World Expo 2010, sustainability and maintenance

With its “Better City – Better life” theme, the Expo 2010 is a paradoxical symbol of sustainability, knowing that most of the pavilions will be dismantled after 6 months… Maintenance has clearly not been the top priority, as first-time China investors struggled with construction issues. In spite of the short operation period (in fact just long enough to go through the teething problems), maintenance has to be managed, preferably not in emergency mode, as the impact will be immediate (pavilions operating 13 hours a day, 7 day a week, with public safety and national image issues). Siveco will be conducting a few maintenance audits during the Expo.

At a recent international forum on green and energy-efficient building, vice-minister of housing and urban-rural development Qiu Baoxing cited an average lifespan of 25-30 years for buildings in China, providing additional food for thought. Energy consumption is, on the other hand, 2-3 times higher than it should be (although most buildings are relatively new). This finding typically leads to discussions on “green building” with a seemingly unlimited flow of vendors and consultants promoting products and technologies, making you wonder how Western countries build their cities 100 years ago without access to all these over-hyped gimmicks… The true answer is maintenance – in the sense of taking a lifecycle approach, designing for maintenance, building according to specifications and then maintaining properly. Everything else, including the never-ending portfolio of green products, is just tools available to owners. Unfortunately, more often than not, sophisticated salespeople will fool owners into taking the problem upside down and invest in technologies (examples of buildings stuffed with sensors come to mind, which local technicians are not able to maintain, leading to additional costs and vendor dependency)…

While the focus of the Chinese government remains on a rapid expansion of public infrastructures, more and more attention is paid to life-cycle cost (cost savings not just during construction but also during operations, increasing the useful life of equipment and facilities), performance (service level, reliability) and safety (workers’ safety during construction, public safety during operations). In the past few years, deadly accidents at metro construction sites have made headlines, raising public awareness of safety issues. The financial crisis, on the other hand, and the subsequent government incentives in the form of accelerated infrastructure investment, is helping shifting the focus from a reduction in direct spending (construction cost) to optimizing costs over the entire life-cycle of an infrastructure.

At the same time, the increasing complexity of technologies employed (the example of the high-speed rail network comes to mind) has put added pressure on maintenance: seemingly unlimited supply of manpower and equipment is not the answer anymore, as skills, methodology and technological know-how become key. As a result, the implementation of maintenance management support tools is becoming a priority for owners and operators alike. Particularly true of rail infrastructures, the same conclusion also applies to other types of public networks (water, gas, roads), factories and buildings in general, leading to demands for innovative maintenance solutions adapted to the reality of China.

This month’s edition of our newsletter puts the focus on public infrastructures, in conjunction with Siveco’s participation in the Metro China 2010 show. We will explore some of the aspects mentioned above, namely how maintenance should be taken into account from the construction stage, the utilization of supervision systems, the use of mobile solutions to support field workers and a case study on water infrastructure operator SinoFrench Water. The usual latest news section highlights our latest Siveco news.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to meeting you at Metro China 2010 or at the Expo!

Bruno Lhopiteau
General Manager
Siveco China

Tags： infrastructure、Expo 2010、sustainability