Team inspections of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong and the UK

Introduction
This paper presents the development team inspection techniques for high-rise buildings. It also reports on the clients reasons for commissioning condition appraisals. The paper draws on the authors experience over the past decade in carrying out building condition appraisals. First, we will start with the most important consideration, that of the clients needs.

D.W Lomas .

The clients requirements

Just as the client can vary, the reasons for having an inspection carried out also varies a great deal. The most common reasons for having an inspection commissioned are as follows: Pre-lease or pre-purchase inspection. Construction project progress appraisal. Dispute resolution. As a prerequisite to a refurbishment project on an existing building.

The author D.W. Lomas is in the Department of Building and Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China. Abstract Covers topics such as the method and order of inspection, use of checklists and inspection data sheets, team inspections and the roles of the various contributing consultants and duties of the team leader, condition consensus for team inspections and the requirements of both public and private sector clients. Case studies from Great Britain and Hong Kong are used to provide examples. The case studies have been selected because they are from condition inspections of high-rise buildings.

Inspections by teams of professionals

The scale of high-rise building condition appraisals usually requires a variety of different experts to analyse the building and services. Although the exact nature of the team will vary from inspection to inspection, and on the clients requirements, typically it would consist of the following members. I have included the construction industry with which I am more familiar, i.e. UK and Hong Kong. In most cases in the UK and Hong Kong this role is taken by a chartered surveyor whose speciality is building surveying. The surveyors task would be to liaise directly with the client as a consultant and appoint his own specialist sub-consultants depending on the requirements of the job.

Private sector client

A typical arrangement for a private sector client may be as shown in Figure 1. The team leader would be responsible for such matters as arranging a suitable day for the inspection, circulating existing drawings, access to the building, compiling all the prices from the sub-consultants and preparing the nal report. 162

Structural Survey Volume 15 Number 4 1997 pp. 162165 MCB University Press ISSN 0263-080X

Team inspections of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong and the UK

Structural Survey Volume 15 Number 4 1997 162165

D.W. Lomas

Figure 1 Typical arrangement for private sector client Private sector client | Lead Consultant (Building Surveyor) Specialists C.C.T.V. (closed) circuit television) Thermography imaging Air pressure tests for drains Cover meter Materials testing laboratory Services engineers (Electrical/heating Heating ventilation Air-conditioning) Structural engineer Material specialist Contractor Supplies ladders, manhole lifting equipment to whole team

In government and quasi-government organizations the various specialist departments provide these services. It is usual to have a client which is usually the department for which the inspection is being carried out. For example when carrying out an inspection of a school the client would be the education department. If carrying out a condition appraisal in a prison the Home Ofce would be the client. A typical arrangement for a local government situation is shown in Figure 2. The role of the lead department is very similar to that of the team leader in the private sector, and involves organization and coordination. This represents the situation for a private client and the framework is very similar in the public service sector.

building fabric. This brings its own challenges in the organization for and implementation of the condition appraisal. In addition to the use of checklists and inspection data sheets the surveyor can also make use of a technique I call condition consensus. The appraisal of a particular condition is always open to personal subjective interpretation. This will depend on a variety of interacting factors such as experience, familiarity with the type of construction and character of the inspector. Let us look at some problems which will have had an inuence on the team inspection in various case studies: Experience This will differ depending on education, professional career and training. It is a matter of time, quality and depth of experience. Over-familiarity Whether the building is constructed with a reinforced concrete framed steel-frame or brick each displays its own characteristics. It is common to see the similar types of defects and maintenance problems in each particular construction style. The only problem one may encounter is overcondence resulting from a great familiarity. This may

Team inspections
In small to medium-rise buildings the limited size of the building usually means that a condition appraisal can be carried out comfortably by a single person (or at the most two people). High-rise buildings on the other hand are by their very nature larger with more oors and rooms to inspect As the number of team members increases it becomes more difcult to ensure a standard appreciation of the condition of the properties

Figure 2 Typical arrangement for local government situation Client Department Public Sector (e.g. Education Department) Lead Department (Building Surveying Division) Specialist Services Dept. Structural Engineer Department Contractor (or possibly direct labour)

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lead inspectors to overlook unusual problems as they concentrate on the most likely defects. Personality traits Each person has his/her own particular characteristics, such as a tendency to be conservative (non-risk taker) or to the more outgoing (risk-taking) personality. Each of these very individual people will view the same building defect and come up with solutions that reect in a way that is inuenced by their own psychological make up. Although professional training and experience will alleviate a great deal of these differences, in practice it is difcult for inspectors to be totally unbiased observers.

(2) Building element. This may consist of a part of the construction such as storey height panels, area of a roof or oor, and the like, which usually repeat time and time again. (3) Secondary components. A condition consensus may include agreement on standard xtures, ttings, secondary elements and materials. This might include windows, glazed curtain walling, jointing materials. These are important when carrying out large scale refurbishment work.

Procedure
The team members can inspect the chosen area and discuss their own opinions. When a general agreement or consensus has been reached, this reference is used to assess the condition of other similar areas subsequently inspected. The surveyor can ask the question, Is the area in a better, equal or worse condition than the sample? A more balanced judgement can therefore be made, which results in smoothing out inconsistencies derived from differences in team members experience and personalities.

Condition consensus
The condition consensus will hopefully achieve a balance between the extremes. The Oxford Dictionary of Current English (1989) denes consensus as agreement in opinion and it is this towards which the team must work. Typically a condition consensus will involve agreeing an acceptable standard of appraisal with the members of the teams. This will act as a standard reference point for their own particular inspections and help to achieve a unity. It can be referred back to at any stage of the inspection to maintain consistency. This is especially important when there is a break in the inspections, such as when the process is, say, spread over a number of days due to the size of the building. Examples from case studies I will highlight some of the examples based on past experience. A number of these will be explained in more depth in the subsequent case studies: (1) Typical room layout. It is usually necessary to choose a room which looks like a representative sample of those about to be inspected and so a quick reconnoitre is usually carried out initially. When looking at the general layout and design of tall buildings, many oors will have identical or similar types of rooms with cores for the services, lifts and toilet facilities. The construction is generally quite standardized, even though some rooms may vary in actual size (the latter is not usually of importance).

Practical problems
Practical problems can arise through a number of factors: (1) Is the sample chosen really representative? (2) Problems experienced through differences of experience and character can only be minimized and not totally eradicated. (3) Errors through boredom. This is not a problem restricted to just highrise inspections but the conditions are made worse due to the repetitive nature of the construction and size. In practice as the inspections are usually done on a tight schedule there is little that can be done. Where possible though the inspection should be split into manageable portions or divided over a number of days.

Conclusion
Condition appraisals of high-rise buildings are commissioned for a variety of reasons and clients. The size of the task means that there is

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usually a team of specialist consultants. As high-rise buildings are designed using standard room layout construction techniques a consensus survey approach can be used. This involves selecting a fairly typical sample and using it as the reference point for further appraisal. Used in addition to standard checklists and defect sheets, it has proved a helpful method in avoiding disparities that can occur as a result of differences in experience, amiliarity and character.

Possible future trends

As more arid, more developing, countries rely on high-rise buildings to solve their accommodation shortages I feel there will be an increasing need for condition appraisals, as experienced in Japan (Kondo, Kuno and Osawa, 1994). As the existing building stock gets older and deteriorates more emphasis will be placed on refurbishment and repairs (Lomas, 1997). The consensus survey technique would readily lend itself to computerization. The future development of condition appraisal

techniques will rely more heavily on computer systems. There have already been a number of developments both commercially and privately (Jones and Burrows, 1994). None of these, however, has been the universal answer to a surveyors dreams. Most computer systems have been tailor-made for contain segments of the market or particular organizations. With the ever increasing availability of software and hardware it surely cannot be very long before a more suitable system is developed, which will provide the exibility the industry wants.

References
Jones, K.G. and Burrows, C. (1994), Data relationships in the stock condition survey process, CIB W70 Tokyo Symposium, Vol. 1, Part 4-8. Kondo, T., Kuno, M. and Osawa, S. (1994), Improvement of inspection process efciency In building exterior maintenance, CIB W70 Tokyo Symposium, Vol. 1, Part 4-7. Lomas, D. (1997), External wall tiling in Hong Kong buildings: three defects diagnosis options examined, Structural Survey, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 39-41.

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