few exceptions as opposed to the rule.

So if a Strata relies on a property manager for advice on maintaining their building stock, and the manager does not have the skills related to construction, building maintenance, or building enclosure science, what is the chances that the building will have the proper proactive maintenance performed?  

The one saving grace related to this discussion is that the new Bill 8 will require all Strata (unless they opt out) to perform professional engineering reviews of their Building Enclosure on a regular cycle.  This should gradually transform all Strata building stock into well maintained structures.

Maintenance Matters: Below-Grade Assemblies in Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

This Home Owner Protection video identifies the responsibility to maintain below grade assemblies.

A water leak is never a good thing.  If water is coming into your parkade or underground facilities, notify your Strata immediately.  Repairs should be performed ASAP as ongoing water movement can start to rust the embedded reinforcing concrete leading to much more costly repairs.

Annual inspections of your underground facilities should be performed annually and SENWI can assist in this matter.