Building Asset Management Plan June 2009

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CHAPTER SUMMARY • When Council decides to participate in the delivery of community services, it

takes on the responsibility for managing the service lifecycle. • The life of a service, from initial formulation to final discontinuation, may last

as short as one day or for more than 100 years. • If the service requires the use of a building then each phase of the service

and building lifecycle must be managed. Service lifecycle Building lifecycle o Formulation o Pre-establishment o Design o Establishment o Creation o Operation o Maintenance o Adjustment o Renewal o Discontinuation o Disposal

• Council’s current service and building management practices have evolved over a long period of time.

• Key tasks considered to represent best practice service and asset lifecycle management have been identified and defined for all lifecycle phases. Key integration functions have also been identified.

• A shift toward consistent implementation of a best practice approach (summarised in Appendix 4) is critical for the sustainable delivery of improved building and service outcomes.

RECOMMENDATIONS • Implement initiatives that improve the integration of decision makers by:

o Establishing an integration reference group; o Assigning clear responsibilities for all integration functions, service

and asset lifecycle management phases and tasks; o Developing protocols, templates, processes, standards and metrics to

support consistent management of all service and asset lifecycle phases;

o Developing service agreements for all services provided in Council buildings. Agreements should include:

Measurable service and asset performance targets; Technical (design, construction, maintenance and renewal)

standards and specifications for all building components that define a level of service acceptable to service users;

Agreed inspection, maintenance and renewal intervention levels, target response time frames and standards of workmanship; and

Communication protocols including building handover processes;

o Upgrading the Facilities Maintenance Management System to facilitate building management and monitor delivery of desired standards; and

o Ensuring that service and building performance targets are aligned and incorporated into Council’s corporate indicators.

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8.1. Introduction A building that is clean, vibrant and in the right location contributes to a positive community perception of the service provided. It is important that service and building management are aligned and integrated to sustainably meet community expectations. The intricate relationship between community need, service and Council building management is illustrated in Figure 8-1. The service delivery model illustrated here is not a process. It is a tool to develop a common understanding of management tasks required at each stage of the service and asset lifecycles. Structures, processes, standards, metrics and skill sets, aligned with the model, must be developed to enable its implementation.

Building Lifecycle

Service Lifecycle

HORIZON SCANNING

SERVICE FEASIBILITY Community

ASSET OPTION Figure 8-1 Service and asset lifecycles — service delivery model

As discussed in Chapter 7, horizon scanning enables Council to identify community needs. Service feasibility and asset option analysis then enable Council to determine what the appropriate service and asset response should be. If Council decides to participate in the delivery of community services, it takes on the responsibility for managing the service lifecycle. The life of a service, from initial formulation to final discontinuation, may take as little as one day or more than 100 years. In any case, each phase of the service lifecycle must be managed. The same is true for Council buildings. If a service requires a Council building, then that building must be managed throughout its life and the life of the service. Given that buildings are only required to support services, it is important that Council’s building management approach is integrated and aligned with the delivery of service management objectives. This chapter describes the service and asset lifecycle phases that must be managed once the decision has been taken to provide or support a service and building. It outlines Council’s current management approach. Strengths and weaknesses are identified and improvement recommendations are provided.

8.2. Service lifecycle management approach

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Twenty six (26) different service types are currently provided in Council buildings (see Chapter 4 for details). Service types range from aquatics to community meeting spaces. Council’s current service management practices have evolved over a long period of time. Until this plan was developed, Council had not considered services in the broad sense defined in Chapter 4, nor used the notion of a service having finite lifecycle phases. While the specific management requirements differ for each service, the key phases that are common to all services are listed in Table 8-1 below.

Service lifecycle phase Objectives Formulation Broadly define all requirements to enable service delivery. Translate

detailed service requirements into physical asset needs and measurable service standards and targets.

Pre-establishment Design the structure, systems, standards, resources, and performance measures required for operation and monitoring of the service.

Establishment Set up operating structure, systems, standards, resources, performance measures required to enable operation and monitoring of the service. Communicate service delivery objectives to all stakeholders.

Operation Operate and monitor delivery of the service to ensure that it sustainably meets service targets.

Adjustment Determine whether the service is aligned with community expectations and the operating environment. Identify the asset adjustments required to ensure service objectives are met. Adjust internal service agreements, structure, systems, standards, resources and performance measures to ensure service objectives are met. Communicate adjustments to affected parties.

Discontinuation Ensure Council approaches the termination of services that are no longer required in a way that minimises community disruption.

Table 8-1 Service lifecycle phases

The review presented below focuses on describing the key objectives of each service lifecycle phase and highlights the implications of Council’s history of ad-hoc service adjustment. Meetings were held with the reference group and representatives from each Council directorate to develop detailed descriptions of the key objectives, outputs and tasks associated with managing each phase. Appendix 4 includes the results of this consultation process. 8.2.1. Service formulation — defining service outcomes

In an ideal world, service formulation occurs before service operation begins and is adjusted periodically to reflect changes. Service formulation uses the results of the service feasibility analysis (as discussed in Chapter 7), after it has been endorsed by Council. It details the service requirements in a way that ensures the service will be responsive to community needs identified when scanning the horizon. Service formulation occurs over a short period of time and can be undertaken as a finite project. It defines all the requirements that will support effective service operation, and appropriate asset provision and management. It enables performance to be monitored to ensure that community expectations are met. The services currently provided in Council buildings are the result of past decisions. Council has not taken a consistent approach to service formulation. Service profiles prepared annually by each Manager for their department set out objectives for the department, but do not define the desired outcomes for services provided in Council

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buildings. Workshops with the reference group, and managers across the organisation, identified key tasks that represent best practice when formulating a service. These tasks are listed in Table 8-2 below.

Service formulation

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review horizon scanning and needs / feasibility analysis.

2. Community engagement.

3. Set service level targets.

4. Stakeholder analysis.

5. Define partnerships.

6. Develop demand management strategy.

7. Define management model.

8. Define funding model.

9. Review IT systems.

10. Review human resource needs.

11. Determine other resource needs.

12. Identify complementary projects.

13. Define key service implementation tasks.

14. Develop service implementation plan.

15. Develop project brief for physical asset option analysis.

16. Review physical asset option analysis results.

17. Develop service plan.

Broadly define all requirements to enable service delivery. 2. Project brief for physical asset — to be

used to refine the asset option analysis findings. Translate detailed service

requirements into physical asset needs, and measurable service standards and targets.

1. Service implementation plan.

3. Service plan.

4. Agreement on fully costed physical asset option(s) that meets the requirements of the project brief.

5. Business case (incorporating agreed options(s) resulting from the asset options analysis).

18. Develop business case. Table 8-2 Service formulation — objectives, outputs and tasks

Service formulation should result in the development of: • A service implementation plan that defines key tasks, costs and timelines

required to implement the service (such as IT systems and human resources); and

• A service plan that identifies measurable minimum and desirable service level standards. This Plan should describe how Council will ensure that the service is managed to meet community expectations sustainably and efficiently within financial, legislative and other constraints.

If a building is required, service formulation should also result in: • Development of a project brief that translates customer expectations into

detailed service standards that can be used to refine asset option analysis and measure future asset performance; and

• Agreement on a fully costed physical asset option that delivers the objectives of the brief.

Although services have been refined over the years to meet changing community expectations, little work has been done to formulate revised services provided in Council buildings. As a result, most services do not have clearly defined goals that can be used to determine whether community needs are being met. There is also an absence of detailed service

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standards to ensure the buildings are managed in a way that supports the objectives of each service. Protocols must be established to ensure that all new services and future service adjustments to existing services incorporate a service formulation phase that includes all tasks listed in Table 8-2 above. Templates should be created to document all key outputs. 8.2.2. Pre-establishment — designing services to support their establishment and

operation

Before a service can be set up, appropriate organisational structures, processes, standards and performance measures must be designed to deliver and monitor the delivery of desired service outcomes. Service pre-establishment follows on from the service formulation phase and occurs over a short period of time. Like service formulation, it can be undertaken as a finite project. Workshops with the reference group, and managers across the organisation, identified key tasks that represent best practice in pre-establishing a service. These tasks are listed in Table 8-3 below.

Service pre-establishment

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Refine and deliver service implementation plan.

2. IT implementation.

3. Develop process maps — operations.

4. Develop process maps — auditing.

5. Develop process maps — information management.

6. Develop process maps — reporting.

7. Develop governance policies and procedures.

8. Develop service unit structure.

9. Develop training programs.

10. Procure required resources.

11. Develop change management program.

12. Develop communication plans (internal and external).

13. Prepare service delivery manual.

14. Develop or update service agreements.

15. Monitor delivery of physical asset requirements.

Design the structure, systems, standards, resources, and performance measures required to operate and monitor the service.

2. Change management strategy.

1. Delivery of the service implementation plan.

3. Communication plans.

4. Service agreements.

5. Service delivery manual.

16. Budget management. Table 8-3 Service pre-establishment — objectives, outputs and tasks

Officers representing the Corporate Development Directorate felt that this phase was largely overlooked by the organisation. They expressed a sense that when service adjustments are adopted by Council there is a general expectation that the adjustments can be implemented almost overnight without fully considering the time and resource requirements associated with establishment. Recent service modifications have often occurred without taking time to design the service and scope the key tasks required to make the desired changes effectively. This results from a lack of good service formulation. Without clearly defined service goals it is impossible to design what is necessary to deliver those goals.

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Most service adjustments have occurred without a service implementation plan. Time, funds and resources are rarely allocated to the pre-establishment phase. As a result, many of the tasks listed in Table 8-3 are overlooked. Other key tasks are undertaken in an ad hoc way while trying to manage service operation. Aspects that are frequently overlooked include:

• Modifying the service unit structure including developing position descriptions and considering training and recruiting needs;

• Developing and updating processes, procedures and standards for: - Operation; - Auditing; - Performance reporting; and - Data and information management;

• Defining performance indicators that measure progress toward desired service outcomes;

• Developing appropriate service agreements; and • Developing an appropriate change management approach, including internal

and external communication. It is important that these aspects of service formulation be addressed. Roles and responsibilities should be documented and skill gaps identified so that appropriate recruiting and training programs can be developed. Protocols must also be established to ensure that all new services and future service adjustments incorporate a service pre-establishment phase which includes all the tasks listed in Table 8-3 above. Templates should be created to document all key outputs. Service delivery manuals, or similar documents, should be prepared for all existing services and should include procedures and standards for:

• Operation; • Auditing; • Performance reporting; and • Data and information management.

A sample service delivery manual is included in Appendix 26. 8.2.3. Establishment — setting up the service to operate efficiently and effectively

Service establishment occurs over a short period of time and can be managed as a finite project. Workshops with the reference group, and managers across the organisation, identified key tasks that represent best practice in managing service establishment. These tasks are listed in Table 8-4 below.

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Service establishment

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Finalise agreements.

2. Physical asset handover.

3. Setup procured resources.

4. Test IT systems.

5. Implement change management plan.

6. Implement communication plans (internal and external).

7. Recruit.

8. Implement operating processes.

9. Implement auditing processes.

10. Implement reporting processes.

11. Implement information management processes.

12. Implement training programs.

13. Distribute documentation.

Set up the operating structure, systems, standards, resources, performance measures required to operate and monitor the service.

Communicate service delivery objectives for all stakeholders.

1. Service is ready to commence. The following requirements have been established:

- Agreements;

- Physical assets ;

- Human resources;

- Processes;

- Systems;

- Standards;

- Structures;

- Performance measures; and

- Budget.

14. Budget management. Table 8-4 Service Establishment — objectives, outputs and tasks

Ideally, by the end of this phase, the service has been set up and is ready to start providing services. The following requirements have been established and are ready to implement:

• Agreements (including service agreements, occupancy agreements and contract arrangements);

• Human resources (recruitment and training); • Manuals, policies, standards and forms; • Systems; • Structures; • Performance targets and measures; • Budgets; • Physical assets (including buildings); • Information management systems; and • Processes:

- Operating; - Auditing; and - Reporting.

Although refinements to services provided by Council have occurred in recent years, and services are up and running and serving customers, many of the above items have not been established. Inadequate consideration has been given to the pre-establishment phase, which reduces the likelihood of successful service establishment. Particular deficiencies relate to:

• Documenting performance targets; • Occupancy agreements; • Service agreements; • Documenting roles and responsibilities; • Formalised process development and management; • Consistent data and knowledge management; and • Training and recruiting to match skill sets required for delivery of responsibilities.

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Protocols must be established to ensure that all new services and future service adjustments incorporate a service establishment phase that includes all tasks listed in Table 8-4 above. Templates should be created for all documents required during this phase.

8.2.4. Service operation — delivering the service and monitoring service outcomes

The quality of program development and other service-specific aspects of operation are well beyond the scope of this plan. This review of Council’s current approach to service operation is limited to aspects that need to be managed to ensure that building and service management are appropriately integrated and aligned. The quality of service formulation, pre-establishment and establishment dictates Council’s ability to successfully manage and monitor the ongoing service operation. The current absence of detailed service targets, standards and processes for delivery makes it difficult to assess Council’s success in managing the service operation phase. Council has not established performance targets and relies on direct community feedback and high level community satisfaction indices to determine community satisfaction with services in Council buildings. Issues about community satisfaction are presented in Chapter 6. It is recommended that more specific service performance targets be established and monitored. Targets should include measures of service utilisation and demand. Service operation is a much longer phase than service formulation, pre-establishment and establishment. Services should be operated according to pre-established structures, processes, standards and systems. Ideally, progress towards desired outcomes can be monitored and reported, and continuous adjustments made to improve performance. Workshops with the reference group and managers across the organisation identified key tasks that represent best practice in managing service operation. Key objectives, outputs and tasks are summarised in Table 8-5 below.

Service operation

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Delivery of the service.

2. Building occupant management.

3. Human resource management.

4. Resource management.

5. Risk and quality management.

6. Budget management.

7. Contract management.

8. Program development.

9. Marketing the service.

10. Demand management.

11. Process management.

12. Relationship management

13. Community engagement.

14. Public relations management.

15. Monitor service delivery.

Operate and monitor delivery of the service to sustainably meet needs. 2. Service performance reports.

1. Service delivery.

3. Continuous improvements to service delivery.

16. Report on service performance.

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17. Continuous improvement. Table 8-5 Service Operation — objectives, outputs and tasks

Currently services provided in 60 percent of Council buildings are operated by third party occupants. Of these buildings, 97 percent are utilised by community groups under committees of management who provide services. Anecdotal evidence suggests that services operation by third party building tenants has been problematic in the past. Inappropriate service operation can have a profound effect on the performance of the building and create unacceptably high risks for both the occupant and Council. In one example, a sporting club installed a refrigeration unit on the roof of a pavilion without seeking Council permission. The structural integrity of the roof was not checked before the work was started. The unit had been illegally wired and piping for gas supply penetrated the ceiling and was not concealed. Council became aware of the issue when called in to repair a leak reported in the roof. The officer found the new installation and the ceiling sagging. The refrigeration unit was removed and the roof repaired at a small financial cost ($1,500) to Council. Council is now working with the occupant to ensure that they re-install the refrigeration unit correctly. If Council had not been contacted to repair the leak, the roof may have collapsed and injured occupants without Council having being aware of the risk. A similar issue occurred at the Knox Basketball Stadium where the occupant removed walls to remodel an office space, causing the ceiling to sag. It is likely that the occupant had inadvertently removed part of a structural load-bearing wall, putting occupants of the building and the public at risk. Again, Council only became aware of the issue when called in to repair the sagging ceiling. Similarly, a sports club using facilities at Lewis Park recently installed deep fryers without appropriate extraction fans, contravening food and occupational health and safety regulations. The building became a fire risk and food preparation was unsafe before the Facilities Management team became aware of the issue and addressed it. The above examples highlight the potential risks to public safety that can be created by the actions of third-party building occupants. Other actions prohibited under the current building regulations were identified during the audit of Council buildings, described in detail in Chapter 9. They included:

• Using roof space to store heavy equipment, creating potential structural stability and fire risk issues;

• Storing tables and heavy equipment in front of exit doors; • Storing equipment in service bays, disabled toilets and external toilets; • Changing locks and security codes without approval, so that Council was unable

to access the buildings; and • Installing cooking equipment in kitchens without Council approval, creating

health and safety issues. All of these issues arise when occupants breach specific conditions of Council’s standard building protocols which are included with all occupancy agreements, or misinterpret grey areas in the protocols. Legal advice provided by Maddocks Lawyers (refer Appendix 9 and Chapter 3) indicates that as a property owner, Council is not completely absolved of public safety risks created by the actions of occupants. Officers throughout the organisation are aware of these issues and the inherent risks but

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do not feel able to respond proactively. As a result, issues management tends to be reactive. If an officer becomes aware of an issue, they notify the Facilities Management team who visit the building to manage any direct risk to occupants, and try to work with the occupants to rectify the building issue. No formal processes exist to address the underlying problem of occupants breaching their occupancy agreements. Generally, Facilities Management sends photos of the breach to the relevant building advocate, who writes to the offending occupant. The Facilities Management team then re-inspects the site. There are no deterrents or other enforcement protocols. With the exception of building protocols developed ten years ago, Council does not have any proactive measures in place to manage the activities of building occupants. Particular concerns include:

• A lack of processes in place to ensure that occupants are aware of risks associated with undertaking building works or other unsafe practices described above (with the exception of annual meetings with occupants of buildings used for Family and Children’s Services);

• No comprehensive review of risks associated with existing building protocols since they were developed ten years ago;

• No enforcement (or allocation of the responsibility for enforcement) of building protocols;

• Inconsistent inspections to monitor occupant compliance with essential services obligations;

• A lack of penalties imposed for breach of occupancy agreements; • No clear assignment of responsibility for inspections to monitor compliance with

occupancy agreements during the period of occupancy; • No determination of appropriate timing for compliance inspections; and • A practice of renewing leases and licences regardless of the occupant’s history

of breaching past agreements. It is important that Council act to inform all committees of management, clubs and other tenants of the risks associated with building management. Introducing processes and responsibilities to better manage building occupants is also recommended.

8.2.5. Service adjustment — modifying services to ensure their continued relevance

The service adjustment phase is not about introducing improvements to address issues identified while operating the service. Instead, it is initiated by the service manager after the service has been operating for a number of years in, response to changes in the internal or external environment. Ideally, service adjustment occurs when horizon scanning and service feasibility analysis (discussed in Chapter 7) suggest that a current service no longer fits with the operating environment or meets community expectations. Service adjustment then involves defining and modifying service delivery processes, systems, standards, structures, skill sets and performance measures. Workshops with the reference group and managers across the organisation identified key tasks that represent best practice in managing the adjustment of a service. These are summarised in Table 8-6 below.

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Service adjustment

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review service relevance.

2. Review service outcomes.

3. Review best practice.

4. Review asset performance.

5. Review service model performance.

6. Revise service targets.

7. Develop feasibility report for service adjustment.

8. Develop service implementation plan and implement service adjustments.

9. Develop project brief for physical asset option analysis.

10. Review physical asset option analysis results.

11. Develop communication plans (internal and external).

Determine whether the service is aligned with community expectations and the operating environment.

4. Implementation plan for service adjustments.

Identify asset adjustments to ensure service objectives are met.

Adjust to structure, processes, systems, performance measures, and agreements to meet service objectives.

Communicate adjustments to affected parties.

1. Service feasibility report for service adjustment.

2. For major refinements (including service discontinuation) a Council report including justification is required (see horizon scanning and service feasibility analysis tasks in Chapter 7).

3. Project brief for asset adjustment if required (see service feasibility analysis tasks).

5. Revised service delivery manual.

6. Revised service agreements.

7. Revised occupancy agreements.

8. Communication plans.

12. Update service formulation and pre-establishment documentation.

Table 8-6 Service Adjustment — objectives, outputs and tasks

Before adjustments can be established, it is essential that a detailed review be undertaken. This should include:

• Reviewing horizon scanning information; • Determining service relevance, including whether the desired service outcomes

Council is working towards are still aligned with community expectations and the operating environment;

• Assessing current service performance against desired service outcomes and best practice;

• Assessing performance of physical assets against desired standards; • Identifying service adjustment options including considering options that do not

require new assets or alterations to existing assets; and • Assessing the feasibility of all alternatives including considering in detail the long

term implications associated with altering the service and, if necessary the physical infrastructure.

If adjustment is feasible, it is important that sufficient time and resources be allocated to the formulation, pre-establishment and establishment of the alterations. This may include considering adjustments to the relevant building design, renewal, maintenance and disposal standards. Care is required to ensure that adjustments are effectively communicated to all stakeholders. Because of the relationship between a service and the buildings used, recent service reviews have tended to focus on defining changes to the building stock without giving equal consideration to other ways of meeting identified service needs. As discussed in Chapter 7, Council has undertaken few strategic service reviews. Although the scope of the reviews that have been undertaken varies, most have not included all the key tasks listed in Table 8-6 above. Items that have been excluded include:

• Assessing current performance against service objectives; • Predicting future demand; • Creating demand management strategies that do not require adjustment to the

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building stock; • Considering the resource implications associated with implementing the

recommended adjustments; and • Assessing the long-term lifecycle cost and risk implications of proposed changes

to building stock. As a result, recent adjustments to services provided in Council buildings have occurred in an ad hoc way, either in direct response to requests from vocal community stakeholders, or in order to secure funding support from others. Asset implications, such as changes to office accommodation, are often an afterthought. The lifecycle cost implications of changes to infrastructure are often not considered. This approach undermines Council’s ability to strategically deliver services that provide benefits to the entire Knox community. Protocols must be established to ensure that all future service adjustments have a strategic purpose of maximising community benefit. Significant adjustments should only occur if a need is indicated by horizon scanning, service feasibility and asset option analysis. Making adjustments should involve all the tasks listed in Table 8.6 above.

8.2.6. Discontinuance — terminating services that are not required

In response to community demand, Council regularly adds and terminates programs provided as part of wider services. However, Council has not completely terminated any service (as defined in Chapter 4) in recent years. In general, recent service reviews have not assessed whether terminating a service is a viable option. Workshops with the reference group, and managers across the organisation, identified key tasks that represent best practice in managing service termination. Objectives, outputs and key tasks are summarised in Table 8-7 below.

Service discontinuation

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review service relevance.

2. Identify alternatives.

3. Impact assessment ( internal and external).

4. Transition design.

5. Develop feasibility report for service discontinuation.

6. Develop transition processes.

7. Develop project brief for physical asset adjustments.

8. Develop communication strategy (internal and external).

9. Develop service discontinuation plan.

Ensure Council has approaches to terminating services that are no longer required in a way that minimises community disruption. 2. Communication strategy.

1. Service discontinuation plan.

3. Project brief for asset adjustments (if required).

10. Implement service discontinuation plan. Table 8-7 Service discontinuation — objectives, outputs and tasks

In essence, services are discontinued when horizon scanning and service feasibility assessment reveals that a particular service, or aspect of a service, is no longer required to address a community need. Terminating a service is likely to be easier if it has been regularly reviewed, refined and improved so that it remains relevant to the community. It is important that Council ensure its approach to terminating of services that are no longer required minimises community disruption. Service discontinuation is difficult to justify without detailed analysis. Extensive

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communication programs are required to support staff in their transition to alternative positions and users in their transition to alternative service providers. Before the decision to terminate a service can be undertaken, it is important that the following tasks occur:

• Determining service relevance, and whether the desired service outcomes Council is working towards are still aligned with community expectations and the operating environment;

• Reviewing service relevance in detail, including all relevant horizon scanning information;

• Identifying alternatives; • Conducting feasibility analysis for all options; • Formulating the approach that will support the transition to terminating the

service; • Preparing a project brief to inform the Asset Manager of the now surplus

building; and • Developing a service discontinuation plan that includes a communication

strategy (internal and external). Protocols and templates must be established to ensure service discontinuation occurs in a way consistent with that described in Table 8-7 above. Significant time and resources are required to engage with the community, particularly given the level of passion and attachment that many community members have about services provided to their local community.

8.3. Asset lifecycle management approach Council buildings only exist because Council provides or supports community services, so it is reasonable to expect that building management requirements should be aligned with relevant service objectives. Council’s current approach to service management demonstrates an ad-hoc style of service planning and a lack of clearly documented goals, processes and standards. This makes it difficult to define suitable building management requirements, particularly when responsibilities for managing services and buildings sit in separate Council directorates and activities such as building design, construction, maintenance and refurbishment are outsourced. The absence of clear service requirements has meant that Council’s approach to building management has largely focused on minimising public safety risk and staying within budget allocations. That approach is not sustainable or consistent with desirable management objectives defined for each phase of the building lifecycle as summarised in Table 8-8 below. Building lifecycle phase Objectives

Design Upgrade, construct, purchase or lease buildings in a way that meets service needs and matches the expected service life within physical, financial and other constraints.

Creation Upgrade, construct, purchase or lease buildings that meet service needs within physical, financial and other constraints.

Maintenance Preserve building components to achieve their expected life, mitigate risks and provide desired functionality over the life of the service.

Renewal Replace building components in a timely way, so the building can effectively support the service over its expected life.

Disposal Remove land and buildings that have no current or foreseeable future use from Council’s asset portfolio.

Table 8-8 Asset lifecycle phases

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Appendix 4 includes a summary of the objectives, outputs and key tasks to be undertaken in order to manage each stage of the building asset lifecycle. The discussion below summarises Council’s current approach and highlights improvement opportunities. Descriptions presented in this section, are based on information from a number of sources including:

• Reference group workshops; • Discussions with the Facilities Management team, responsible for the delivery of

building maintenance, renewals and upgrades; • Review of data stored in Council’s Facilities Management System (Lifecycle); • Review of existing design standards; and • Review of existing documentation about building maintenance protocols.

8.3.1. Design — ensuring that desired building outcomes will be delivered

Ideally, the design phase occurs when the recommendations of an asset option analysis have been adopted by Council. The option that must be designed may be one or more of:

• Purchasing a property; • Partnering with a property developer or other private party; • Occupying a facility owned by others; • Constructing a new building; and • Upgrading an existing building (including extension and possible demolition

works). The responsibilities and key tasks required to manage this phase will depend on the chosen option. In all cases, the overall objective should be to ensure that delivered assets meet the requirements defined in the project brief for asset option analysis. Designs should represent best practice, fit with service needs and result in assets that effectively support the service over its expected life. Key tasks that represent best practice in managing the design phase are summarised in Table 8-9 below. They have been separated into two groups based on the type of asset option to be designed: purchase, partnership or occupancy; and construction or upgrade. The list of tasks is not exhaustive and should be reviewed and expanded as required.

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Building design

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

All building design types

1. Review and clarify asset requirements.

2. Internal consultation (Service Manager, sustainability and accessibility experts, Standards Committee).

3. Public consultation.

4. Establish preliminary maintenance and renewal service levels.

5. Review initial project and lifecycle cost estimates.

6. Prepare report to seek additional funding (if required).

Construction or upgrade

Purchase, partnership or occupancy

For purchase, partnership or occupancy:

1. Define the scope of detailed design.

2. Development and annual review of building component design standards and specifications for inclusion in tender documentation.

3. Consultation with Standards Committee (including sustainability and accessibility experts).

4. Develop tender documentation for detailed design.

5. Tender design works.

6. Award tender for design works.

7. Consult with building surveyor.

8. Apply for all relevant authority consents and approvals.

9. Project and contract manage design process.

1. Identify potential sites and/or partners.

2. Define negotiation strategy and assessment criteria.

3. Assess potential sites and/or partners.

4. Prepare draft agreements.

5. Negotiate ocupancy agreement details.

• Upgrade, construct, purchase or lease buildings in a way that meets service needs and matches the expected service life within physical, financial and other constraints.

1. Draft agreements; and

2. Complete Council report detailing the potential sites, partners, and terms and conditions of draft agreement including expected costs.

For construction or upgrade:

1. Tender and contract design documents;

2. Design documentation; and

3. Revised building component design standards and specifications.

For all design types:

1. Preliminary maintenance service levels;

2. Revised lifecycle costs; and

3. Council report seeking additional project funding (if required).

6. Seek council approval on draft agreement.

Table 8-9 Building design– objectives, outputs and tasks

Purchase, partnership or occupancy In recent times, Council has not sought to meet building needs by purchasing, partnerships or occupying property owned by others. The responsibility for finding an appropriate partnership or ensuring an appropriate asset can be purchased or rented varies.

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Departments that currently get involved in the agreement design phase include Governance, City Planning, Facilities Management and the department responsible for the service that is expected to use the site. The approach varies on a case by case basis, so the extent to which key tasks summarised in Table 8-9 occur is unclear. Key tasks that should be undertaken include:

• Reviewing: - Suitability of premises to support service needs; - Building condition; - Availability; and - Cost;

• Defining the terms and conditions of the agreement; • Seeking Council approval; • Preparing contracts; and • Informing stakeholders.

Construction or upgrade of Council buildings If a building is to be constructed or upgraded the design phase is usually managed by the Facilities Management team. In some circumstances, projects are managed by other departments. At times, this approach has resulted in expensive designs that are difficult to construct without significant modification. Officers in these other departments often feel they do not have requisite design and project management skills. The Murrindal Preschool upgrade is an example of a recent project that was designed under the direction of the Family and Children’s Services team, which has no experience in managing complex building design projects. Multiple design variations, including several changes to the kitchen configuration, occurred during construction, which resulted in significant budget overruns. It is possible that such over expenditure would not have occurred if the project had been managed by a team with more appropriate design and construction experience. In practice, the design phase generally occurs when projects identified by building advocates are funded under the following capital works programs:

• Structured Sporting Facilities; • Cultural and Library Facilities; • Indoor Leisure Facilities; • Family & Children Services Building & Facilities; • Aged Care Buildings; • Community Buildings & Facilities; • Civic & Corporate Buildings & Facilities Upgrades; • Major Projects; • Sustainable Initiatives; and • Place Management.

Each year, a prioritised list of projects is prepared and assessed based on works identified in Council strategies and plans. Customer requests and external funding availability often influence the types of projects that are submitted for consideration. For significant high profile projects, such as new libraries, requests for capital funds are based on concept designs which are generally prepared by expert consultants and managed by the departments responsible for the relevant service. For minor projects, such as reconfiguring office space, the project is usually not designed. The project scope is only broadly defined by the building advocate, which makes it difficult to estimate project costs.

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Initial project cost and lifecycle cost estimates Since 2007, the Facilities Management team has been required to review initial project estimates at budget time. The intention was to provide an opportunity for this team to determine whether the proposed scope can be delivered within the proposed budget and timeframe, and to consider lifecycle cost implications. In practice, implementing this requirement has not been entirely effective. The assessment of cost estimates is often rushed. The Facilities Management team believe they are given too little time and inadequate information to confidently estimate project and lifecycle costs. Often consultation simply involves a phone call asking about, for example, the lifecycle cost for a new library. But providing an answer to such a question requires a better understanding of the library’s size, fitout and equipment, expected usage patterns, and maintenance requirements. Active support to implement the Discretionary Rate Funding Allocation Policy is required to ensure lifecycle cost estimates are given more careful consideration. Because all necessary information is generally not available at the concept design phase, detailed design often reveals that initial project costs and lifecycle cost estimates have been under-estimated. To minimise cost overruns the Facilities Management team handles this problem by:

• Reducing the quality or scope of the project; • Subsidising the project through other programs; or • Not completing the project on time and seeking additional funds in the next

budget review. Even though it is difficult to predict the cost of complex projects, there is currently no policy in place to ensure officers go back to Council when detailed design is complete and the cost of project delivery can be better estimated. If such a policy was introduced, it would ensure Council was better informed of true project costs when committing to a project. Reporting back after completion of the detailed design would provide an opportunity for Council to find an appropriate way forward if initial budget estimates are inadequate. Introducing a design and construction cycle in which buildings are designed in one financial year and constructed the next would provide officers with more time to carefully consider initial project costs and lifecycle cost implications for each building upgrade and construction project. More reliable cost estimates could then be provided to Council before commitment to a project is made. Council’s approach to developing the capital works program has improved greatly in recent years. Officers are expected to provide detailed project scoping and objective justification for all capital projects. Further enhancement of the capital works development process is recommended to improve lifecycle estimates and address the issues discussed above. Design standards There is some concern that the standard of building design varies from one project to another. The absence of standard designs and specifications for common building works means that much energy goes into designing fairly standard building components. Contractors engaged to undertake the design works are provided with too much flexibility, which leads to variable outcomes from one project to the next. Developing standards is difficult given the historic lack of understanding and documenting of community expectations.

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Standards have been defined for some building components. These have been developed by the Facilities Management team and are recorded in a spreadsheet included in Appendix 27. The Facilities Management team acknowledges that the current standards are somewhat superficial and have simply been developed to reflect past experiences of the team. More comprehensive technical design standards and specifications are required and should be developed for all building components. These will lead to more efficient building design and construction and more consistent standards of workmanship. Where appropriate, these standards should be specific to the service type. Developing design standards must therefore be driven by officers responsible for services provided in Council buildings and should involve extensive internal and external consultation. Cost estimates should be included with the standards so that appropriate budgets can be assigned and communicated to all stakeholders. Council has policies to promote sustainability and accessibility improvements. However, design standards and specifications have not been developed to support the inclusion of these features, so they vary from project to project. It is recommended that standards be developed. Developing design standards should initially focus on those building components that were found to be performing poorly in the recent building audit (see Chapter 9). Contractors designing assets on behalf of Council can then be issued with relevant standards and specifications. Once developed, amendments to design standards should be undertaken by the standards committee. Staff from the Facilities Management, Sustainability and Community Services teams should be represented on the committee.

8.3.2. Creation — delivering building outcomes within financial and physical constraints

Activities in the creation phase include constructing new buildings, augmenting existing buildings, or finalising purchase, partnership or occupancy agreements for properties owned by others. Key tasks vary accordingly. Key tasks that represent best practice in managing the building creation phase are summarised in Table 8-10 below. Tasks have been separated into two groups:

• purchase, partnership or occupancy; and • construction or upgrade of Council buildings.

The list of tasks is not exhaustive and should be reviewed and expanded as required.

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Building creation

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

All building creation types

1. Consult with Service Manager.

2. Update asset register, GIS and building floor plans.

3. Building handover to occupants.

Construction or upgrade

Purchase, partnership or occupancy

Ensure delivered assets fit with service needs within physical and financial constraints.

For all building creation types:

1. Review building approval documentation (for works to be managed by building occupants).

2. Tender construction works (if works are to be managed by Council).

3. Award construction works contract (if works are to be managed by Council).

4. Project and contract manage new and/or upgrade construction works (if works are to be undertaken by Council).

5. Consult with surrounding residents to inform them of impacts of construction.

6. Site surveillance and audit.

7. Monitor and track expenditure and report progress in cash flow (if works are funded by Council).

8. Initiate defects liability period and monitor.

9. Finalise completion of asset on successful closure of defects liability period.

10. Amend capital works program to recognise completed works.

1. Instigate building or land purchase or exchange.

2. Formalise and sign agreement.

1. The required asset option as defined is handed over to occupant according to documented hand over protocols; and

2. Updated information systems:

a. Asset register;

b. GIS; and

c. Floor plans.

For construction or upgrade:

1. Tender and contract documents;

2. Certificate of completion; and

3. Amended capital works priorities.

For purchase, partnership or occupancy:

1. Finalised agreements; and

2. Updated occupancy register.

3. Enter occupancy agreement details into Council’s centralised occupancy register.

Table 8-10 Building creation– objectives, outputs and tasks

Purchase, partnership or occupancy Negotiations for purchases, partnerships or occupancy arrangements for property are generally carried out by the department responsible for the delivery of a major project. For example, in order to implement structural plans at activity centres, City Strategy negotiate land and/or building ownership transfers through external legal experts. The Governance team is not generally involved in checking that agreements are consistent with the Local Government Act, or providing advice on governance issues that may impact on the project. For all purchases, partnerships or occupancy agreements that do not affect a major project or structural plan, the Governance team generally finalises agreements negotiated by the relevant building advocate, or legal experts acting on their behalf. Construction or upgrade Council’s Facility Management team generally has overall responsibility for project management, including surveillance of construction, timing and cost control for all new buildings and upgrades undertaken by Council. In some circumstances, projects are managed by other departments or building user groups. In these situations, responsibility for overall project management becomes

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unclear. Officers in other teams expected to manage construction projects often feel that they do not have requisite skills. User groups often lack the required skills and experience and end up using working bees to undertake works that are best undertaken by experts. Once construction is complete handover is required. Handover of new and modified buildings to the building user groups is generally handled by the Facilities Management team, sometimes in conjunction with the service manager or building advocate. This current approach is informal and generally working well, although it is not documented and is entirely reliant on the officers currently involved. The Assets team has documented a generic asset handover process included in Appendix 28. This should form a starting point for developing an appropriate formal handover protocol for Council buildings. The protocol should include, but not be limited to, induction, key handover, providing appliance manuals, and signing off on agreed inspection, maintenance and renewal standards and communication protocols. New buildings constructed by Council are usually added to Council’s asset register (Lifecycle). However, building upgrades and works undertaken by building occupants are generally not recorded. This omission became obvious when auditors inspecting Council buildings for the 2007/08 building audit found that a number of buildings were not recorded on Council’s register. Many extensions and building reconfigurations which Council had no record of were also identified during the audit. It is important that the asset register, Geographic Information System MapInfo (GIS) and building plans be kept up to date.

8.3.3. Maintenance — preserving assets to provide the required functionality, mitigate risk and achieve desired life

The maintenance phase of the building lifecycle includes all activities designed to preserve the building’s functionality throughout its serviceable life and mitigate public safety risks arising from asset deterioration. Effective maintenance should also act to extend the serviceable life of assets. For example, routine maintenance activities such as gutter and down pipe cleaning can reduce fire risk and prevent water leaking into buildings, which extends the effective life of the roofing, ceilings and internal walls and minimises costly maintenance when it rains. The building maintenance phase includes managing:

• Essential safety measure obligations including inspections, servicing and repairs to comply with building regulations and requirements as defined in the Building Code of Australia (2007);

• Routine site inspections of Council buildings involving site visits to assess condition and identify repairs required;

• Maintenance in response to requests raised by building users, occupants or general public to repair specific building components that have failed. This task involves: - Recording the details of the request raised; - Initial assessment of the issue; - Determining whether the repair is the responsibility of Council or the building

occupant; - Notifying the initiator of the request and building occupant if Council is not

responsible for undertaking repair works. If Council is responsible for the repair, it will: o Undertake temporary works to address any immediate public safety risks; o Scope rectification works to be actioned by a building maintenance

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contractor; o Program the rectification works with a contractor; o Inspect or audit the completed works; and o Notify completion of the works to person who raised the request;

• Routine maintenance involves regular activities aimed at preventing asset failure, such as cleaning, pest control or servicing of air conditioning units.

Key tasks that represent best practice in managing the building maintenance phase are summarised in Table 8-11 below. The list of tasks is not exhaustive and should be reviewed and expanded as required.

Building maintenance

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review and finalise service agreements including details of maintenance service levels.

2. Undertake and monitor delivery of routine site inspections.

3. Issue, monitor and record delivery of essential service measure management programs.

4. Record and Investigate maintenance requests.

5. Undertake temporary works to mitigate extreme and high risk issues.

6. Provide ongoing surveillance for safety at temporary works sites.

7. Apply for all relevant authority consents and approvals (if required).

8. Prepare responsive maintenance works programs.

9. Issue reactive maintenance works programs.

10. Prepare and issue routine maintenance programs.

11. Monitor delivery of reactive and routine maintenance programs.

12. Record details of maintenance tasks undertaken.

13. Analyse maintenance data Including expenditure to improve future lifecycle cost predictions.

14. Project and contract manage all maintenance and essential service works programs.

15. Inform customers and building occupants of maintenance work progress.

16. Monitor and report on contractor performance.

17. Refer issues that can only be rectified by component renewal to relevant capital works program.

18. Provide support for emergency management.

Preserve building components to achieve their expected life, mitigate risks and provide desired functionality over the life of the service.

2. Delivery of maintenance and inspection service levels according to documented service agreements.

1. Finalised service agreements for all 26 Services operated in Council buildings.

3. Revised design and/ or maintenance standards for underperforming components.

4. Monthly performance reports that include:

a. The percentage of responsive maintenance completed on time;

b. The percentage of routine maintenance completed on schedule;

c. The percentage of the inspection program completed on schedule;

d. Contractor performance summary; and

e. Compliance with Building Code of Australia.

19. Referral of underperforming components to Standards Committee for review of design standards.

Table 8-11 Building maintenance– objectives, outputs and tasks

This section focuses on describing how the building maintenance phase is currently managed and highlights opportunities for improvement. In brief, Council’s maintenance approach is mostly responsive with a tendency to respond to all requests in the early part of the financial year then focus on high risk issues when the budget available runs down. Maintenance responsibilities and building maintenance protocols

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Council currently outsources all building maintenance tasks, except building inspections, which are undertaken by the Facilities Management team. The Facilities Management team is responsible for managing all Council building maintenance contracts (except Amaroo Hostel, which is administered by Amaroo Management). General maintenance is distributed among a number of contractors on Council’s approved suppliers list. Current Council maintenance responsibilities vary by building ownership and occupancy type. There are three main types:

• Buildings owned and occupied by Council; • Buildings owned by Council and occupied by others; and • Buildings owned by others on Council-owned land.

Council currently takes no responsibility for the maintenance of buildings constructed by others on Council-owned land (as discussed in Chapter 3). All maintenance work for buildings that are owned and occupied by Council is managed by Council. A number of Council-owned properties are occupied by others without an agreement that refers to a building maintenance protocol. Maintenance responsibilities for these buildings are unclear. Generally Council will respond to requests received about these sites but will not proactively inspect them (for example, many of the scout halls). However, all other buildings owned by Council and occupied by others are managed according to occupancy agreements that generally refer to building maintenance protocols. These protocols set out maintenance responsibilities for Council and the occupant. Protocols exist for the following generic building groups:

• Maternal and Child Health Care Centres; • Child Care Centres; • Playgroup Centres; • Pavilions; • Preschools; and • Community Houses.

Specific protocols exist for: • Ambleside; • Civic Centre; • Eastgate; • Knox Infolink; • Boronia Basketball Stadium; and • SES Building.

A single protocol also exists for all buildings that don’t fall into the groups above. For the most part, the content and defined responsibilities in each protocol are similar. There are subtle differences in some responsibilities between different building types. Reviewing and standardising these protocols is recommended. Any maintenance activity not included in the protocol, or not stipulated as the occupier’s responsibility is Council’s responsibility. Any future statutory requirements or changes are also the responsibility of Council. The protocols allocate particular maintenance activities to the building occupier (whether it be a Committee of Management, club or lessee), which allows building users to undertake specific tasks such as garden maintenance without a direct cost imposition on Council.

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This allocation has caused problems in the past. Council responds to requests for maintenance of Council-owned buildings according to building maintenance protocols. The protocols require occupants to nominate a buildings maintenance officer (BMO) for the building(s) they occupy. In practice, not all occupants have nominated a BMO. In the first instance, the BMO is expected to use the documented building maintenance protocol to assess whether the desired maintenance works are the responsibility of the occupier or Council. If the BMO believes that the maintenance is Council’s responsibility, he or she lodges the request with Council’s Facilities Management team in writing using the building maintenance request form (BMR). Urgent requests are also communicated by phone directly to the Facilities Management Team. There is a lack of common understanding about the obligations set out in the protocols, which affects expectations about the standard of works to be expected and the timelines for delivery. This leads to frustration for staff and dissatisfied community groups. Although protocols vary slightly, the building protocols typically allocate responsibility for minor maintenance or improvement works to the occupant. Typical responsibilities allocated to occupants include:

• Maintaining gardens in car parks; • Minor adjustments to doors, windows and fittings (except for Eastgate, Civic

Centre, maternal child health centres and child care centres where Council is responsible for all carpentry);

• Managing cleaning contracts (except for Eastgate and Civic Centre where Council is responsible for the cleaning contracts);

• Buying, installing, cleaning and repairing curtains and blinds; • Minor repairs and maintenance of small electrical appliances; • Buying and repairing equipment and furniture; • Cleaning and maintaining exhaust fans; • Cleaning and maintaining fixed major appliances; • Cleaning and polishing floor coverings; • Replacing and repairing flywire screens (except for maternal and child health

centres and child care centres where Council is responsible for replacement and repairs);

• Weeding and maintaining gardens (except for Ambleside, Eastgate, Civic Centre and Knox Infolink where Council is responsible for garden maintenance);

• Replacing light globes (except for Boronia Basketball Stadium (non stadium lights) and maternal child health centres, where Council is responsible for globe replacement);

• Removing litter and rubbish; • Extensions, internal functional alterations, and constructing pergolas,

verandahs, and sheds; • Minor building works; • Installing, replacing and repairing notice boards and shelving (except for Civic

Centre, child care centres and maternal and child health centres, where Council is responsible for notice boards and shelving);

• Minor touch up painting; • Pest control; • Installing playgrounds; • Clearing minor plumbing blockages; • Pruning;

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• Cleaning toilets and troughs; • General watering; and • Cleaning windows.

Transferring maintenance responsibilities to occupants has created frustration for officers, as discussed previously. The examples below highlight the types of problems that exist and emphasise the need for Council to review the existing protocols. A preliminary review has been undertaken by the Asset Strategy team and is summarised in Appendix 13.

• Maintaining playgrounds. In a number of instances, Committees of Management have arranged for new soft fall surfaces under play equipment to protect children from injury. Laying down new soft fall material without removing the old soft fall creates a build up which causes problems because fence heights are reduced and no longer meet the requirements set out in the Children’s Services regulations. At Marimont Preschool, the Council had to replace the fence and remove excess soft fall.

• Installing playgrounds and constructing pergolas, verandahs and sheds. Some preschools have difficulty raising the funds needed to employ professional builders to install or remove play equipment and other minor structures. They then either wait for Council to do the work, or hold a working bee to complete the work. In many instances, committee members do not ask parents to do works that they feel may pose a health or safety risk.

• Maintaining gardens. During school holidays, when there is no active Committee of Management, preschool sites are often not maintained. The community expect Council to maintain these sites during these periods, although it is not funded to do so.

• Tree Pruning. Regular tree pruning reduces the risk of injury from falling limbs and the risk of fire caused by loose leaf material and blocked gutters. Making sure that building occupants manage these tasks appropriately can be difficult, particularly when professional work on the tree is needed.

Inspections — property risk and essential services Council inspects 198 of the 270 buildings on the asset register. A number of other buildings are inspected by other parties under agreements with the current occupant (these include Knox Leisure Works and Amaroo Gardens Hostel). Rental properties are inspected by the managing real estate agents on Council’s behalf. The following buildings are not recorded as being inspected in the past 12 months:

• 15 buildings not owned by Council (such as Knox Library); • 9 ancillary buildings on historic sites; • 14 minor buildings (such as sheds and store rooms); and • 14 Scout and Guide Halls.

These buildings are not maintained by Council, were not accessible or were not listed on Council’s inspection inventory lists. Individual officers decide which issues to repair based on their experience and assessment of budget availability, community expectations and facility usage. Asbestos audits and essential safety measure inspections are also conducted. Macutex Pty Ltd was recently engaged to conduct a review of Council’s current building inspection program and approach to managing risks to property and people. The review looked at:

• Asbestos management in Council buildings; and • Essential safety measures management.

Macutex’s report, provided in Appendix 29, highlights gaps in Council’s current approach

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to building inspection and includes improvement recommendations. The Facility Management team, with support from Asset Strategy, has reviewed the recommendations and developed a desired inspection approach that will improve Council’s ability to mitigate risk. This improved approach is shown in Appendix 20. Implementation will require better document management and a change in work priorities. An additional resource for the Facility Management team would mean that the recommendations could be implemented without reducing other maintenance activities. Routine maintenance Programs that record routine maintenance and essential safety measure inspections and maintenance are difficult to manage and analyse. Council’s current routine maintenance activities are not well defined. The frequency of implementation varies and does not seem to be based on a transparent assessment of risks at all sites. For example, gutters (spouting) are cleaned on some buildings on a two month cycle, are not cleaned at all on others, and are cleaned on a two year cycle on others. The components maintained on a routine frequency include:

• Air conditioning; • Backflow devices; • Boiling water units; • Exit and egress points; • Exit and emergency lighting; • Fire extinguishers; • Fire services (testing and tagging); • Grease traps; • Heaters; • Manual doors; • Smoke detectors; • Sani Sleeves for urinals; and • Thermostatic mixing valves.

A copy of the spreadsheets used to manage routine maintenance activities is presented in Appendix 31. This appendix also includes a summary of the existing maintenance contracts, inspection regimes, service schedules and budgets currently used by the Facilities Management team. The information contained in this appendix demonstrates the low standard of data and program management currently in place. Buildings and components do not seem to be maintained systematically. A cursory review of the sites where routine maintenance activities are undertaken suggests that similar components are not consistently serviced. The building audit results (see Chapter 9) suggest opportunities for improvement, such as a more consistent approach to testing and tagging fire services. The extent of routine maintenance undertaken depends on the funding available. Routine maintenance of mechanical services is generally conducted according to operating manuals. Historically, the Facilities Management team has tended to stop routine maintenance (except regulatory Essential Safety Measures maintenance) by February, because funds have been spent. This is a result of no routine maintenance budget increases and not prioritising legal requirements in operational budgets. As a result, non-regulatory routine maintenance activities are then undertaken as responsive maintenance, which can result in considerable user dissatisfaction.

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Preventative maintenance activities like switchboard inspections, and the routine maintenance and servicing of all operable doors, are not conducted. Failures of these components cause inconvenience to building users. Difficulties in carrying out routine maintenance activities largely result from deficiencies in IT systems maintenance, shortfall in renewal funding allocations and overstretched resources. The existing Facilities Management System (Lifecycle), developed in 2001, does not have the capacity to record routine maintenance activities systematically, which makes managing a complex program of works difficult. Upgrade of this system will ensure that important maintenance activities can be easily administrated, recorded and traced. Shortfalls in building renewal, reactive and routine maintenance budgets mean the Facilities Management team must redistribute already inadequate funds to deal with building component failures as they arise. During this plan’s development, a list of desired routine activities was developed by the Asset Strategy team in consultation with the Facilities Management team, (Refer Appendix 32). Routine maintenance required to meet the requirements of current building regulations are identified in this appendix separately from other desirable routine activities. It is recommended that maintenance service levels that are not required by regulation be reviewed by the departments that set the strategic direction of each service, once measurable service objectives have been defined and tested with the community. Reactive maintenance Council responds to requests for the maintenance of all its buildings. Requests are not recorded in Council’s customer service system (GEAC Pathways) but are received directly by the Facilities Management team through:

• Verbal requests to facilities staff; • Emails and phone calls; and • Faxed maintenance request forms (provided in the building maintenance

protocols in Appendix 6). The receiving officer determines whether a request will be actioned. If action is required, the details are entered into Council’s Facilities Maintenance Management System (Lifecycle). Work requests are then issued to the appropriate contractor. The Facilities Management team relies on the contractor to complete the works to an appropriate standard and in a timely way. Maintenance specifications do not exist for reactive repairs: although standard specifications were once included in contract documents, they were found to be too general. As a result, workmanship standards are therefore not clearly defined, so the quality and timeliness of works is largely depends on the relationship between the Facilities Management team and the contractor. The existing Facilities Maintenance Management System (Lifecycle) does not have the capacity to measure contractor’s performance in delivering work against agreed timelines. The Building Maintenance Protocols define target completion times for maintenance activities undertaken by Council. These are summarised in Table 8-12. Target completion time starts from the date when the Building Maintenance Request Form is received by the Facilities Management team. Urgent requests are investigated and made safe within 24 hours.

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Maintenance type Target completion time Carpentry maintenance 12 days Electrical maintenance 12 days External maintenance 22 days Fencing maintenance 17 days Floor coverings maintenance 12 days Floor maintenance 12 days General maintenance 12 days Glazing maintenance 7 days Graffiti maintenance1 12 days (5 days for Civic Centre) Pest control maintenance 17 days Plumbing maintenance 23 days (12 days for child care, Civic Centre, preschools, playgroups,

maternal child health centres, Eastgate, pavilions) Security maintenance 27 days (17 days for child care, Civic Centre, preschools, playgroups,

maternal child health centres, Eastgate, pavilions) Tiling maintenance 12 days Any other maintenance 12 days

Table 8-12 Current responsive maintenance — target response times Note: Graffiti maintenance response timeframes are not consistent with the timeframes set out in the Knox Graffiti Management Plan

Timeframes for a building occupant to undertake works assigned to them are not defined in the protocols. In practice, due dates for completing maintenance activities are established by an officer recording each request in Council’s facility maintenance management system. As a result, due dates are not always aligned with those defined above, or in Council’s standard building maintenance protocols. Due dates set in the system are generally based on customer requirements, the officer’s assessment of urgency and consideration of the time likely to be required to undertake the task. Timing can be constrained by component or contractor availability. Multiple contractors are generally used to minimise delays. The system only records the date that data was entered into the system and the date that the job was completed. Not all issues raised by building advocates are entered into the system, because requests are only entered if they are to be actioned. This makes it impossible to assess Council’s capacity to deliver desired maintenance activities in a timely way. System upgrades are required to ensure that all requests are recorded and target completion timeframes are set consistently, according to the risk associated with the issue raised. The target timeframes listed in Table 8-12 above lead building users to understand most repairs will be completed within 12 days, which may not always be possible if issues, such as delays in the supply of parts or unavailable tradespeople, arise. Data stored in the Facilities Management System (summarised in Table 8-13 below) suggests that 78 per cent of requests were completed within 12 days. While this is a reasonable result, it suggests that the Facilities Management team is working reactively by responding to all requests as soon as possible to satisfy the customer. The data also suggests 52 percent of requests were completed within one day. Many of these requests relate to security issues and leaking fixtures which are assigned to contractors as a matter of urgency. However, this figure may also suggest that some routine maintenance activities are being recorded as though they are reactive. In other instances, some issues may simply be assessed or inspected and found to require no work.

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Given that there are no documented maintenance intervention levels this assessment cannot be validated.

Time taken to complete maintenance request

Number of maintenance

requests Percentage Total

Less than 1 day 2473 52% Between 2 and 7 days 997 21% Between 8 and 12 days 221 5% Greater than 12 days 1100 23%

Table 8-13 Time taken to complete maintenance requests (1 July 2007- 30 June 2008)

Council’s reactive approach to building maintenance is not in line with best practice maintenance management. No transparent risk assessment process is used to prioritise and program delivery of maintenance requests. Works are not programmed to achieve maximum efficiency when engaging external contractors – which may be one of the reasons why maintenance funds are often spent before the end of each financial year and so that all maintenance, other than high risk works, are held over until the new financial year. Effective management of building maintenance programs is limited by the absence of clearly defined maintenance service levels. Although maintenance activities are identified, intervention levels that describe the type, severity and extent of defects to be repaired have not been defined. The type and standard of repair works are also undefined. As a result, the timing and type of intervention are left to the discretion of individual officers assessing the requests – but building users and the assessing officer may have different opinions about the appropriate timing and type of maintenance needed. A more consistent, objective, risk-based approach would be beneficial. Developing maintenance service levels, including inspection regimes, which specify the type of defect that will be repaired and the standard and timeframe for repair will provide more realistic service targets for internal stakeholders and the community. It will also allow a consistent methodology for delivering works to be implemented. During this plan’s development, preliminary maintenance service levels have been developed. These are included in Appendix 32. They include risk based intervention levels and target timeframes for:

• Initial investigation of issues raised; • Temporary protection works to address immediate risks; and • Rectification works.

It is recommended that officers responsible for services provided in Council buildings review these maintenance service levels and use them as a basis for developing service agreements with the Facilities Management team. The Facilities Management team can then use them to inform contractors of the works required. The Facilities Maintenance Management System can also be modified so that all works that do not address an extreme or high public safety risk can be programmed and performance can be monitored.

8.3.4. Renewal — assessing the performance and prioritise the replacement of assets that have exceeded their functional life

Building renewal works are initiated and implemented by the Facilities Management team. Works are funded through the building rehabilitation capital works program. The timing of renewals is based on the theoretical life expectancy of various component

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assets determined by the Knox Facilities Maintenance Strategy (1998). The current Facilities Maintenance Management System (LifeCycle) was developed at this time to support the plan’s implementation. The system provides an initial listing of sites where renewal works are due, based on the economic life of components. Listed sites are inspected by Council staff for potential renewal and a decision about whether or not to undertake the renewal works is made, based on experience. The visual inspection includes a subjective assessment of risk, usage and the officer’s understanding of customer expectations. A prioritised listing of sites based on this assessment is submitted to Council as part of the annual capital works budget preparation. It can be tempting for Council to save money in the short-term by delaying asset renewal, stretching out the serviceable life of a building component and allowing it to deteriorate if it is believed that this will have minimal impact on the users of the affected building. However, savings made by delaying renewal invariably lead to increases in the amount of money spent to retain serviceability and safety. Deferred maintenance of the Civic Centre’s air conditioning system resulted in significant disruption and discomfort to staff working conditions. Considerable unplanned expenditure was also needed, to provide a temporary climate control system before the parts needed to renew the existing system were delivered. Separating responsibility for implementing building asset rehabilitation works from the departments responsible for the services provided in Council buildings requires clear lines of communication between teams. But in many instances this communication falls short, because of inadequate levels of detail or poor timing. These failures in communication lead to frustration, inefficient allocation of funds and resources and reduced service outcomes. Many service managers are concerned about the way programmed renewal works are delivered and believe that there is an opportunity to improve communication to ensure that proposed works do not adversely affect service users. Other common concerns relate to the quality of the replacement assets and the standard of workmanship. The Facilities Management team is aware of these concerns, and feels constrained by a renewal budget that does not match the rate of asset deterioration. It believes that a satisfactory outcome cannot be achieved until those responsible for the services are able to clearly articulate their expectations, including their desired timeframes for undertaking works and specific standards for components and workmanship. The Facilities Management team is also concerned about the lack of timely communication about changes to building use. On a number of occasions, building advocates have requested that the Facilities Management team undertake significant rehabilitation of vacant buildings at short notice so they can be tenanted. This requires funds and works programs to be reassigned to accommodate the urgent request. In some instances the new tenant has only used the building for a few months and has then moved out again. The rehabilitated building then sits empty. When the Facilities Management team is aware how long the tenant will be using the building, it can better align rehabilitation works with the desired service outcome. Asset renewals should occur in a way that effectively replaces old assets with assets that are compliant with relevant regulations, design, construction, and material standards

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current at the time of the works. Appendix 32 provides a summary of proposed renewal activities and service levels, which were documented during this plan’s development to provide a basis for future discussions with stakeholders. It is recommended that officers responsible for services in Council buildings review these service levels, so that agreed service levels can be embedded in relevant service agreements. Renewal ranking criteria have been developed to help prioritise works. The criteria are discussed in Chapter 11. Key tasks that represent best practice in managing the renewal of building components are summarised in Table 8-14 below. The list of tasks is not exhaustive and should be reviewed and expanded as required.

Building renewal

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review condition data.

2. Develop preliminary renewal capital works program (one and five year).

3. Allow contingency funds to action extreme or high public safety risk issues identified during the year.

4. Finalise renewal capital works rrogram (one year).

5. Communicate renewal capital works program.

6. Undertake detailed quotes for design and renewal works.

7. Tender renewal works.

8. Award renewal works.

9. Project manage contract for renewal works.

10. Liaise with service providers to gain access to assets.

11. Inform stakeholders of intention to commence works.

12. Initiate defects liability period and monitor.

13. Final completion of asset renewal upon successful closure of defects liability period.

14. Update asset register with renewal works.

• Replace building components in a timely way to ensure buildings can effectively support services over their expected life.

1. Delivery of renewal service level standards.

2. Draft five year capital works program for all building renewal works.

3. Final one year capital works program for all building renewal works.

4. Annual renewal performance report ( percent completed).

15. Monitor and report delivery of renewal program. Table 8-14 Building renewal — objectives, outputs and tasks

8.3.5. Disposal — Rationalising assets to minimise liabilities and align building provision with community need

Building disposals are not reported separately in Council’s financial reports. They are generally funded through the renewal program. The Knox Sale of Land and Buildings Policy and supporting procedure (included in Appendix 34) set out the current approach to the sale of surplus land through an asset rationalisation program or initiated by residents. There is no documented procedure for identifying and assessing the feasibility of land and building disposal. Council’s current approach to service and building planning means that no department has the responsibility, or incentive, to determine whether Council owns buildings that no longer provide community benefit and could be disposed of. Council tends to retain buildings that are vacant or underutilised, and usually seeks to find new occupants for these buildings – although the buildings are often not suitable for new occupants.

The Facilities Management team fund building modifications and repairs for such projects by using existing maintenance and renewal budgets intended for other projects. To avoid this issue, a formal process should be undertaken to define likely building modifications and seek adequate funding so work can occur without impacting existing building maintenance and renewal programs, before new tenants are sought. Chapter 4 provides a list of such buildings and recommends an improvement project to review their future strategic purpose. The community benefits associated with continued Council ownership of these buildings should be assessed. If some of these buildings are found to be surplus, substantial funds can be raised through the sale of properties. Funds raised, and funds saved through reduced maintenance and renewal requirements, can be redirected to improving other buildings and community services. A procedure for identifying and assessing the feasibility of land and building disposal needs to be developed so this work can be undertaken. An important aspect of building disposal involves community consultation. Buildings that have local significance often have passionate support from the local community which cannot be discounted when considering disposals. Key tasks that represent best practice in managing the disposal of an asset are summarised in Table 8-15 below. The list of tasks is not exhaustive and should be reviewed and expanded as required.

Building disposal

Objectives Outputs Key tasks

1. Review results of asset option analysis and service discontinuation plans.

2. Investigate if the asset has any caveats or legislation that prevent its disposal.

3. Undertake public consultation to announce intention to dispose of asset.

4. Determine lifecycle cost implications.

5. Prepare a report tto EMT/Council advising them of intention to dispose of an asset.

6. Advertise sale of asset or expression of interest.

7. Undertake gazettal if required by legislation to publicise disposal.

8. Undertake legal documentation for sale.

9. Cancel utility connections.

10. Tender disposal works (if required).

11. Award disposal works (if required).

12. Project manage contract (if required).

• Reduce Council’s financial and liability exposure by ensuring that land and buildings with no current or foreseeable future use are removed from Council’s asset portfolio.

1. EMT reports for intention to dispose.

2. Annual list of assets that are:

o Underutilised; or

o Have a remaining life of less than five years.

3. Public consultation documents.

4. Advertising and gazettal documentation.

5. Tender and contract documents for disposal (if required).

6. Updated asset register and GIS data.

13. Adjust asset register and GIS to recognise disposal.

Table 8-15 Building disposal — objectives, outputs and tasks

8.4. Integrating service and building management The service delivery model shown in Figure 8-2 below illustrates the need for integration, to coordinate decision makers across the service and asset lifecycles.

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HORIZON SCANNING

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Figure 8-2 Service and asset lifecycles — service delivery model

Chapter 2 highlighted key features of the internal environment that are limiting Council’s ability to integrate service and building management activities. These features are summarised in Figure 8-3 below. Improvement projects presented throughout this plan, and summarised in Chapter 12, are aimed at improving the integration and alignment of decision makers.

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Metrics (performance measures) • No quantifiable service level targets. • No specific measures to drive and align

service and building management performance.

• IT systems do not support integration of data for performance measurement.

Strategy • Mission and values defined in Vision 2025.

Actual behaviours • Inconsistent approach to service and building

management. • Duplication of effort in data collection and analysis.

• No measurable goals and objectives for service performance. • Minimal ad hoc service reviews and plans often focused on infrastructure needs. • Strategic documents are not integrated.

Processes and standards Integration and alignment of decisions made by disparate teams relies on informal communication. Minimal formalised or documented processes and standards for:

• Operation;

Structure • Decentralised decision making power and

span of control. • Overlaps in some areas — gaps in others. • Lack of common understanding of roles and

responsibilities. • Minimal specialist support for decision • Performance monitoring;

• Auditing; • Internal communication; and • Information collection, distribution and

use. Inconsistent data and knowledge management systems.

Capabilities • Difficulties attracting skilled staff. • Ad hoc skill development. • Mismatch between skill sets and

responsibilities. • Inadequate skills in a number of

key areas including: service planning, data management and

Current performance • Building performance —see star

rating system results (Appendix 24).

• Service performance can’t be measured objectively.

Figure 8-3 Council’s current internal environment

The deficiencies highlighted in Chapter 2, and summarised in the figure above, were reinforced during discussions at workshops with the Reference Group and individual managers across the organisation. Workshops were used to identify integration functions that are critical for effective building asset management. These functions are summarised in Table 8-16 below. The Asset Strategy team’s assessment of the organisation’s current capacity to provide each function is also noted for consideration.

Integration functions Description Assessment of current approach

Community Services Service integration Ensure service reviews consider the whole of

Council’s service portfolio to take advantage of synergies.

No current function.

Ensure all services are aligned with each other and the internal and external operating environments. Formalise, centralise and coordinate communication between disparate service teams. Minimise duplicated effort by coordinating tasks common to all services (eg. horizon scanning, service feasibility analysis, development of service agreements etc.). Communicate requirements of all services to those responsible for building design, creation, maintenance, renewal, disposal.

Organisation relies on individual managers and informal communication between stakeholders.

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Integration functions Description Assessment of current approach

Community Services Access & Inclusion Consider access and inclusion initiatives at

all phases of the service and building lifecycles.

Council has a dedicated officer within the Community Wellbeing team — Facilitator Access and Inclusion. Officer has no official responsibility to ensure accessibility issues are acted on. Role is essentially an advisory one and provides liaison to Knox Disability Advisory Committee. Access audits have been undertaken but recommendations have not been implemented.

Corporate Development Protocols, standards and process development and documentation

Develop and implement processes, templates and standards for all services and functions.

Minimal process maps, or standard templates are in place for building or service management.

Performance measurement and reporting

Audit compliance with: Corporate performance targets for building and service management have not been developed.

o Regulatory requirements; o Council policies and procedures;

and o Mapped service processes

(operating, monitoring, auditing and reporting).

Audit achievement of: o Service goals and targets; o Asset goals and targets; and o Maintenance and renewal

intervention levels. Report results.

Regular audits are not undertaken to measure effectiveness of service and building management. Auditing is essentially confined to compliancy and demonstrating to insurers existing risk management systems.

Knowledge management

Support the development, storage and transfer of knowledge across the organisation.

Generally poor, disjointed and inconsistent. Focus of IT experts tends to be on computer systems rather than knowledge management.

Data management Support the management of data created and required at each stage of the service and asset lifecycles. This includes:

Generally poor.

o Identifying available data sources;

o Data collection; o Data processing and analysis; o Reviewing and updating; o Storage; o Transfer and retrieval; and o Archiving.

Difficult to reconcile inconsistent building data stored in disparate databases. Focus of IT experts tends to be on computer systems rather than data management.

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Integration functions Description Assessment of current approach

Governance Ensure decision makers at all stages of the service and asset lifecycles meet all legal obligations.

Legal advice obtained by officers, at their discretion, to meet specific needs and not shared across the organisation.

Ensure Council policies are developed, implemented, reviewed, updated and terminated as appropriate. Ensure third party agreements are developed, implemented, reviewed, updated and terminated as appropriate.

Policy development and review is undertaken by officers across the organisation. No checks in place to make sure policies are consistent before presentation to the executive. Occupancy agreements are not available for all buildings. Record keeping is inconsistent across Council.

Communication Develop and implement internal and external communication strategies across the service and asset lifecycles.

Minimal support available to building and service managers. Officers are told what is required for effective communication but are generally not supported in preparing internal communication documents.

Human resource management

Ensure appropriate human resource strategies are developed, implemented, reviewed, updated and terminated as appropriate.

Skill and capacity building left to the discretion of individual mangers. Deficiencies in record keeping, data and knowledge management are apparent but have not yet been addressed effectively.

Community engagement

Support appropriate levels of community engagement at each stage of the service and asset lifecycles.

Officers with no experience in this field are often expected to lead the community engagement process with minimal support from experienced officers.

Public relations Develop and implement public relations strategies at all stages of the service and asset lifecycles.

Adequate.

Triple bottom line assessment

Ensure social, financial and environmental impacts are considered in all service and asset lifecycle decision making.

Template exists for inclusion in all Council reports. No consistent or standardised approach to this assessment. The approach is left to the discretion of individual officers. Internal experts with skills to provide an objective assessment of the environmental, financial and social impacts of proposals do not undertake this assessment, which leads to subjective comments by the proposal proponents.

City Development Environmental sustainability

Support consideration of environmentally sustainable initiatives at all phases of the service and asset lifecycles.

Focused on policy development and capital investment to upgrade building features. Other phases of the lifecycle can be overlooked.

Place management Ensure objectives of precinct development plans are considered by decision makers at all stages of the service and asset lifecycles.

Nothing in place to ensure that structure plans are considered when managing all phases of the service and asset lifecycles. Nothing in place to ensure that building components introduced during the Structure Plan implementation are able to be maintained in the future.

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Integration functions Description Assessment of current approach

Engineering & Infrastructure Physical asset integration

Optimise use of existing assets to deliver service objectives.

No current function.

Communicate financial, physical and other constraints to those responsible for service provision. Ensure asset design, creation, maintenance, renewal and disposal are aligned to service needs.

Asset needs are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Financial sustainability Support assessment of lifecycle cost implications at all stages of the service and asset lifecycles.

Staff generally don’t have the skills to estimate costs. Minimal support and training has been provided.

Ensure Council’s Long Term Financial Plan incorporates future maintenance, operating , renewal and disposal costs associated with creating and upgrading buildings.

This is expected to improve when the Discretionary Rate Funding Allocation Policy, which will include new and upgrade lifecycle costings in the long term financial strategy, is implemented.

Table 8-16 Integration functions

The assessment suggests some deficiencies in functions required for integration. As the POES is implemented, alternative means of addressing the shortfalls outlined above should be considered. Two key functions that currently do not exist are service integration and physical asset integration. A renewed focus on service integration will ensure that Council integrates the management of all services provided in Council buildings. One way of introducing this function would be creating a Service Planning Manager position, with responsibility for:

• Ensuring that horizon scanning and service feasibility analysis is undertaken in an integrated and consistent way across the organisation;

• Ensuring that service needs are translated into measurable service and building requirements;

• Ensuring that performance targets for all services are measurable and aligned with community expectations;

• Ensuring that processes and standards are created to support the management of all phases of the service lifecycle and facilitate communication with others;

• Developing, implementing and reviewing internal service agreements that translate service expectations into physical asset requirements so that those that manage the building lifecycle understand service expectations;

• Identifying opportunities to improve the usage of existing buildings; • Identifying assets that do not meet service needs; • Ensuring that skill sets are developed to meet service objectives; • Working with the Facilities Management team to ensure all service managers

are aware of financial, physical and other constraints associated with infrastructure provision;

• Ensuring that service reviews consider the whole service portfolio; • Ensuring that service managers engage with the community consistently, to

communicate financial, physical and other constraints associated with service and building provision; and

• Ensuring that place management structure plans reflect service needs. It is expected that the Service Planning Manager would need support from a team of officers with a solid understanding of service user needs, and sophisticated analytical, process and standard development skills (service advocates).

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A proactive physical asset integration function is also required to ensure the assets are managed in a way that supports all services. Council does not currently have structures or processes in place to make sure it optimises the use of its current building portfolio. The Coordinator of the Facilities Management team is probably best placed to take on the responsibility for working with the proposed Service Planning Manager to ensure that the physical aspects of integrated service plans can be delivered into the future. This task would involve:

• Developing, implementing and reviewing design construction, maintenance, renewal and disposal standards to meet service expectations within financial, physical and other constraints;

• Identifying surplus buildings that do not meet current or predicted future service needs;

• Identifying opportunities to improve usage of existing buildings; • Ensuring that all Council reports and business case submissions which

recommend modifying Council buildings have adequately considered: - Realistic project cost estimates including contingencies; - Non- asset solutions that meet service needs; - Alternative uses for assets that are no longer required; - Reliable lifecycle cost assessments using appropriate unit costs and service

standard assumptions; and - Building accessibility and environmental sustainability initiatives.

Council’s capacity to deliver integrated service and building outcomes to the community would be significantly boosted by addressing gaps in:

• Protocols, processes, standards development and documentation; • Performance measurement and reporting; • Knowledge and data management; • Governance and regulatory compliance; • Triple bottom line assessment; and • Lifecycle costing.

It is anticipated that the Corporate Development directorate will work towards addressing the identified shortfalls through POES implementation.

8.5. Improvement recommendations

PROJECT 8.1. Establish integration reference group Integration reference group to be established and meet quarterly to review progress in delivering annual business plans for each Council department. This group should be charged with:

• Ensuring that all actions identified in Council’s annual business plans have considered relevant service and building management integration issues and opportunities; and

• Supporting the proposed Service Planning Manager to integrate service and asset management decision makers.

PROJECT 8.2. Develop templates for consistent management of all service and asset lifecycle phases

Under the direction of the proposed Service Planning Manager, the Organisation Performance department should develop templates, standards and metrics to ensure that all phases of the service and asset lifecycles are managed according to the service delivery model (Appendix 4).

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PROJECT 8.3. Assign responsibilities for management of all lifecycle ohases and integration functions

For each of the 26 service types provided in Council buildings, assign responsibilities for managing each phase of the service and asset lifecycle and each of the integration functions identified in this Chapter.

PROJECT 8.4. Review draft inspection, maintenance and renewal service levels Draft maintenance and renewal service levels have been developed in consultation with the Facilities Management team. These define what is required to:

• Preserve the functionality of building components over their expected life; • Meet the requirements of the Building Code of Australia (2007); and • Minimise public safety risks arising from building component conditions.

These draft service levels (provided in Appendix 32) were used as the basis for determining the future expenditure requirements detailed in Chapter 11. The draft maintenance service levels include:

• Intervention levels (defect type, severity and extent) and target response and rectification times for reactive maintenance activities;

• Frequencies for essential service and other routine inspections; and • Frequencies for routine maintenance activities.

Draft renewal service levels include intervention levels (defect type, severity and extent) to define the point at which a building component should be included in a renewal program. The appropriateness of these service levels must be reviewed for each of the 26 Council services to ensure they align with service delivery. Some community consultation may also be required. Under the direction of the proposed Service Planning Manager, departments that set the strategic direction for each service should undertake this review. Cost implications of altering the draft service levels must be determined by the Facilities Management team and maintenance and renewal budgets adjusted to reflect agreed service levels.

PROJECT 8.5. Develop standards and specifications for design, construction, maintenance and renewal activities

This is expected to be a joint project involving the Facilities Management team and each department that sets the strategic direction for services provided in Council buildings. The department responsible for the service should lead the project as they have the best understanding of user expectations. Standards and specifications should be developed for all generic building components and must clearly describe the minimum acceptable standard of materials and workmanship. A list of generic component types is provided in Appendix 2. Project implementation should be coordinated by the Service Planning Manager. The expected process for development is illustrated by the following example. The officer responsible for the service of preschools describes the expectations of service users so that the Facilities Management team can translate them into standards. The Facilities Management team then presents a number of options to the service manager for agreement. For example the officer responsible for the preschool service may document requirements for carpets as:

• Vibrant colours suitable for children;

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• Soft to the touch so that children can’t be injured; • Easy to clean; • Durable — last longer than four years when used every day; and • Extending 0.5 m up the wall.

The Facilities Management team can then identify and price a range of floor coverings that meet these requirements. Specifications detailing the required workmanship standard can also be developed at this time. The costed options and workmanship standards must then be presented to the officer responsible for preschool services and refined until agreement is reached. Some community consultation may be required during this time. Community consultation should be led by departments responsible for the services. Implementing this project will help avoid current issues raised by staff and focus group participants about inappropriate building works, such as installing heavy doors in facilities used predominantly by elderly Knox residents. These proposed standards should then be forwarded to the Standards Committee for consideration and final adoption.

PROJECT 8.6. Develop standardised contract documents for building maintenance, renewal and construction

Facilities Management team to use outcomes of Projects 8.4, 8.5 and 9.4 to develop technical standards and specifications that can be used as a basis for preliminary estimates of building works. These can also be provided to architects, maintenance or construction crews engaged to undertake works on Council’s behalf. Minimum standards should be developed for:

• Generic building components; • Building fit out for each service type; • Maintenance treatments and standards of workmanship; • Minimum design considerations; • Accessibility features; and • Environmental sustainability features.

PROJECT 8.7. Develop building handover processes Under the direction of the proposed service planning manager, the Facilities Management team, in consultation with service managers, to develop handover protocols for all new buildings and significant building upgrades. The draft handover process presented in Appendix 28 can be used as a starting point for the development of appropriate protocols.

PROJECT 8.8. Regular asset register and building floor plan updates Facilities Management team, in consultation with the Asset Strategy team, to develop and implement a protocol for updating Council’s asset register, GIS and building floor plans every year, to reflect all building modifications undertaken by Council and others. The initial update of Council floor plans should use the hand written mark-ups of floor plans prepared by Macutex during the 2007/08 building audit. The electronic version of the plans should be updated in a centralised location linked to the relevant Council building identifier as recorded in the asset register.

PROJECT 8.9. Develop service agreements for all services provided in council buildings

Figure 8-4 below illustrates the purpose of service agreements. These agreements will draw together the results of the above projects to improve the alignment of decision makers.

Service agreement

Council building

Responsible for service support or provision

Responsible for building asset

Community Expects ….

Provider of asset maintenance/ renewal/ upgrade

Service user expectations

Service provider expectations

Contract agreements

These are the available options…

Public safety risks Legal obligations

$$

Occupancy agreements

Figure 8-4 Why service level agreements are important

Projects 8.1 to 8.8 are necessary inputs to the development of service agreements. The outcomes of these projects must be brought together and clearly documented in service agreements for each of the 26 services provided in Council buildings. If it is found that a number of services face the same community expectations, it is likely that these service agreements will also be the same. Developing service agreements requires leadership from those responsible for the strategic direction of each service provided in Council buildings and technical input from those responsible for managing day to day building issues. The service agreements can then be used by the Facilities Management team to form the basis of contract agreements.

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Appropriate levels of expenditure can be defined and prioritised to maximise community benefit. Daily management activities can be coordinated to deliver community expectations. Service agreements can be used to communicate to building occupants what Council will deliver, and demonstrate the implications of budget shortfalls. Performance of all stakeholders can be aligned and measured against delivery of the targets set out in the agreements. Service agreements for each service must include:

• Measurable service and asset performance targets that relate to all core values; • Technical standards and specifications that define a level of service acceptable

to service users and include design, construction, maintenance and renewal standards and specifications for all building components;

• Agreed inspection, maintenance and renewal intervention levels, target response time frames and standards of workmanship;

• Communication protocols for: - Reporting building maintenance issues; - Compliance audits; and - Establishing an appropriate timing for renewal works;

• Roles and responsibilities for implementing the agreement; • Responsibilities for updating the agreement; • Period of agreement; and • Protocols and timelines for agreement review.

PROJECT 8.10. Performance measurement and reporting To ensure that the targets developed in Project 6.2 are used to drive decision making at each stage of the service and asset lifecycles, Council must allocate resources to performance measurement. Targets must be incorporated into Council’s corporate indicators, perhaps through the implementation of the POES CI-5 Indicators.

PROJECT 8.11. Expand role of the standards committee Expand standards committee responsibilities to include review of standards for:

• Building component design and construction; • Accessibility features for buildings and surrounds; and • Environmental efficiency measured for buildings and surrounds.

Historic building component performance can be used to develop appropriate standards to mitigate common faults. Over time, this can be expected to increase efficiencies in the design of common building works. More consistent design outputs that meet minimum design requirements and consider accessibility and sustainability outcomes can also be expected.

PROJECT 8.12. New buildings and upgrades — funding approval policy and procedures

Develop a policy and supporting procedures to ensure that officers go back to Council if cost estimates for building upgrades or new buildings constructions have been underestimated. This will support delivery of the Discretionary Funding Policy objectives. Implementing the policy will require a design and construction cycle aligned with mid-year budget reviews to be introduced.

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PROJECT 8.13. Upgrade Facilities Maintenance Management System — to support and monitor delivery of inspections, maintenance, renewal and upgrade works

Under the direction of the Asset Strategy team, the functionality of the existing Facilities Maintenance Management System (Lifecycle) should be improved to support the management of renewal programs, inspections, reactive and routine maintenance activities (including essential safety measure management) as documented in Appendix 32. Functionality upgrades should include:

• Creation of a link to GEAC Pathway, to ensure that all requests raised by customers are recorded, regardless of whether action is undertaken;

• Capacity to monitor service disruptions caused by building issues; • Reporting to monitor delivery of maintenance response timeframes, intervention

levels and workmanship standards for all inspection, maintenance and renewal activities;

• Capacity to support risk-based prioritisation of reactive maintenance requests; • Clearly defined inspection regimes and routine maintenance activities including

frequencies; • Ability to store building maintenance data separately from data about asset

upgrades, renewals and administrative tasks; and • Ability to support the prioritisation and delivery of the essential safety

management and asset renewal programs. PROJECT 8.14. Develop operations manual for Facilities Management Team To support service agreement implementation and a more proactive approach to building inspections, maintenance and renewal it is considered important that the Facilities Management team, with support from the Asset Strategy team, develop an operations manual. The format of the manual should be similar to that developed for the Parks and Works teams in 2006/07. A sample document is provided in Appendix 26.

PROJECT 8.15. Implement asset systems review recommendations Consolidate all data about Council buildings. Ensure that all databases are linked and can be accessed by all internal stakeholders. As a minimum, all information collected about Council buildings must be allocated to the relevant Council building identification number. All existing databases must be updated to incorporate this common identifier. Data sets to be integrated include:

• Valuations spreadsheets; • Occupancy agreements ( land and buildings) including seasonal tenancies; • Asset register; • Facilities Maintenance Management System (maintenance, renewal and

upgrade data); • Facility bookings (usage); and • E- Social Planning data.

A number of asset management system review recommendations relevant to this plan are listed in Appendix 50.

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