37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 825MANAGER OF HOUSING CONDOMINIUM. ACONTRIBUTION TO MINIMIZE PROBLEMS ARISINGFROM MULTI-FAMILY BUILDINGSCalejo Rodrigues R., Brandão R.GUEQUALTEC, Department of Civil EngineeringPorto University, Faculty of Engineeringe-mail: calejo@fe.up.ptKey words: building maintenance, building management, residential condominiumsAbstractLike a human being, a building ages and develops physical and functional maladies. Unlike ahuman being, a building doesn't have a general practitioner, exerting its influence in aprophylactic and healing manner. Consequently, buildings develop a tendency to age in ahastily and "unhealthy" fashion. Though healing processes are aimed at solving technical andeconomical problems, in housing condominiums social problems are of central importance.Management systems currently developed generally forget the central role of the buildingmanager in addressing these social problems.This document will undertake a discussion over the recurring and quotidian problems inmulti-family residential buildings, identifying the need to institute its Manager - dubbed theHousing Condominiums Manager - HCM - as a specialized person responsible for handlingthe complexity generated by buildings of this type.Basic principles for guiding the manager's efforts are laid out and the conclusion that theexistence of this manager is crucial to an efficient operation of this type of buildingthroughout its useful life.Being a relatively new area, and in view of the numerous issues left unaddressed, somesuggestions for further study on the subject are given37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 288