Centralised operation of residential buildings: a case study of the old Budapest

Abstract

With the age of Big Data in Facility Management, new systems of centralised operation are now available. How do those systems meet inhabitants’ requirements? As a case study from the past, socialist Budapest provides 40 years of experience for developers of new building operation systems. Budapest’s residential housing stock was operated by a single mega organisation, one centralised, state-owned company. The author has researched historical Budapest records of building operation from 1950 to 1985, gathering data on the resources used for maintenance and renovation. In parallel, data were gathered on customer satisfaction based on selected local daily publications. Under Hungarian Socialism, the residential segment and housing was a topic about which the public had limited opportunities to voice their criticism. This criticism appeared in various forms: letters to the editor, jokes and journalist reports. The housing stock, the applied resources and inhabitants’ opinions were analysed together in order to identify trends in the period of centralised operation. The study may be used as a significant input for new, intelligent systems of centralised Facility Management; however, the study’s applicability may be limited as the political context changes