Shared Facilities Services

What are Shared Facilities?

Large buildings with multiple strata plans will often have common facilities, that are shared amongst strata plans, such as the entrance/foyer, car parking areas, plant and equipment, amongst other things. Usually, maintaining shared assets can be a big confusing task as registered facilities can vary in use and scope over the buildings life-cycle. That’s where our range of shared facilities services come into play!

Shared Facilities Register

The Shared Facilities Register outlines and details the shared facilities within a development. This register serves as a reference for stakeholders to understand what facilities are jointly owned or used. The items detailed in the register are shared facility number, shared facility description and detail, location, and members benefited.

We offer:

• Register Creation: before the registration of the Strata Management Statement, a list of shared facilities that reflect what has been built, which facilities belong to which lots, and their anticipated use, needs to be prepared by a registered quantity surveyor or building consultant like Archi-QS. We have the knowledge and expertise to ensure the full scope of facilities are captured and detailed separating elements that require specific consideration to reflect anticipated use.
• Register Review: once a building is well into occupancy and shared facility use is well established, the original register often requires review. All stakeholders can experience confusion and disputes where shared facilities are missing, don’t exist, inadequately described, as to the inclusions and exclusions, or listed in confusing sequences that don’t match what is on site. A regular review enables the shared facilities to reflect actual use and scope. This enables better facility management and reduces unnecessary tensions and disputes.

Ultimately, the purpose of the shared facilities register is to provide transparency and clarity regarding the management and utilisation of shared resources within a development, and we at Archi-QS are well equipped to help.

Allocation of Costs Reports

Building Management Committees often encounter disputes over the allocation of funds for maintaining shared facilities, especially when certain variables such as use and scope are not well established. The Allocation of Costs Schedule accompanies the Shared Facilities Register and distributes the percentages of funds per strata plan based on use and merit.

We offer:

• Creation of an Allocation of Costs Schedule: in addition to the shared facilities register as part of the Strata Management Statement, it’s essential to provide the allocation of costs schedule for strata registration. This schedule allocates the percentage of funds that each strata plan must contribute to maintain each shared facility. Methods are tailored to each shared facility according to its anticipated use, location, size, access, integration with its built environment, and many other factors.
• Review of an existing Allocation of Costs Schedule: the Strata Schemes Development Act No. 51 requires that a review process is carried out to ensure that the allocation of those costs remains fair, with any such review taking place as soon as practicable after any change in the shared facilities or services (including any change in the use of those shared facilities or services) or within at least every 5 years if no such change has occurred.

Through our experience, regular review of the cost allocations has assisted in the more accurate and fair distribution of funds between each strata plan. This furthermore, enables amicable discussions and quells tensions between the Building Management Committee and when it comes to the upkeep of their shared facilities.

Shared Facilities Mapping

A common hurdle when maintaining shared facilities is that their location is unknown or confused with other assets. This can lead to facilities not being maintained or inadequately maintained, and inaccurate funds being distributed to the wrong assets.

The Shared Facility Mapping provides colour co-ordinated maps overlaid on the existing architectural plans or strata plans of every level identifying the location of each shared facility. This enables all stakeholders to easily identify and maintain shared facilities throughout the building life-cycle.

Adding New Shared Facilities

Archi-QS reports can simplify the process of adding new shared facilities to the shared facilities register, ensuring fair cost distribution. Our reports are invaluable resources, adapted to your specific needs and can be solicited at any point during your project’s life-cycle. We can tailor our reports to provide cost allocation options based on readily available information, expenditure limitations, access restrictions and the likes, to enable the Building Management Committee to have amicable discussions that can lead to dispute resolution surrounding the addition of new facilities.

Why Choose Us?

• Rational, unbiased reports.
• Flexibility in engaging with stakeholders to ensure each item satisfies the interests of all parties without compromising the integrity of the assessment.
• Competitive Fees.
• Over three decades of strata experience.
• Exceptional client service with established relationships with industry peers.
• Non-intrusive site inspections.

How to Get a Quote?

For a personalised quote, simply email us at admin@archi-qs.com.au with a copy of the strata plans.