Factor analysis for establishing a decision making framework for the sustainable management of community buildings in Australia

Community buildings are the second largest infrastructure asset owned by the governments in Australia. Mostly built in 1970s, these buildings have popularly seen significant deterioration of structure and service components, which stymied the delivery of essential services to the local communities. The sustainable management of these buildings is urgent and critical, which has to take into account the economic benefits, environmental and social impacts, as well as buildings condition and functional usages. An industry wide questionnaire survey was undertaken to examine factors influencing the sustainable management of community buildings. Through factor analysis, the research pinpointed 18 key parameters related to the environmental, social, economic and functional aspects of community buildings, which local council asset managers have to contemplate in order to plan the building management well and make an informed decision. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the survey research and further highlights the future work towards the development of fuzzy AHP based decision making model.