Educational building conditions and the health of users

American Journal of Construction and Building Materials, 2023

Building maintenance problems are a breakdown in a building's performance, function, and user requirements. Moreover, these problems can be in its structure, services, and other facilities. These problems primarily manifest as defects and should be rectified immediately; otherwise, they would result in a higher maintenance cost, hinder operational efficiency, and even reduce lifespan. At the same time, poor building performance and inadequacies due to these maintenance defects have been known to cause unproductivity of building users and even illnesses. Therefore, it is pertinent to investigate these defects to create maintenance solutions for them. However, even though studies abound on university building maintenance in Nigeria, its issues, and the factors affecting it, there is still the need to explore the common maintenance defects affecting buildings in public universities. Few studies have been conducted on common building maintenance defects; however, these defects have been well-researched in this study. Therefore, this paper illustrates the findings from assessing the common defects in six selected higher education institutions in the country. This study embraced a quantitative approach, and data were gathered from maintenance managers, supervisors, and technicians working in the Works Departments of the selected public institutions. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentile and factor analysis. Findings revealed that the most common defects affecting university buildings are joinery infestation and fittings, substandard finishes and cracks, deterioration and leakages, and rusting and installation issues.

The study assessed the state of health of residential building facilities for students and faculty in a private university in Nigeria. The study utilized 490 maintenance job request forms (MJRFs) in addition to 120 questionnaire on user's satisfaction about their home buildings to generate data from respondents drawn from students and faculty. The results obtained revealed that electrical works, carpentry & joinery and ceiling tiles defects recorded 1st, 2nd & 3rd highest respectively on frequencies of occurrence. Whereas, roof works and external works on 11th & 12th positions respectively trailed last on frequency of occurrences. In the same light, results obtained on user's satisfaction about their buildings indicated that out of the selected key performance indicators (KPIs) utilized on a 7-point Likert scale, users expressed satisfaction on supply of electricity & water, quality of floor & wall tiles, among others with mean scores of 6.94, 6.91 & 6.12 respectively. However users expressed dissatisfaction on, response rate to job requests and quality of wardrobe units, among others. It concludes that the provisioning of maintainable building facilities, design and application of standard maintenance management policy, plan and practices by private universities will stand them out to succeed over their rivals. It recommends that, better attention be accorded to those areas that failed on user' satisfaction in order to, not only prolong the life of these buildings but to increase its economic value and satisfy purpose.

Creative Education, 2018

Quality and productivity of education system is a major issue nowadays. There are lots of factors influencing education quality, one of these important factors is the condition and quality of the building. An educational building should provide a safe and healthy environment which students can study and work at their maximum health and productivity. Buildings may fail to provide such condition; Sick building syndrome (SBS) is one of the main reasons for this issue. Some of the common symptoms are headache, loss of concentration, runny nose, itching, dry skin and dry eyes. SBS is not always easy to recognize and lack of awareness amongst designers and users about SBS leads to problems like reducing the productivity or learning capacity of students in an educational building. In this research, signs of SBS have been observed and analyzed in the Architectural Studios of EMU (Eastern Mediterranean University) to find out if the students are suffering from SBS effects and propose some possible solutions for their improvement.

ABSTRACT This dissertation conducted a post occupancy evaluation of two purposively selected buildings in Yaba College of Technology, Yaba Lagos to determine the users satisfaction with the building and its facilities and features. The objectives include; to identify the standard, to establish the present condition of the buildings in the institution, to determine if the buildings conforms with this standard and to ascertain if the users are satisfied with the building and its effect on the users. The sampling size was made up of the students and staff of the institution, a convenience sampling technique was adopted for this research work to ensure that only the users of the study area are sampled. The aid of a well structured close-ended questionnaire, past project works and journals were used to obtain the necessary information required for this research study. The information derived from the administration of questionnaire was processed and analysed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), the descriptive and inferential statistics were used; the data was presented in tables using percentages and frequencies. The mean item score and the ranking systems were used to rate the performance criteria in the study area and these were ranked to identify the most satisfied and least satisfied as identified by the respondents. Two hundred (200) questionnaires were administered in the study area using stating some performance criteria out of which one hundred and ninety one (191) were retrieved for this study. It was discovered that the most satisfied criteria are the indoor air quality, internet facilities and partitioning of the departments while the least satisfied were the parking space, humidity or dryness and cafeteria as stated by the respondents in the Bursary/Registry building; the most satisfied criteria in the New Building as stated by the respondents are partitioning of classrooms, noise pollution from outside and level of cleanliness while the least satisfied were the indoor air quality, internet facilities and the toilet facilities. It was recommended that adequate toilet facilities and ample parking space should be provided in the study areas and that the management of the institution should adopt a good maintenance culture to help prolong the lifespan and effective functionability of the buildings and its facilities and features.

It is imperative that the maintenance possibilities of a building be considered at the design stage, this will enhance ease of maintenance of such buildings and prevent building failures resulting from design inadequacies. This study analyzed the design configurations of selected buildings in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; the maintenance problems traceable to design; and also determined the impact of design related problems in the maintenance of the buildings. This was with a view to providing information that could enhance the maintenance of future buildings in the study area. The study used primary data obtained from physical observations of the selected buildings and secondary data from existing maintenance records. There were thirteen (13) faculties with forty-four (44) buildings and eighteen (18) lecture theatres within the study area. Using stratification based on design configuration, twenty-seven (61%) faculty buildings and ten (56%) lecture theaters were selected as sample size for the study. Forty five questionnaires were administered on the staff of Maintenance Unit, building occupiers and the staff of Physical Planning and Development Unit (PPDU) of the university. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The results of the study revealed that in-built access for maintenance operations was provided for only 31% of the total building facades. The problems encountered in the management of maintenance operations on the defective elements were traceable to factors such as environmental impacts (13%), structural stability (11.1%), functional failures (10.5%), and inaccessible defective portions (9.3%). Others were aesthetic considerations (9.3%), users' impacts (9.3%), choice of inappropriate construction materials (8%), and building shapes (6.8%). The identified physical impacts traceable to design inputs were moisture stain (2.92%), weeds on building elements (2.63%) cobweb stains (2.34%), broken concrete fins at stairwells (0.15%), plumbing defects (0.44%), blocked drains (0.15%), and undersized roof gutter (0.15%) among others. The study concluded that problems encountered in the management of the maintenance operations such as provision of as-built drawings; working space and safe access to defective portions; choice of correct construction materials and methods by certified personnel were not taken care of during the design stage. The study recommended that all building items, elements or components be designed and constructed for ease-of-maintenance to ensure better future performances.

SSRN Electronic Journal

It is imperative that the maintenance possibilities of a building be considered at the design stage, this will enhance ease of maintenance of such buildings and prevent building failures resulting from design inadequacies. This study analyzed the design configurations of selected buildings in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; the maintenance problems traceable to design; and also determined the impact of design related problems in the maintenance of the buildings. This was with a view to providing information that could enhance the maintenance of future buildings in the study area. The study used primary data obtained from physical observations of the selected buildings and secondary data from existing maintenance records. There were thirteen (13) faculties with forty-four (44) buildings and eighteen (18) lecture theatres within the study area. Using stratification based on design configuration, twenty-seven (61%) faculty buildings and ten (56%) lecture theaters were selected as sample size for the study. Forty five questionnaires were administered on the staff of Maintenance Unit, building occupiers and the staff of Physical Planning and Development Unit (PPDU) of the university. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The results of the study revealed that in-built access for maintenance operations was provided for only 31% of the total building facades. The problems encountered in the management of maintenance operations on the defective elements were traceable to factors such as environmental impacts (13%), structural stability (11.1%), functional failures (10.5%), and inaccessible defective portions (9.3%). Others were aesthetic considerations (9.3%), users' impacts (9.3%), choice of inappropriate construction materials (8%), and building shapes (6.8%). The identified physical impacts traceable to design inputs were moisture stain (2.92%), weeds on building elements (2.63%) cobweb stains (2.34%), broken concrete fins at stairwells (0.15%), plumbing defects (0.44%), blocked drains (0.15%), and undersized roof gutter (0.15%) among others. The study concluded that problems encountered in the management of the maintenance operations such as provision of as-built drawings; working space and safe access to defective portions; choice of correct construction materials and methods by certified personnel were not taken care of during the design stage. The study recommended that all building items, elements or components be designed and constructed for ease-of-maintenance to ensure better future performances.

Whereas it is impossible to construct a building that will be maintenance free throughout its lifetime because of the effects of age weather and human activities on it, a proper maintenance of building will prolong its life and enhance its utility. This paper aims at examining the maintenance practices as they affect public and private primary school buildings with a view to proffering solutions to issues of maintenance that would assist the government, as well as private primary schools owners. In pursuing this aim, the paper considers the existing maintenance practices on public and private primary school buildings; examining their physical condition and fitness for use. It also evaluates the users' level of satisfaction with the maintenance of such buildings and examines the determinants of maintenance standard for the school buildings. Secondary data were obtained from existing related literatures while primary data were obtained mainly through the use of questionnaire randomly administered on head teachers of the schools. Resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's rank correlation while test of hypothesis was conducted with student t-test. The findings revealed apathy in the maintenance of the school buildings, inadequacies in the building maintenance budget and significant differences in the building maintenance methods and practices in the private and public primary schools. Policy recommendations include proper budgeting for building maintenance, encouragement of maintenance personnel and adoption of efficient building maintenance method and manual in Nigerian schools.

IOP conference series, 2019

Hostel accommodation is very crucial to the performance of students' in any higher educational institution (HEI). It is against this background that this study appraised students' maintenance requirements in the hall of residence on the facility provided for Higher Educational Institution (HEI) using Covenant University Ota, a leading private University in Nigeria, as a case study. Structured Questionnaires were distributed through systematic random sampling techniques to 198 respondents, to collect data on their maintenance requirements from the maintenance management unit. The result of the study indicates that most maintenance request by the student in HEI facility is majorly on floor and wall, reading tables and chairs, together with lockers and door locks. The study found out that acknowledgment of maintenance request by maintenance personnel was prompt but the actual repairs take time. The studies further showed that vandalism, lack of user's specification and use of substandard material during replacement were some of the significant factors causing damage to facilities in HEIs. The study concluded that to meet maintenance requirements of students' in HEI hostels, the facility provided should be maintainable, serviceable, and replaceable within the hall of residence and a maintenance operations manual should be provided for maintenance personnel to develop a maintenance standard in meeting the students' immediate maintenance requirements.

Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts and Sciences, 2016

This paper researched "an inventory of personal health amenities for safe students habitation of University of Jos". The total population of the study comprises all the undergraduate students in the University. University of Jos is made up of 10 (ten) facilities with a total population of 12,855 students. Out of this population, 9773 were male and 4082 are female. The sample consists of 500 male and female students of the University. Cluster sampling method was used in selecting the sample from the ten facilities. The sample was distributed among five facilities with each faculty having 100 sampled representations. Questionnaire was used to collect the data which was analyzed. The results of the study shows that majority of the students responded positively that university buildings are well maintained, accept the hostels and classroom blocks. There are inadequate provision of safety devices, the windows and doors are not well protected against harmful insects with wire mesh, the sporting facilities are inadequate and the playground are not free from hazards. In addition, the electricity supply is not constant and there are inadequate standby electricity generators to ensure steady supply of light during interruption. Similarly, waste disposal systems are not given prior attention which leads to disposal of waste materials in every hook and corners of the hostels and classroom areas of the university. With regard to toilet facilities, it is concluded that the number of toilet facilities does not meet the needs of the growing population of the students in the campus. More so, the water supply on campus lack good quality and inadequate storage system to meet the health needs of individual's student. The inadequacy of these health amenities may affect the physical, social, cultural, biological and emotional environment of the school that influences, habits, attitudes, comfort, safety and working efficiency of students and personnel.

American Journal of Civil Engineering, 2024

Sustainable measures for effectively maintaining buildings have become essential to sustainable building development with the growing influx of building portfolios worldwide. This is so, considering building maintenance problems have become a global menace. It has been ascertained that improving building maintenance operations for sustainable considerations will benefit university facilities in terms of profitability, user well-being, and increased lifespan. Although studies abound on the maintenance of university buildings in Nigeria, its barriers, and the factors affecting it, very few studies have touched on the solutions to maintenance problems and the measures to improve the maintenance management of these buildings. Therefore, this paper presents the findings from assessing the measures to improve the maintenance of buildings in six selected higher education institutions in the country. The study embraced a quantitative approach, and data were gathered from maintenance managers, supervisors, and technicians working in the Works Departments of the selected public institutions. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentile and factor analysis. Findings revealed that human, materials resources, and policy improvement measures, computerized approach to management, assessment, and feedback mechanism measures, less sabotage and quick response measures, and improved funding, design, and construction measures are the most viable measures to improve building maintenance in these universities.