Faizah Ahmad | University of Malaya, Malaysia (original) (raw)

Papers by Faizah Ahmad

Property Management, 2017

Purpose – Proper maintenance management ensures a long-term investment and provides a support fun... more Purpose – Proper maintenance management ensures a long-term investment and provides a support function in business continuity to achieve organisational goal. However, inadequate involvement and participation of key stakeholders in maintenance management limit the continuous improvement of maintenance performance. Currently, there is a lack of studies about the influence of key stakeholders' involvement in maintenance. Thus, this paper deals with enhancement of maintenance management through the involvement of key stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted mixed method approach to determine the relationship between involvement of key stakeholders in maintenance management and maintenance effectiveness. The approach comprised of literature review, questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews. Findings – This research suggests a positive correlation between involvement of maintenance manager, maintenance staff, organisation, user and maintenance service provider in improving the effectiveness of maintenance management. The logistic regression analysis indicated that the involvement of maintenance manager and service provider are significant predictors of maintenance effectiveness. The research further identified that there was a lack of involvement of the user and service provider in maintenance management. Originality/value – The research demonstrated that all key stakeholders should value the important roles of their participation in maintenance management to ensure an optimum return on a long-term investment. To create the awareness for the involvement of key stakeholders in building maintenance, studies on the advantages of participating in building maintenance and the impacts of ignorant towards building maintenance can be beneficial to the industry.

National criteria for accessing Indonesian cultural properties categorized as heritage are mentio... more National criteria for accessing Indonesian cultural properties categorized as heritage are mentioned in Article five under the Law 11/2010 on Cultural Property. In general, the four criteria are not much different from the previous legislation, the Law 5/1992. National criteria serve as a guide in determining the criteria for provincial and municipal level. Therefore, this paper aims to review the national criteria based on the opinions of 33 respondents involving local people from various professions who have an interest in the heritage conservation through semi-structured interviews and nominal group technique (NGT). The preferred method purposes to increase the community involvement to improve the heritage legislation primarily on the assessment criteria for the cultural heritage value. The literature study on cultural heritage value and national criteria applied in several other countries has been completed prior to the interview to obtain valuable input in the analysis. It can be summarized that the national criteriaa as stated under this law are vague, obscure and overlap due to the blurring of meaning and conception of cultural heritage value or significance in this legislation. The results of the study highlighted the crucial evidence of the need to review the current national criteria with the involvement of community for improvement of the assessment criteria for the cultural heritage value. Besides, it would support national, provincial and municipal governments in drafting new regulations as a guideline in practice regarding the Law 11/2010 which until today most have not been published.

Journal of Health Medicine and Nursing, 2013

Objectives. A quality housing environment reflects a sense of convenience among its residence thr... more Objectives. A quality housing environment reflects a sense of convenience among its residence through physical characteristics such as housing conditions and availability of certain facilities. A housing environment that promotes active lifestyle has become a vital research objective. Methods. We employed a phenomenological research to explore the meaning and essence of having an active lifestyle from the standpoint of 12 young elderly aged 60-75 years residing in two neighbourhoods in Malaysia. The phenomenological data presented description of how these young elderly maintain an active lifestyle. The account provided information about their lived experience of being both physically and socially active and why they valued maintaining an active lifestyle. Results. Findings suggest that gender has no influence on maintaining an active lifestyle; rather the neighbourhood environmental factors fostered their physical and social activity. Young elderly have learned to maintain an active lifestyle by being aware of the importance of being active at an older age. Discussion. The evidence suggests that active lifestyle has positive effects on young elderly health and wellbeing. The essence of the experience is staying occupied and that staying occupied has the potential to be both physically and socially active.

Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Apr 1, 2014

Sustainability of buildings is one of the main aims in the construction industry. In achieving su... more Sustainability of buildings is one of the main aims in the construction industry. In achieving sustainability, maintenance of building and its facilities which include planning, implementation and outcome of maintenance activities become an important criterion. This paper aims to identify the significant characteristics of scheduled and condition-based maintenance in office buildings through reviews of relevant literature and questionnaire survey. The significance of the characteristics was identified through ranking analysis. Semi-structured interview was conducted to obtain further details on the characteristics and measures to enhance efficiency of the characteristics. The findings reveal that the dominant characteristics for scheduled maintenance include quality of spare part and material, the level of labor skill and knowledge, and budget allocation for maintenance labor whilst for conditionbased maintenance; the dominant characteristics are the level of manager skill and knowledge, reliability of maintenance data, and financial allocation for the maintenance manager. The study concludes that these dominant characteristics should be considered in the implementation of maintenance strategies.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015

National criteria for assessing Indonesian cultural heritage properties are mentioned in Article ... more National criteria for assessing Indonesian cultural heritage properties are mentioned in Article five under the Law 11/2010 on Cultural Property. In general, the four criteria are not much different from the previous legislation, the Law 5/1992. National criteria serve as a guide in determining the criteria for provincial and municipal level. This paper aims to review the national criteria based on opinions of 33 respondents (local people from various professions), who have an interest in heritage conservation, through semi-structured interviews and nominal group technique (NGT). The results of the study highlighted the crucial need of involving community in reviewing current national criteria, to improve assessment criteria for cultural heritage values. Besides, it would support national, provincial and municipal governments in drafting new regulations as a guideline for practice of heritage conservation regarding the Law 11/2010, which until today most have not been published.

Many heritage cities have been turned into tourism cities. With the influx in the number of forei... more Many heritage cities have been turned into tourism cities. With the influx in the number of foreign tourists together with the number of locals, mobility within these cities has become a challenging issue to be dealt by the city managers. Taking into cognizance the global warming and climate change, the most appropriate mode of transportation that considers these issues and simultaneously appreciates the urban aesthetics and heritage tourism products in a heritage city needs to be identified. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the most appropriate mode of transportation that incorporates carbon footprint mitigation, urban sensory elements and tourists' satisfactions components. Data were collected through participant observation were analyzed. Geographic information systems (GIS) application is used to analyze the study area spatially. The findings demonstrate that walking is the most appropriate as it is able to satisfy tourists in appreciating urban sensory elements and s...

The building maintenance costs are rising rapidly from time to time due to poor maintenance in th... more The building maintenance costs are rising rapidly from time to time due to poor maintenance in the past. In UK, total spending on building maintenance had a dramatically increase of 66% in the past 10 years. In Malaysia, the development plan allocation for repair and maintenance works in building sector increased from RM296 million during the Eighth Malaysian Plan to RM1,079 million during the Ninth Malaysian Plan. However, the development plan allocation for repair and maintenance works in the Tenth Malaysian Plan has decreased to RM500 million. The decrease of resource allocation for building maintenance activities urges the professions to develop solutions on reducing the maintenance costs. Thus, it is vital to identify the cost characteristics of preventive maintenance, includes scheduled maintenance and condition-based maintenance through literature review. The characteristics of preventive maintenance always affect the maintenance cost performance. Therefore, relationship betw...

Eksploatacja i Niezawodnosc - Maintenance and Reliability

Building maintenance costs are continuously increasing as a result of poor maintenance. Consequen... more Building maintenance costs are continuously increasing as a result of poor maintenance. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop solutions to reduce the maintenance costs. Various studies demonstrated that the characteristics of condition-based maintenance are directly related to the cost performance. Thus, this paper seeks to establish the relationships between the characteristics of condition-based maintenance and the cost performance. The researcher then developed a regression model for maintenance planning and prediction. The study adopted a mix method approach that includes questionnaire survey, interview, and case study. The findings highlighted the reliability of maintenance data and information as the most significant characteristic of condition-based maintenance. Consequently, the study concluded that the planning and the application of the condition-based maintenance strategy should consider its significant characteristics and make reference to the resulting predic...

International Journal of Cultural Property

Human activities such as deforestation, urbanisation and industrialisation have contributed to th... more Human activities such as deforestation, urbanisation and industrialisation have contributed to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) deposited in the atmosphere which has become a major issue in this century. CO2 gives a huge impact on greenhouse gasses that lead to climate change, global warming and other environmental disaster. These impacts are very severe, and need to be properly examined in designing a city. A city should move towards a comprehensive green and sustainable development. For the past 10 years, various studies emphasising on green neighbourhood have been published in urban planning research. This paper presents a review of literature prior to 2014 and its current issues based on factors that contribute to green neighbourhood. The review highlighted that green infrastructure, walkability and connectivity, mixed use development and safe neighbourhood as the most prominent factors in a green neighbourhood planning concept. It is also found that these factors c...

Structural Survey

Purpose – High-maintenance cost is the common issue in building industry due to low service quali... more Purpose – High-maintenance cost is the common issue in building industry due to low service quality of maintenance management in Malaysia. Lack of preventive measure is the problem that implicates poor maintenance performance. Scheduled maintenance is suggested to improve the maintenance performance. However, the effectiveness of scheduled maintenance can be greatly influenced by the availability of skilled technicians. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the aspects of skilled technician to be concerned in maintenance management, as well as to establish the relationship between the aspects and maintenance cost performance. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach is adopted and carried out through questionnaire survey. Furthermore, descriptive analysis and correlation analysis are used to analyse the research data. Findings – The literature review identifies three aspects of skilled technician to be concerned in maintenance management. Then, research result ...

World Journal of Engineering and Technology

Lack of preventive measure is currently the problem that implicates poor building maintenance per... more Lack of preventive measure is currently the problem that implicates poor building maintenance performance and issue on sustainability of buildings in Malaysia. Whereby, preventive maintenance is an effective approach to enhance the reliability and quality of a system and its components. This study seeks to investigate the characteristics of preventive maintenance towards the overall performance in building maintenance. Case study approach is adopted to identify the maintenance characteristics and aspects that lead to good performance. The research findings demonstrate that the most significant maintenance characteristics towards overall performance are skill and knowledge of maintenance labour, quality of spare parts and materials, length of predetermined maintenance interval, skill and knowledge of maintenance manager, capability to adopt maintenance equipment and technique, budget allocation for acquisition of maintenance data, reliability of maintenance data, as well as frequency of monitoring and inspection. As a conclusion, the significant maintenance characteristics must be taken into consideration to achieve optimal maintenance performance. In order to improve the effectiveness of maintenance strategy and the maintenance performance, the study recommends practice and provision of communication platform such as meeting and customer satisfaction survey that involves all the key participants from clients to customers.

URBAN DESIGN International, 2015

The increase of private vehicle ownership and usage has drastically increased due to the rapid ph... more The increase of private vehicle ownership and usage has drastically increased due to the rapid physical, social and economic development in Malaysia since early 1980's. The direct impact of the increased number of motor vehicles is the high demand for parking spaces especially in the urban areas. The issue on parking shortage has become worst with the increased development intensity

Prediction cost maintenance model of office building based on condition-based maintenance Predykc... more Prediction cost maintenance model of office building based on condition-based maintenance Predykcyjno-kosztowy model konserwacji budynku biurowego oParty o utrzymanie zależne od bieżącego stanu technicznego (cbm) Building maintenance costs are continuously increasing as a result of poor maintenance. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop solutions to reduce the maintenance costs. Various studies demonstrated that the characteristics of condition-based maintenance are directly related to the cost performance. Thus, this paper seeks to establish the relationships between the characteristics of condition-based maintenance and the cost performance. The researcher then developed a regression model for maintenance planning and prediction. The study adopted a mix method approach that includes questionnaire survey, interview, and case study. The findings highlighted the reliability of maintenance data and information as the most significant characteristic of conditionbased maintenance. Consequently, the study concluded that the planning and the application of the condition-based maintenance strategy should consider its significant characteristics and make reference to the resulting prediction model. Furthermore, the study recommended measures to improve the significant characteristics and the cost performance in practice. Koszty konserwacji budynków nieustannie rosną ze względu na nieodpowiednią konserwację. Z tej racji, niezbędne jest wypracowanie rozwiązań obniżających koszty konserwacji. Różne badania wykazały, iż charakterystyki utrzymania urządzeń zależnie od ich bieżącego stanu technicznego (condition-based maintenance, CBM) są bezpośrednio powiązane z wydajnością kosztu. Niniejszy artykuł stara się więc ustalić związek pomiędzy charakterystykami utrzymania budynków zależnie od ich bieżącego stanu technicznego a wydajnością kosztu. Następnie opracowano model regresji dla planowania konserwacji jak i predykcji. W badaniach użyto metody mieszanej łączącej badania kwestionariuszowe, wywiad oraz studium przypadku. Rezultaty podkreśliły, iż wiarygodność danych z konserwacji i informacji to najbardziej istotne charakterystyki CBM. W konsekwencji, wnioski z badań sugerują, iż planowanie i wdrożenie strategii utrzymania w zależności od bieżącego stanu technicznego powinno brać pod uwagę jej istotne charakterystyki i odwoływać się do wynikającego z niej modelu predykcji. Ponadto, praca zawiera zalecenia jakimi środkami można w praktyce poprawić istotne charakterystyki i wydajność kosztu. Słowa kluczowe: charakterystyki, utrzymanie zależne od bieżącego stanu technicznego (CBM), wydajność kosztu, budynek biurowy, Malezja.

Cities, 2015

The aim of this article is to understand whether the physical attributes of streetscapes affect t... more The aim of this article is to understand whether the physical attributes of streetscapes affect the livability of Kuala Lumpur streets. Traffic management has been stressed as the main determinant of livable streets, but physical features have been merely pointed out. Yet, does physical quality deterioration of streetscapes affect the livability degradation of urban spaces? To answer this question, people’s perception towards the physical quality of multifunctional streets, have been examined in this study. Identification of fourteen streetscape’s physical attributes was fulfilled based on a comprehensive literature review. Through structured observations and questionnaire surveys, the physical attributes of each case study was evaluated and the physical problems were discovered. Additionally, users’ perception on the identified problems and their effects on livability of the studied areas were found and defined. The result revealed that physical problems like improper walkway paving, inadequate public services and maintenance, besides traffic congestion are deteriorating the livability of streets.