Listen to the blog
Best-Hall’s Maintenance Manager Yngve Nyholm knows that a well-maintained steel structure lasts almost forever. By developing fabric replacement and other life-cycle services, the maintenance department has been able to provide many buildings with a good deal more years of service.
While a steel-structured building is virtually maintenance-free in itself, it is not immune to dents or ageing. Thus, Best-Hall’s maintenance department is mainly occupied with modification needs related to changes in the use of the building and various damage repairs.
“Typically, the damage has been caused by a forklift truck or lorry hitting a steel beam or breaking the fabric. The most common modifications are those where the client wants to optimise the space by changing the position of the doors or lengthening the building. Replacing the cladding fabric has also become more common in recent years,” says Yngve Nyholm, who has been in charge of maintenance at Best-Hall since 2019.
Nyholm views maintenance, and thereby his own role, as a way of enhancing the life-cycle value of a building investment.
“Maintenance and the timely repair of any damage can extend the life cycle and service life of a building by dozens of years. Large companies have clearly woken up to the need to not only increase the service life of their investments, but also to ensure safety, so they want to repair even small dents in the structures immediately.”
Developing a new service
Yngve Nyholm started his career at Best-Hall in 2005, working on factory load calculation. Gradually, as the demand for repair and modification services began to grow, his job description was extended to include maintenance-related tasks. A few years ago, maintenance was made a separate service in the Best-Hall offering and Nyholm became its driving force.
The maintenance team is still small but can be expanded as needed: in addition to Nyholm, the maintenance team includes two full-time installers who, in practice, carry out the planned modifications and repairs in the clients’ buildings.
Anticipation increases demand for maintenance services
In addition to a growing awareness of environmental and safety issues, Nyholm thinks that there is a natural need to bolster the maintenance service.
“Since the 1970s, Best-Hall buildings have been built at an accelerating rate in 50 countries around the world. The growing number of buildings also increases the need for maintenance. We have also made an effort to raise awareness of possibilities such as replacing the fabric, so that owners of older buildings know that, after the 30-year optimum service life of the fabric, they can renew their building simply by replacing the cladding.”
The latest maintenance service is condition assessment. Sometimes the assessment is required by the building control authorities, such as when renewing or transferring a building permit, but more and more owners are also interested in having the condition of their building assessed.
“Companies investing in safety want to anticipate and ensure the condition of their structures after a harsh winter, for example. Also, if a company has bought a plot of land with an existing Best-Hall warehouse or is considering buying a second-hand building, it will want to have the condition and repair needs of the building assessed.”
