Glossary Glossary 2026-06-09
What is planned preventative maintenance (PPM)?
Planned preventative maintenance (PPM) is a proactive approach to maintaining building systems and assets through scheduled inspections, servicing, and repairs.
Rather than waiting for equipment to fail, PPM ensures assets are maintained at regular intervals to keep them operating safely and efficiently.
Why PPM matters
PPM is essential for:
For complex estates, PPM helps shift maintenance from reactive to planned, reducing both risk and long-term costs.
What does PPM include?
Typical PPM activities include:
- Routine inspections of equipment and systems
- Servicing HVAC, electrical, and mechanical systems
- Testing safety systems (e.g. fire alarms, emergency lighting)
- Replacing worn components before failure
Schedules are often aligned with standards such as SFG20.
PPM in practice
PPM programmes are usually tailored to the specific building and asset profile, using:
- Asset registers
- Maintenance schedules
- Compliance requirements
- Performance data
Modern PPM increasingly uses digital tools and real-time data to optimise maintenance frequency and effectiveness.
Frequently asked questions
PPM stands for planned preventative maintenance.
In facilities management, PPM refers to scheduled maintenance activity that is carried out to reduce the risk of asset failure, improve reliability and support compliance.
Planned preventative maintenance works by scheduling inspections, servicing and repairs before equipment breaks down.
Maintenance tasks are planned around the building’s systems, asset register, compliance requirements and performance data. This helps organisations identify issues early and reduce the likelihood of unexpected failures.
Planned preventative maintenance is important because it helps reduce unexpected breakdowns, extend asset lifespan, maintain compliance with UK regulations and minimise operational disruption.
For complex estates, PPM helps organisations move from reactive maintenance to a more planned and controlled approach, reducing risk and supporting long-term cost management.
SFG20 is a recognised standard used to help define maintenance schedules for building services.
In the context of PPM, SFG20 can help organisations align maintenance activities with industry good practice, compliance requirements and asset-specific maintenance needs.
PPM usually covers building systems and assets such as HVAC, electrical systems, mechanical systems, fire alarms, emergency lighting, building fabric and other safety or operationally critical equipment.
The exact scope depends on the building type, asset profile, compliance requirements and operational priorities.
Organisations should use planned preventative maintenance when they need to maintain critical assets, reduce operational risk, support compliance and improve cost predictability.
PPM is especially valuable for complex estates, operational buildings and environments where equipment failure could cause disruption, safety issues or increased costs.