Riddell PM is a UK market leading consultancy firm offering a wide range of Building O&M Manual documentation products and innovative Digital Information Systems.
Our experience covers several industry sectors, including Building Construction, Water Supply & Treatment, Manufacturing, Airports & Railways Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Finance & Banking, Healthcare, Education and Sports & Leisure. We have a proud reputation built up over 30 years for our high quality, professional work and our excellent customer service. Our accreditation to ISO 9001 underlines our commitment to continuous improvement with special focus on quality and establishing lasting customer relationships.
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Operation and Maintenance Manuals should not be confused with the Health and Safety File for a building. The O&M Manuals are entirely different documents and are created for a different purpose.
All construction projects in the UK are regulated by the Construction Design Management Regulations 2015 and one outcome of these regulations is a requirement for the Health & Safety File to be produced for all new building construction Projects.
The Health and Safety File is normally produced by the Principal Designer but depending on circumstances can be by the Principal Contractor. The H&S File must contain information about the new building construction undertaken and which is likely to be needed to ensure the Health and Safety of persons carrying out any subsequent work in the future, such as maintenance, cleaning, refurbishment or demolition.
The Health & Safety File will always make references to the Building O&M Manuals, where this is required to advice building owners and occupiers where they will find key information about the operation and maintenance of their new buildings.
The purpose and content of the O&M Manuals are described in the sections that follow.
O&M Manual Template - The first stage of the process is to have a clear understanding of the requirements of the Contract Preliminaries Clauses, which cover the O&M Manuals content. Using this specification the O&M Manual Template can be drafted, being careful to ensure all aspects of the specification are covered. This part of the process will also require reference being made to the Building Services specification.
Before processing to the production stage of the O&M Manuals, the template should be approved by the Principal Contractor's Client and their Advisors.
Draft O&M Manual - The O&M Manual whether this covers Building Fabric, Mechanical Services or Electrical Services will when complete contain large volumes of important information and data which will be required by the owner or occupier during the lifetime of a building or facility.
The process for production of a draft O&M Manual will require the Technical Author to gather and obtain many different types of information such as drawings, certificates, design statements, guarantees, warranties, manufacturer’s literature, and contact details for all those involved in the construction, statutory documentation and reports.
It takes a significant period of time to complete the O&M production process and this should not be underestimated. The best approach is to start the process at the beginning, instead of the end, of the construction period which can often be the perception of those not familiar with the time that should be allowed. Typically an Operation and Maintenance Manual will contain the following:
The copies of the draft O&M Manual should be made available to the Principal Contractor progressively during the construction period and the final draft O&M Manual should be at least 75% complete and issued for formal review and comment a minimum of 4 weeks before practical completion/ handover of the construction project. Comments should be available to the Technical Author a week after the draft is issued. It is good practice to issue a 50% 1st draft, when this milestone has been achieved.
Final O&M Manual - Production of the final O&M Manual can be a testing time for Technical Authors as it usually during the final few months of a construction project that the final commissioning works take place and the as-built or final construction drawings are produced.
Agreeing and achieving accurate delivery dates for as-built drawings with Architects, Structural Engineers and Subcontractors is essential to successful completion of the final O&M’s by the contract handover date.
The programme of delivery dates should first of all be promoted by the Technical Author but should be facilitated via the Principal Contractor. The time to agree this programme of as-built drawing delivery dates is early in the construction process. The Pre-start meeting is not too early.
Completed final O&M Manuals should be delivered to the Principal Contractor no later than the date of handover of the building or facility
Defects Period - A typical construction project will be handed over at Practical Completion and will provide the new owners with a 12 month defect liability period to fix any issues which may arise with the building. For our Clients peace of mind, Riddell PM also provide 12 months of reassurance that we will correct any issues with the O&M Manuals we have produced and issued.
The owners and occupiers of new and existing buildings will always have a requirement for well written Operation and Maintenance Manuals which will advise and inform the Facilities Managers and Maintenance Technicians how to operate and maintain the new or refurbished building safely and efficiently.
To facilitate this, construction contracts for new or refurbished buildings and other structures normally place an obligation on the Principal Contractor carrying out the works to provide the Building Owner with a series of detailed Operation and Maintenance Manuals or O&M Manuals as they are widely referred to, at the handover of the building.
It is usual that the Principal Contractor will employ a firm of Technical Authors to prepare the templates and to write the content for these O&M Manuals. In modern buildings the increase in complexity of building design and the mechanical and electrical services which are used to operate the building emphasise the need for accurate, and well documented, Operation and Maintenance Manuals.
The documentation which is handed over by the Principal Contractor at completion and will usually include:-
Surprising though it may seem, it is still very common to be sifting through a Contract Specification which asks for 2 or 3 hard copy sets of O&M Manuals being printed and produced in white plastic ring-binder folders. In an era where the population of the country spends an inordinate amount of time clicking their way through endless websites it does seem odd that paper copy manuals continue to be in demand.
The Riddell view is to challenge the need for paper copies and to provide our Clients with Pyramid, a quick, efficient, digital navigation O&M system to find your way to the drawing or test certification you are looking for. With multiple back-up systems, your digital O&M Manuals can be accessed on your server, computer, tablet or phone. Your data can be retrieved by the Maintenance Engineer whilst on the job or by the office based Manager who wishes to communicate.
When 2 or 3 hard copies have been specified, we stand by Pyramid for reliability and security. Copies of your O&Ms can be obtained from us at any time during the working day or night via the internet, on the Cloud or by accessing our secure storage.
There is also the challenge of trying to obtaining hard copy data from Sub-Contractors and Work Package Contractors. If you are very fortunate you may get a single hard copy from them, more often that not you will be printing at the 11th hours and at times beyond this time of night in preparing the final hard copy documentation.
Another area is to make sure about hard copy drawings from Architects and Structural Engineers and other parties responsible for design.
Experienced O&M Company - When you appoint Riddell PM you will be supported by one of the leading O&M Manual consultancy firms in the UK bringing a depth of knowledge and years of experience to assist and support your project management team.
O&M Manual Procedures - Our O&M Manual procedures developed over many years are a vital part to our organisation’s systems allowing us to consistently deliver high quality Products and Services. These procedures are built on sound project management principles and knowledge to ensure our Products and Services are 100% delivered on time, 100% complete and snag free.
Leadership in O&M Manual Services – We provide our Clients with a leading role in O&M Manual production, guiding, advising and informing you continuously from the pre-start meeting where we will agree programme of delivery and the communication process to the delivery of final documentation at the Handover date of your project and beyond.
ISO 9001 Quality Systems in Operation - ISO 9001 is based on the plan-do-check-act methodology and provides a process-oriented approach to documenting and reviewing the structure, responsibilities, and procedures required to achieve effective quality management in an organization. Specific sections of the standard contain information on topics such as:
Pyramid Digital Building Manual – In an age when printing O&M Manuals should be a thing of the past, making way for web-based electronic O&M Manual systems our Pyramid Digital Building Manual provides you with the means to eliminate the need for hard copy documents whilst making substantial cost savings for your Client. Pyramid brings many advantages including:-