A proposed decision-making model to prioritize building elements maintenance actions toward achieving sustainability in community buildings in Australia

© Springer-Verlag London 2014. Sustainable management of community buildings is a challenging task in Australia. Maintenance and renewal of building assets is a prominent issue as a large number of buildings owned by local councils were built in 1970s and become aged and deteriorated. Each building consists of a massive load of building components which adds complexity into their management. Limited asset management models in favor of buildings’ decision making have further widened the gap in finding a reliable decision-making model for building maintenance and renewals. On the other hand, a majority of asset management models available are unable to cope with the uncertainty associated with the data collection which makes the results inconsistent and subjective. This paper presents a useful tool minimizing aforementioned problems and making asset planner’s life easier to prioritize maintenance actions. The model is a multi-criteria decision-making model (MCDM) which is combined with two analytical tools, i.e., analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and fuzzy inference system (FIS). The model is based on a four level hierarchical structure, which includes a goal, aspects, criteria, and attribute factors representing the level one to level four in the hierarchy respectively. Decision Criticality Index (DCI) has been introduced in order to understand the importance of the decision. The concept which is used in the traffic light system is adapted to categorize maintenance options according to color codes depending on DCI value range and the duration of maintenance plan. Example calculations based on case study and hypothetical data have been demonstrated throughout the paper to showcase and validate the model.