Assessment of the factors influencing the maintenance programme of a large university building in Riyadh

The amount of money invested in the building industry in the last two decades in Saudi Arabia is about SR 1251 ($234) billion. The result is a stock of large projects in housing, hospitals, universities (seven in number) etc. These buildings require efficient maintenance programmes to enable them to be serviced properly. Such programmes are handicapped by a number of interrelated factors. Such factors, like the harsh climatic conditions, presence of chlorides and sulphates in soil and water, contracting systems and lack of codes and building standards, have varied influences in maintenance. This paper, attempts to examine these factors through an analysis of the maintenance programmes of a university campus building in Riyadh.