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Construction Innovation, 3, Nov 1, p. 5, 7, 1997-11-01
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BELCAM project will support tools for asset and building managers
Vanier, D. J.
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ConstructionInnovation
ARCHIVED – Building envelope and
structure v3n1-6
BELCAM project will develop support tools for asset
and building managers
Thanks to a project set to begin this fall, asset and building managers will gain powerful new tools for predicting the service life of the building envelope and its component elements, and acquire a critical aid for managing maintenance work.
The Building Envelope Life Cycle Asset Management (BELCAM) project addresses key, growing concerns that asset and building managers have as they face difficult decisions about when and how to repair their building stock. These managers must optimize their expenditures and maximize the value of the asset over its life cycle. The dollar amounts involved are significant: A review of recent construction statistics shows that $52 billion is spent on building construction every year in Canada, and about $8.5 billion of that amount is spent for repairs and maintenance to buildings!
Diagram shows the effect of maintenance on a building system (asset) over its service life.
Managers face challenges
In many instances, design and construction costs are small compared to both the asset-management costs and a building’s life-cycle cost, thus making asset and property managers important players in the construction business.
At present, managers have few tools, either in the form of literature or intelligent computer software, to assist them in the decision-making process. To make matters worse, economic trends suggest that the next 10 years will be a time of decreased revenues and dwindling profit margins. In addition, some major property owners such as Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) – a co-founding collaborator in this project – have forecast reductions in operating and maintenance budgets.
Several factors are exacerbating the situation: Premature deterioration is appearing in many “newer” construction products; many conventional construction solutions and products are failing for little understood reasons; there are limited financial resources for research; and in the traditionally conservative and fragmented construction industry, information is not readily shared.
BELCAM offers critical support
Most major property owners know of corrective measures for isolated problems, but none has an integrated, comprehensive solution to address the needs for maintaining an asset efficiently and cost-effectively over its service life.
BELCAM addresses this situation by:
establishing the links between laboratory and field evaluations
developing information structures to integrate cost, performance and service-life models
implementing information technology tools to transfer technology to those in the industry. The first phase of the project focuses on roofing, and seeks to integrate existing
enabling technologies used in this field, namely: maintenance management, life-cycle economics, service-life prediction, user-requirement modelling, risk analysis, and product modelling. Given the estimated $2.5 billion spent annually on repairs to roofing membranes and systems in Canada, this is a good place to start.
IRC, as Canada’s premier building research organization, is well suited to undertake this task. PWGSC, as Canada’s federal landlord and government contracting authority, is also well suited to participate. It has demonstrated expertise in building inventory management and preventive maintenance as well as in the collection of cost and field-performance data, and has undertaken numerous demonstration projects to evaluate the effectiveness of various materials, products, processes and technologies.
The consortium is joined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Construction
Engineering Research Laboratories, an internationally respected building research organization itself. Others that intend to join include the Department of National Defence, Ryerson Polytechnic University, and Dalhousie University.
Chance to participate
BELCAM is in its formative stages and excellent opportunities to join this consortium still exist. Those who participate will be the first to benefit from research findings and newly developed decision-making tools.
For further information, please contact Dr. Dana Vanier at (613) 993-9699, fax (613) 954-5984 or e-maildana.vanier@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
