Evaluation of defect influencing factors in public housing in the UK

This paper sets out to analyse and interpret factors which bear upon building components and to explore underlying relationships among the number of building components forming a construction entity. The research hypothesis was set as follows: building surveyors do not agree in assessing the strength of each of design, construction, age, changing standards and vandalism as a causative factor for defects on building components. Previous studies have established the factors pertaining to defects in the building structure. What is in dispute is the extent to which these factors are important in causing defects. The objective of the study presented in this paper is therefore to assess the impact of each of five key factors ‐ design, construction, standards, vandalism and age ‐ on 28 selected building components with the aid of questionnaire information provided by 45 local authority building surveyors involved in the day‐to‐day diagnosis of defects in public housing stock. In so doing, the tangible influence of the factors in terms of how they affect defect causation in building components for the sample is established.