Building Shape & Form

The influence of building shape & form on maintenance expenditure can be summariesed as follows :

- High Rise buildings Vs Low - rise Buildings
- Complex Buildings Vs . Simple Buildings .
- Old Building vs . New Buildings

High - rise Buildings Vs Low - rise Building
Generally maintenance costs are higher for high rise building than low - rise ones of similar shape

CAUSE BY
- The higher the proportion of services like lifts & lighting
- More communal areas
-Problems of accessibility for redecoration & repair .


Complex Building Vs . Simple Building
- Complex shapes building are also more expensive to maintain because of additional cost incurred in providing

Temporary support system
Slower working rate
Higher overheads .

Old building vs New Building
- Older buildings are also more expensive to maintain because of the need to replace or repair more components which have reached their useful and economic lifespans . THe effect of age on high-rise buildings is even geater because of a higher proportion of services to be overhauled or replaced .


Orientation of Building
- The orientation or arrangement of the axis of a building is a way of controlling the effects of the sun , wind and rain since the sun is regular in its path & favours the southerns aspects of buildings in the northern hemisphere .
- The building may be orientated to capture the heat of the sun or else it may be turtned to avoid the solar heat in the tropics .

- Orientation may also be used to control air flow circylation & reduce the disadvantages of wind , rain and snow when existing currents are predictable .

- The character of the local terrain may have some infleucne of the final oreintation of the building by the way in which rolling ground , trees & adjacent buildinbgs create shade & reduce or intensify the effects of the wind .