Reviews commissioning as the hinge between construction and use, evolution in maintenance thinking and the relationship between the building and the people who occupy it, reliability-centred maintenance, including time as a basis for maintenance, seven questions that are at the heart of setting policies, and a procedure for implementation, and the design/commissioning/maintenance link.

KEYWORDS: commissioning, building management, construction, operations, maintenance, buildings, occupiers, reliability, designing, risk assessment, case studies, UK.