Facilities management journal april 2015

ISSN 2071-9299

APRIL 2015 JFM No 116

jFM Journal of Facilities Management

retail, business, transport, medical, correctional, sports, hospitality, conference, educational, recreational, residential

EAT OR BE EATEN

SURVIVOR! – You could spot business bleeding before rescue SURVIVOR! – Seeing light in energy crisis

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Terry Owen

Editor: Terry Owen terry@fmexpo.org

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Grrrrrrrr…….. that darn grid!!

T

he two major themes in this month’s issue are business rescue and the power crisis, and they could in certain circumstances be interlinked.

We can’t escape the crisis…it’s affecting everything and everyone. Of particular concern is the way it’s affecting business and how much is being lost in revenue and the way that investment is being affected – who wants to invest in a country that has continuous rolling blackouts, with no light at the end of the tunnel for the foreseeable future?

How we got to this point is open to endless debate, and lots of finger pointing, but that’s not going to help our position now. What we have is a crisis of note and, as I’ve said, not much hope in our grid for the future. There are, however, certain measures that have been put in place in the forms of renewable energy (solar, wind, cogeneration and more) but it’s going to take some time to get that power in sufficient quantity to do any national good.

What is great is that there are many renewable energy projects springing up all around the country, especially with solar, which should be much bigger in a country with virtually unlimited sunshine all year round. Is it too little too late?

I don’t think so, because the pace of installation is powering ahead at an amazing pace.

Come 10 years or so, if South Africa is not solar heaven then I don’t know.

Many businesses have gone big time into their own energy production. Generators are playing a huge role here. In our article on the power crisis (page 22), we speak about a business in an office park that is operating independently of the grid, thanks to generators and solar, yet it needs the grid for stabilisation.

I think this is one business of many that have gone this route, with others seeking to buy surplus power from that being independently produced.

There is a pertinent point in the article and that is that when the grid is eventually stabilised, there will be so many people operating independently that there will be no need for them to go back on the grid. The rates that will

be charged for electricity then are likely to be so exorbitant (they are heading there at the moment) that there would be absolutely no incentive to rely on the grid for power.

What will happen then I have absolutely no idea, and neither much does anyone else.

It’s a situation that we have never had to deal with, but then neither is the doomsday scenario of a total blackout, from which the country is unlikely to recover. Hopefully, it will never come to that, but it is a situation that is lurking about in a lot of minds, especially those of potential investors. Very frightening, but it has to be considered nonetheless.

In the midst of this crisis, and others swirling around the country, there is hope.

This is truly an incredible place. We always seem to be on the comeback trail, no matter what, and I believe that we will finally emerge better, stronger and able to deal with matters that would throw many other nations. The problem is getting there but we are an innovative lot and have survived many challenges. I really feel that we will survive this as well.

Okay, doom and gloom over. Let’s just talk showtime briefly and lift the spirits here.

The FM Expo and SAFMA conference is around the corner (June 3 & 4) and promises to be the highlight of the year for the industry.

In the May issue we will have a lot more on the show. It’s going to be a great issue.

It’s going to be a great show! Personally, I can’t wait.

The May issue also hosts a big surprise, but I’m going to leave you in suspense about that. All I can say is that I am very excited about the move!

@tex_owen April 2015 jFM

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22

10

16

CONTENTS 10 Is it time for tears?

22 Facing up to power crisis

Stop the bleeding with business rescue

16 Ops in Facilities Space

Problems and Solutions

Regulars Industry Update New products and services

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4 28

We have to learn to manoevre our way around it

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INDUSTRY UPDATE

FATTi leads shopping centres into future Atterbury and Attacq have announced the creation of a new technology company to drive its initiative to best understand consumer behaviour at shopping centres, by engaging with customers through multiple digital media.

The new company is called FATTi, coined by combining the words Wi-Fi and Atterbury, and is managed by Adrian Maguire.

FATTi has deployed a solution that enables site analytics, giving Atterbury and Attacq’s retail property managers an all-round view of shopping centre performance and customer behaviour. This will help it create better shopping experiences, which means happier customers. The result: better customer experiences and better performing shopping malls.

Maguire says: “In simple terms,

Adrian Maguire who heads up the new technology company, FATTi, which is coined by combining the words Wi-Fi and Atterbury.

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Newtown Junction in the Joburg CBD - the first Atterbury mall where the FATTi solution went live in December 2014 and is currently being piloted. never before has it been so easy to connect with specific visitor groupings. Promotions can be targeted at specific audiences, grouped by age, gender, interest, location and even the times they visit a shopping centre. Essentially we are merging the best of retail shopping with the best of online shopping.”

He adds: “We know that it’s more important than ever for retail property professionals to be led by consumer changes. Fierce competition from the Internet and other shopping channels, coupled with the increasing expectation for a memorable shopping experience, means that shopping centres need to do better to succeed. Those that monitor and respond to emerging customer patterns have the best chance of outperforming.”

FATTi’s ground-breaking, cloud-based software, combines information from a wide range of sources, to provide Atterbury an unprecedented 360-degree view of Atterbury’s business.

It also gives a unique insight into untapped opportunities across any single shopping centre, and for Atterbury and Attacq’s entire portfolio of retail properties.

Maguire adds: “By deploying this software or APP, with the necessary hardware through our centres, a broad range of metrics become available to our centre managers. With this, they can quickly calculate immediate priorities for attention, revealing previously unnoticed performance patterns and enabling sharper decisions.”

This is a 100% custom-made solution for Atterbury and Attacq, developed by combining the talents of market leaders in different disciplines to create a single value proposition, which starts and ends with the customer.

The value proposition uses information from a mall’s endusers, to create completely personalised solutions that deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.

Combining the social benefits of the shopping environment and private digital channels, the bricks-and-mortar mall and its retailers, can now effortlessly interact with visitors and potential visitors within the mall catchment area.

Thanks to FATTi, customers at Atterbury and Attacq malls will be the ultimate winners.

These shopping centres

include, among others, Newtown Junction, Garden Route Mall and Lynnwood Bridge Retail.

Retailers at its malls will benefit greatly too. Soon, all Atterbury and Attacq centres will offer retailers the power to unlock more meaningful omnichannel shopping experiences, by seamlessly merging mall and online retail together.

“By allowing visitors to register and download the mall application, Atterbury and Attacq can offer their tenants the true benefit and convenience of loyalty-based promotions, discount tokens, mobile online payment for parking and access to worldclass Wi-Fi. This is a typical package, but benefits can be varied for each shopping centre,” notes Maguire. The APP is optimised for iPhone and Android, with Windows next in line.

Atterbury and Attacq will also see rewards, by ensuring every square metre of its retail space generates the maximum return on investment.

“Attracting visitor volumes simply isn’t enough. With FATTi, we aim to encourage a steady flow of traffic around every area of any centre,” tells Maguire.

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Innovation galore at UK Facilities Show Innovation and inspiration will be core themes of this year’s Facilities Show, taking place at ExCel London from June 16-18 2015.

Delivering unparalleled access to knowledge, innovation and solutions from across the facilities management sector, the event is the highlight of the year for FM professionals.

This year, in partnership with leading UK FM publication Facilities Management Journal (FMJ), Facilities Show will include an innovation trail that will run across the event, highlighting all the latest products and services that have come to market.

Innovation will not stop there.

The Innovation Awards, also in association with FMJ, will highlight the best of the best from the innovation trail at the show, rewarding those products or services that the judges feel truly stand out from the crowd.

Facilities Show recently announced two big names to its Inspirational Speaker Sessions, Baroness Karren Brady CBE and Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE will take to the keynote stage on the Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Baroness Brady is known as the ‘first lady of football’, having become MD of Birmingham

City at the age of just 23 and is also well-known to millions of TV viewers for her role alongside Lord Alan Sugar in The Apprentice. Brady will share anecdotes from her own meteoric rise within the business world, offering plenty of insights and advice for women in business.

Sir Ranulph was described by The Guinness Book of Records in 1984 as “the world’s greatest living explorer”, his session will touch on the importance of agility and how the ability to perform under extreme pressure determines success.

Fergus Bird, Group Event Manager, UBM Live, said: “Innovation was a key theme in all of our research and feedback after the 2014 event so it is with great pleasure that we announce our plans for the Facilities Show 2015, providing leadership and inspiration for this diverse and forward-thinking sector.

“Another element we are really excited about this year is the engagement we have from the Total Facilities Management companies, once again Mitie will be show partners but this year we have already confirmed that CBRE, Vinci Facilities, Bouygues, PHS and Bilfinger will all have significant presence at Facilities Show, highlighting the

significance of the show across the entire FM industry.”

Held in association with British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) along with show partners Mitie and partners The Building Futures Group, The Chartered Institute of Building Service Engineers (CIBSE), FMJ and International Workplace, among others, Facilities Show 2015 will provide three days tailored to the complex and ever-changing needs of facility managers with a comprehensive programme created in consultation with the industry.

Additional educational areas include the BIFM Careers Zone, with a series of advice clinics, workshops and seminars delivered by BIFM in collaboration with management consultants, training organisations and specialist recruiters. Also at the show is the Workplace Interiors Theatre and the Facilities Show Seminar Theatre, hosting a series of case studies and panel sessions designed to provoke debate and challenge assumptions.

Attending Facilities Show in London also gives access to four co-located shows, IFSEC International, FIREX International, Safety and Health Expo and Service Management Expo.

Visitors at last year’s Facilities Show.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, one of the top speakers at the show.

Highlighting alternative energy needs The need for corporate South Africa to move collectively towards alternative energy sources has been highlighted by the recent disruption at Eskom’s multibillion rand flagship power plant, Medupi, where striking workers destroyed property, causing the state-owned utility to fire about 1000 workers.

This is according to Alan Matthews, Divisional Head of Energy Solutions at Energy Partners – a leading energy solutions provider in South Africa, who says that the damage caused to the plant, paired with the potential staff shortage following the layoffs, will most likely lead to an increase in the implementation of load shedding. “Unfortunately for

corporate SA, the utility’s inability to deliver uninterrupted electricity has a massive impact on companies’ annual earnings.”

Government recently announced that load-shedding is costing the economy tens of billions of rands a month, with these losses often going unnoticed because it is ‘revenue not earned’ as opposed to actual financial losses, says Matthews.

He says that in order to minimise the effect of load shedding on revenue streams, alternative energy sources must be utilised strategically. “A combination of generators, together with renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind, can facilitate key business processes during load shedding.”

Matthews says that the nature of renewable energy is irregular as it depends heavily on external sources and storage technology, which is still very expensive in SA. “Energy-efficient buildings are thus usually powered by a combination of grid electricity, generators and green energy sources to ensure the most cost-effective solution. Often, renewable and backup (generator) energy solutions are incorporated into a business’s existing infrastructure as this methodology minimises the risk of business interruption and is the most cost-efficient.”

Many organisations are being left behind in the shift toward energy optimisation, due to a misperception that the implementation costs are very high, he says. “This is not

the case anymore as there are multiple funding options available to assist businesses with the transition, the least risky of which is a gain share agreement. This agreement means an energy solutions provider invests in an organisation and is rewarded only based on results achieved.”

He explains that in the gain share funding models, the energy solutions provider invests in a company’s energy efficiency by funding the solution and assuming responsibility for the operation of the equipment. “Only when savings are realised, the solutions provider is rewarded for its results, meaning the client is cash flow positive from day one.”

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INDUSTRY UPDATE

V&A retailers rewarded The V&A Waterfront hosted its first annual Service Excellence Awards recently, recognising distinction in customer service across retail at the property.

From art, décor and curios to fashion, fast food, and health and beauty, the V&A Waterfront awarded tenants in a variety of categories for their commitment to their patrons and the overall experience of the V&A Waterfront.

The awards were based on the results of a Mystery Shopper Survey conducted by leading shopping centre and property research company, Urban Studies. Commenting on the overall results of the V&A Waterfront study, Urban Studies noted that the average service score for the property was the highest they have encountered by a South African retail property, indicating that the property as a whole can be proud of its service excellence.

“Good, hard work should always be recognised,” says Alex Kabalin, Retail Executive

V&A award winners. at the V&A Waterfront. “Retail at the V&A Waterfront is obviously nothing without our tenants, who are vital to visitors’ overall experience of the V&A Waterfront. We wanted to reward tenants whose customer service was particularly notable for its quality, helpfulness, and commitment to meeting visitors’ needs.”

While naming winners in a number of categories, specialist handbag merchant Lorenzi took home the prize for best overall service excellence, closely followed by French fashion retailer Louis Vuitton and diamond concept store Diamond 27 in second and third places respectively.

“Sales assistants are particularly powerful ambassadors for the V&A Waterfront. We are thrilled to congratulate this year’s winners, who will set the standard for service excellence throughout the property for the year ahead,” says Kabalin.

Partnering dynamics drive Doppio Design Partnership’s long association with restaurant brand Doppio Zero has extended to the eatery’s new store in Hazeldean, Pretoria East.

“While the location is excellent, the site was not conducive to the inviting restaurant vibe Doppio Zero prides itself in and the building envelope had to undergo major structural changes to create a more appealing and engaging space,” says Emma Spengler, a designer at Design Partnership.

“The site was very dark with very little natural light so the natural decision was to open up the shop front to allow more natural light to enter the space, which served the dual purpose of creating a much more inviting visual from the street, effectively advertising the restaurant’s atmosphere to all passers-by.”

Callie van der Merwe, Design Partnership’s CEO, says that attention to detail and close col-

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Doppio Zero’s new look in Hazeldean. laboration with furniture manufacturers allowed the design to truly reflect the character of the brand in every detail, an approach inherent in every project undertaken by Design Partnership. “In an installation like this one, brand intrinsics must be carried through wherever possible, underpinning Design Partnership’s view that

effective design controls every element of the space and clearly influences a greater conversion to sale through effective store design.”

Van der Merwe elaborates that central to Doppio Zero’s brand strategy is to always create two distinct spaces in their restaurants, one being a casual café

around the bakery and retail area which translates into a more formal restaurant seating area later in the day. This was a driver in creating different zones in the restaurant, taking into consideration the penetration of sunlight in different spaces of the restaurant during different times of the day.

Annual Conference 3 – 4 June 2015 Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand,Gauteng.

3 – 4 June 2015 Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand,Gauteng.

Facilities Management in a Rapidly Changing Environment Meet new contacts and build networks Discover cost-effective solutions Face-to-face appointments with key suppliers Test drive the latest products and services Stay up-to-date with emerging & changing trends For more information or to book a stand: www.fmexo.org | info@fmexpo.org Office: +27 (0)11 781 5970 In Association with:

• Keynote speakers will include industry leaders and FM specialists.

• Learn, network and share insights and experiences.

Visit www.safma.co.za for the full programme, to view speaker biographies and to book your seat.

Email info@safma.co.za for more information Platinum Conference Sponsor:

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Legrand a perfect fit for Maboneng The Johannesburg Legrand Concept Store has recently opened in the Maboneng Precinct – a trendy urban environment on the east side of downtown Johannesburg.

“The establishment of the Johannesburg Legrand Concept Store is an exciting development in this thriving neighbourhood, which is an entrepreneurial hub with great energy and a sense of optimism,” says Vasili Kourelos, director, Legrand Concept Store.

“Maboneng, meaning ‘place of light’ in Sotho, is just the right location for our store, as it is an up-and-coming area that is design-focused and represents the true nature of an African city.

This means our solutions have to be relevant and affordable.

“Our new showroom fits perfectly in this dynamic urban setting and we intend to re-imagine the use of power, light and data in the built environment. We have teamed up with talented Johannesburgbased industrial designers, artists and artisans to create this space.”

The new Johannesburg outlet, owned by Vasili Kourelos, Mark Seftel and Ernest Nkomo, is a

convenient venue for professionals, installers and the public to discover Legrand’s stylish and functional solutions.

On display is a wide range of Legrand products, from high end quality domestic switches and sockets, to industrial solutions. The new specialist store also showcases industrial power equipment, emergency lighting, home automation devices and cable management systems.

Technical experts are always on hand to advise on the finest electrical solution for every installation – whether it is for an industrial, commercial or domestic environment.

Legrand’s concept store initiative - which now encompasses outlets in Johannesburg and Durban, with more stores planned around the country - significantly enhances brand awareness. These specialist showrooms form part of Legrand’s drive to boost the company’s electrical solutions-offering to contractors, architects, consultants and interior designers.

Particular emphasis is being given to meeting specific needs of the end user.

From left: Mark Seftel, director, Legrand Concept Store, Dieter Brandt, Brandt Architects and Luk Ivens, general manager, Legrand SA.

On display are Legrand’s comprehensive stylish and functional products, from high end quality domestic switches and sockets, to industrial solutions. The new specialist store also showcases industrial power equipment, emergency lighting, home automation devices and cable management systems.

Countdown to World FM Day Global FM has announced Wednesday June 10 2015 as the date for the seventh annual World FM Day. World FM Day is a day of worldwide celebration of facilities management where FM professionals, teams, companies and representative bodies take part and highlight the important role of FM. The focus for 2015 is Building Resilience for the Future.

“Around the world we face a variety of challenges – political upheaval, energy crises, extreme weather or challenging economic conditions – and it’s great facilities management that can help us get through these challenging situations and mitigate the risk to businesses and the general public.” says Duncan Waddell, Chairman of Global FM. “This year’s theme will help to reinforce and remind the business community, governments

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and the general public that FM professionals play a key role in building resilience and achieve this in a number of ways. We plan to demonstrate this through a series of events which will take place in our member countries.”

Under the ‘Building Resilience for the Future’ theme, World FM Day events will cover aspects such as: • Risk and Business Continuity.

FM is a key component to building resilience in business both in prevention and in the continuity plans to keep operations running or getting them back up swiftly.

• Sustainability. With the challenges and targets surrounding climate change, how we manage our buildings is vital with FM infrastructure.

• Energy Management. With projected energy cuts in many countries and fluctuat-

ing energy prices, the way in which we manage our energy consumption is swiftly rising up the agenda for businesses, governments and society.

Waddell says: “Up until June 10 our members will start to build on a World FM Day calendar of events. It is hoped that these activities will show the value of facilities management in keeping business operations running in all situations. They will also show how the profession is able to adapt to an evolving business landscape addressing emerging new trends within the sustainability and energy management agendas.”

Events celebrating World FM Day will take place during June 8-12. Updates of these activities will be published on Twitter @ WorldFMDay #WorldFMDay via the Global FM website www. globalfm.org, and the World FM Day page on Facebook.

INDUSTRY UPDATE

RICS spotlight on the future of African real estate The RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Africa 2015 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, brought together professionals, academics and industry leaders to examine the future vision for Africa’s real estate market. The event on March 25 was RICS’s first international conference on the continent.

A common thread throughout the presentations and discussions was recognition that Africa is taking its place on the world stage in terms of real estate, infrastructure and construction. There was a clear sense that the RICS can play an important role in helping countries build consistent standards where needed, albeit with a definite focus on collaboration with existing bodies and governments.

RICS President Louise BrookeSmith told the participants that she has been championing RICS partnerships in Africa and that it was appropriate to hold the conference in the city with the largest GDP in the region. “We’ve evolved into a truly international body. By 2020, the majority of our membership will be from countries other than the UK,” she said. “We’re seeking to spread best practice wherever we find it.” The aim was to share experiences with open minds in a spirit of partnership.

While several participants, including emerging market economist Kganya Kgare from Stanlib, stressed the divergences within the continent, all acknowledged that consistent standards would go a long way to addressing challenges. Whereas inflation in East Africa is well within target and the Kenyan Shilling is very stable, with 6% growth expected in 2015, inflation in Nigeria is expected to accelerate from the middle of the year and interest rates

are at an all-time high, said Kgare.

Among the topics examined was the future economic sustainability for southern Africa. Africa’s economic growth is predicted to outpace all other continents in the next five years, with forecasts showing that four of the world’s 10 fastest-growing national economies will be on this continent. The panellists looked at investment sources, risk and the vital ingredients underpinning ongoing momentum. One conclusion was that commercial property is one of the darlings of the market in countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

Speakers Martin Brühl (Fellow of the RICS); Jones Lang LaSalle Global Director, EMEA Corporate Solutions Vincent Lottefier; and Francois Viruly (FRICS) debated key markets, drivers, trends and opportunities.

Brühl, who is RICS President Elect and Head of International Investment Management, Union Investment Real Estate, stated that there are investors who ‘think that Africa is the new Asia’. Again, the need for benchmarking and adequate data was mentioned. Viruly, of University of Cape Town’s Department of Construction Economics and Management, identified Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Mozambique and Zambia as possible markets for new investors.

Urban development, planning and land use was another topic of discussion. “Spatial transformation is an evolutionary animal,” said Johannesburg town planner and Manager, Ekurhuleni Metro, Itumeleng Nkoane. He called for a mix of the ‘first and second’ (formal and informal) economies. “As planners, we cannot industrialise in the same way as Europe and America…

Living in a sustainable environment is not only about living in a beautiful

RICS Africa panel discussion. environment, but about survival.

There should be a shift from being development controllers to being development facilitators.”

RICS President Louise BrookeSmith agreed that planning is a balancing act, citing the increasing neighbourhood approach to planning and commercialism even in developed countries such as Britain.

However, she identified ‘a massive skills gap’ in two areas: there are not enough skilled professionals in the built environment and there is a lack of data and information.

Co-panellists Nkoane and James Dadson, Chief Lands Officer, Ghana Land Commission, agreed, with Nkoane saying not enough young people are encouraged to go into the built environment as a career in South Africa.

RICS Senior Vice President Amanda Clack noted: “In an ideal world, you start with planning. In reality, each country in Africa starts from a different place.” She also noted that the absence of adequate infrastructure can cost African countries two percentage points in terms of GDP growth per year.

One of the reasons China is successfully investing in infrastructure development in countries such

as Nigeria is that it is willing to take the extra risk, speakers felt.

Chinese companies tend to take a long-term view based on a model linking infrastructure and real-estate development.

This risk will be reduced by increased transparency and a zero tolerance of corruption across the region, the panel agreed. Data points are also key to de-risking – and this is an area where RICS can play a role.

Debunking several myths about his continent, Broll CEO Jonathan Yach (Member of the RICS), described himself as a ‘proud afro-optimist’ and said, “Africa is probably one of the most connected of continents, and this is driving growth.”

While social instability poses a risk throughout Africa, corruption needs to be dealt with country by country and democratic governance must be encouraged, opportunities lie in the continent’s young, well-informed and rapidly more urbanised people.

Enhanced electrification is also opening up opportunity and scope. “This continent Africa is redefining itself through its real estate,” Yach said.

IS IT TIME FOR TEARS?

Let’s hope it’s not, and this is where business rescue comes in. This is also where FM, finely attuned, can play an early warning role of far-reaching magnitude.

By Terry Owen.

W

hat would a facilities manager have to do with business rescue – or the turnaround of a company that is in financial distress?

After all, FM is not part of the core business and is therefore not likely to be aware of any woes within the business, right?

Wrong, actually. With the strategic FM being an integral part of the operation, including HR, Finance, Future Strategy, and ultimately the boardroom scenario, the FM is likely the first department to fall privy to such a revelation.

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FM is also likely to provide the information in the first instance of ways that the company could improve in savings in energy and ops, at the outset of things not looking great on the company balance sheet.

If any CEO or CFO is reading this (and they should be) and thinking the above is impossibly naïve or just impossible, then it is these very people whose mindsets are keeping FM locked in the chiller room, and whose business strategies urgently need revision.

The point is, though, that if a business is inexorably heading into the liquidation sunset,

BUSINESS RESCUE

then it is probably a little late for the extra measures that an FM would impose to be of much effect. But the point is also that as much as many CEOs needs a whack over the head regarding the new role of the strategic FM, it is also up to the FM to know about business rescue and what is involved in the process. After all, it is his or her facility or facilities that are to be affected, and it must be known to what extent they will be so.

It’s as much a part of the process for FMs as is learning about finance, budgeting, projected revenue and basic boardroom procedure. This is the nuts and bolts stuff of the mechanism of a company – just as much as HVAC, thermal heating and elevator maintenance are for the FM Ops team. In companies where the FM people are known as Operations Directors, they should know they are really working for a very switched-on outfit. Likewise for Project or Facilities Directors.

“

The FM is also likely to provide the information in the first instance of ways that the company could

Peter van den Steen spoke on business rescue at an SACSC function recently

C-suite When the FM person is involved in strategy, they have the keys to the c-suite. It is their very interventions that allow the key staff personnel to focus on the core business, and also allow for a myriad savings on the bottom line. Having the keys to the c-suite, and having the mindset of a corporate director, they should be aware of the potential of business rescue. Let’s for the moment not get into liquidation. That’s another movie completely, but let’s also realise that many or

most companies are three months away of an agonising sunset, no matter how good things may be looking at the moment.

That’s the reality of business life, although most don’t think of it. The “can’t happen to me” thinking is something that should be banished forever. Anything is possible, at anytime.

Just look at Marvel comics (huh?), Trump Entertainment Resorts and Texaco (another huh?) – at one time all bankrupt before turnarounds were applied to the businesses.

improve in savings in energy and ops, at the outset of things not looking great on the company balance sheet.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this....

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FMs must ensure that they are inexorably linked to the business process and must be pivotal at business rescue. They may even, wonders of wonders, be responsible for raising the alert flags at the very outset of distress. As I said earlier, does this surprise you? Don’t forget FM is crucial to the success and sustainability of a company. Does that surprise you as well? Well, if it does, let’s just hope you’re not on the board of any company.

This preamble (Owen and his preambles?

Where would be without them?) serves as an introduction to the talk given by Peter van den Steen, a Business Rescue Practitioner, at a recent South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) event. I was eagerly looking forward to this function being a bit of a novice when it comes to things like business rescue, and I wanted to find out more.

Peter van den Steen was the scheduled speaker, and he didn’t disappoint. His career in business rescue jump-started after a call from PricewaterhouseCoopers asking him if he minded being nominated as a business rescue practitioner. He leapt at the chance, and the rest is history.

Restructuring of companies in financial distress is on the increase globally. In ine with this trend, Chapter 6 of the new Companies Act No7 of 2008 (the Act) introduced business rescue to the South African business landscape.

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Protection bubble “The spirit of the Act is to try and avoid liquidation and create a business that’s sustainable, by using the law to put a protection bubble around the business in rescue which gives the rescue practitioner time to put a plan together.”

He says that, if possible, liquidation is to be avoided, even if it means getting a little bit more out of the Rand for the creditors.

In some instances liquidation would be unavoidable, but companies must make the decision if something can be rescued, it should, even it may prove rough going for a while. Turnarounds (taking Marvel and Texaco as examples) have proven to be extremely worthwhile and profitable.

“To get business rescue moving, the most innocuous way would be for a board of directors to put the business into rescue.

We need the creditors to make the decision that this is indeed a business which can be saved. In other words, there are still many healthy elements to the business, but it’s being mis-managed and heading south. With the right information you can apply to put the business into rescue – and this is happening more and more in South Africa.

“What is unique in South Africa, is that rescue is not a court-driven process, it is driven by a business rescue practitioner and the ultimate plan is voted on by the creditors. Shareholders only get to vote if

BUSINESS RESCUE

possible and if not,

their rights associated with their particular shareholding are affected. So – it’s ultimately in the creditor’s hands. Stakeholders must be alert to the possibility that, due to the fact that a business rescue practitioner is left with a whole lot of power which could be mis-directed to the practitioner’s ego, it could end up creating more damage for the business. Care must be taken when selecting practitioners” Part of the temporary moratorium – the bubble that is placed around the business – is post commencement finance, a term, says Van den Steen, that will become more and more ubiquitous with everyone involved in the rescue. This is money that the business borrows in rescue to ensure that the oxygen tank does not run empty and it can be kept breathing during the rescue. He says that it assists the rescue practitioner to halt the immediate bleeding and imminent death of the business and keeps it stable for long enough to get it back together and take it out of rescue.

“The practitioner has to abide completely with the Labour Relations Act and cannot, for instance, just walk into a business and start firing people. Time is of the essence, and this could bring conflict with the various laws, if the rescue team is trying to rush things. However, there is a section in the Act (section136) which states that a business rescue practitioner can wholly, partially or conditionally suspend any contracts. The practitioner can also, through application to the court, cancel contracts if he finds them to be onerous and on reasons that are just and equitable” So, all in all, why is business rescue a good thing?

application for liquidation

Unbiased, independent

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To rescue or not to rescue is the first question, and then you have to discover how deep in distress the business is.

If it is truly deeply distressed then it’s a question of can it be saved and that assessment has to be made independently and very quickly. If so, rescue has to commence as soon as

must be ensued.”

The business practitioner comes in totally “cold”, unbiased and independent and carries a lot of power and responsibilities. He can view everything with fresh, clear eyes with the one intention – to save the business in one way or another.

“There are constant checks and balances for the business rescue practitioner. He’s got to check himself continuously. He must prove that he’s applied his mind in whatever decision has been made, because should the business be investigated, the practitioner will be asked to show how he or she arrived at a certain decision. A lot of records have to be kept, and this can become quite an administrative burden.

“The clock is constantly ticking and there’s a timeline for a rescue to take place.

This just adds to the pressure. The practitioner can’t engage in long, onerous investigations with stakeholders. It just sucks up

too much energy and time. Sometimes, the practitioner has to make a call, which may not go down very well with those involved, but may be necessary and just, and provide the impetus needed to move on.”

Van den Steen says that the procedure can become a delicate balancing act with directors, creditors and banks. “You can end up doing quite a complicated dance.”

He says that directors must always be cognisant of their responsibilities under the Companies Act. If a business can’t meet its financial obligations as it becomes due and payable in the ensuing six months, it should file for business rescue. So it’s a six-month forward-looking test that the board should have on its agenda. He says that he is yet to encounter a business rescue where there is six months’ worth of fuel in the tank.

“It’s usually a week, or two or three, which just compounds the issues so much to the point where it may have been left too late and could be declared dead on arrival.

“As practitioners, we have to decide very quickly if we believe a business is rescuable or not. For me, the acid test is very simple.

What is the value proposition of this business? Why is it actually in business? If I can figure that out, then I know there’s something to be done and I’ll look at all the financials and other company documents. However, if I can’t understand why a business is in business, I’m not prepared to touch it for a rescue.

“To rescue or not to rescue is the first question, and then you have to discover how deep in distress the business is. If it is truly deeply distressed then it’s a question of can it be saved and that assessment has to be made independently and very quickly.

If so, rescue has to commence as soon as possible and if not, application for liquidation must be ensued.”

Van den Steen says that there’s a lot of risk for practitioners and they have to ensure they keep their tracks squeaky clean.

A tight team “For that I will personally appoint a legal advisor to watch my back and make sure that don’t make mistakes. The longer a rescue takes, the more involved a practitioner becomes and runs the risk of becoming part of the problem. You need people to keep you on the straight and narrow. Sometimes, the most complex agreements have to be thoroughly examined, and you need topflight experts to do that. You need advisers, auditors and financial guys. So, we create a team that moves into the business. I keep my group extremely tight and we move with purpose, because the meter is running and time and money are involved!

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“The worst possible outcome that I can think of is liquidation. The second worst is to have a “better” outcome than liquidation.

There are so many guys that have won court cases on the basis they’ve proved they got their creditors one or two more cents extra in the Rand, but there’s still nothing left over. I don’t subscribe to that mindset. It’s a very difficult space to move in because for some practitioners it’s very easy just to pull the plug and let the business be liquidated.

Unfortunately, it’s very destructive. A rescue costs money, and you need a lot of fuel in the tank. If the business and the size of the business doesn’t justify the costs to rescue it, why bother with the rescue?

“There are practitioners that will go into these small businesses ‘man alone’ and they say they will take care of everything. I think it’s humanly impossible to do so because there is too much happening at the same time, so the person will start making mistakes and it will start permeating through the industry and to landlords and creditors.

It becomes a bad rescue! There are indeed small businesses that are being rescued properly, but there are those that aren’t because the wrong person with not enough skills is doing it.

“I say this with all the respect in the world – there are a lot of rescue practitioners, including lawyers, accountants, liquidators and a whole lot of other professionals and some of them really understand things such as business strategy, marketing, human resources – all the pillars that a business stands on, but sadly they are few and far between.

“I think that anyone who’s sound with financials can turn a business around in the space of a few months by selling some assets and restructuring some debt. A year later that business is gone because no substantial or sustainable rescue changes have been made. The real cause of distress in the business needs to be looked at and that may not be on any income statement or balance sheet! It may be operational, it could be economic cycle – many businesses are inexorably linked to the commodity cycle.

Some of those ships may be hitting ground, sometimes those businesses are destined to be liquidated.”

He says that sometimes a practitioner is called in to a board. He has not had time to search the situation and has to base his assessment on information that has been supplied by the board. How does he know that the information is reliable? How does he know that the list of creditors is comprehensive and the sales forecast correct?

“Often a practitioner gets trapped in litigation. To cover my back I’ll go through

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PWC or KPMG or Deloittes and ask them to check to see if the information that has been supplied is correct. They have the kind of ability and credibility that is needed, and quality and integrity is of the utmost importance.”

Alarming trend He also says that an alarming trend is where the liquidation mindset undermines rescue. There appears to be abuse of the the act and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) are watching trends closely.

Van den Steen says that there are so many issues that need to be dealt with in a business rescue.

“If one follows the law to the letter you expose yourself to a whole bunch of loopholes and militant creditors. Often it’s a case of getting people round a table to agree to do something that may not be prescribed or adequately dealt with by law.

The restructuring environment consists of many options, but if you’re sitting in a situation where the mountains of debt are so overpowering that they cannot be overcome, and some of the key creditors have been misinformed or lied to, liquidation could appear to be the only answer. Then it goes into Chapter 6 for protection and start looking at all the options which generally a restructuring person will do.”

In conclusion, he says that it needs to be understood what impact bad management has had on jobs and the economy in general.

“Look at the whole Pamodzi scandal involving Grootvlei, and the complete and utter destruction of a gold mine which probably could have lived for a few more years. Blyvooruitzicht, also ultimately victim of liquidation, which had thousands of employees, the economic multiplier is guessed at about 8, so the number of mouths that are affected by the liquidation of a mine is enormous and devastating!

Also affected are a lot of local little businesses that were allied to the mine, and they were second and third generation family businesses that could have been passed on to another generation, but also went under. The whole business was a calamity of monumental proportions.”

Understandable, then, that rescue is preferable, if rescue is possible.

Management needs to be more aware and more responsible – and this is where FMs can make a huge difference. Don’t ever think that rescue has got nothing to do with you. It could have everything to do with you.

Some food for thought here! n

“

Understandable, then, that rescue is preferable, if rescue is possible. Management needs to be more aware and more responsible – and this is where FMs can make a huge difference. Don’t ever think that rescue has got nothing to do with you. It could have everything to do with you.

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OPS

IN FACILITIES SPACE IN THIS ISSUE • How are you ensuring utility costs are kept to a minimum?

• How can FMs protect the company brand?

• Connections between customer satisfaction and green certified buildings The second in our series from the British Institute of Facilities Management LinkedIn posts.

Let’s get a local version of this going!

Use LinkedIn or mail terry@fmexpo.org April 2015 jFM

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HOW ARE YOU ENSURING THAT YOUR UTILITY COSTS ARE KEPT TO A MINIMUM? Joey Kolirin Commercial Utility Broker at Full Power Utilities Ltd The more people that I speak to who work in facilities are saying some worrying things: 1. We are sorted 2. That’s what we have always done 3. We just leave things as they are So, what measures are you taking to ensure that your costs are kept to a minimum?

Hermione Crease Co Founder, PurrMetrix Joey, I’m afraid I’m not the right person to respond to this, but I would say this can be a ticklish subject for many FMs, to the extent it can be tricky to get people to engage in a conversation.

Energy costs are high and rising, true, but a) they are seen as intrinsic to doing business and b) schemes to reduce them often don’t show competitive ROIs. So I’d be really interested to see if you get some ‘coalface’ perspectives from FMs.

FM OPS

Joey Kolirin Commercial Utility Broker at Full Power Utilities Ltd You’re absolutely correct and this does fall in line with attitudes that we regularly come across. Most schemes do require some sort of investment too which is why there is either no gain or it takes a long time to show ROIs as mentioned.

We look at supply rates/contracts for businesses with no costs involved as we are not implementing hardware hence given that these costs are intrinsic and hence they are always going to be there, at times we cannot understand why business owners or FMs are not taking measures to review these or combat costs.

You do make valid points though, and I’m interested to learn more and hear from other FMs about their perspective on this too.

Graeme Bright Building & Facilities Manager at Theatre Royal It’s simple. If you ignore the rising prices you will come unstuck and pay a heavy price.

I started replacing all lights to LEDs over a period of three years and this has enabled me to contain increased energy costs and also reduce maintenance costs while at the same time improving working conditions.

Next to Rent/Mortgage, energy is quiet often the next big running cost but there are many new affordable energy-efficient options in the market today. Also changing behaviour can bring huge kwh saving but you need to understand how you are using energy. We should not just rely on ROI. There is more to understand. If you don’t invest in reducing kwh/CO2 you will soon seeing profit falling, so ROI won’t matter then!

specification was usually done many years ago when environmental and energy saving considerations were simply not considered. The outcome? A new installation repeating the inefficiency of the past!

Ian Jones Director of Facilities at ITV I’ve just looked at a green energy solution to a particular challenge. The ROI was 17 years and would reduce the overall electricity use by 10%. I won’t be investing, but the reason I am not investing is that when you look at the rate of change in new technologies something will come along in a year or two that will reduce electricity consumption by 20% or 30% for

the same investment. For the time being I am investing in everything that pays back in 3 years or less (mainly LED and inverters).

My personal view It’s not helped by the government’s current energy policies - there isn’t an FM or a company anywhere that wants to use more energy that it needs to. But that needs huge sums investing by companies that often cannot afford to. The carbon reduction commitment (CRC) is, in my view, a million miles away from the original idea - it’s now just a tax. It would have been better for the government to get companies to work out their CRC cost and then instead of taxing them, to instead ask for proof that they have invested this amount in energy reducing projects...

Joey Kolirin Commercial Utility Broker at Full Power Utilities Ltd That is a proactive approach that some people don’t see the benefits to hence I echo your comments/approach entirely.

Just out of interest, what measures have you considered/taken with reference to the supply contracts too? Usually a two-pronged approach of both new, more efficient hardware and a review of the supply contract rates is the most financially viable way of reducing costs or containing increases.

John Middleton Managing Director Know what you mean Joey. It is a similar problem with the tendering process. We receive specifications to tender for replacement equipment. The tender is often based on the old equipment coming out. The original

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Simon Sanders Property & Facilities Officer at Plan UK We’re looking at ways to reduce our overall water use in ways that don’t require a large capital outlay. Our lease means there wouldn’t be much ROI, and charities can’t access incentives through business taxes.

We already use sensor controls on lighting and we think there might be some other changes we can make to reduce electricity consumption but our circumstances in terms of our premises and lease period remaining means we probably won’t realise huge savings.

Ahmed Mushtaque Manager Engineering - Projects and Maintenance Major portion of energy is consumed by HVAC system in any facility. This is more valid where summer season remains around 6-8 month. A practical and rough percentage for HVAC system is around 50-65 % of total electrical consumption. We should have a very close monitoring on the operation hour, operation parameters (Temperature/ Humidity/Fresh Air) and equipment condition (leakages etc).

Alan Turner Facilities Manager, Facilities Management UK/Ireland, Corporate Services Hi Joey, great questions, firstly I don’t think there are any FM’s out there worth there salt who would ever say: 1. We are sorted 2. That’s what we have always done 3. We just leave things as they are FM’s the world over get tied up with many things, that sometimes prevent them from taking the steps needed to put effective energy control and reduction measures in place.

We take a multi-pronged stance: 1. We focus on reducing our contractual liability.

2. As well as looking at what measures we can take to reduce our consumption 3. Monitoring and measuring is important as well.

Renegotiating contracts is one way to try and reduce your cost, but does not always work as the markets don’t always play ball.

Trying to get extended payment terms is another way to ease the cash flow issue and keep the money longer before paying it out, but again, depending on your consumption, you may or may not have any leverage with the supply companies.

Consumption reductions are the areas where we truly have control over. LED’s are

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high on the list; however, finding the right LED for the specific application is not always that easy. There is quite a bit of testing and tweaking needed before going with one option over another.

We have installed several sample fittings in different areas of our facility and we regularly test the lux readings so that when we make a decision it is the right one for the business as a whole, not just the FM’s pockets! The ability of the technicians being able to see on the shop floor is important as well!

We already have a fully sensor/intelligent based lighting system on site, we are now just working on making it more efficient and trying to get the reporting working better, as this is the one area where we can make tremendous improvements. If you can’t measure, you can’t improve as the saying goes.

We will shortly be able to see specific costs and consumption figures broken down by specific area, and we will then be able to see when we make the improvements and what actual effect they have.

In the FM game, I have always found that investment requests are tough, I think that stands true for most of us in this industry, unless you can get payback in less than 3 years as Ian says above. There are many finance providers out there who will do the financing and split the benefit you get out of the consumption drop with you over 7 years or so, but for me this is a bit like the solar panel roof leasing option. Many people now are finding it difficult to sell their homes as the roof lease is 25 years. You have to ask what the catch is?

We will be looking to fund major LED changes ourselves, provided the ROI is under 2.5 years.

FM OPS

HOW FMs CAN PROTECT THE COMPANY BRAND Nick Shaw, Lead Judge for the new ‘Brand Impact‘ category in the BIFM Awards on why we all need to think about a facilities management brand Manager’s Choice.

Brand isn’t just about the logo. Logos and corporate colours connect organisations to their wider brand and should be an instantly recognisable reminder for what the company stands for. What matters more is the overarching brand, its values and belief systems and how these get represented in business practices.

An established brand forms a ‘promise’ about the service to which it relates. It represents the heart and soul of the business and builds trust.

As consumers, we build an emotional attachment to leading brands such as Virgin, PayPal and John Lewis and their brands give us an expectation about the service we will receive.

The widening gap between the book value of many successful organisations and their stock market valuations is evidence of the power of the brand. Such ‘intangible assets’ are increasingly a significant part of the corporate balance sheet.

FM’s role in extending and protecting the brand: So if brand is the very essence of an organisation it must live within the company and be reflected in the way that it goes about its business. If part of your corporate ethos is to be a good corporate citizen by embracing the living wage or ethical procurement, how does this get reflected at a departmental level or across organisation processes and disciplines such as FM? We are currently seeing the fallout from HSBC, one of the UK’s most respected brands, now trying to mitigate the damage to their reputation from the Swiss tax evasion scandal.

Tesco are seeing a similar fate as a result of their financial irregularities.

What bearing does the world of FM have on reputation and brand? It’s not difficult to see where risks may lie. Injuries or fatalities at work may result from compliancy problems or poor understanding of HSE. Badly managed preventative maintenance schedules could cause outages and put revenues and reputation at risk. It’s quite some time ago now but Blackberry never really came back from a series of major outages resulting from badly maintained switch gear.

Complex systems: FM is a complex business and relies heavily on intricate supply chains and a network of partners. If suppliers violate your ethical standards or aren’t compliant with your values then they are a potential risk. Nike’s use of sweat shop

“

So if brand is the very essence of an organisation it must live within the company and be reflected in the way that it goes about its business. workers comes to mind here. FM works at the coalface. We’re here to provide safe and effective working environments. It’s about keeping the lifts working, the sprinkler systems checked, maintaining compliant systems, conforming to HSE standards in food hygiene and meeting environmental controls. Human error happens and it only takes the improper actions of one supply chain partner or one of your own directly employed team to significantly damage your brand.

Let’s hear from you: If you’re an in-house FM – what does your company brand mean to you and how are you reflecting it in your working practices.

Are you actively extending the brand and adding value? As a service provider – what are you doing to support your client’s brand, do you know what they are trying to achieve and how are you aligning your service offer to these objectives?

We want to hear from FM teams both client-side and provider-led who are supporting their brand by living and breathing its values and embodying its principles in the way you operate on a daily basis. You might be a data centre FM responsible for managing a ‘zero downtime’ environment knowing that any outage will go straight through to the bottom line. You might be the team responsible for maintaining a hospital or leisure centre where customer wellbeing

is key. Brand applies regardless of sector, public and private from the largest national conglomerates through to SMEs. If you’re firmly aligning FM as part of the fundamental brand strategy for your organisation we want to hear your story.

Arivagara Pavithran VP Business Development at TeroTechnology Global Sdn Bhd Achieving the desired brand equity in service sectors is a mountain to climb, what’s new in FM? Client - Vendor experience clears the path to achieve the desired reflective brand identity. One it is how the client perceives the vendor and secondly is how the vendor perceives the client before and after an experience. Brand equity is achieved very much on qualitative experience that is strengthened by the number of times such experiences are repeated in a period of time. Therefore the best way to achieve a good brand equity is to always strive to leave a trail of everlasting experiences (positive) for your client but also for your industry peers and stakeholders. With the right strategy, work culture, and mindset it is never impossible to achieve that equity you desire for.

Nick Shaw Strategic management, innovation and specialist sector advice The positive experience should also extend to the customers of the client, those who benefit from the services that the client offers or provides. For example, catering, cleanliness and building condition are often key factors that support the brand of an organisation; the quality of service they provide and a representation of their values in what is presented to their customers. These services are often provided by outsourced organisations.

As such, these organisations are not just providing a facilities management service to their customer, they are providing a frontline brand experience.

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CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND GREEN CERTIFIED BUILDINGS. Brendan Murray FM Business Manager Hi, I think there is a connection but it is an entirely subject connection. In a commercial property it definitely makes those who place green matters high on their personal agenda more satisfied. This is because they can see they are occupying a building (and working for an organisation) that is making a positive, tangible impact on carbon emissions, energy reductions etc. etc. For those people, knowing that the heat they feel coming from the radiator is generated from biomass boilers, and that the electricity they are using is purchased on a green tariff gives them a definite feeling of satisfaction.

However, for those who do not place green matters high on their personal agenda, the heat they feel coming from the radiator is simply heat, its source is at worst irrelevant, at best not consciously considered (ditto with electricity).

I also think it is often a matter of finance.

The FM or project manager might have strong feelings toward the green agenda, but often the greener option is the most expensive.

Nur Aqilah Zamri Student at University Of Malaya I’m just going to ask a bit more on this as I couldn’t find much on this topic that I’m researching on.

You are right when you say that the people who cared for these green initiatives would definitely have a higher rate of satisfaction and those who couldn’t care less would not be affected by it.

Thus to have a more objective opinion on the relationship between satisfaction and the application of green initiatives in a building, should I approach those who couldn’t care less of these initiatives and those who didn’t know much about it? Is it possible?

As for the finance, in my opinion, I think that if a person should want to find a place to settle in (taking as example a residential building) and that place have an excellent management and a good atmosphere, would cost matter?

Brendan Murray FM Business Manager Firstly, I think you are right to consider approaching the less ‘positive’ people, as the others are already sold on the idea. A poll of a spread of buildings might help you, for example attempting to gauge opinion of people in a very green building and then do likewise in a building that would be cat-

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egorised as a mid-way point, and then a building that has had little or no green innovation applied.

This would allow you a good representative sample of opinion. You could possibly try this via online media such as Survey Monkey.

With regards to the finance matter, I think a person would be more likely to choose the better managed building if they had a level of disposable income. But if (for example) they did not, but had children or other dependants, they would probably opt for the cheaper building in order to leave more money free for essentials?

Ian Jones Director of Facilities at ITV Well, this is my personal view.

A good team, well lead, can work anywhere.

I have worked in some odd places, not in green or sustainable places, but porta cabins, tents, a large warehouse, even a crypt. As well as offices.

Customer satisfaction in terms of surroundings didn’t really come into it, we had an objective, a shared goal, we had a great team - and we got on with it. The common denominator was the person leading the team - inspirational, charismatic - we would have worked anywhere just to work with them. First thought.

Second thought.

Ten plus years ago I did a study lasting a whole year on air conditioning systems. We had a modern building with (at that time) state-of-the-art systems, but we had hundreds of complaints about temperature (still a common theme today) and the fact that people were cold. The ‘green book’ said we should have temperatures of 21 degrees.

We found that a temperature of 23 degrees on smaller floor plates - and 23,7 degrees on larger floor plates - reduced the number of complaint calls by some 80%. It is a number I still use today when balancing systems - I know it’s not particu-

FM OPS

“

I also think it is often a matter of finance. The FM or project manager might have strong feelings toward the green agenda, but often the greener option is the most expensive.

larly green but it’s the number where customer satisfaction is the greatest (or rather, the fewest complaints are received).

And finally.

We now have office lighting that is sensordriven in terms of movement or brightness.

In the winter particularly, we have found that people behave like pack animals. One or two people go home, lights start to go out and suddenly there is a mini-exodus. It almost reminds them to go home - not a bad thing I suppose. We save money on electricity...and lose 20 times that value or more in lost productivity perhaps...

There are three generations in many of our offices and those who are my generation like a bit more light than the youngsters who would happily sit there in the dark all day. So the lights go out and it’s back to task lighting.

People like control, it often comes in the top five things that people want from their offices when surveyed.

The cost of maintaining green systems can also be an issue when you have tight budgets (all the time). Many of them are not fully compatible with each other and quite complicated, thus you are often reliant upon controls engineers rather than the good old fashioned mech and elecs...and that’s when you can get two controls engineers in at the same time.

Customer satisfaction and green buildings... an interesting subject to study.

Hermione Crease Co Founder, PurrMetrix Ian, wanted to chip in because of your comments re how complex some green systems are to manage. And how best ‘green’ practice sometimes conflicts with what occupiers

want.

Do you think there’s an opportunity for simpler tools for FMs? What’s the minimum you need to monitor to build a sensible picture of whether your BMS is delivering what you need?

Nur, that’s an interesting research topic you’ve got there. I do think talking to occupiers and/or companies that have not yet started green initiatives could be interesting.

Ian Jones Director of Facilities at ITV I don’t think it’s about BMS, it’s about choice for the user. We think we know better. Most people just want control (of some sort). I did a fit-out recently and installed state-of-the-art and people still complain about it, root cause being very complicated systems not very compatible and complicated central controls - none of it giving people control. In my next fit-out, I went back one step, put in light switches and dimmer switches and aircon controls that are intuitive like your domestic controls result, very happy people.

Hermione Crease Co Founder, PurrMetrix Gotcha. Very interesting. Control and simplicity for the people at the desks, not just the facilities manager.

Have you come across Comfy? https:// gocomfy.com/. What I find interesting about Comfy’s product is that it requires a group of people in one small zone to agree on adjusting the temperature before the adjustment is made. Hands control over to a social process. n

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FACING UP TO POWER CRISIS

J

What’s the biggest talking point in South Africa?

Power, or the lack of it. What is happening on the coal-face as it were, and what are future trends?

Terry Owen reports.

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ohn Samuel, synonymous with FM in South Africa and one of the founders of SAFMA, hasn’t changed one iota since our last meeting, quite some time back now, when he was the FM chief at Turner and Townsend. He’s now at J Maynard, project advisory, development and management consultants to the SA Department of Energy, and he’s still as passionate about FM as ever.

He’s talking mainly energy now, and if ever this was a pertinent topic in South Africa, this is it. I wanted to see John to ask him how business is coping with the outage crisis and we can all contribute to SA staying alive, and we ended up talking about a whole lot of things.

“FMs want a facility that operates at a level that increases the productivity at a cost that is acceptable,” he says and that about sums up the overall responsibility and goal of the industry.

“For instance, if you want to cut your electricity usage in the building, it’s very easy.

Just switch everything off. Your electricity costs go to zero, but your productivity goes to zero as well. That’s a crazy scenario.

Now, there’s a balance. You want to drive the electricity cost down to a point while you’re driving the productivity up – where the two cross is the point where you need to be.

“FM is the same. You can drive the FM costs down to zero by cutting out all FM activities. You’ll live in a pig sty and people will start getting sick. Now, what you want is a cleaning cost that is minimal to specifications. FM is not about driving down to the bare minimum that functional service costs, it’s about driving it to a point that optimally supports the productivity that you’re trying to achieve. That’s what the FM should be aiming to do – but who is really interested in this? The CEO and CFO, that’s who. So who is FM directly aimed at? The CEO and CFO! “JFM’s mission is, then two-fold. You’re talking to the practitioners and the CEO, and we know the industry is getting into the c-suite now, and that’s where they need to

POWER CRISIS

be heard, from a strategic point of view.

FMs need the ear of the CEO because they need that level of support. How do you do that? What you do is improve the bottom line, and you don’t necessarily have to do that by chopping the cost. If you improve the productivity by 1% that’s a lot of saving you can offset, so now FM has moved from being the manager of the cleaners into being an integrator of the marketing, HR and all the other business facets into putting in place a facility that meets the objectives of the organisation.”

He says that the CEO wants a productive and happy workplace – but above all, he wants that bottom line to look good.

“He figures, correctly, that if the workforce is happy, they will be more motivated and productive and he would be interested in asset value preservation or improvement and productivity improvement while managing cost. What he needs in many ways is obviously reduced costs and certainty.

This is where the FM person plays a crucial role.”

Samuel says J Maynard has taken the best of what is happening in FM into the government space and that is starting to reap great rewards.

“They, for instance, have tracked back over 4 years energy usage per square metre, energy usage per person, water usage per person, utilisation of facility workspaces such as meeting rooms, offices and open plan desks, catering sales among others – they want to know that its working, if there are problems with the cleaning, what’s happening with security. Once the problem areas have been identified, they can be rectified.

Why was there a surge in electricity usage in that particular month? That problem can be tracked back and begin to be managed.”

This, he says, is the beauty of FM when it works properly, and illustrates quite clearly how far the industry has come. FM at the higher level is all about supporting the strategic direction of a company.

“Ops effectiveness, like servicing HVAC, lighting and so in, is now taken as a given.

That just has to work. The main FM focus used to be on that, now it’s moved. The big question for strategic FMs is how do they support the overall profitability of business?”

Samuel is currently working at the IPP office, the Independent Power Producer Programme Office, an institution formed between DBSA, National Treasury and the Department of Energy. The IPP Office is

“

For instance, if you want to cut your electricity usage in the building, it’s very easy.

Just switch everything off.

Your electricity costs go to zero, but your productivity goes to zero as well.

April 2015 jFM

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working on a number of renewable energy projects, including PV, wind and renewable biomass and a major coal programme.

The government of South Africa is planning to deploy more cogeneration plants as part of an overall plan to boost capacity and prevent future blackouts.

The South African Department of Energy is to add more projects to those announced in November last year in the third window of its renewable energy independent power producers (REIPP) procurement programme.

A Ministerial Determination has been made for 800 MW of cogeneration with procurement scheduled for the second quarter this year.

The Minister has said that there would be another procurement process to include further bidders in the IPP space. Additional capacity would be allocated to the further REIPP bid windows as the prices offered by the bidders have been more competitive than those in the earlier REIPP bidding windows.

“The inclusion of additional bidders will therefore increase the number of independent power producers (IPPs) contributing towards the Department of Energy’s effort to ensure that renewable energy forms a significant part of the energy mix,” the department said in a statement.

The South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy has, through its chairperson, called for new set of public hearings into the issue of cogeneration in the country.

Sisa Njikelana has also recommended that the next set of hearings include the Department of Energy (DoE), Eskom, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa

April 2015 jFM

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and the South African Local Government Association, and that it should explore the possibility of ensuring greater support for cogeneration across all spheres of government.

The chairperson made the call after hearing concerns about the barriers being placed in the way of cogeneration’s progress.

Lawmakers were told that there was potential for South Africa to produce as much as 3500 MW of electricity through the cogeneration of electricity from waste heat fuels.

The Industrial Development Corporation, which recently supported an 8 MW cogeneration investment by SA Calcium Carbide (SACC), in Newcastle, argued that higher power prices were creating an opportunity for industrial facilities to tap into cogeneration prospects that were hitherto not economically viable.

The State-owned bank estimated that South African mineral smelters and chemical plants had the potential to generate more than 2 000 MW of electricity from hot gases.

Samuel says that government is looking at a demand-side management programme.

“The demand side has got two facets – one is just to drop the load, such as replacing incandescent lightbulbs with LED, and then another is to shift the load. Some of the municipalities are bringing in time and use charges for electricity and that is going to be a big game changer. What they will be saying is that if you use electricity between 6 and 10am and 6 and 10pm, it will be charged at a much higher rate than at other times. This will obviously change the way that people

“

I think that people have become more renewable energy conscious out of mere necessity. Certainly, those that can afford it are going to put in solar, and other renewable products, and would be crazy if they didn’t, but the challenge in the future once they’ve gone off the grid, they will stay off the grid and even once the power situation has stabilised, will not go back.

use power. Current technology is making the way that people handle this much easier – for instance, I know that power can be switched on and off via a cellphone.”

How can companies help with the power crisis?

“The first thing that is easy is to drop the load. There are probably a couple of ways of doing this. The easiest one that an individual company can manage is to, for instance, lock the elevators for any stops below two floors, which will encourage people (other than those naturally with wheelchairs and catering staff) to use staircases. At the Department of Environmental Affairs new “six star” green building, there not many elevators and they are not “in view” when entering the building. However, there are big, wide staircases that are conveniently positioned, encouraging staff in their use. Many companies find that the elevators are used to go up one floor, which is crazy.

“Then there is obviously the lighting, which needs to be replaced to low-voltage and LED, action-activated lighting sensors and with HVAC, move the switches in the air conditioning so it doesn’t warm or cool as quickly, and you need to move the temperature tolerance out by a degree or so. Then you’re taking off load, and if everyone did these “little bits all over” it would amount to quite a quite a lot.”

There are some business owners in Northern Johannesburg who have installed solar power on the roof of their office block and they also have emergency generators. They generate enough power to take themselves off the grid on a good day, but they also need the grid to stabilise the solar system. The owner says he has about a 5 to 7 year payback on the solar installation at current power rates. With the rates due to soar, his payback should be a lot quicker. Obviously this is the way to go for ways to ensure that you keep your business running.

“I think that people have become more renewable energy conscious out of mere necessity. Certainly, those that can afford it are going to put in solar, and other renewable products, and would be crazy if they didn’t, but the challenge in the future once they’ve gone off the grid, they will stay off the grid and even once the power situation has stabilised, will not go back.

He says that as far as investment goes, the IPP is bringing in power sector investments that is worth billions of rands. Private sector power, regarding renewables and the coal programme are all Greenfields projects which need heavy investment. When you go to cogeneration and energy from industrial power you need some investment but not as much because a lot of it are brownfields projects.

“If you bring on emergency generator capacity that’s idling in large office basements, the investment is taken care of already. Really, ostensibly the amount you would pay for that electricity over in the short term could be less than what you’d normally pay for, so what you need to pay for a short term contract would be the fuel cost, maintenance and replacement costs.

April 2015 jFM

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during load shedding, companies should therefore increase their productivity by 10% during hours when power is available. In winter, when companies are expected to come under even greater stress, businesses need to boost their productivity by as much as 15%,” says Bill Helyar, partner at Paragon Interiors.

“We know that load-shedding is going to occur and, in order to put mitigation strategies in place, we first need to understand what the implications are,” says Helyar. “What are the issues that businesses should be looking at?

Load-shedding introduces a set of risks over and above the task of just keeping the business lights on. These risks need to be understood within the context of each business’s strategic plan.”

Some of the considerations are:

“If anyone wants the power that is being generated by individual businesses, they would have to get the attention of the CEO, and be prepared with a good argument.

One of the ways of doing this will be to go through the FM person, seeing he is the person that is control of the generators. This may get you moving on the demand side management (shifting load) of power.”

Epilogue Collaborate in seeking a solution to load shedding Eskom resumed with full-on load shedding recently. Most South African employees are being severely affected by the unregulated power cuts. Eskom says with the increase in electricity demand, load shedding remains a reality for South Africans.

Employers are especially challenged.

Eskom has now implemented 10% power cuts on organisations involved in large scale production. These are businesses that rely heavily on the availability of electricity. The focus is now on the effect and potential solutions to the costs of unutilised labour during blackouts and the costs of lost production hours.

It is causing frustration for employers and employees, from getting held up in traffic and being late for work, to employers having to deal with the costly effects of work stoppages.

“To recoup the revenue that will be lost

April 2015 jFM

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Impact on employees Regular and extended outages will disturb family life in all sorts of ways, from spoiled food and appliances that don’t work to transport difficulties and the care of children and elderly relatives. Employers need to understand the impact and be empathetic towards the challenges employees may face during this time.

Impact on vital services Extended power outages are likely to affect water supplies periodically and also telecommunications. Businesses can solve the water issue relatively easily by installing their own gravity-fed tanks that act as an emergency store replenished by the municipal water supply. More serious, however, extended power outages could be more than battery backups at some telecommunications sub-stations can cope with, leading to interruptions in communications.

Impact on the supply chain Power outages in other areas will not only affect your employees’ ability to get to work, but also the operations of suppliers and clients. Today’s businesses generally employ just-in-time inventory order systems and, in addition, supply chains are both long and complex – companies must understand the impact that load-shedding has on its suppliers’ ability to meet their commitments, and what any defaults will have on its operations.

“We would recommend that companies ensure they have visibility of suppliers’ business continuity plans,” Helyar says.

“Traffic congestion due to power outages will also affect deliveries and the productivity of mobile teams within the organisation and its suppliers.”

Impact on security

Most access control and building management systems rely on power to continue functioning, so alternative power plans must include security and access control to avoid the business becoming a soft target during load-shedding.

Impact on society One might argue that coping with load-shedding could create a kind of nation-building based on the feeling that “we’re all in this together”. More likely, particularly as the crisis drags on and on, is that existing social tensions will be exacerbated. “I have already observed an increase in incidents of road rage when non-functioning traffic lights cause persistent gridlock, and other forms of aggressive behaviour might also increase,” says Helyar.

“I also think that wildcat strikes and episodes of opportunistic looting could be sparked by load-shedding, particularly when businesses start to lose jobs as they must surely do.” Once these inter-connecting risks are well understood and integrated in the business continuity plan, companies can put the appropriate backup power plans in place.

Here are some load shedding survival tips that Paragon Interiors has for firms to ensure productivity continues during power outages: • Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs): Make sure UPSes are correctly sized for the job they have to do and that they cater for potential extended power outages. Furthermore, consider what critical systems will get priority and what may be turned off without negatively impacting the business.

• Generators: Most companies will rely to a great extent on generators. They need to be maintained and tested properly, something that is hard to control if they are owned by the landlord. Like UPSes, they need to be correctly specified – a cheap household generator is not going to cope with frequent and prolonged use. Diesel stocks also need to be managed. Diesel cannot be stored indefinitely, and the possibility that diesel will be hard to obtain during a prolonged blackout also has to be faced.

• Alternative power sources: Businesses will start employing other methods of powering systems, such as solar power, to reduce the impact of load-shedding.

Can you imagine if all the traffic lights were solar powered and the resultant positive effect on traffic during power outages.”

• All laptop computers should, where pos-

sible, be equipped with a second battery so that employees can work on battery power for several hours.

• Offices equipped with battery-powered lights.

• Where employees do computer work as well as ‘paper’ work, paper work should be allowed to accumulate so that it can be done when the power is down.

• Maintenance of vehicles, buildings and equipment, such as air-conditioning, should be scheduled for periods when the power is off.

• Employers, especially in a production environment, will have to consider changes to their work hours if scheduled load shedding takes place at the beginning or end of the normal shift. For example if the production line normally commences at 08h00 and load shedding is scheduled for 06h00 to 08h30, it will be possible to change the commencement of the shift to 08h30, avoiding 30 minutes of downtime.

• Design a ‘backup’ area where people using laptops can work communally and share a printer and router running on a UPS.

• Design your office in such a way as to allow natural light in to keep the office lit during power outages.

Helyar advises, “Employers and employees should approach the power outage problem proactively, ensuring that businesses survive and that employees keep their jobs. Load shedding is an unpleasant reality that will be around for the foreseeable future. It has already had a detrimental impact on the South African economy. It is now imperative that organisations turn away from simply complaining about the power cuts and start thinking creatively about the effects on productivity and how to improve the bottom line.”

“Employers will also have to consider alternative arrangements for their staff, such as allowing them to work flexi-time or work from home,” he says.

“We don’t have an option – we all have to understand what this power crisis means for our individual businesses and take the appropriate action. Reviewing your business continuity plan is a good way to start.” n

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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Interior Motives Art enthusiasts the world over would find it hard to believe that people might need a motive to hang works of art on their walls or place a piece of art in their foyer. The reality is that while many people would love to have art in their workspaces, they are either not sure what to hang on their walls or lack a motive to do so. If you’re looking for your interior motive, the pictures with this article are just a few (of many) reasons to rent some art for your spaces.

If you’re relatively high up on the corporate ladder, you may already have a gorgeous corner office with an enviable view.

Your staff, on the other hand, are most likely staring at blank walls that are horribly uninspiring which, in turn, promotes low productivity.

Creating a unique and memorable experience for your customers and clients can easily be achieved by using art. Striking interiors is a great conversation starter and its memory easily finds a home in the recesses of the subconscious. Since brand building is an incredibly necessary task in any organisation, using art to create an image of your brand, values and ethics is a priceless investment.

When people think “art”, they are often hamstrung with thoughts of prohibitive costs and possible buyers’ remorse if they choose something that doesn’t quite fit their image.

The good news is that it’s not necessary to spend an absolute fortune on art for your offices.

Renting art is not only cost-effective but can also easily be changed to suit and mould the image you’re looking to create or even just be rotated to keep the previously stark, surroundings fresh. Oh, and it’s tax deductible too!

• Bidvest Art Rentals has a very user friendly website with downloadable catalogues at www.bidart.co.za. For further information call Janet Peace on 082 804 8558, email janet@execuflora.co.za or join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bidvest.Art.Rentals

April 2015 jFM

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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Energy-efficiency comes to Warwick Junction The heart of Warwick Junction in Durban is beating with new life in the form of the recently constructed community building, Denis Hurley Centre.

Replacing the demolished 106-year-old parish centre, the new community centre is named after the former archbishop of Durban, Denis Hurley, who actively spoke out against the atrocities of apartheid for five decades. Hurley believed a church should be a ‘community serving humanity’ and this centre will allow for his work to continue.

Talking about the multi-faith establishment, Gonzalo Prieto of Ruben Reddy Architects said the aim was to make the building as energy-efficient as possible to cut down on future costs.

“We had a tight budget so we needed to make practical use of the materials and not rely on the finishes. We decided that face

brick would be the right choice.”

Prieto said they opted for Corobrik’s range, selecting 65 000 silvergrey travertine FBX face bricks, 50 000 non-face plaster and 20 000 non-face extra bricks.

Taking into account Durban’s summer heat, Corobrik Sales Manager, Pat Moon, said the silvergrey travertine was the perfect choice.

“The light colour of the face brick has reflective properties which will minimise heat retention within the building,” says Moon.

“Being colourfast with excellent resilience, the face bricks will well withstand the elements so there will be very little maintenance later on. It is a great cost-saving choice, particularly for a community centre, such as this, where funds will go towards the upliftment of those visiting the centre, rather than the upkeep of this magnificent building.”

The Denis Hurley Centre situated in the densely populated and busy area of Warwick Junction in central Durban was built from Corobrik Silvergrey Travertine FBX Face bricks.

Moon says the clay bricks also have a natural propensity to absorb and release humidity from the atmosphere on Durban’s typical summer days. It is this attribute that helps keep indoor humidity at the 40%-60% level necessary for supporting healthy living.

Interface stars at BMW

Kevin Bates Albert Carpets (KBAC) supplied imported Interface carpet tiles for the floors of the BMW South Africa Head Office refurbishment which recently achieved a four star Green Building Council of SA (GBCSA) ‘Design’ rating, and a five star GBCSA ‘As Built’ rating.

KBAC, which also supplied Interface carpet tiles for the Western Cape offices of GBCSA itself, is the sole South African distributor and importer of Interface, the world’s largest carpet tile producer and environmental pioneer in its field. Interface is currently operating with 100% renewable energy, using virtually no water in its manufacturing processes. The picture shows Interface Biosfera Bouclé carpet tiling, in Nero Ebano colour which was selected for the project.

The architects for BMW South Africa Head Office project was Boogertman + Partners for which Judith Paterson was Project Architect.

April 2015 jFM

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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Province lights the way for business

The state-of-the-art showroom in Johannesburg.

Province Lighting/Automation/ Switching has expanded and recently opened up two new outlets, in Johannesburg and Windhoek, Namibia.

The company, a leading supplier of specialised SABS-approved, commercial, industrial, retail and architectural lighting solutions, takes a dynamic and progressive approach to business. It was established in 1987 in Cape Town, and since then has grown consistently in both reputation and stature.

The new Johannesburg outlet focuses on the commercial, industrial and retail sectors of the market. The objective of opening this outlet is to enable Province to broaden its customer base and enhance its customer service, in response to increasing consumer demand throughout South Africa for the company’s products, solutions and services.

“This move extends the company’s experience, knowledge and expertise, built up over many years, to the

April 2015 jFM

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Johannesburg market and nationwide,” says Jurgen Chemelli, managing director of Province. “Our team has worked on numerous and diverse lighting projects and large scale developments and we have serviced some of the biggest names in our industry.

We remain totally dedicated to service and to providing the best possible solutions to our customers.”

The Johannesburg outlet, which provides the latest in lighting and automation technology, has a state-of-the-art showroom and a well equipped presentation room for face-toface, focused interaction.

“The wide range of latest technology products enables each lighting solution to be tailor-made to meet each customer’s specific needs,” says Chemelli.

The focus of the showroom is on light-emitting diode (LED) in its various applications. This can in particular be seen in a specifically designed unit showing LEDs’ different colours and

intensities, as well as profiles and ceiling/bulkhead details.

In addition to lighting products, Province has an automation division. This offers an automated Building Management System (BMS), which is simple and personalised and, most importantly, allows homes and companies to maximise their energy savings.

The Johannesburg outlet’s showroom is fully automated.

The automation parameters are: • DALI lighting control • Power consumption and energy management • Remote log-in to external buildings • Monitoring and reporting on the above • Alarm interaction • Audiovisual control “The showroom is equipped with various interfaces so that customers can view all the energy management facilities the company offers,” explains Chemelli.

Province has been involved in both lighting and automation

of many green buildings across South Africa and in the rest of Africa.

The purpose of the new outlet in Windhoek is to extend the footprint of Province into Africa. The offices and fully equipped stores there are up and running. The company has already taken on business and projects in the greater African continent.

Province’s Johannesburg outlet was officially launched in February 2015. It is already fully operational and involved in many projects. A variety of events and talks will then be held throughout the course of the year. If you would like to be added to the mailing list please e-mail mail@province. co.za.

The new Johannesburg outlet is headed up by Kevin Murphy who can be contacted at +27 11 262 5179 or kevin@province. co.za. Philipp Ludescher is heading up the new Windhoek outlet, and he can be contacted at +26 461 400 339 or philipp@ province.co.za.

NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Serco meets the challenge and delivers for Imperial Leading truck body and trailer building company, Serco, has delivered 35 new refrigerated semi-trailers to Imperial Logistics Refrigerated Services (ILRS), one of southern Africa’s leading logistics operators.

The bulk of the vehicles will be used by ILRS to service a big new deal they won recently with a frozen vegetable producer while three will operate in Namibia to distribute goods to new food stores recently opened in the country by Woolworths.

Serco’s Managing Director, Clinton Holcroft, says they had been able to deliver according to very tight time lines.

“The fact we got the entire order and they didn’t split it between two or three suppliers was a huge coup for us,” he says.

Holcroft said Serco had been building truck bodies and trailers for Imperial for more than 15 years. ‘Our relationship goes back a long way and we are very proud to be their preferred supplier for new refrigerated trailer requirements.’

Four of the trailers are fitted with Thermoking-multi temperature units while the balance has standard single temperature cooling units. The multi-temperature units enable goods to be transported at different temperatures and in different compartments.

Two of the trailers are fitted with Serco’s aerodynamic side skirts, as Imperial wants to monitor the fuel consumption on the vehicles and compare it with that of the others. The company is also keen on reducing its carbon footprint.

All the trailers are fitted with aluminium rims, EBS brake systems, stainless steel lockable door gears and air ride suspension.

The order was only confirmed during the middle of November and it demanded intensive planning and commitment from Serco to deliver the trailers as required.

Eighteen trailers were required on January 1 and the remainder at the end of February.

Leonard Hyman, General Manager ILRS, and Gert Van Rooyen from Serco Cape.

“It was quite an achievement for us as it is peak time towards year-end and capacity is sometimes stretched. However, we introduced a variety of strategies to get the job done, including introducing a 24-hour shift,” said Holcroft.

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NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Over the moon at hospital installation

REHAU Authorised Partner, Moonstar, recently installed double glazed REHAU uPVC windows and French doors in the new maternity ward at the Lakeview Hospital, Benoni, Gauteng.

The client requested that the windows be used for their energy efficiency and sound reducing characteristics.

Moonstar coated the uPVC profiles grey as required by the architect, proving once again that REHAU uPVC windows is the system of choice for any application.

“The windows ensure that the temperatures inside the ward remain fairly constant, thus less electricity is used for

heating or cooling the interior” says Tony O’Neill, Commercial Manager for windows at REHAU .

The double glazing not only reduces electricity consumption, but also reduces outside noise so that the mothers and babies are kept in a relaxed and peaceful environment.

Moonstar’s Fatih Oz affirmed

that the building profession in South Africa, as well as building owners, were increasingly turning to REHAU uPVC windows, either single or double glazed, to enhance their quality of life.

“Specified for their energy savings, sound reduction, safety and durability, these window systems are rapidly becoming the window system of choice.”

Heavy-duty cabinets suit tough environments Legrand’s range of fibreglass reinforced polyester Marina cabinets, have been designed for use in any environment, but these units are particularly well suited for severe corrosive environments, including petrochemical, mining, general engineering and marine industries.

Marina enclosures are designed for maximum safety and the ordered arrangement and optimum protection of electrical components like terminal blocks, switches and

sockets, fuse carriers, safety transformers and circuit breakers.

Marina glass fibre reinforced polyester cabinets are self-extinguishing at 960°C and can withstand temperature ratings of between – 40°C and +80°C. These cabinets have an IP66 index protection rating for protection against dust and water and have been adapted to withstand corrosive environments, with excellent resistance to UV, saline mist, bases, oils

and greases.

Class II classification meets the requirements to create suitable assemblies for photovoltaic installations.

Marina cabinets are available in sizes between 300 x 220 x 160 mm and 1 220 x 810 x 300 mm, all fitted with a reversible door opening of 180° and stainless steel hinge pins. These cabinets are supplied with a set of internal mounting accessories for easy

and secure attachment of equipment to the back of the cabinet.

Accessories include double bar locks and metal keys.

These fibreglass reinforced polyester cabinets enhance Legrand’s range of stainless steel and metal cabinets, which are manufactured according to stringent quality specifications and are available from Legrand and its carefully selected national distributor network.

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