Singapore Buildings Before CORENET X: Prepare AI-Ready Operations with Design-for-Maintainability Data

Turn maintainable design, structured handover records and asset data into a practical foundation for smarter facility operations.

For many building owners, predictive maintenance sounds like a sensor project. Install devices, collect readings and use artificial intelligence to identify equipment problems before failure.

In practice, the foundation is usually less visible: maintainable equipment layouts, clear access information, consistent asset identifiers, usable handover records and a digital register that facility teams can trust.

This is why Singapore’s Design for Maintainability direction is relevant to both new projects and existing buildings undergoing refurbishment. It connects upstream design and construction decisions with downstream facility management outcomes. With the CORENET X submission milestone approaching, owners and FM teams have a timely opportunity to improve the quality of operational information before trying to automate maintenance.

Why Design for Maintainability matters to operations

Design for Maintainability, or DfM, considers how safely, efficiently and practically building systems can be inspected, serviced, repaired and eventually replaced. It encourages project teams to look beyond installation and ask how a system will perform during its full operating life.

Examples include:

• Providing suitable access to equipment, valves, filters, panels and inspection points.
• Allowing sufficient working space for maintenance activities and component replacement.
• Reducing difficult or high-risk access arrangements where practical.
• Making equipment locations, service routes and isolation points easy to understand.
• Recording maintainability decisions so they remain available to the operations team.

BCA’s July 2026 study reported that Design for Maintainability measures can reduce maintenance man-days and support lifecycle savings. The operational benefit is not limited to lower effort. Better access and clearer information can also help teams plan work more consistently, reduce avoidable troubleshooting and improve the quality of maintenance records.

What CORENET X changes for project information

According to BCA’s announcement, from 1 October 2026, new projects with a gross floor area of 5,000 square metres and above will be required to submit through CORENET X. This creates a practical reason for developers, owners, consultants and contractors to review how project information is structured and transferred.

CORENET X should not be treated only as a submission milestone. For building owners, it is also a prompt to consider whether information created during design and construction can support future operations.

A compliant or complete submission does not automatically produce an effective FM database. Operational teams still need information that is relevant, consistent and accessible in the format they use. The project brief should therefore define the information required for maintenance, not just the information required for design coordination or approval.

From digital handover to an AI-ready asset register

AI-assisted work orders and predictive maintenance depend on reliable inputs. Before introducing automation, an owner should be able to answer basic questions for every maintainable asset:

• What is the asset, and what function does it serve?
• Where is it located, including building, floor, room or zone?
• Which system does it belong to?
• What are its manufacturer, model, capacity and serial details, where available?
• What maintenance tasks, frequencies and safety controls apply?
• Which drawings, manuals, warranties, test records and commissioning documents are related to it?
• Who is responsible for inspection, servicing, escalation and approval?

These fields do not need to be complex to be useful. The priority is consistency. An air-handling unit should not have one name in a drawing, another in a spreadsheet and a third in a work-order system. Asset identifiers, location descriptions and equipment categories should be agreed early and retained through handover.

A practical digital handover package may include an asset register, equipment schedules, maintainability information, approved drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, commissioning records, inspection requirements and links to relevant documents. The exact information required will depend on the project and building systems, but the principle is clear: handover data should help the next person operate and maintain the building.

A practical checklist for owners and FM teams

1. Define the operational use case

Start with the decisions the FM team needs to make. Is the priority faster work-order creation, better preventive maintenance planning, fewer repeat faults, improved contractor coordination or earlier warning of equipment deterioration? A clear use case prevents the project from collecting large volumes of information that nobody uses.

2. Identify maintainable assets and critical systems

Prioritise equipment that affects safety, business continuity, comfort, production or statutory operations. Include major mechanical, electrical, fire protection, vertical transportation and other relevant systems according to the building’s needs. Criticality should be agreed with operations, not assumed from equipment cost alone.

3. Review access and replacement routes

Ask whether technicians can reach inspection points safely and whether major components can be removed or replaced without disproportionate disruption. Review plantrooms, ceiling spaces, risers, rooftops, loading areas and service routes. Record constraints that the operations team will need to manage.

4. Standardise the asset data model

Agree naming conventions, unique identifiers, location fields, equipment categories and minimum data fields. Decide which documents must be linked to each asset. This creates a more dependable base for dashboards, mobile inspections, automated work orders and future AI applications.

5. Make handover acceptance operational

Do not wait until project close-out to discover missing information. Review sample asset records during design, procurement, installation and commissioning. Test whether FM staff can find an asset, understand its maintenance requirements and access the associated documentation.

6. Plan for sensors and integrations carefully

Not every asset needs a sensor. First confirm that the equipment identity, location, operating context and maintenance history are reliable. Then assess whether existing building management systems, meters, controllers or new sensors can provide useful data. Sensor-ready operations means having a clear place for the data and a process for acting on it.

For existing buildings and refurbishments

Older buildings may not have complete digital records, consistent naming or accessible maintenance history. That should not prevent improvement. An FM team can begin with a structured asset verification exercise: compare drawings and schedules with site conditions, confirm equipment identities, capture locations and document access constraints.

The next step can be a focused data-cleaning or digitalisation project rather than a full technology replacement. Existing work orders, inspection forms and contractor reports can be reviewed for reusable information. Where gaps remain, the owner can prioritise the assets with the greatest operational impact.

This approach is especially useful for SMEs and multi-site operators that need measurable progress without launching a large transformation programme. A well-maintained core asset register is often more valuable than a complex platform populated with unreliable records.

Preparing for AI-assisted maintenance

AI can help classify work requests, suggest probable causes, identify recurring faults, prioritise tasks and highlight unusual operating patterns. However, the quality of those outputs depends on the quality of the source information and the discipline of the maintenance process.

Before deploying AI, confirm that work orders use consistent fault descriptions, assets are correctly identified, actions and outcomes are recorded, and human staff remain responsible for verification and safety decisions. AI should support technicians and managers, not replace engineering judgement or required controls.

For Singapore building owners, the opportunity is to connect DfM, CORENET X readiness and digital operations as one lifecycle conversation. Better maintainability can reduce avoidable effort. Better handover data can improve daily FM work. Together, they create a stronger foundation for practical automation and future predictive maintenance.

How ISS can help

ISS supports businesses in reviewing engineering and facility-management information, structuring asset data and identifying practical opportunities for AI automation and digital services. The starting point may be a new development, refurbishment, existing-building audit or a specific maintenance workflow.

Contact ISS to discuss your engineering, facility management or AI automation requirements.