LAUSR

Abstract This article tackles how to select an adequate maintenance strategy for public buildings by using novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models to validate their appropriateness for sustainable practices. The new innovation is the unique advantage of fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) to consider the design requirements for public buildings. The stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA), weighted additive sum product assessment (WASPAS), fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) and the additive ratio assessment (ARAS) are competently integrated. Questionnaire data from a public building was used to evaluate and order the criteria in the rehabilitation exercise. The principal results are: For environmental and social criteria, the most and least suitable maintenance strategies are condition-based (S3) and preventive maintenance (S1) strategies, respectively. The most and least suitable maintenance strategies are corrective maintenance (S4) and S1 (ARAS), S4 and S1 (FAD), S1 and S3 (weighted additive method), respectively. Based on the aggregated criteria and the solution methods, the most suitable order for the case study maintenance strategies is S2>S1>S3>S4. This study shifts attention to MCDM from the old literature perspectives of risks and life-cycle methods in the strategic choice of maintenance for public buildings.