The Christmas shutdown is when buildings fail

A burst pipe on a Tuesday in March is a job. The same burst on 27 December is a flooded floor plate, because nobody walks that corridor for nine days and the water runs the whole time. Almost everything expensive that happens to a building over winter happens in the shutdown, and the reason is not the weather — it is that the weather arrives while the building is empty.

The groundwork for the season is in seasonal maintenance planning. This is about the specific fortnight when the heating setback meets an empty building.

Setback is the decision that causes the damage

Turning the heating down over a shutdown is sensible and it is where the risk is created. Pipework in roof voids, risers and unheated plant rooms was protected by the building being warm; drop the setback too far and it is protected by frost protection, trace heating and insulation instead — three things nobody has looked at since last winter.

This is a building management system decision rather than a facilities one in most buildings, and it is worth making deliberately. What temperature, in which zones, with which exceptions, and who can see that the plant is still running if it fails. A BMS with two hundred standing alarms cannot tell anybody that the one that matters has just appeared.

Water systems do not like an empty building

Low occupancy changes the risk profile of a water system, and so does the return from it. Outlets that nobody has run for a fortnight are exactly the ones a flushing regime exists for, and the regime assumed a building in normal use. Water hygiene is covered properly in the legionella risk assessment cycle; the shutdown-specific point is that the period needs planning for in both directions.

Whoever is covering the period needs to know which outlets are on the regime and why, and the return needs its own plan rather than being absorbed into the first busy week back.

What to walk before the gate closes

A pre-shutdown walk is cheap and it is the last look anybody takes for a fortnight. The building condition inspection is the right structure, and the items that matter are the ones weather acts on:

• –Gutters, downpipes and hoppers — blocked rainwater goods are the commonest single cause of winter water damage
• –Roof coverings, flashings and anything loose that a gale can lift
• –Frost protection and trace heating — energised, indicating healthy, and covering the pipework that is actually exposed
• –External doors, windows and anything that will let weather in once it is left alone
• –Drainage, gullies and interceptors — clear before the heaviest rain rather than after
• –Plant rooms, risers and roof plant — the places that are not on anybody's route even when the building is full

The last one is the one that earns the walk. Behind locked doors is where deterioration goes unobserved all year, and a shutdown simply extends the interval.

The compliance clock keeps running

Statutory inspections falling due over the break do not move themselves. A lift examination, a pressure system, a fire alarm service or an emergency lighting test scheduled into the shutdown either happens with somebody there to provide access, or it slips — and a slipped statutory item is a different category of problem from a slipped discretionary one.

This is the practical value of recording where each frequency comes from rather than just the date. Looking at a PPM schedule in November, you want to be able to see at a glance which of the December visits is a statutory examination and which is a manufacturer's recommendation, because only one of those can be moved on your own authority. The distinction is covered in statutory inspections for facilities teams.

Contractors in an empty building

Quiet buildings are when disruptive work gets scheduled, which means contractors on site with fewer people around and often out of hours. The permit to work does more here than usual: it is the thing that records who isolated the fire detection for hot work, and — the half that matters — who restored it before leaving.

Make sure whoever is on call actually knows what is booked. A security guard finding an unfamiliar van at nine at night should be able to check it against a list rather than make a judgement.