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Building surveying employers are requiring graduates with a high level of cognitive and experiential skills to enable them to survey buildings directly after graduation with little or no supervision.This has led to a change in thinking for educators as providing this type of graduate requires learning and training material that is time‐consuming and costly to provide, as it requires learners to be actively involved in real surveying tasks. This paper presents the results of a prototype application developed to enable inexperienced surveyors to learn building pathology without leaving their desktops.

This paper aims to evaluate the level of compliance of fire safety with the legal requirements in Malaysia government hospital buildings by evaluating via fire risk management.

Five government hospitals were selected. These five hospitals were selected due to the location of Penang, which is one of the fast-growing states in Malaysia (Salleh, 2019; Ebekozien, 2019). This state is the second most densely populated state after Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, with an average distribution of 1,490 persons per square km. This higher population caused the higher demand on the health-care services by the public (DOSM, 2016). The observation and building audit processes are as described. Hundreds of photos were taken for qualitative analysis, and all fire safety elements were measured for the descriptive analysis for each hospital. The framework of audit elements is created based on the Life Safety Code: NFPA 101 (2018), UBBL 1984: Part VII (Fire Requirements) and Part VIIII (Fire Alarms, Fire Detection, Fire Extinguishment and Fire Fighting Access). The cross-sectional descriptive evaluation is conducted in the case studies building in accordance with Life Safety Code of NFPA, also known as NFPA 101. To conduct the study, the information needed to assess the fire safety status was extracted from the CFSES software based on the NFPA 101 standard and prepared and compiled by the researcher as a checklist. In the next stage, gathered information was analysed using Computerised Fire Safety Evaluation System (CFSES) software. This method was developed based on the NFPA 101 standard and evaluated the fire risk from four dimensions of containment, extinguishment, people movement and general safety. This software gives the risk assessment results in three areas of fire control, exits and general safety. To assess the fire risk of the commercial buildings after entering the background information (height, age, number of stories, etc.) in the software, the software first calculates the score that the building should obtain in the three aspects of fire control, exit routes and general safety (minimum score required).

The utmost zones in the case studies (44.3%) occupied by limited mobility are located at low-rise buildings or at the first floor to third floor of the hospital buildings. Hospitals managements lacked in creating the maximum exit route and egress the occupants to disclosed the building during evacuation, it correlates to the patients' mobility positions strategy to assign their categories that fell on effortless mobilisation. Surveyed hospitals were built with the non-combustible materials, even though four of the case studies were built before 1984. Hospitals were equipped with hazard separations and vertical smoke pores, and in most of the zones, sprinkler system is installed only in the corridors, equipped with communication system and system of communication with fire and relief organisations and has a fire detection and alarm system throughout the building. Results of fire risk assessment on four groups of elements were tested via CFSES revealed from 122 zones of surveyed hospitals; 102 or 84% of zones give the highest failed rate to comply the NFPA 101 requirements in terms of people movement in the building. The high-occupied Penang General Hospital contributed as the highest case study for not complying with the minimum requirements in all dimensions: people movement elements (41 zones), fire containment (31 zones), fire extinguisher (31 zones) and general safety (20). Fire extinguishment (62 zones) recorded the highest numbers of zones that complied with NFPA 101 (2013). The overall results of the fire risk assessment suggested that in terms of the fire control, egress and general safety aspects, the fire risk assessment score was unacceptable (failed) in all hospital buildings studied, and in the three areas mentioned, the general safety, egress/exit routes and fire control were in a worse status in terms of the score obtained in the software. None of the surveyed hospital received the minimum safety score in the three areas mentioned. The involvement of Emergency Response Team is crucial to overcome this egress or fire exit requirement and parameters.

Several limitations exist in this research that cannot be controlled. Firstly, the occupancy rates only determined during peak hour. Accessibility into hospital compound permitted only during daytime. Secondly, the fire safety audits and fire safety risk management in this research are not being conducted by a professional architect or engineer and as a result must be relied on the direct inspection checklist to create valid results. Thirdly, this research has some limitations which need to be noted but does not affect the robustness of the study’s findings. This study focuses only on five selected public hospitals in one state of the northern region of Malaysia and excluded data gathering from all other parts of Malaysia. The perception of hospital operators regarding fire safety issues from different state hospitals may allow comparisons.

The findings of this paper should make a key practical contribution to the body of knowledge. In practice, the proposed framework should expand the knowledge of public hospital fire safety management plan concerning the level of fire safety compliance with the requirements in government hospital buildings and develop a fire safety management plan framework for government hospital buildings.

This paper develops an early framework component related to the occupants’ safety which gives the basis for future research in hospital fire safety settings as it imparts early investigation into the consequence of investigating the phenomenon from the operators’ perspective as an attempt to improve public health-care fire safety performance in hospitals.

This paper has created a few measurement tools that can be applied among public hospital buildings stakeholders to perform the fire safety audit and risk management and rate the performance of Fire Safety Management in public hospitals.

Describes how RCHME carries out surveys of old buildings in order to explain not only their present state, but the past stages of their development, and how this helps in understanding the past. Outlines how the archetypal stages of any survey (client’s requirements; inspection; documentary research; survey report) apply to surveys of this type. Describes how documentary research, vital in this type of survey, is used and explains the extent to which modern technology contributes; includes case examples. Concludes with some brief relevant anecdotes.

The assessment of a deteriorating masonry structure should lead to an objective evaluation of condition. This process is, however, inevitably subjective owing to human interpretation. The condition of the substrate and the required repairs cannot be guaranteed and may vary from building inspector to inspector. For conservation works the determination of repairs is a function of condition but also directly relates to the underpinning framework of building conservation philosophy. These are also fundamentally subjective. The combination of both condition survey subjectivity and building conservation philosophy's nebulous nature creates the potential for project aesthetic and technical divergence. This paper aims to examine this issue.

The paper presents a literature review and hypothetical case studies.

It has been shown by various researchers that a visual survey is subjective and is therefore prone to differences in reporting. In addition, the application of building conservation philosophy is seen through the perspective of the professional specifying the repairs. The combination of these two factors leads to the potential for significant project outcomes.

Subjectivity of evaluation of condition for traditional masonry structures has been little studied by academics and practitioners alike, and it is generally assumed that these yield objective, rational data. This is not necessarily the case. The application of building conservation philosophy to determine repair strategies is also a subjective process. The combination of both may lead to significant project divergence. These combined factors have never previously been discussed.

Heritage housing in inner city areas represents a valuable cultural asset that belongs, in part, to the community as a whole. Despite this, the risk of destruction by fire in closely spaced heritage housing has not received a great deal of research attention. The purpose of this paper is to identify potential faults in building fabric that may result in unacceptable fire safety risks to irreplaceable heritage streetscapes.

This paper examines a sample of publically administered heritage houses in inner Sydney. A condition survey looks at the occurrence of noted defects, or non-compliances to the current building regulations, in fire separation between attached or closely spaced occupancies.

Fire spread between adjacent buildings is identified as a potential hazard which needs to be addressed in order to ensure both the sustainability of the remaining heritage housing stock and the safety of the occupants.

While the survey is small, it represents a significant proportion of a dwindling stock of nineteenth century heritage housing in public ownership in Sydney.

Based on the results of the survey, a recommendation has been made in regard to improving building surveying practice when dealing with renovation of heritage housing.

Concern over the diminishing availability of social housing in inner city locations indicates the need for more attention to the fire safety of the remaining stock.

The research provides original data on the level of fire safety risk in a regional cluster of heritage housing.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a building performance (BP) rating tool concerning the health and safety risk of building users in higher educational buildings (HEB). This paper presents the findings of a preliminary survey, which is the establishment of performance-risk indicators (PRIs) as an initial construct for the development of BP rating tool. The construct items consist of three criteria as the main focus, namely performance element, risk frames and the indicators.

This paper adopts a qualitative approach to achieve the outcome for the preliminary survey. The determinants of the indicators were preliminarily compiled from literature and previous established BP evaluation (BPE) schemes. The initial construct of indicators are then further confirmed through semi-structured interviews involving 18 building operators in Malaysia’s public university buildings. Their views are needed to obtain suitability of the listed indicators for BP rating assessment to be used in the local HEB. The transcription and interpretation from the interview findings are carried out using Atlas.ti© qualitative software.

The interpretation of the interview findings has supported the justification for this paper that there is no proactive action in executing BP assessment to mitigate risk towards users’ health and safety. The findings also revealed that there are 26 indicators that are rated as suitable to be used for the local context of Malaysia’s HEBs. The indicators are categorised under three performance elements, which are functional performance (FP), technical performance (TP) and indoor environmental performance (IEP).

Because the chosen building sample is HEBs, the indicators may not be generalised as the suitability of the items were determined from the respective operators. Therefore, it is recommended that further research is carried out for other types of buildings.

The proposed PRIs have a significant role in the building maintenance and management in HEBs. The result is able to suggest methods for the management to improve and optimise the BP aspects by focusing occupants’ health and safety risk as a reactive process.

This paper highlights the benefits of integrating two previously separate fields: BP and risk management (RM) and, thus, helps providing opportunities for improvement of BP and the relationships with risk and satisfaction of the users. It may initiate a new perspective in optimising the BP and mitigating the health, safety and environmental risk by sensitivity to changing needs of occupants in HEB.

Low carbon repair epitomises sustainable maintenance management for heritage buildings. However, there is little recognition of this aspect, coupled with impractical assessment of repair impact strategies. This paper aims to present a decision-making process based on life cycle assessment (LCA) approach of lime plaster repair options for heritage buildings.

Calculation procedures of LCA were carried out to enable sustainable maintenance management appraisal for heritage buildings upon embodied carbon expenditure expended from lime plaster repair during the maintenance phase.

Calculation procedures could be understood as a carbon LCA of lime plaster repair and recognised in reducing CO₂ emissions. This underpins low carbon of lime plaster repair in achieving sustainable maintenance management of heritage buildings.

It must be emphasised that the LCA approach is not limited to heritage buildings and can be applied to any repair types, materials used and building forms. This supports environmentally focused economies and promotes sustainable maintenance management solutions.

The LCA approach highlights the efficiency of repair impact strategies through evaluation of low carbon repairs options.

The LCA approach results show that low carbon repair, contextualised within maintenance management, relays the “true” embodied carbon expenditure and stimulates sustainable development of heritage buildings.

The occurrence of fire accidents in hospital buildings has become a serious challenge and more serious in developing nations. The purpose of this paper intends to assess fire safety measures in Nigerian hospital facilities. The significance of this study is to ensure that the design and construction of hospital facilities enhance the safety of users and properties.

The data were collected via a case study and questionnaire survey and administered to the facility users. The study survey is to assess the respondents' perception of fire safety measures in hospital facilities and suggest possible policy measures that will be employed to enhance safety.

This paper found that 91% of the respondents have awareness of fire safety measures in hospital facilities. Electrical faults and combustible materials were identified as the frequent causes of fire occurrences in hospital facilities. This can be averted where flammable materials and electrical appliances are correctly installed, and safety rules enforced. Findings show that safety rules are lax in public than standard private hospitals.

This paper is limited to fire safety measures in Nigerian healthcare facilities. Future research is needed to evaluate the level of compliance from design, construction and post-construction of precautionary fire safety measures in hospital facilities in Nigeria.

This paper recommended that designers and hospital administrators should improve on fire safety measures via the development of fire safety management plan and education. Thus, enforcement of fire safety measures in hospital facilities as specified in building codes should be implemented and monitored during and after the design of the hospital buildings. Findings provide valuable lessons on how to improve the fire safety measures in healthcare facilities across the states and other developing countries with similar healthcare situations.

This paper demonstrates that the stakeholders, especially government agencies concern with approval and enforcement of fire safety measures in healthcare facilities need to reawaken to her responsibility because of the lax implementation across the states.

This paper seeks to review guidance on the undertaking of quinquennial surveys of Church of England parish churches, then to examine the approaches of Diocese Advisory Committees in administrating the surveys and finally to apply that guidance to a case study within one of the researched Dioceses.

The paper reviews current guidelines on undertaking quinquennial surveys of English parish churches, examining the methodology of both the inspection and reporting techniques of the survey. The paper also reports on a series of interviews carried out with Dioceses' Secretaries in Northern England who are responsible for administrating quinquennial surveys, and finally examines the application of national and diocesan guidelines by reporting on a quinquennial survey of St Olaf's Church in Wasdale, Cumbria, England's smallest church.

The principal guidance for quinquennial inspection of Churches is produced by the Council for the Care of Churches but this is currently out of print. Perhaps for this reason various Diocese Advisory Committees have produced their own guidance. It is possible that more standardisation in the format of reports is required as this will enable Dioceses to correlate electronic information in the production of their maintenance strategies. The alternative view is that to produce a standard pro‐forma does not do justice to an individual building which may have evolved over 1,000 years and requires specific advice. The 1991 Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measures extended the professional adviser capable of undertaking the survey from just Architect to Architects and Chartered Building Surveyor. But within the three Dioceses reviewed this has a limited impact with Architects being dominant by a ratio of 25:1.

To survey and report on buildings of such historic and community importance is a privilege and the pinnacle of conservation expertise. It is hoped that the guidance in this paper may stimulate interest in the surveying of churches by younger surveyors.