The Impact of Maintenance Factors on Sustainability of Green Buildings in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Green buildings are relatively new in the construction industry, especially in Kenya and serious questions regarding their maintenance beg answers as little has been documented. This study therefore, sought to assess the impact of maintenance factors on sustainability of green buildings in Nairobi County. A survey to investigate; maintenance problems, maintenance policies, maintenance strategies and maintenance management tools/techniques in relation to sustainability of green buildings was delimited to a sample size of 25 LEED certified buildings in Nairobi County and 86 registered green building practitioners. The survey achieved 53% response rate and data analysis was carried out using a quantitative approach. The findings indicate that, the maintenance strategy variable seemed not to have a significant relationship with the outcome variable, hence it was dropped from the model. The final logistic regression model shows that, the odds for sustainability of green buildings are 1.44, 3.72 and 2.89 times higher when there is proper management of maintenance problems, adequate maintenance policies and proper maintenance management tools/techniques respectively, holding all other factors constant. The results highlighted the need of a paradigm shift in maintenance management of green buildings hence, the proposed framework in figure 2 that will enable maintenance personnel to execute their work in an efficient manner. From an academic perspective, the findings contribute to the pool of knowledge available in the area of green buildings maintenance.