A method for strategic technical life cycle management of real estates

This research study focuses on the strategic technical life cycle management (TLCM) of real estates. In the early phases of the study it became clear that very often the performance of TLCM was not perceived as satisfactory: there were problems in the purchasing and provision of technical services, TLCM was not performed according to real estate specific needs and objective-setting for building characteristics did not serve cost-effective ownership. The study focuses on four research questions. First research question was: What is the status of TLCM processes in the real estate sector? What are the underlying theories, key concepts, methods and tools in the real estate sector; and TLCM practices and how do they reflect this body of knowledge; and how is the performance of TLCM perceived by the stakeholders? The aim was to establish whether there was a solid foundation of appropriate theories, key concepts and methods for TLCM, and approached this through a literature review and interview studies. Another aim of this preliminary phase was to define the appropriate scientific approach for the study and refine the further research questions. There were two possibilities for the second research question: Assuming that there is a solid foundation of appropriate theories, key concepts and methods for TLCM, how can they be successfully deployed? And assuming that there is no solid foundation, can such a foundation be developed and deployed with success? In the beginning of the study, it was not clear if there even was a theoretical background and therefore both hermeneutic and constructive approaches were possible depending on the results obtained in elaborating the first research question. In this study first the research problem and questions are presented. Then the possible research methodologies and strategies are explored. Also the preliminary phase of the study whose objective was to find a suitable method for solving the problems and answering the research questions was presented in the beginning of the research. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)