ABSTRACT

The use of project information manuals is not a new idea for there have been very good examples available for many years. However in the 1970’s there was a new awareness of the volume of housing stock requiring continual upkeep not only in the United Kingdom but elsewhere in Europe. (1)

The author became aware of the discrepancy when taking part in a Scottish Federation of Housing Associations workshop on maintenance practices and planning. The purpose of the workshop was to aid the development of planned maintenance programmes by the members of the SFHA. In the summing up session at the end of the day it became apparent that a lack of knowledge of the owned stock of houses was the greatest barrier to its proper upkeep. From these discussions the Federation set up a working party to develop a suitable manual which all its members could use and this was published in 1987 (2)

2 The Structure of the Project Information Manual

The manuals structure is based on seven sections which deal with information to do with the design and construction of the housing project.