CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background Of Research

Maintenance can be defined as works undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facility; every part of building, the services and surroundings to a currently accepted standard and to sustain the utility and value of the facility to the user, tenant and owner. This is to retain the building up to an acceptable standard (appropriate building standard will determines the workload) so that it could be used effectively and efficiently. However a stricter definition of maintenance is work necessary to preserve a building or works, (including finishes and fittings) in its initial state so that it continues to provide that same facilities and amenities as it was initially erected.( Rahayu Mohamad 2000). The conservation process involves with maintenance, preservation and restoration. The followings are the definitions involved in maintenance. Maintenance is a process of continuous protective care of the fabric contents and setting of a place and is to be distinguished from repair. As repair involves with restoration and reconstruction; therefore it should be treated accordingly. Preservation is a process of maintaining the fabric of a place in its existing state and retarding deterioration and restoration is a process of retaining the existing fabric of a place to a known earlier state by removing accretions or by reassembling existing compounds without the introduction of new materials.( Mohd Zaki 2003)

The objective of maintenance is to maintain buildings and properties to an appropriate and acceptable standard at reasonable cost and with minimum convenience to the occupier. In relation to historical building e.g. museum the objective is more towards maintaining the building in such a way that the building will continue erecting with its original look, so that the new generations can see former architecture. Other than that, to ensure that the building is in a good condition and is safe and to prolong its existence. In a much simpler language, to keep the building nearly 100% free from defects.

However, referring to the Seri Menanti Royal Museum, the conservation activity is more concerning the to restoring and preserving the precious collections. Therefore, it can be said that the maintenance work for the museums are the centralised and are lead by the National Museum.

Property maintenance is a part of buildings life. Any building on the world is hard to sustain it own structure if no work to maintain that building. Especially history building like museum and heritage building. Just imagine the age of the history building is about more 100 years. In Malaysia have a many history building like Bangunan Sultan Ahmad Said, Central Market, Angkasapuri Building and also museums in Malaysia.

The important someone or any body to manage about maintenance that building is to preventive any bad image for that building. It also to attract visitor to visit that building. Directly can give more income for our country. So, the advantages of the maintenance of the museums or history building in Malaysia are to give more time in term of building economic life. If the building can use until now even though the age of the building more than 100 years but still can generate income from that. Another that is the structure building will look maintain and perfect.

Therefore, the management of building maintenance is required to manage a building where the management aspects such as planning, organizing, directing and

controlling, including managing the budget so that maintenance cost do not exceed the provisions that have been provided.

In summary, the buildings must be maintained to preserve the structure and functions because it is an important asset in the investment value. In addition, an effective and systematic building management can ensure consumer safety and comfort of a building or the public whether for long term or otherwise.

1.2

Problem Statement

Historical building is important in economics of country. It gives profit to country and also it is part of attraction for tourist. It will give young generation know about our country history. When you know your history, you will know where youre coming from, (Robert Nesta Marley, 1995). From that statement it shows that the maintenance of historical building is important to make sure that sentimental value beside it will make sure the building physical structure in the good condition.

Usually, in order to practise building maintenance it had two situation. Which are maintenance of new building and maintenance of historical building. In order to maintain historical building its need expertise and a lot of costing. This is because the quality of structure material used to build the historical building is not good like now.

Historic building basically represents the single most visible aspect of our past history and culture. Like most other countries in the world, Malaysia has a rich legacy of historic building with outstanding craftsmanship and architecture quality. They form an impressive historic features and heritage of the past work of man. It is important to conserve and preserve historic buildings because they provide a sense of identity and continuity in a fast changing world for future generations. However some of these buildings are at risk from defects and are not being well cared for due to lack of technical knowledge and high cost of repair maintenance. (Kamarul Syahril Kamal,2008)

Because of that, this study will be focus on maintenance works undertaken on historical building are correct to enhance its economic life and at the same time the investigate the structure or the historical building.

1.3

Aim and Objective

The objectives of the study are:

a) To identify the common problem in historical building maintenance in Seri Menanti Royal Museum. b) To improve property maintenance of Seri Menanti Royal Musuem.

1.4

Scope And Limitation

The study faces its limitations as to the scopes the study comprises. The study mainly focuses on property maintenance at the Seri Menanti Royal Museum. Other than that, the scope of the study was limited for the process of the maintenance at the Seri Menanti Royal Musuem. Technically it have a lot of process to maintance the Seri Menanti Royal Museum. At this point, this study will show the detail of the maintenance.

At the same time, this research will be limit on the maintenance of the structure at Seri Menanti Royal Musueum. It will be shown the maintenance works of the structure affecting by the weather, human usage, economic life cycle and insect pest. This research will be shown that the effectiveness ways in order to make sure the maintenance works of the Seri Menanti Royal Musuem succeed.

1.5

Important of Research

The important at this study is to show people that difficulty to maintain historical building and also to those who practices property management on the maintenance works of the historical building. The results and finding obtained from this research can show the effectiveness way in order to maintain the structure historical building of Seri Menanti Royal Museum. The result can be used for who practising property management especially who maintain the historical building and will contribute a new ideas in order to make the scope of work in property management succeed.

1.6

Methodology

In order to make the research success, there are Five (5) stages of studies that had been carried out for this research which are distributed as follows:

i) Preliminary Study ii) Research Theory (Literature Review) iii) Information Collecting and Gathering iv)Data Analysis v) Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Primary Data

Primary data are first hand, raw materials and information being obtained due to the process of conducting the study by the researchers. Primary data would include information attained through distribution of interviews with the respondents and also through physical observation. The responses are taken as primary data. Through this study, observation and interviews will be conducted to obtain relevant data and information necessary.

Secondary Data

This secondary data derived through reading and analyzing specific sources such as previous dissertation, reference books, journals, magazines, articles and electronic media such as web pages from internet. This source used to study about the topic as a guide to complete the study.

Problems Identifying

Data Collection

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Interview and Questionnaire

Journal, reference books, websites.

Arrange and Review Data

Analyzed Data

Conclusion

Figure 1.6: Flow chart of research methodology

1.7

Chapter Arrangement

In this academic project, the writing was divided into five (5) chapters. The topic was discussed critically and appropriate measures were taken in order to present the writing according to the topic of the research and divided into every different chapter. The chapters are as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction

The first chapter of the study comprises of a brief introduction of the study, the problem statement, the objectives, the limitations and scope, the methodology and the arrangement of chapters of the research.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Chapter two is related to the background of the study and the literature review. The literature review should be view in relevant to the study being conducted.

Chapter 3: Case Study

Chapter three of the study described the case study. The detailed observation and analysis of the case study (Seri Menanti Royal Museum) being selected. For this study, the case study is the maintenance of historical building focuses on structure of the building. The case study is the core of the research due to emphasize on the particular selected case study for the purpose of this study.

Chapter 4: Data Analysis

Chapter four will comprise the analysis of the information and data. All the information gathered through observations and interviews will be analyzed to derive findings of the study. Once all the data has been analyzed then a conclusion can be drawn.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

The final chapter of the study includes final conclusion and recommendation. Analysis of the gathered information and data will establish findings of the research. Through the findings a final conclusion of the research can be drawn accordingly and therefore any relevant recommendation and suggestion as to the study can be clearly stated regarding to the research.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction This chapter is about the theoretical study on the various definition of terms

that being used in this study and knowledge about the property maintenance. The objective is to give specific definition and knowledge to the reader for more understanding about this study. As a part of construction process, maintenance has an important role to ensure the long live of the constructed building. The building maintenance can be defined as the regular inspection of all parts of the building and the execution of work necessary to keep the structure, finishes and fitting in a proper and acceptable state of repair, including decoration both internally and externally (Cripps, 1984). Any constructed facility can be considered as an asset or investment that needs to be maintained to ensure its long life cycle. Owner is always expected it asset to be long life to ensure their capital investment returned and profitable. There are many literatures that discussed on maintenance. Most of them ( British Standard 3811 : Robert Milne, 1985: Cripps,1984: Noble 1984) have the same concept about maintenance, which defined as an action that prevent or restore a condition to its condition. The objective of the property maintenance is to support and serve the main process that is to turn inputs into priceless outputs and to add customer value. The maintenance process should keep equipment or assets in a desired operating condition so as to satisfy the requirements of the primary process. The business goals of the maintenance process are:

10

a) To improve primary process as quality, profit b) To increase primary process capability c) To satisfy regulatory requirements such as safety, hazard and environmental standards in a cost effective manner.

In order to achieve effective property maintenance, it is vital to discuss the interrelationships between the maintenance process and the main

process,business operation in a company.

At this point, matters relating to maintenance are described in more detail in terms of definition, purposes, importance, maintenance classification and maintenance works carried out against a building. According to Seeley (1976), areas that are important in the maintenance process is as follows:

i.

Activities of investigation and inspection of the building structure such as roof, pillars, beams, walls and foundation and the outside building such as drains, septic tanks, parking vehicles and others.

ii. iii.

Building finishes such as floors, walls and others. Maintenance of facilities such as air conditioning equipment, fire preventation equipment, elevators, drainage system and other equipment.

iv. v. vi.

Repair, replacement and service of sanitation equipment. Cleaning of building and pest control. Maintenance of landscaping.

11

The effectiveness of building maintenance is depends on planning and a well understanding realting to various aspects and methods of maintenance activities was initiated before. Therefore, the studies need to be undertaken in terms of design, materials, skills, function, requirements and relationship between them.

2.2

Definition British Standard (BS 3811 : 1984) defined maintenance as the combination

of any action carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to an acceptable condition. From this definition two key components can be identified:

a) Not only actions that relate to the physical execution of maintenance work, but also those concerned with its initiation, financing and organization. b) The nation of an acceptable condition, which implies an understanding of the requirement for the effective usage of the building and its parts, which in turn compels broader consideration of building performance.

According to Wordsworth (2001) the action is referred to the initiation, organization and implementation of series of works. There are two processes of works that envisage, retaining and restoring. Retaining is more to the work carried out in anticipating of failure and restoring is the work carried out after the failure. Wordsworth further explanation is about maintenance acceptable standard concept that is referred to the acceptability of the person who is paying the work to the person receiving benefit or to some outside body with the responsibility for enforcing minimum standards. It is clear that there is no absolute standard for maintenance (Noble,1984 : Lee, 1987). The standard is depending on the request of each person or organization as the client of the works. It could be higher or lower than the initial design standard depend of the client inquires.

12

The Committee of Building maintenance (1972) defined maintenance as work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facility i.e every part of the building, its service and surround to a currently acceptable standards and to sustain the utility and value of facility. Therefore, the maintenance of the building can be concluded as an action indertaken in the preserve, maintain or restore a building structure at a level of standards that are required and can be accepted by the parties involved so as to maintain the image or appearance of the building, the value of investment and fulfill the functions required.

2.3

Classification of Maintenance Refer BS 3811:1984, there are two main parts in the maintenance of building,

namely; a) Planned Maintenance b) Unplanned Maintenance

13

MAINTENANCE

Planned Maintenance

Unplanned Maintenance

Planned Preventive

Planned Corrective (including emergency)

Scheduled Maintenance

Condition based Maintenance

Corrective Maintenance (including emergency)

Figure 2.3 : Classification Maintenance (Sources : BS 3811 : 1984)

The following definitions are all given in BS 3811 and for practical purpose, it is clear that the maintenance workload consist of a mix of all of these:

i.

Planned maintenance maintenance organized and carried out with forethought, control and the use of records to a predetermined plan. Unplanned maintenance ad hoc maintenance carried out to no predetermined plan.

ii.

14

iii.

Preventive maintenance maintenance carried out at predetermined intervals or corresponding or prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the probality of failure or the performance degradation of an item. Corrective maintenance maintenance carried out after a failure has occurred and itended to restore an item to a state in which it can perform its required function. Emergency maintenance maintenance that it is necessary to put in hand immediately to avoid serious consequences. Condition based maintenance preventive maintenance initiated as result of knowledge of the condition of an item from routine or continuous monitoring. Scheduled maintenance preventive maintenance carried out to a predetermined interval of time, number of operations and mileage.

iv.

v.

vi.

vii.

The maintenance can be classified into several types. The most common classification consist of two main parts which are preventive and corrective maintenance. British standard 3811: 1964 classified maintenance into three parts, planned maintenance, preventive maintenance and running maintenance. The different between these type of maintenance can be described as follows:

i.

Planned maintenance it is defined as maintenance that organized and carried out with forethought control and the use of records to predetermined plan.

ii.

Preventive maintenance it is carried out at predetermined or to other prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the likehood of an item not meeting an acceptable condition.

15

iii.

Running maintenance which can be carried out whilst an item is in service.

Another maintenance classification was done by Milne (1985) that classified maintenance into two categories, planned maintenance and preventive maintenance. Planned maintenance is a method whereby all of the work which can be foreseen in the coming year or longer if necessary is detailed costed and mapped out on a chart, listed in diary form or entered on a computer program in such a way that the maintenance manager can see at a glance just what task are due to be carried out any time of the year. Planned preventive maintenance, in other hand is an attempt to eliminate as far as possible the need of day-to-day maintenance and reduce the number of separately funded maintenance works by instituting a system of inspection at regular predetermined intervals and carrying out any mirror repairs before they have time to develop into tasks of some magnitude. Planned preventive maintenance will more worthwhile if it is meet some criteria ( Lee R, 1987) such as: I. II. III. IV. It is cost effective. It is wanted to meet statutory or other legal requirements. It is meet a client need from operating point of view. It will reduce the incidence of running maintenance necessitating requisitions for work from the user. V. There is a predominant incidence of work for the craftsman rather than pure inspection.

Another maintenance classification was made by Noble (1984) that classified maintenance as five different types:

16

I.

Routine or cyclic maintenance, it is task carried out at more or less regular intervals without prior inspections such as cutting grass, lamp changing, cleaning of drains and gutters.

II.

Planned maintenance can be determined as selected services, plant and equipment. It it regular inspection and servicing (lubrication and adjustment) with repairs and replacements made or programmed only when found to be necessary.

III.

Planned inspection for selected elements of structure, fabric and finishes. It is regular inspection but with maintenance work carried out or only when found to be necessary.

IV.

Breakdown or emergency maintenance an action taken to remedy failure.

V.

Minimum maintenance often applied to premises awaiting disposal. No action except to meet mandatory requirements e.g. for health or safety to conform to the terms of a lease or to keep the property wind and waterproof.

All types of maintenance explained above are depending and restricting by situation and factors. One of the factors is cost. Cost constrain together with the rates at which building materials and elements deteriorate in use, make maintenance more difficult. The cost of preventive action will increase if the work differed and if it is delayed to the point of failure the cost will be many times greater than if the job had been done at the right time. Another factor is time, the correct timing of maintenance work is therefore very important (Noble, 1984).

Cripps (1984) classified building maintenance in the five main heading: I. Main fabric, determined as regular maintenance of the structure of building, including walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, sanitary fittings and plumbing, drains, fire escape, yard, roads and cleaning and restoration of elevation.

17

II.

Internal finishes, including of redecoration of walls and ceilings, replacement of floor surfaces and repairs to special finishes.

III.

Specific features especially for public services defined as all repairs to entrance doors and shop windows including replacement of door springs, replacement of glass of the maintenance of electrical signs.

IV.

Cleaning defined as regular cleaning of parts of the building by maintenance staffs or outside contractors.

V.

Engineering services this type of maintenance relate to mechanical and electrical equipment in the building. There are five headings that should be considered:

a) Electrical and gas services periodic of surface installation and major detailed surveys by professional consultants and subsequent execution of repairs found necessary. b) Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, periodic inspection of installations, cleaning, lubricating and repairs including safety testing. c) Special equipment, periodic inspection of refrigeration installation, kitchen equipment, etc. d) Fire precaution, periodic inspection and repair of sprinkler systems, fire detection system, fire extinguishers and blankets, hose-reels and hydrant. e) Lift , escalator and mechanical equipment, periodic inspection as detailed under (2).

2.4

Maintenance Standard As the mentioned before, there is no absolute maintenance standard since the

need of building maintenance is typical for each building. But the general maintenance standard is needed as guide for the owner or tenants to maintain their building.

18

Wordsworth (2001) mentioned the standard should be as a function rather than an object. Further he described maintenance standard as a balance between need and resource with the provider or controller of the resource usually having the greatest influence over what this balance may be. The main idea about maintenance standard is basically the request or maintenance work order from the owner to contractor, which area or defect that should be repair or replace and this order should be clear as a standard for the contractor to perform the job. The work order should include the sufficient detail in order to enable the workman to take with him the correct quantity and type of material when making the maintenance work (Milne, 1985). In fact some of 40% of the maintenance standard was directed in site (Milne, 1985). The engineer or the maintenance department has to visit the site and check and determine the condition of building that should be maintained. The other advantage of site visit is it gives more attention and gives direct instruction to their employee or hired contractor to repair. Based on the building individual element, Reginald Lee (1987) divide the maintenance standard as three conditions, physical condition of the elements, times and financial criteria. Physical condition has two related terms, the condition of element that related to the magnitude of defect that calls for remedial action and the second term is the performance or the environmental systems. This system is known as condition controlled maintenance. This system suggest that there is a regular inspection to measure the condition or the performance of element whether it is deteriorated below that laid down. The second condition is times, which repairs or replacements are to be made. This method more to the frequent inspection and it need certain knowledge of the rate of decoration. The balance between frequency inspection, risk and consequences of failure is the important part that should be achieved. The last condition is financial criteria this criterion can be taken from the variable sum based on the cost of some primary activity or replacement value or taken from fixed sum based on historic costs or an analysis of anticipated benefits.

19

2.5

Maintenance Objective

As well as the definition of maintenance the primary aim of maintenance is to preserve the value of the asset so as to ensure a long term trouble free investment capable of providing a continuos and satisfactory return by minimum expenditure (David Artiti et al, 1999). Furthermore the specific objective of maintenance based on Arditi can be described as follow:-

I. II.

Promptly respond and repair minor discrepancies in the facility. Perform daily housekeeping and cleaning to maintain a property presentable facility.

III.

Continually seek workable engineering solutions to maintenance problems.

IV.

Maintain complete historical data concerning the facility in general and equipment and components in particular.

V. VI.

Monitor the progress of all maintenance work. Schedule all planned work in advance and allocate and anticipate staff requirements to meet planned and unplanned events.

VII. VIII.

Accurately track the costs of all maintenance work. Maintain a proper level of material and spare parts to support timely repairs.

IX.

Perform accurate cost estimating to ensure lowest cost solutions to maintenance problems.

X.

Provide for easy and complete reporting and identification of necessary repair and maintenance work.

XI.

Operate the facility utilities in the most economical manner while providing necessary reliability.

XII.

Identify design and complete improvement projects to reduce and minimize total operating and maintenance costs.

XIII.

Complete major repairs based on lowest life-cycle cost.

20

XIV.

Develop and execute a system of regularly scheduled maintenance actions to prevent premature failure of the facility and its systems and components.

2.6

Life Cycle Cost of The Building Building life cycle cost is the total cost of owning the building over its

predicted life span including initial capital cost, occupation costs,operating costs and the cost incurred or benefit derived from the disposal of the asset at the end of its life.(Wordsworth, 2001: Che M. Y. L et al, 2004). Basically, building life cycle is a technique to ascertain a suitable balance between capital cost on initial provision and cost incurred as a consequence of use. The basic concept of Life Cycle Cost, LCC is that decision on the design and acquisition of durable assets should take into account the long term financial consequence and should not based solely on initial costs. LCC can be used to evaluate the economic value of the construction process at every stage as described by Wordsworth (2001) as follow;

a) LCC at Inception Stage At the inception stage, LCC is use to determine the most economic way of meeting a need for additional building space. The option to be compared may include: I. II. III. IV. V. Rearrangement of the internal spaces within an existing building Building an extension Gradual redevelopment of the existing site Development of new site Purchase or lease of another building

21

b) LCC at Design Stage The use of LCC at design stage is to assist the client and designer as well in developing the most economic plan shape, structural form and internal layout. One thing that should keep on mind is the earlier the LCC applied, the greater the possibilities on savings and the lower the committed costs. At the detail design stage, LCC is used to help the designer identify the design features, components and finishing that have the lowest cost. This stage would culminate in the preparation of LCC plan which should be incorporated in the maintenance manual for guidance of the guidance of the property manager.

c) LCC at Occupation of the Building During the occupation of building LCC can be used to assist in formulating planned maintenance and renewal policies. It also provides a means of identifying high cost areas evaluating changes that will reduce these costs.

Regarding to the Brandon P.S (1987) there are five factors that should be taken into account when using LCC as evaluation technique. These factors will effect to the calculation of life cycle cost of the building. The five factors are component performance that depends on detail design, workmanship, building use, client attitude to maintenance, exposure, weather climate and so on that effect to the building condition. The second factor is the building life, which depends on the assumption on the economic life span of the building. The next factors are inflation, technological change and fashion and taxation. The last three factors exclude taxation is unpredictable factors that have high uncertainty.

22

2.7

Maintenance Cost Maintenance cost is one of the important thing that should be considered if

the propertys high rate of return is expected. For illustration, one housing developer builds some house for rental purpose. For business purposes, a developer always thinking how to build a house with lowest initial cost to the lowest level and sometimes affected the quality of the building. The low quality of the building has low rental price and also will affected the revenue they have. In term of maintenance, developer will take the budget from rental value. As consequence, for the low quality building would have maintenance cost slightly higher rather than the high quality building. Some developer have to spent as much as 50% of their rental revenue to cover maintenance cost (Derek Miles et al, 1987), they are caught in vicious circle because they are running low cost housing estates rents has to kept low and it caused poor maintenance. Basically, the value of property can be determined from the first phase of construction. When the owner has intention to build a new building he/she has to clearly state the purpose of the building. At the feasibility and design stage the designer should khow the purpose of the building the owner needs and all other information that related to construction of the building. From this stage, a designer should anticipate the effect of his/her design for the maintenance cost. Derek Miles et al (1987) stated from the feasibility and design amount that only 8% of total project cost the decision made during this stage commits nearly 95% of the cost of buildings total life. From this fact, it is clear that the maintenance cost can be predicted from the early stage of construction. The agreement and understanding between and understanding between client and designer from early stage of construction influence the initial and running cost of the building. From the statement above it is can be conclude the factors that affected the maintenance expenditure, there are: I. Material, to keep the lower initial cost of building, client ask the contractor to find cheaper prize of materials that usually (not always)

23

have lower quality and life time period rather that expensive materials. The lower quality materials need more maintenance to keep their quality form deteriotation. II. Strategic design poorly designed and constructed buildings may cost as much as more than a well designed and properly constructed building. III. The uncertainty of casual factors such as intensity of use and changing maintenance requirements.

2.7.1

Costing System Maintenance costing can be classified into three categories,

committed cost ,variable cost and managed cost (Miles et al, 1987).

Committed cost cover the cost that cannot normally be altered during particular accounting period as fixed contract exist with supplier for example covering lease of office equipment. Variable cost is the cost that closely related to the activity of the organization and their size is fairly close related to the output of the unit. Variable cost is based on the labor productivity and the materials used. For example slab concreting activity the cost is based on the area concreted and the material used. It is possible to measure the work content accurately and establish the cost based on the work done. Managed cost is uncommitted and not directly related to the volume of activity but specifically authorized at the discretion of the management. From these categories, committed cost is easier to identify and handle since all the price and condition are mention at the contract. Any addition work in the field can be considered as variation work. For this reason, some of building owner or maintenance manager prefers to hire a contractor rather than hired their own

employees to perform maintenance work (Miles et al, 1987).

24

Based on variable cost system, a manager will measures the work performance based on budgeted cost. If cost was under the budget it can be said that the performance was perfect and thrifty but if it was more than budget it can be said that something going wrong. It is not easy to justified work performance solely based on budget. There are some possibilities to explain why some works is under or above the budget.

2.7.2 Setting up a costing system One of the objective of costing system is to allow the manager to make decision leading to effective cost control and then to study of the possibilities for cost reduction. Derek Miles (1987) described the steps to set up costing system as follows: I. Compared the collected costs data with the original estimates. It is important to look closely at those items where estimated costs have been exceeded and to investigate the reason for excess. II. Collect all of the necessary data that related to running cost for building maintenance. To achieve this, all expenditure throughout the year must be collected into suitable expense centers according to the location and type. III. Examine the possibilities for achieving cost savings by changes policy, techniques or replace or items that giving rise unacceptable maintenance or repair costs.

2.7.3 Maintenance Budget To maintain the effective cost control it is important to set out the maintenance budget as a cost standard. To make it effective budget has to use as working document throughout the year and managers are more likely to work hardly to achieve budgets that have been set up.

25

Budgets is the vital link in the chain of control which involves three aspects (Miles, 1987), there are communication of information about plans and intentions, motivating people to achieve planned targets and the last aspect is performance reporting. Basically, the important function of budgeting is to provide a factual basis for cost control. Graham (1978) defined some factors that should be taken into account to set up the budget, there are :-

I.

Changes in numbers/types of units comprising the estates.

The number of jobs is directly proportional to be increase or reduction in the number of units to be maintained although the types of properties and services must be taken into account.

II.

Maintenance service standard

Maintenance serviced standard should be agreed for each financial year. This standard should specify the service requirements and the average job completion times in each trade and maximum acceptable job completion periods. Changes to this standard may affect the likely number of jobs to be completed each week or certain period.

III.

Variation in the incoming number of jobs

The variations occur during the financial period, whether it was requested by tenants or the owner or by emergency situation should de aware and must be taking into account. In practice these fluctuation when low can be offset by feeding to

26

the work force program routine maintenance and preventive maintenance tasks. Peaks in the workload which cannot be programmed economically for the labor force can cover by using contractors. Annual estimates should include a provision for this.

IV.

Work arising from pre-painting surveys

Technical staff should undertake a survey of properties in the year prior to that when external painting is programmed. The survey should be concerned mainly with the fabric of the building and with identifying all maintenance and repairs

required to bring property up to acceptable standard before painting is carried out. This work must be completed before the end of the current financial year and before

commencement of the current external painting program.

2.8

Design effect of building maintenance One of the factors that influence the maintenance cost is the building design.

The designer is the first person that accepts the idea from owner to design a building. From this idea the designer translate the owner need of the building to a general design and continued into detail design. The term designer in this part is not solely an architect but it can be a team that has many people involve such as architect, structural engineer, quantity surveyor etc that necessary or have relationship with the project (Marsh, 1979). The design stage starts with design brief from the client. Some of the client knows what information that should they give to the designer but many were not understood. It is the designer responsible to assist the client to give an adequate

27

briefing. It is very important to collect as many data from the client such as what type a building they need, what is the budget, what is the purpose of the building and all of information that the designer need. This stage is very important but sometimes it was neglected by the owner or the designer or both. One investigation conducted by The Building Advisory Service at 1970-1974 in United Kingdom showed the highest faulty that made was the wrong choice of materials or components for particular situation such as a wrong adhesive for floor tiles on a heated sub-floor or necessary cavity trays and flashing was missing from the design. The common faulty that often happened were (Marsh 1979) (Miles et al, 1987) a) Inadequacy of the client brief b) Inadequacy of design such as error of specification material or compeonent choice, juxtaposition of incompatible materials or components. c) Construction error due to ambiguity or inadequacy of specification supervision. d) Defects in materials and components.

Further, the defect in the building is not solely fault at the design stage. Some defect was caused by repetition of use of the building by different people or tenant for rented building or the low quality of materials used or can be the unskilled workmanship during the construction stage. Based on these factors, the designer should at least pay some intention for these factors, so in the future the defect can be minimize.

28

Miles (1987) figured some factors that influence in the design stage for building maintenance such as: a) Deterioration Deterioration can cause by climate user activities and changing tastes and habits. The extent to which these agencies cause deterioration and thus create a need for remedial treatment will depend on the adequacy of the design and the suitability of material needs. It is because they are often ignored or treated lightly in current literature in favor of technical detailing. b) Future Needs As known, the buildings owner expected their building has long life time, resulted much money and has few maintenance cost. To reach the owner needs the building should be used in the future time. Regarding to these situation, the designer should give intention to the future need for the building. Derek Miles (1987) mentioned the size, layout and service of the building is influenced by future need of the building. For instance, the need of the room in present and future time could be not same. When crate a design, the designer should know what is the purpose of the room, what is in the room or who or how many person will occupied the room and such question that should clear the designer needs. Its look likes unimportant but has great effect for the building. One research in Kenya proved in one local authority of the 3 398 tenancies 68% of the family units were accommodate in one room or one room was occupied by 4.7 persons. It will caused a social problem because too many people living together. c) Faulty of choice material Another factors influenced of building maintenance is materials chosen. The designer should use materials that easy to maintain in the future and appropriate with the building and then environment. The environment factors such as climate should be taken as an important factor to choose materials. Some materials are easy defected by climate changing and caused

29

deterioration. Faulty choice of materials will increase the materials cost in the future. d) Decoration Decoration which includes internal painting as well as external surfaces maybe subject to defects arising from incompatibility of the finishes and its background. The most common defect on paintwork that calls for frequent decoration is discoloration. It was caused by dampness resulting from rain penetration on condensation. Discoloration is common in areas where buildings do not have roof overhangs to shelter walls. Marsh (1979) stated, from an examination of maintenance accounts for many buildings the cost of maintenance can be roughly broken down into equal parts representing decoration. Services and structure.

2.9

The Role of The Designer As the person that responsible for the building design, the impotant role of

the designer is to enable creative solution latent in and conceived by the client community to emerge. The designer should be able to predict the ultimate effects of a proposed design scheme on users and the society as a whole so that the ultimate work gives both satisfaction and value of money. The designer should be aware of good or bad effects of alternative designs upon issues which are important to the users but which may not be direct financial interest to the developer (Miles et al, 1987) Designer that have responsible to project design, sometimes they decide to use materials that not ready in the market or difficult and expensive to assemble on site. The involvement of contractor as the projects builder is playing the important role to reduce this obstacle. Contractor that construct the project at least know better the difficulties in construction phase than designer. The cooperation between designer, contractor and may be the owner or maintenance in the earlier stage will help the designer to create a better design.

30

The advantage of involvement of maintenance in early stage (design stage) is they can help the designer to assess the total life-cycle cost and the maintenance cost of the proposed design. Beside cost benefit the need of feed back of the design is very important for the designer and it can be fulfill by maintainers as a design team (Miles et al 1987).

2.10 Conclusion Maintenance work provides a lot of benefits and important to construction industry today and in the future. The understanding of effectiveness of a maintenance process can be beneficial to all parties involved both users, residents, organization or owners of the building itself can extend the lifetime of the building involved. Therefore, priority should be emphasized is to understand clearly the objective of maintenance in order to provide understanding and knowledge about the high quality of maintenance in the future. Maintenance is not a field that has a high popularity but any approach to this field not only bring benefits to individuals and relevant parties but it also affects performance and productivity of the building itself. In conclusion, the maintenance process is an important part in the construction sector at present because it can restore the original functions of the damaged buildings to avoid disposal of the building before achieve its time.

31

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CASE STUDY

3.1

Introduction This chapter explains the methodology and technique used in order to obtain

the data information essential of this study. Collection of data and information related to property maintenance is important for this study to get actual data and updated. The data and information is useful as it will determine whether this study has finally achieved its specific goals and objectives. The focus of this study is to improve the activities of property maintenance for Seri Menanti Royal Museum, Kuala Pilah. In order to achieve this objective, there are two things have been set. It is important to study and identify all of the objectives to enable this study propose a better on property maintenance. To achieve the objectives, there are some steps that should be fulfilled. The following steps are:

I.

Identify the maintenance works undertaken in Seri Menanti Royal Museum are correct to enhance its economic life of the building.

II. III.

Identify the common problem in property maintenance. Recommendation to improve property maintenance of Seri Menanti Royal Musueum.

32

3.2

Data Collection Collecting data and information during a study conducted divided into two

parts, which is the primary and secondary data. Secondary data is data and information obtained directly from the research done through the study of literature through reading sources such as journals, reference books, these earlier, magazines and internet. Primary data is data or information gathered through empirical methods such as questionnaires, interview and observation. Primary data is information that is important in this study as an important role in determine the result will be obtained. This is because the data will be used to make analysis and conclusion, further studies to determine whether the objective is achieved or not. So, to obtain the primary data, structured planning has been made to coordinate the time and circumstances between researcher and the person in charge at the case study. Methods suitable for collecting information have been identified for this purpose. Any information that is collected through the following methods:

3.2.1

Secondary Data In this section, all information gathered through reading the thesis,

reference books, journals, newspaper and searching through electronic media such as web pages on the internet. All information obtained is used fully in support the data collected and thus help to understand the concepts and arrangement of the data.

3.2.2

Archives Data Archives data is the data obtained from the Seri Menanti Royal

Museum of Unit Maintenance and their own contractors. From archives that enabled the identification of area of study. The use of this data is to confirm

33

all information and other details to be used in the final analysis of this research. The data obtained from many sources such as: a. Weekly maintenance report b. Monthly maintenance report c. Document of tender from contarctor d. Budget of maintenance e. Valuation report for tender of maintenance f. Technical procedures of maintenance g. Scope of work documents tender

3.2.3

Interview Interview is important and the main source of the data and

information for this study. Interview is used to clarify the data obtained from archives. At this point is important to further understanding the maintenance process of works in Seri Menanti Royal Museum. In conducting interviews, author has met with individuals involved to make an appointment. This is because author want disturbing their time and focus of work as well as interview can be conducted smoothly. Before the meeting has been made, author had prepared a series of question related to the maintenance system used to be asked. All information has been obtained through this method facilitates I to making analysis, conclusion and answer objective of this study. The interview was done with 1 important people: I. The Assistant Curator of Seri Menanti Royal Musueum

34

3.3

Seri Menanti Royal Musuem Profile

Istana Lama Seri Menanti is a unique castle made of wood. Built in1902 and completed in 1908 for Repair Palace was burned by British soldiers during the chase when the war Yamtuan Antah at Bukit Putus . The main function of the museum is to act as an institution to protect, preserve and restore the heritage from being decay and later on extinct.

Set in a quiet green valley and surrounded by padi fields and forest, the Istana Seri Menanti is a strikingly unusual structure, an unabashedly traditional building in this rapidly modernizing state. The current building was constructed between 1902 and 1908 for Tuanku Muhammad Shah, the 7th State Ruler or Yang Di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan. The Istana served as the official residence of the royal family until 1931, before it was converted to a Royal Museum in 1992.

The castle is over four floors. The plan had originally been designed by two Malay craftsmen named Kahar and Taib. Tukang Kahar was awarded the title of Dato 'Panglima Sutan by Tuanku Muhammad for his services. This court has detailed plans reviewed by the Chief Draughtsman, Mr. Woodford from the PWD, Seremban, and was approved in November 1902 by the State Engineer and the British Resident.

This palace has 99 pillars, including the four pillars seri 67 feet in length. The four columns were taken from Hill Pergai, Jelebu. Other wood taken from Bukit Tinggi, from the type of wood penak. The uniqueness of this palace is that it does not use any iron nails, but the nail made of wood, called pegs.
35

The first level of the palace was used for official functions, while the second level was used for private, family affairs. Much like the first level, most of the scant furniture in the rooms above have not survived, but in one of the visitors can see the one of few remaining pieces a large gilded bed, raised on a platform. The third floor of the palace was reserved for the Yang Di Pertuan Besars private apartments. The topmost fourth floor is is known as the Tingkat Gunung, or Mountain Level, and once served as the rulers study and treasury, where only he could ascend. Today however, the topmost floor is out of bounds, as the old wood has become increasingly fragile.

For now the Old Royal Palace Museum had changed the face of the display collections of the Royal family. Each room has been filled without changing the original form of the court to explain the function of these spaces. Addition of museum collections will be made from time to time with the cooperation of the palace. (Refer Appendix). 3.3.1 Objective Manage the acquisition, conservation, preservation and exhibition of historical and cultural heritage of all states of awareness and love of society, students and tourists within and outside the state of the state historical and cultural heritage in line with the purpose of establishing the Museum Board Enactment 1956.

36

Director (S44) Drs. Shamsuddin Bin Ahmad

Curator (S41) Rosrita Bt Mohamad Nordin

Vice Curator Mohd Nazim Hakimie

Designer (S17) Nordin Bin Jonid

Ass Museum (S17) Norita Bt Buhari

Safety (KP17) Rohaizad Bin Zakaria

Tukang K2 (R11) Shahril Bin Ahmad

Am Staff (R3) Zulkarnain Bin Hussain

Technical (R1) Rosli Bin Daud

Staff (R1) Azurah Bt Muhammad

Staff (R1) Mohd Arsyad Bin Mohamad

Figure 3.3 : Organisational Chart Of Staffs Of Seri Menanti Royal Museum

37

3.4 Work Specification

According to the organisational chart, the management of the museum is divided into two sections. They are;

3.4.1

Management Department

Managing and supervise all the management aspects of the museum including financial aspect. They also responsible in advertising exhibition which take place monthly. They work as a team of which discussions are oftenly made. The solutions are always of everybody's agreement.

3.4.2

Museum Department

Supervise the museum galleries, including the maintenance, cleanliness and also the preservation of the collections in each gallery/level. They will co-operate with the management in making the monthly exhibition a success. In other words, they are the technical team who make the exhibition preparation.

The work specification of each post is as follows:

I.

Curator - as the leader of the museum staffs and is liable to any actions or events happened to the museum; the ultimate decision maker of the museum, organising the museum's event monthly; managing the whole museum and deal with upper management i.e. the

38

Museum Department e.g. reporting the progress and problems of the museum to the upper level of management.

II.

Vice-curator - as the second leader to the museum staffs and the second decision maker in case the curator is not present and assisting the curator in managing the museum.

III.

Management staffs - as mentioned above, all staffs under this section will be dealing with management matter e.g. advertise the monthly exhibition etc.

IV.

Technicians - is under the museum section. They supervise any simple electrical problems. Contractor hired by the museum will handle the harder and complicated matters that were not be able to handle by the museum's staffs.

V.

Lower public assistants - will do the cleaning work. E.g. cleaning showcase. They will also do the lab treatment. Their duties have already been scheduled. Some of them have been trained to be specialised in a conservation treatment. For instance, they are the expert in the restoration process of old transcripts.

VI.

Guards - will be the officers in charge of the security of the museum and its collection. They are the in house employees. Some of them have been working with the museum in a very long time.

39

3.5

Schedule of Activities Maintenance

The following is the example of the maintenance schedule of the galleries. It was taken on the day of inspection, i.e. 26 of September 2011. The schedule is on weekly basis.

The maintenance schedule is divided into two parts: Collection Floor Maintenance Floor Maintenance

All works are done at 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. The officers in charge are:

Collection Maintenance

No 1

Officer Shahril Bin Ahmad

Floor Floor 1 and 2

Zulkarnain Bin Hussain

Floor 3 and 4

Figure 3.5 : Officers in charge

The officers under collection level maintenance will be in charge in cleaning, reserving, and restoring the collection. They inspect and search for any missing or broken parts that need replacement or other necessary treatment.

40

Level Maintenance

No 1

Officer Azurah Bt Muhammad Mohd Arsyad Bin Mohamad

Floor Floor1

Rosli Bin Daud Nordin Bin Jonid

Floor 2

Norita Bt Buhari

Floor 3

Norita Bt Buhari

Floor 4

Figure 3.5.1 : Officers in charger (maintenance)

These officers will be in charge of the floor. They will clean the floors before it is open to the public. They will also inspect for any defects occurred. Usually the defects are minor and are able to be repaired, e.g. menthol dysfunction which they can straightaway correct the problem by changing to a new bulb.

The carpet needs to be vacuumed daily. In case of complicated problem occurs, they will report it to the technician or the vice curator itself. This is to avoid further serious defects.

41

3.6

Analysis on defects or problem occurred at Seri Menanti Royal Musuem

Based on investigation and interview at the Seri Menanti Royal Musuem, the are some defect or problem.

3.6.1

Internal fixture

Level 1

This floor consist of the control roofed-terrace, the lower roofedterrace, the Royal dining hall, the retreats for princes and princess, waiting lounge and the kitchen. The floor is carpeted with brown gray carpet. It has yellow painted walls and wood ceiling that is about 4 meters high. This is to allow ventilation in the floor.

Floor : Carpet is vacuumed daily before the visitors coming, according to the schedule. This is to avoid dusts that can affect the appearance of the Royal Throne that are being displayed.

Wall : The glasses needs to be polished daily. The lamps are also checked whether it is working or not.

Ceiling : it is clean on weekly basis and sometimes monthly basis. Special features : This gallery has antique lighting.

Generally, this floor is highly maintained. It is just the carpet looks quite dusty since the colour has changed a bit and maybe new carpet would

42

bring new looks to the floor. The throne being displayed is in very good condition. The showcase is also highly maintained.

Level 2

The second floor is the location for the retreat area of Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tuanku Muhammad Shah ibni Almarhum Tuanku Antah, the retreat area of Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tunku Ampuan and the Royal family hall.

The floor is carpeted yellow and this floor also has windows to allow for sunlight. However, this floor use the combination of the natural lighting and the electrical lighting. It is rectangular in shape. Thereof is wooden brown. I spotted that one of the windows in this section is broken and it has not been replaced yet.

Floor : Carpet needs to be vacuumed daily. However, this section has not been thoroughly cleaned; since dusts are detected under the cupboard. It was also noted that the wiring finishes is not very tidy.

Wall : Not much can be cleaned. Except for the wooden that needs to be polished daily. Some of the wall has experience a bit cracks. Fortunately, the cracks are not of the dangerous ones. It does not affect the structure. Paint does flaking at area wall meeting ceiling due moisture penetration

Ceiling : This floor has a high ceiling. It was made from wood. It is higher than the floor one. It used to have large wooden windows at the topside of the floor. However, the windows are permanently closed for exhibition purpose, Due to heavy rain, the material used to permanently closed the window has

43

decayed due time. Sometimes rain penetrates through these openings. Therefore, inspection and correction needs to be done in no time to avoid further damages thus would increase costs.

There is a pathway to go to the kitchen. This section contains herbs plants, fruits, butterflies, moths and other insects. There are a few steps to go to this section. The steps are made from woods. These steps are suffering from minor cracks, especially at its top side. However, it is still stout and fit for users.

Level 3

The third floor is the Royal retreat space, which consists of the sitting and resting area for Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tuanku Muhammad Shah Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Antah.

This floor uses natural lighting. The lighting enter through the windows that are provided at the near ceilings. The 2 windows are in a good condition still. This section has also carpeted floor, and plywood walls.

Floor: The carpet looks new and in a good condition.

Wall : The walls are in a good condition.

Ceiling : This ceiling is not in a good condition. The brown-stained ceiling is due to the heavy rain penetration through the ceiling system. It creates ugly looks at the ceiling

44

This section is not wide compared to the first and second floor.

Level 4

The fourth floor, which is the topmost of the palace, is used as the guards area and the safekeeping of the Royal treasure.

The floor is carpeted yellow and the ceiling is made of plywood. It has two windows and also the electrical lighting. Also featured, the wooden house and its interior for the visitors to have a look at the traditional house interior. In this floor, the air vessel stained, causing the paint flaking. There were also spider webs seen at the ceiling.

Floor : The floor is well maintained, except for the wall, which has spider webs. This section has not much defects except for the moisture stain and rain penetration.

Wall: The wall has not affect at all. It still in a good condition.

Ceiling : The ceiling is the worse part which receives lots of rain. Since it has the air vessels, the vessel leaks and moisture stains are almost every where on the ceiling due excessive leakage. The ceiling also experience penetration. rain

3.6.2

Maintenance Report In Other Area

Landscape

The landscape has a concept and the plants are scattered. This is due ignorance and sufficient budget allocation for this matter. Therefore, the

45

gardener just follow the order from management to plant. However with the new management, this landscape will be in good tip top condition.

Mechanical And Electrical Appliances

Some of the mechanical and the electrical appliances easily get rusty. For the time being, there are technicians that could fix the easy and simple problems. However, for much-complicated problems, the staffs in charge will notify the assistant curator or the curator about the problems. The curator will then notify the upper level of management.

This is due to budget that is being hold by then upper level of management. The upper level of management then, will appoint contractor to correct the problem. The upper level of management or Museum department will handle the reward.

Library And Offices

These two sections are very well maintained. In fact, the library is in a very good condition. The staffs clean them up themselves. Except for the electrical or machinery problem, then the technician will be called upon to correct the problem. If the technician fails to correct the problem, then the process will be the same as mentioned before.

Toilet And Sewerage

The hired company will clean the toilets and sewerage weekly. Therefore they are well maintained in addition it rains heavily that helps to flush the drains easily. However, due to heavy rain, the funguses are easily developed at these areas. Thus, it creates ugly vision.

46

Cracks also seen at the cement floor of the way to go to the toilet. The gutters are not well defined. It is not well kept. I can actually see the chicken netting, and some of the gutters are already rusty.

3.7 Conclusion

Various methods have been applied in this study to meet the objectives. All resources should have been analyzed and reviewed to ensure that all information obtained can complete this study. Among the approaches used is through searching the sources of printed materials and electronic media to facilitate the study. Interview method are the method used and it is effective in obtaining information and data required. Planning to create and implement this method has been made with care so that problems and obstacles can be addressed. This is because to obtain information and data, researchers have the problems especially in case of time, the location of the study too far. Patience and commitment needed so that there is no mistake and according to the planning has been set before. Beside that, two types of regular maintenance implemented by the maintenance unit is preventive and corrective maintenance. After the study has been completed, the gathered data either from the interview and observation will be analyzed and present in form of graph or schedule to make a conclusion and recommendations.

47

CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS OF FINDING

4.1

Introduction In the content of this chapter, a description of studies conducted will be

described. Several methods are used to ensure that the information and research results obtained. Appropriate techniques are used in this research to achieve the objectives of the study. Type of data collected and compiled in the form of primer and secondary data. Appropriate methods are used such as the formation of the questionnaires, interviews and observations. Whereas, the data obtained from books, magazines and the Internet is also referred to obtain important information.

4.2

Problem Statement Techniques performed to obtain data and information for this study carried

out in stages. This is because the data collected can be well organized and to get information will be easier for a data collection stages. Moreover, there are obstacles in carrying out the study in terms of data collection, information and time. Data collection process is as sourcing, developing questionnaires, conducting interviews and observations through the visit to review.

48

4.2.1

Data Finding Sourcing is done through the search of primary and secondary

sources. Searching the sources are the beginning steps in finding information for academic project. a) Primary Data Primary Data of information was obtained in part from interviews with the curator at Seri Menanti Royal Musuem. to get information on the work of maintenance on that museum. b) Secondary sources Secondary information from secondary data obtained through sources such as books, magazines, brochures and case studies 4.2.2 Interview In addition to the survey form, interview also carried out. The interview method used is face to face interview. A face-to-face interview is the method most widely used in the research of any topic and based on a direct meeting between interviewer and interviewee. By personal communication it is possible not only to obtain much more information, but also to use visual materials (cards, pictures, packages, logos, etc.) to encourage response. (Romir: 2011) The purpose of this face interview method is to get more accurate feedback. Questions give is simple and important as the respondents had significant role at the office. 4.2.3 Site Visit Site visit is an important method of gathering information such as interviews, questionnaires, and information from secondary sources. Property maintenance is a special case for old building. The buiding must be visit to look real situation.

49

4.3

Analysis Process Carried To achieve the objectives of this academic project, the data which obtained

from interviews Curator of Seri Menanti Royal Museum. The interview was asked and focus about property maintenance. How to maintain historic building and to keep thu building in good condition. So, these are analysis have done by their interview. There are two types of maintenance system implemented which is preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance.

4.3.1

Preventive Maintenance in The Museum Preventive conservation is an ongoing, integral process that affects all

cultural assets as a whole. Its area of action involves the environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity and contamination), light intensity and quality, organic pest control, as well as exhibition, storage, maintenance (cleaning, periodic revisions) or handling of the pieces. To perform preventive job, maintenance department has develop the specification and the scope of work that should be fulfil and perform by the maintenance contractor and the Property Maintenance staff as a guideline (guidance) to fulfil the jobs. Suppose better to have the Standard Operating Procedure to have indicator for monitoring and controlling by Seri Menanti Royal Museum. According to The Assistant Curator of Seri Menanti Royal Musueum, preventive maintenance was done by maintenance contractor that has been appointed by selected tendering process under control and monitor by Maintenance Unit. The contractor appointed have to produce a master work

50

programmed for maintenance and services and submit it for period one and half year to the Maintenance Unit. After the submitted work program was approved as master work program has to produce the monthly detail work programmed. The submitted work plan should include the work activity, location of woks, intensity of work and time needed to perform the job. The work plan must be approved by maintenance team before it can be used as a job table. Based on the interview with the curator of the museum, most of the preventive maintenance was done for structural and electrical. For the structural 70% of the work is preventive especially for the poles at that museum. It is because the building use at 1908 until now. As well as electrical, most of maintenance for equipment is preventive (80%) and the rest is corrective.

4.3.2

Environmental Control There are no environmental conditions for optimum relative humidity

and temperature established for the museum collections; each case is different and requires an initial analysis of the environment in which the cultural assets are housed. The general recommendation is to prevent abrupt changes. The optimum conservation conditions are established for all areas in which there are cultural assets, both personal property and real estate, on display, in storage or in a restoration workshop.

If any of these cultural assets, due to their intrinsic nature or their state of conservation, require special environmental conditions, they must be installed in a container that can offer maximum guarantees, regardless of whether the work is displayed to the public or in a warehouse.

51

The environmental conditions refer not only to the humidity and temperature, but also to lighting and environmental pollution:

I.

As regards the lighting, there are maximum limits set for works of art (200 luxes in the case of paintings on canvas or board, 50 luxes for works on paper). However its effect on the proper maintenance of the cultural assets is not that easy to determine, as the type of lighting and the hours of exposure of each work must be taken into account, since its effect is cumulative.

II.

Regarding contamination, it is necessary to install proper filters and keep them maintained.

4.3.3

Pest Prevention

There are three basic phases in pest prevention in the museum: I. II. III. Detection, both in space and time. Eradication or solution of the problem. Preventive maintenance with periodic control.

The most common pests are xylophagous and longhorn beetles. Larger animals that cause damage to cultural assets include pigeons, bats and other rodents.

4.3.4

Proper Facilities for Exhibition and Storage

To maintain the cultural assets properly, well designed display cabinets, supports and exhibition pedestals are essential, as well as furniture for storage (shelves, combs, map holders, etc.). For cultural

52

assets with specific maintenance problems, the design includes appropriate solutions for each case.

4.3.5

Handling Collections

In the museum day-to-day activity, certain actions may require handling the cultural assets: internal or external movement (including cultural assets on loan for exhibitions). These operations must be carried out under the supervision of qualified museum staff and with all the auxiliary resources required in each case.

4.3.6

Corrective Maintenance

Corrective maintenance was done for unpredictable problem, it is means that the work will carried out after the problems occurred. Most of the job was done for building structure and low voltage electrical problems. Property maintenance team only has team to observe and study the problem then produce the scope of work and the specification. Maintenance property has responsibility to respond any claim or complaint from the visitor to make field checking and solve the problems. Maintenance unit with have multi background discipline personnel which have the ability to observe and study the problem occur on site. If there any problem need to handle by specialize personnel, which may be Maintenance unit didnt have the capable to handle those. Maintenance unit will counter make the proposal to appoint the consultant to study and produce the scope of work and specification. All works at Seri Menanti Royal Museum needs to appoint consultant or contractor by selected tendering process.

53

Based on interview, majority in building structure/ civil work maintenance was treated by corrective (80%). The common problem is drainage system problem and internal fixtures problem. For electrical treatment 30% of maintenance work is corrective and most of the problems are n low voltage electrical devices area such as lamp switch, plug and electrical short. The repair restoration of equipment that has a failure or is malfunctioning and not performing its intended function. Corrective maintenance should normally be performed only on equipment previously selected to run until failure. As a result of an effective maintenance program, only a small fraction of corrective maintenance should be needed on equipment that is important to safe and reliable system operations. Some example of corrective maintenance include at Seri Menanti Royal Museum are :

a) Replacement of a failed electrical breaker b) Weld repair of cracked process line c) Repair of a failed instrument transmitter

For all works that not handled by maintenance staff will be handed to the contractor. The works will be control and monitor by the Seri Menanti Royal Museum staff. The contractor was selected by the special officer because not all contractor can do all the job at the museum according to the scope and specification needed. To ensure the maintenance works is quality.

54

4.4

Conclusion

From the interview conducted, the author identify the common problems occurs in historic building. The problem is many and the top problem often is internal fixture, plumbing system and to their structure.

All the problems or defect can be solve if the maintenance work done properly and efficiently by the workers. Beside that, the building must be maintained and in a good condition for the purpose to reduce the maintenance cost if the big problem or damage happened to the building.

As a conclusion, the maintenance management is important for the building. The future of the building depends on the maintenance of the building. If the maintenance department of the building is good, it can give advantage to the building itself and the activities in the building. So, the owner requirement and need can be achieved if the building is well maintained.

55

CHAPTER 5

RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

5.1

Introduction

This chapter is summary for the study. The recommendation and conclusion will be made base on the analysis and problems that have been identified in this study. The previous chapters has been discussed in detail about the maintenance system are conducted. This is the last chapter of the study that will conclude the data and analysis at the chapter 4 that being referred to the objectives and goals of this study. Conclusion will be made to answer the two objectives of this study. Every research has its own reasons, particular problems and best conclusion to solve it. This study is basically to identify the common problem in historical building maintenance and the recommendation of further maintenance effectiveness included to improve property maintenance of Seri Menanti Royal Musuem. Good maintenance normally will produce the good result for quality of work, cost efficient and good services. There are various types of maintenance can be implemented that suitable for the situation, place and others.

56

Recommendation will be made according to the finding in chapter 4. The recommendation will improve the quality of maintenance works and sustain the building life. Then, the conclusion will be made for overall of the study on the way of improvement of the property maintenance for the Seri Menanti Royal Museum.

5.2

Issues and Recommendations

5.2.1

Budget constraint

Issue : Due to budget constrain, many problems especially maintenance problems cannot be corrected easily.

Recommendation : I suggest that, maybe instead of hoping only the budget from the government, the Museum Department may vary their activities to generate more income including organising seminars for educational purposes, ask for sponsorship through campaigns, e.g. campaign back to the history etc. to make this a success, co-operation from many parties are needed. It must also be done aggressively as to create awareness is not an easy job among the people. The campaign may start at the secondary level and eventually at the national level.

5.2.2

Performance of materials

Issue : The building was made from wood materials Therefore it is easily obsolete. These materials are very sensitive to the rain. By the years, they have been depleted.

57

Recommendation : To make the building to have its original appearance will increase the costs especially the cost of construction. This is due to find the exact match the building materials. Special skills and materials may be required to retain the building's original appearance. Thus this would increase the costs.

5.2.3

Effects of Weather

Issue: Due to heavy rain and furthermore its vulnerable materials, the building is easily depleted. Therefore, a careful execution needs to be done in enhancing the building's statuteness.

Recommendation : Proper techniques of taking care of the building fabrics should be adopted. This would lessen the problems of ugly stained floor/surface. The more effective approach is to investigate the root of the problem. It might be the gutter is not functioning effectively. That is why it is resulted in that manner. By replacing the gutter to a new one might saves the cost for later on defects. Other than that, by building eaves might actually assist in lessening the problem of rain penetration which could lead to serious structure damage.

5.2.4

Ineffective communication

Issue : Due to the generation gap of the top management level, which is older, and the lower level management, which is younger, the communication becomes ineffective. The older management is known for their carefulness but too slow in action; while the younger

58

generation is known for their radical ways but sometimes without further thinking; and that they might end up making mistakes. As a result, they might end up defending each other's principle.

Recommendation : Fortunately, the management has changed to a more fresh management. This allows the younger generations, which are full with ideas to proceed. In a structure of organisation, especially large organisations, the approach of the management are vital. It will enable lower parties especially to express their feelings and problems about the job and eventually can improve their quality of works. Therefore a two way system is essential in managing an organisation. Other than that, the instructions given to the lower level of

management should be clarified so that the works can be carried out effectively. The instructions given should also be backed up by the upper level of management whether financially or in supportive manners. This will help the staffs to carry out their work proudly and without much hassle. The upper level of management can also send their staffs on training to improve their quality of works. Some of the training or seminars can actually increase the awareness of the staffs upon the importance of their job, that every job should be carried out whole heartedly and passionately.

I am not saying the money is not important, but the awareness can satisfy themselves. The organisation must lead their employees not to be money oriented only. They should feel the job. This would lead to increase in motivation and foremost their performance.

59

5.2.5

Insects Attack

Issue: One of the major problems faced by the museum other than heavy rain penetration; is insects' attack. Since the museum is quite old and humid, the insects are easily attracted to eat the woods and the collection itself.

Recommendation: Therefore, a pest control should be done regularly. Being aware of this fact, a pest control company, i.e. Kamal &Shah Pest Control is being hired. Other than that, in-house pest control is also being executed. The staffs made the pest themselves by using the mix of the silica gel and the Para dichlorobenzene. So far, the execution done can control the pests from attacking the building and the collection itself.

60

5.3

Conclusion

All of the objectives of this study have been achived through several research methodologies which include interview, literature review and observations.

In my opinion, the Seri Menanti Royal Museum staffs have been doing their job in a very well manner. This could be seen during my several visits there. The relationship between the staffs is also very good. It shows that their opinions are valued towards the importance in preserving the museum. They are very friendly to each other and are willing to help one another. This enables them carry out their task effectively and co-operatively.

The museum can be said as statute regardless of its age. For an old building of that age, there must be any structure damage somewhere. Fortunately, it seems that Seri Menanti Royal Museum still proudly standing with the development of the surrounding vicinity. The population also feels proud as the museum can still serve its function eventhough it has been so many years of living.

The museum however, needs more publicity so that it would receive more tourists in the future and that would increase the number of tourists and be one of the most popular places in Malaysia tourism. By this, museum would be attracting lots of attention from many parties who will offer to help preserving it, financially, materially or in other supportive manner.

Thus, the museum's function would be enhanced and will becomes more than just to educate or exhibit to the public. It shall remain in every hearts who have visited it as the identity of the old generations that should not be forgotten by the coming generations.

61

So far, I am glad with the works being done to enhance the building's value, age and functions. However, with more budget allocation, I am sure that much could be done to enhance the building's value. The Museum department could also develop good rapport with the museums around the world; as this could increase the knowledge of the staffs in conserving the museum. They could change and share opinions so that the awareness of importance of the historic buildings can be enhanced. Another solution is to organise staff exchange programme; as this could again increase the staffs' knowledge and experience. This would increase a staffs expertise and skills.

Other than that, the Museum Department could set up a body to do the research and development to overcome the museums' problem, thus enhancing the capital value. This body will specifically be responsible for any treatment needed and the necessary execution. The body can investigate the best treatments that could be done to the museum.

As the museum is very old, defects such as paint scaling, cracks, brittle, moss, staining, discolouration, bird's droppings, smelly and erosion could not be avoided. All these create ugly appearances towards the museum.

As the time passes by, I hope that the museum could still be functional, as it would introduce the younger generation to their inheritance. The younger generation should be taught to appreciate these inheritances as they are telling thousands of stories. Last but not least, I am very proud to be one of the Ngeri Sembilan citizens to share all these inheritances and to see it stoutly standing in the years coming.

62

63

64