GUIDE M | LIFE TABLES Bringing data to the table Guide M life tables for maintainable equipment have been updated. Geoff Prudence explains how they align with BESA maintenance schedules and RICS cost guidance T he updated Guide M Maintenance Engineering and Management chapter 12 Life tables for building services and maintainable equipment was launched by the CIBSE Facilities Management Group at Bouygues UK head office in London, last month. Chapter 12 of the guide addresses economic life factors and end of economic life, which are important factors in life-cycle costing of constructed assets, including inuse phases. CIBSE, in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Building Services Engineering Association (BESA), produced the updated version of Appendix 12.A1, which contains more recent life expectancy data. The new table acknowledges the development of many new task schedules by the SFG20 library of maintenance specifications since publication of Guide M in 2014. These schedules make clear how often tasks need to be carried out to avoid over or under maintaining assets and explain what skill set should be used to perform the work. The table includes amendments to align fully with the RICS New Rules of Measurement NRM 1 and NRM 3. (NRM 1 provides guidance on the quantification of building works for the purpose of preparing cost estimates and a cost plan, while NRM 3 gives guidance on the quantification and description of maintenance works for the purpose of preparing initial order of cost estimate). Otherwise, the content of the new table is as published in CIBSE Guide M. This table is important to the industry as it provides an industry consensus view of common data classifications for all building engineering services, bringing together, as discussed CIBSE Guide M, RICS (NRM 1 and 3) and BESAs SFG20 data standards. This common data classification may be used by clients, facilities managers and contractors to provide the structured asset information needed for the implementation of building information management (BIM) and effective data exchange during the operational phase of asset life. Such data can support a number of key applications, including: Project handover to operations and maintenance Basis for tendering maintenance and renewal works Asset inventory for setting up maintenance registers Asset structure for condition surveying Asset structure for life-cycle renewal planning Setting up computer maintenance management systems, often known as CAFM/asset management systems Asset information modelling for BIM projects throughout the asset life-cycle (to provide 5D and 6D to 3D and BIM modelling) Facilitates data sharing and exchanging data throughout the asset life-cycle at various stages and levels of detail, for example product data templates. The revised table should be viewed as the current version for use with CIBSE Guide M. The original (2014) version is still available, and will be the version cited in many existing documents relating to ongoing contracts. Therefore, it will continue to be available to support enquiries relating to those existing arrangements. The updated life expectancy table fully aligns CIBSE reference service life data, with SFG20 maintenance codes, and to NRM 1 and 3 asset descriptions and coding for building engineering services assets. It also incorporates additional SFG20 maintenance task schedules and SFG20 codes from 2014 to 2018. 32 January 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jan20 pp32-33 FM tables.indd 32 20/12/2019 15:25