Maintaining Building Services - The Fundamentals

An introduction course on how to run and maintain building services successfully to improve performance. Anyone who has facilities or premises management responsibility but who has little or no formal operation and maintenance training will benefit from this course.

      • 16 September 2026 - 9:30am16th & 17th Sep 2026 1 day online (as 2 x 0.5Days) 9:30 - 12:30 each day, 6 CPD Hours
      • Delegate(s): £470.00
      • Online
      • 17 February 2027 - 9:30am17th & 18th Feb 2027 1 day online (as 2 x 0.5 days) 9:30 - 12:30 each day, 6 CPD Hours
      • Delegate(s): £470.00
      • Online

In-Company Training available on this course

Train with BSRIA specialists at your offices or another venue.

Overview

Building services play a vital role in ensuring workplaces remain safe, healthy, and efficient. As individuals step into new or recently‑promoted roles within facilities or building management, developing a solid understanding of these services becomes increasingly important. This course offers a clear and accessible introduction to the fundamental principles that underpin hard services and how they contribute to the overall performance of a building.

Designed for those who may be new to technical building operations, the course provides a supportive pathway into the core elements of mechanical, electrical, and public health systems. It highlights how these systems should be operated and maintained, and how they interact to support the wider needs of an organisation.

This introductory programme will guide you through key plant systems and point you toward useful resources to strengthen your technical confidence. It also explores best‑practice strategies, processes, and techniques for the effective operation and maintenance of building services, helping you enhance your capabilities and support improved performance within the built environment.

"I enjoyed the course as it gave me a general idea of what goes into property services and how everything fits together. I liked that there were resources recommended for further information and overall had a positive experience" - Elisha Villacastel, North Yorkshire Council

"Course provider was great to gather insight into what we were interested in learning at the start of the course and was able to tailor some content to meet our specific needs. I found this flexibility to be really beneficial as I felt supported throughout" - Tania Lopez, London Fire Brigade

Learning aims

  • Build a clear understanding of the key hard FM services—mechanical, electrical and public health—and how they integrate with wider facilities management responsibilities.
  • Develop the confidence to engage effectively with technical teams, contractors and stakeholders by learning essential terminology, system functions and maintenance requirements.
  • Learn practical, best practice approaches for operating and maintaining building services to ensure safe, compliant and high‑performing workplaces.
  • Strengthen your ability to make informed decisions about building systems, using recognised processes, reference points and maintenance strategies.
  • Gain the foundational knowledge needed to support your transition into a broader FM role or a recent promotion involving greater responsibility for hard services

Who should attend

Anyone who has facilities or premises management responsibility but who has no formal operation and maintenance training will benefit from this course.  You may also be a facilities or office manager with a soft services background, wishing to enhance your hard services knowledge. 

Course content

  • An Introduction to building services:
    • Heating Systems (Combustion, solar thermal, heat transfer, CHP
    • Electrical Systems (Generation and distribution, transformers, fuses and circuit breakers, earthing and bonding)
    • Ventilation (Natural and mechanical, balancing supply and extract)
    • Controls (BMS)
    • Cooling and Air Conditioning (Sensible and latent heat, refrigeration, Fan Coil Units, Air Handling Units, humidity)
  • Maintenance Types:
    • Reactive, predictive and planned maintenance
    • Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM)
    • Business Focused Maintenance (BFM)
    • Mandatory and Statutory Maintenance
    • Legislation and keeping up-to-date
    • Health & safety, safe systems of work and risk management
  • Lifecycle (Managing and strategies)
  • Maintenance strategy (in house / outsourced / hybrid; on site / mobile cover; Performance Contracts
  • Managing & monitoring:
    • Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators
    • Monitoring, information management, dashboards and reporting
    • Computer-aided facilities management (CAFM)
    • Operations and Maintenance upkeep of drawings & records
    • Asset register; parts and stock; critical spares
  • Energy and Utility Savings:
    • Energy policies, audits, usage and benchmarking
    • Energy Performance Certificates, Display Energy Certificates
    • Contracts and budgets

Lecturer

Victoria Glover-Ward

Victoria has extensive knowledge and experience in facilities, energy and performance management.  Read Victoria's full profile.

Course details

1 day course 

6 CPD hrs

BSRIA Certified Course

Please be advised this course requires a minimum of 5 delegates.  Should we receive fewer bookings, BSRIA reserves the right to amend your booking to the next available date.

Maintenance Contracts: A guide to best practice for procurement (BG 66/2016)

This guide is aimed at helping clients, facilities managers and their organisations to understand better the key success factors in procuring maintenance contracts.

BSRIA Foundation Training Programme

This course is available through the BSRIA Foundation Programme

Product details

  • Publisher: BSRIA