DESIGN FOR MAINTAINABILITY

Oodee, Ledum Magnus and Owajionyi L. Frank

Department of Architecture

   Faculty of Environmental Sciences                         

Rivers State University, Npkolu, Oruworukwo Port Harcourt

Email:ledumski@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Buildings are meant to complete their service life before undergoing deterioration, but this has become a mirage in the building lifecycle because of negligence in the careful conceptualization of designs. Design for maintainability, with emphasis on access to maintenance deals with creating proper designs that will incorporate accessibility that will enhance and enable maintenance. This will mitigate building defects, combat inappropriate and buildings that are not conceptually sustainable in designs and thereafter increase the maintenance culture of buildings in Nigeria. The negligence of the subject matter has caused buildings to encounter multiple defects, deterioration, and obsolescence in edifice that would have served their functions completely before the end of their service-life. Therefore, this paper seeks to adopt an analytical approach through the comparism of related journals, books to resolving this ever-trending challenge in the building and construction sector.

Keywords: Design maintainability, building life cycle, sustainability, accessibility.