News

I stumbled across an interesting November 2007 article from the USA that discusses building design from an ongoing maintenance perspective.

Written by authors Stephen Schrag, Karen Smith, and Brett Stollenwerk, the article seeks to consider the various stakeholders involved in the design and construction of community facilities (such as architects, engineers, maintenance professionals, and occupants) to better understand each other's perspectives and to achieve an improved project outcome. There is no intent to pinpoint specific building deficiencies, but to illustrate - in general terms - past deficiencies and to encourage thought as to how these and other deficiencies can be reduced.

Recently I was nominated in the 2007 election for Fire Protection Association of Australia board election.

In accepting the nomination, I am required to provide a short (150 word) candidate statement. I have included a copy of the statement below...

Now begins the process of getting member support for the election....

The Fire Protection Association of Australia has produced a new Technical Bulletin TB-011: Update for AS1851-2005 Maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment.

The bulletin provides discussion directed to FPA members, building owners, managers, tenants, maintenance companies, fire services, insurers and consultants and was designed to identify the ''key benefits'' of AS1851-2005 and highlight future refinements to the standard.

Just received this email from Dorothy Bruck from the School of Psychology at Victoria University. I thought I would share the information about new research Dorothy and her team have completed on sleep and fire notification signals for people who are hard of hearing or affected by alcohol.

Since 1997 the Building Commission's Essential Services Manual has been an essential guide for building owners and facility managers. Currently in its third edition, the manual provides guidance on the maintenance requirements for services in buildings.

Now with the changes to the Building Regulations, the Victorian Building Commission is in the process of producing a new and enhanced version of the ''Essential Safety Measures Maintenance Manual'' is currently being prepared for printing and will be released soon. The new manual will be available in CD format, the Building Commission website and in hard copy form.