Adaptation of design-for-maintainability factors for green walls in green buildings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

A Green Wall (GW) is an important green infrastructure element due to its numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits. However, in the Sri Lankan context, maintenance effectiveness of GW is often not adequately considered during the design stage. Poor maintenance practices and design-related maintenance challenges adversely affect a building's long-term sustainability and performance. Therefore, the Design for Maintainability (DfM) concept needs to be integrated from the early design stages of the GW to enhance maintainability, operational efficiency, and long-term environmental perfor-mance. This explores the adaptation of key factors that integrate DfM in the Green Wall System (GWS) within green certified buildings in Sri Lanka. A two-stage methodology was adopted. First, a comprehen-sive literature review was conducted to identify primary DfM factors, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 experts to demonstrate the challenges of the GW maintenance in Sri Lanka. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interview data, and expert responses were systematically con-verted into relative importance values to develop radar charts for factor comparison. The study identified five primary DfM factors applicable to the GW: structural, safety, cost, compliance, and environment, and secondary factors related to the GW. These insights provide valuable guidance for industry professionals to improve the design effectiveness and maintainability of GWs in Sri Lanka.