Fm Aug Sept 2017

ISSN 2071-9299

JUL / AUG 2017

FM No. 014

AQUATIC ACQUAINTANCES

WATER IS YOUR BUSINESS, MIND IT!

SECURITY CHECKS KEEP BAD GUYS OUT & EMPLOYEES SAFELY MONITORED

SPOTLIGHT ON ILLUMINATION SHEDDING LIGHT ON LIGHTING

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT A cohesive team of professionals, working as one to offer you a fully integrated solution to save you time and money.

safma

www.servest.co.za Servest Connect 0860 22 55 84

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Wonderboom Airport

Airports

Situation: The main reception area was experiencing water damage every time it rained due to leaking full bores and downpipes draining the roof.

Solution: Nu Flow relined the corroded full bores and downpipes using Nu Flow's epoxy coating technology thereby causing no damage to the airport reception.

Balalaika Hotel, Sandton

Hotels & Casinos

Situation: 110mm PVC sewer pipe running under passageway leading to hotel rooms was cracked and constantly blocking.

Solution: Nu Flow relined the cracked pipe using existing manholes as access points thereby causing absolutely no damage or disturbance to the hotel.

97 Kerk Straat, Johannedburg CBD

High-rise Buildings

Situation: The 7 story building was experiencing water damage every time it rained from two corroded cast iron 110mm stormwater stacks.

Solution: Nu Flow relined the stacks working from the fullbores on the roof and gutter outlets at the bottom of the pipe thereby causing no damage to the building.

Home on Link Road, Athol

Residential

Situation: The home owner had water leaks in two of the five bathrooms in the double story home. The pipes run within the roof slab.

Solution: Nu Flow relined the 2 bathrooms using Nu Flows epoxy coating technology approved for potable water pipes thereby causing no damage to the house.

Man Diesel & Turbo, Germiston

Industrial Site

Situation: A 200mm PVC down pipe running inside a structural column was leaking on the joints every time it rained causing damage inside the building.

Solution: Nu Flow relined the pipe sealing all the joints. All work was done working from the full bores on the roof and pipe outlet at the bottom of the pipe.

jfm@nuflow.co.za

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EDITOR’S COMMENT

Phil Woods

Time for an upgrade!

Contents 2

News & Products

6

Aquatic Acquaintances

10

Peggy-Sue’s six ‘Ps’ of life to real growth and success

12

Are you ready for criminals and [and inside jobs]?

18

It’s the space age!

20

Green Building Convention 2017

22

Spotlight on Illumination

24

SAFMA Winner

26

A healthier, happier workforce

28

Is FM more about managing facilities than managing people?

30

FM Expo Johannesburg Review

32

The IoT can make a major impact on Africa

T

he year is half way over and many are already thinking of plans for the Christmas break, holidays for some but many in facilities management are planning what work can be undertaken to their buildings during this downtime.

Whether it be renovations, extensions, major projects or just a thorough clean up and clear out.

Do let us know what projects you are planning and any challenges that you anticipate; lets share the problems and solutions to maybe help all in the FM community.

Editor Phil Woods phil@fmexpo.org Journalist Masentle Siwela masentle@fmexpo.org Layout Alois Sajanga alois@fmexpo.org

Advertisement Sales Adam Peters adam@fmexpo.org Pholani Sithole pholani@fmexpo.org Subscription Admin Somi Bululu somi@tetradeevents.com Printing House of Print

In this edition of the magazine you will find articles that will hopefully help you if you are considering lighting upgrades or planning to move people around in the space that you have.

Plus, Cliff Hocking gives us food for thought with his piece on managing people and buildings.

You may also notice that we have tweaked the front page banner a little.

We were worried that some may think we were talking about radio rather than buildings.

Copyright & Disclaimer Facilities Management (ISSN 2071-9299) is published 6 times a year

by T.E. Trade Events together with 12+ email bulletins and an annual FM Supplier’s Directory. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor, employees or publisher.

Published by T.E. Trade Events (Pty) Ltd, 1st Floor, Ice Site Building, 263 Oak Avenue, Ferndale, Randburg PO Box 650291, Benmore, 2010. Tel: 011 781 5970, Fax: 011 781 6079.

Jul / Aug 2017 FM

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NEWS & PRODUCTS

IS COMING TO CAPE TOWN! The LookOut, V&A Waterfront Cape Town

The largest Facilities Management event in Southern Africa Not to be missed, the FM Expo brings you all that is new, innovative and practical for the facilities manager. A great opportunity to learn, be informed, discover new products and network with your peers.

Co-located alongside the FM Expo is the SAFMA Conference, an ideal opportunity to hear from some of the country’s leading experts in the field. The line-up and topics will be announced soon.

T

he Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) Project in Kenya will ultimately become the largest wind farm in the world. It aims to provide the Kenyan national grid with 310MW of reliable, low-cost wind turbine generator capacity and give locals the opportunity to gain engineering skills.

WorleyParsons provides the project with engineering reviews, project management, and construction management reported that 120 wind turbines reached Ready for Energisation (RFE) status and all 365 turbines of 850 kW were completed in 362 days.

The project also consists of an electric grid collection system, a

T

he Facilities Management Magazine is looking to change the way that it serves the industry and we would very much like your feedback on some ideas we have and also are keen to hear what you have to say. Whatever it may be on the state of the industry, what you are looking for in an FM trade magazine and what, if anything we are doing right?

So please, take a little time and give it some thought.

To kick things off we are

August Jul / Aug2014 2017 FM jFM

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high voltage substation, upgrades to 210 km of existing road, an internal site road network and a 160-man self-contained permanent village.

Challenges that the project faced were in relation to logistics, weather conditions and the community, but it managed to create workable solutions and complete the project within the schedule and budget.

“We have worked closely with the customer and with the subcontractors to address these challenges. For example, as Lake Turkana is located within a desert-like environment, it seldom rains, but flash floods do occasionally occur and the existing road designs did not factor this in. We assisted with

improving the road design to cope with flooding,” Power Business Unit Manager for WorleyParsons RSA, Tim Gaskell, said.

Gaskel added that Kenya’s local workforce lacks health and safety practices and the LTWP project will close that gap. “We also deployed additional people to assist local sub-contractors to adhere to the high standards required for the project. We have a strong focus on localisation and social upliftment to ensure that the surrounding communities benefit from this project, and have placed particular emphasis on health and safety awareness as most of the local workforce has not been exposed to any health and safety practices,” he said.

considering the following ideas.

Creating a vacancy section on our website and sending out regular newsletters listing these vacancies.

Is there a demand?

We would like to engage with more facilities managers and have a tour of their buildings and to find out what challenges they have and how they are overcome. Good idea, bad idea?

We would like to know how much, in reality, green or sustainable initiatives feature in your day to day working lives. Should we feature more on this, less? Is it just pie in the sky or something you feel passionate about

and can realistically make a difference? Budgets, internal political will, all influence this topic.

We would love to hear more.

Our wonderful journalist Masentle is keen to talk to you. Please, if you have some opinions on the above, let us know. We need feedback because even I do not know everything….. I think that I do, but I’m told that I don’t.

Please contact either myself or Masentle our details are below.

Thanks, Phil.

Phil@fmexpo.org, Masentle@fmexpo.org

011 781 5970

“The record-setting RacerX represents the culmination of years of technological innovation by our team of world class engineers, and we’re very excited to unveil the fastest racing drone on earth,” Horbaczewski added.

The drone acquired its title by flying back and forth across a measurement course of 100 m.

Its official record of 163.5 miles per hour was set as the average of the top speed achieved on each of those flights but its top speed reached 179.6 miles per hour. DRL stated that RaceX did not burst into flames when it reached its highest point of acceleration unlike previous prototypes.

@DroneRaceLeague

T

he global leader in professional drone racing, Drone Racing League (DRL) set the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Ground Speed by a Battery-powered Remote-controlled Quadcopter in July.

The fastest drone in the world, which weighs less than 800 grams was hand-built in the United States of America, New York, by DRL’s Director of Product, Ryan Gury, and DRL’s team of expert drone engineers.

The founder/CEO of DRL, Nicholas Horbaczewski, said: “We’re thrilled to put our proprietary technology to the test, as we’re all about speed and pushing the limits of drone design here at DRL,”

A

n innovative project involving a state of the art R400 biogas plant is anticipated to be fully operational in July this year, is aimed at providing Cape Town with sustainable energy. The project is a collaboration of Waste Mart and Clean Energy Africa that is run by New Horizon.

CNNMoney Africa Correspondent, Eleni Giokos, spoke to some of the companies involved in the project and examined how the plant will solve the city’s refuse and resources problem.

According to Giokos, Head of Marketing and Sales, Silva Schollenberger, a number of Cape Town’s needs will be met simultaneously. “The Cape Town market is looking for alternatives to its current energy sources, i.e. heavy fuels, coal, Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), diesel, and the biogas plant fits beautifully in that,” Schollenberger said.

CEO of Clean Energy Africa, Egmont Otterman, informed Giokos that they take waste from different sources, clean it, produce gas and fuels, and by doing so they are attempting to be an alternative to landfills.

Cape Town produces about six million solid wastes, which can be transformed to 560000 Kilograms of municipal solid waste per day. The plant could supply 4% to 5% of liquid petroleum that the city needs.

The innovative plant converts the collected waste produced by the city that is taken from landfill sites such as the Vissershoek site into organic fertiliser, biomethane, refuse derived fuel and other various products. A thick slurry containing digestate (a nutrient-rich substance produced by anaerobic digestion) is first sorted and then it is turned into gas that can be piped and marketed.

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NEWS & PRODUCTS

O

n Nelson Mandela International Day, people from all walks of life commemorated the great magnanimity of the late former President of South Africa and power-gen& DistribuTECH did its bit.

To commemorate the event, POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa donated R30 000.00 and encouraged delegates to add their contributions to the cause during the opening keynote address at the Sandton Convention Centre, where they hosted Africa’s premier power sector conference on the 18th July 2017.

Event Director of POWER-GEN & DistirbuTECH Africa, Feraye Gurel, said: “With up to 600 million people across Africa still without access to electricity, we believe solar offers the fastest, cleanest access to lighting that enables children to study after dark, and small businesses to extend their trading hours, which has an immediate and measurable impact on rural communities.”

SolarAid was founded in 2006 to assist poverty stricken communities in Africa, by

T

.E Trade Events hosted its very first Facilities Management (FM) Breakfast on the 28th of June at the River Club in Observatory, Cape Town. The event provided delegates the opportunity to network and acquire valuable knowledge from expert speakers.

We had 55 people attend the breakfast from a wide variety of industries from Facilities managers and property owners to suppliers ranging from software to lift and escalator servicing.

The purpose of the breakfast was twofold, firstly to highlight the new Facilities Management

Jul / Aug 2017 FM

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providing them with solar light so they can develop without having to wait for a grid system.

The charity also sells solar lights to reinvest back into the organisation with the profits made, which encourages job creation and improves the local economy.

Founder and Executive Chair of SolarAid, Dr Jeremy Leggett, says the news prior the event was awesome. “We were feeling hugely honoured to be mentioned in the same sentence as Nelson Mandela, much less receive a donation to commemorate Nelson Mandela International Day,” Dr Leggett said.

“We shall use the donation to try and catalyse solar markets in Zambia, Malawi, and Uganda, the same way we succeeded with the first two solar lighting markets on the continent, in Kenya and Tanzania.” Dr Jeremy Leggett said.

“With up to 600 million people across Africa still without access to electricity, we believe solar offers the fastest, cleanest access to lighting that enables children to study after dark, and small businesses to extend their trading hours, which has

an immediate and measurable impact on rural communities,” said Feraye Gurel, Event Director of POWER-GEN & DistirbuTECH Africa.

“In the longer term, new baseload power generation and distribution models and technologies will come into play to add to this impact, and these are

areas that come under discussion annually at POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa.”

If you would like to make a contribution to the SolarAid visit https://www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/POWER-GENAfricaNelsonMandelaDay2017. Every R70 you donate will fund one solar light for a beneficiary in a rural area.

Expo that we are holding in Cape Town in October. The second was to replicate the success of the breakfast meetings we hold in Johannesburg. This provides a platform for facilities managers to gain knowledge on new ideas and hopefully solve problems and network with others in the industry.

Disruptive technology and effective recycling were the two topics discussed at the FM Breakfast. Mary Haw from Sola Future gave a very informative talk on the future of solar power generation as a disruptive technology and you could speculate that such a power

source could spell the end of Eskom and the grid if taken far enough. The leap in efficiency that the technology is taking is huge.

This disruption can even extend to the water supply, it’s treatment, savings, heating and much more.

We will be featuring more on this topic in our next edition, however please visit their website www.solafuture.co.za for more details.

The other talk was delivered

by Ursula Hennebury from the Paper Recyling Association of South Africa and was a very insightful look at the truth of paper recycling. Particularly how sustainable the industry

has become. More trees planted than need to be harvested, thus improving the atmosphere. The efficiency of the recycling process and the optimum types of paper that can be processed. Not all of it can. Incidentally, shredded paper is not so good for recycling.

The message was very much on the what, how, where and why to recycle paper. Certainly we could probably do more. For more information visit http://www. recyclepaper.co.za/ The next breakfast will be taking place on the 15th of October, again at the Riverclub in Observatory.

Please visit the website fmexpo.org for more information.

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FEATURE

AQUATIC ACQUAINTANCES Business partners Professor Anthony Turton and Gordon Allen tell us more about themselves, their journey in the water industry, their water consultancy business (GuruManzi) and how South Africa’s water status quo should be every Facilities Manager’s concern.

By Masentle Siwela Who is Anthony Turton?

Dr Anthony Turton is an environmental advisor, professional speaker and co-author of two chapters of the World Water Assessment Program.

“I am a complicated animal,” he chuckles as he describes himself. “In a nutshell, I am a mixture of a number of skills and I think it is this mixture that makes me unusual and different.

On one level I am a scientist specialising in water resource management and on another level I am a former Senior Intelligence Officer.

It was my work as an intelligence officer that is the critical part of my skill set,” Dr Turton reveals.

The water expert says that as intelligence officer he was deeply involved in the behind the scenes negotiations and operational work necessary to establish the enabling environment for CODESA (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) for South Africa’s transition to democracy. This was the most critical point of his life because the skills he acquired taught him how to make decisions and exposed him to conditions of incomplete knowledge with very high risk outcomes (in real time).

The late President Nelson Mandela once commissioned him to conduct a water risk assessment of the new democracy and it was then that he reached out to other intelligence services that were doing work in the environmental field.

Dr Turton comes from a time when there was the idea that environmental refugees, environmental factors and climate change would become a national security issue. He became an expert in that field. He now liaises closely with other intelligence officers in that matter. “Behind the scenes I am internationally recognised as an expert in that space (water as a national security risk) and now I have simply translated water as a business risk,” Dr Turton says.

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“

My father had never thought of taking me to school as a child.

We would go hunting, and had the privilege of hunting in the most incredible places.

His upbringing in KwaZulu-Natal as a child with a curious mind was the biggest factor that influenced his passion for the water industry. “My father had never thought of taking me to school as a child. We would go hunting, and had the privilege of hunting in the most incredible places – the most notable is the Kalahari dessert. The experience taught me about desserts, the flow of livelihood for people and about eco-systems,” he shares nostalgically.

Who is Gordon Allen?

Gordon Allen is the managing director of GuruManzi and his foray into the water industry is one he had not foreseen. Allen was initially in the Mechanical Engineering industry developing weapon systems for submarines for over 11 years.

After pursing his career in mechanical engineering, he then branched out into information technology and stayed in that industry for 30 years. According to Allen, the changes in careers are due to the fact that he does not shy away from a challenge. “I’ve lived and breathed leading edge technology and that is where I am most happy. I don’t like doing the same things other people do.

I like to take something new and break new ground whether it’s a new brand or a new technology,” Allen says.

It was an epiphany that propelled him to get into the business of water. “IT and telecommunication are such fickle businesses. An international acquisition can leave you without a job just like that, hence I decided outsource marketing and business developing skills,” Gordon says.

He happened to be at the right place at the right time when he came across someone trying market a water purification system. That particular project was unfortunately unsuccessful but he was lucky enough to meet Dr Turton. Dr Turton has always had a vast interest in water related issues and he struck while the iron was hot to engage with Dr Turton and they ultimately collaborated and formed the company GuruManzi.

Water As A Business Risk In February this year, the Department of Water and Sanitation confirmed that the Vaal Dam’s levels rose to 100% – the highest it has been in six years. The entire country was pleased with this news. However, Dr Turton says sitting back and not worrying about water anymore is what betrays the country’s insight into the problem because the water could deplete as suddenly as it flooded.

“I recently did a risk assessment for a client and it included a detailed graph of Vaal Dam activities. The Vaal Dam water levels were low then suddenly after one rainfall the dam filled up, which is an absolutely abnormal circumstance. It can deplete as just as quickly as it filled up,” Dr Turton warns.

Allen states that many businesses/facilities managers do not realise how bad a lack of water can be for a businesses and that is due

to the fact that municipality water supply has been readily accessible for the longest of times. However, that is no longer the case.

Even though the dam filled up, there are facilities in an affluent area of Johannesburg that use water buckets to flush toilets. This is a point Dr Turton brought to the attention of seminar attendees at the recent FM Expo at Gallagher Convention Centre.

“Corporates have largely been spoilt by the municipality because water has been provided by the government, but with the recent scenarios they have been facing they have to internalise water as a business risk within the company and start taking it seriously because water supply has become unreliable.

Businesses need to start taking measures to mitigate this risk.” Allen advices.

Dr Turton sees the world from a different perspective because he has accumulated

“

I don’t like doing the same things other people do. I like to take something new and break new ground whether it’s a new brand or a new technology

vast experience as an intelligence officer and he says that the issue of water scarcity unveils a change in the landscape of risk which, on the contrary presents facilities managers and businesses owners with great opportunity. “The private sector is good at managing risk. Once they understand what the risk is then they can implement mitigating strategies,” he states.

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FEATURE

As much as risk assessments are conducted for IT, security and so forth, GuruManzi’s water risk assessment assists businesses to identify threats they could possibly encounter and provides methods on how to mitigate the identified risks. The GuruManzi duo believes that their consultancy services are an investment that business should make to determine short term, medium term and long term risk matrices.

“We have now secured consultancies for large corporates to assess their water risks,” Allen says.

“We go through the process of conducting a water risk assessment with these big businesses, then at a strategic level we throw out all the risks that they need to address. We found a lot of resonance within this, that the risk assessment integrates with the governance processes and procedures of companies. We believe that is the correct path for companies to address water risks correctly, instead of them just calling in the local plumber. It needs to be integrated with other risks as well,” Allen adds.

Rainy Days Are Storage Days Dr Turton makes reference to a facility that caught fire in the Johannesburg CBD a couple of months ago. “In April this year, there was

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Stored water can be used as reservoirs for irrigation systems and emergency supplies for fire-fighting purposes. Aboveground water storage solutions simply require the installation of a water storage tank that will automatically fill up when it rains. Underground storage tanks on the other hand are placed under paved lightweight traffic areas such as garden paths, garden beds or lawns and they are ideal for facilities where space and accessibility are an issue. They are suitable for agricultural, industrial, commercial and domestic applications. These storage options can help save up to 90% of water expenses.

“

We are not married to any provider, we are married to the needs of the client. If we cannot solve client’s pressing needs with the three parameters we use to check viability, then we do not have a right to exist

a [building on] fire in Braamfontein. That building burnt down because there was insufficient water in the fire hydrants and insufficient pressure. This is a risk that no one has yet figured out.”

“We advise that companies understand that the rules of engagement are changing in a fundamental way. You can no longer guarantee that the municipality will supply you with enough water pressure at the time when your building is burning up,” Dr Turton says.

Dr Turton advises facilities managers to prepare themselves for emergencies by changing the design of their facilities: “Change your building design to make sure that you have onsite storage of water.”

Although some facilities have water storage systems in place, he states that there should also be a stand-by generator to make sure there is enough electricity in cases of emergency.

Whether underground or above ground water storage, these water storage solutions will help facilities managers, building owners and businesses to say goodbye to worrying about and being affected by water shortages.

Soon after our interview with Dr Turton and Allen, local news broadcasters reported that a handful of people had died and hundreds of homes were razed to the ground in Cape Town. The Media Liaison Officer of the Western Capes Department of Local Government, James-Brent-Styan, was quoted on the Eye Witness News (EWN) website as saying: “So the water supply in Knysna is running low. Of course, using water to fight the fire has driven a serious situation even further.”

Such unforeseen blazes affecting the country highlight what Dr Turton and Allen reiterate regarding the municipality struggling to provide sufficient water supply and emphasise that water storage options are the best alternative to assist with meeting the demand for water supply.

New Technologies Finding new technologies and trying to integrate them with clients’ needs is the kind of work Dr Turton does a lot.

Although he provides them with new technologies, his main focus is to ensure that the available technology fits well with the needs of the client.

“New technologies are about firstly, understanding what the changing risk landscape is, then looking at possible solutions and most importantly looking at the business case underpinning those technologies, because every man and his dog has an idea of how to fix the water problem. There are millions of ideas out there and of those millions of ideas, a fraction of one percent are actually viable in a commercial sense.”

Dr Turton uses three matrices to measure viable solutions. He says every solution should firstly be technologically sound and robust, secondly it should be socially acceptable and should lastly, be economically viable.

“Now let us look at sewage recovery as an example. Is it technologically possible to recover sewage and make drinking water out of it? The answer is yes. Is it technologically sound? (How many people in South Africa are willing to drink sewage water?) The answer to that question would make sewage recovery socially unacceptable.

Is it economically viable? Because it is not socially accepted then it would probably be boycotted by people” he elaborates.

The above is an example of matrices measurements Dr Turton and Allen work on with the intention to ultimately change the public’s perception and provide knowledge.

“We are not married to any provider, we are married to the needs of the client. If we cannot solve client’s pressing needs with the three parameters we use to check viability, then we do not have a right to exist,” Dr Turton affirms. n

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FM INSIGHT

PEGGY-SUE’S SIX ‘PS’ OF LIFE TO REAL GROWTH AND SUCCESS Former miss South Africa Peggy-Sue Khumalo is not just a pretty face – she is a full powerhouse who endured unfavourable life experiences but managed to triumph every challenge.

She recently shared her story entrepreneurs at a recent To The Point session, hosted by Property Point, a Growthpoint Properties initiative and revealed six p’s of life she uses as a guiding framework.

K

humalo describes herself as a farm girl from Newcastle, where she grew up with her single mother. To make ends meet, she worked with her mother as a domestic worker for two years. Even though she had no foresight as to what she wanted to pursue after she completed her studies at school, she went in search of a job and found one washing hair as an assistant.

“

Thriving small businesses are essential to create the jobs and the growth we need for this country. We must support small business to help achieve this growth.

Her burning desire to better self as a young individual pushed her to enter the regional Miss Ellerines competition, which she won. Winning the Ellerines completion was her stepping stone into embark on a modelling career and ultimately win the title of Miss South Africa. Her journey gave her the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life who opened her eyes to new possibilities.

During her reign as Miss South Africa, she often travelled with the late president Nelson Mandela to represent the country at different

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events. She had always longed to further her studies and Mandela made it possible by asking Investec’s Stephen Koseff to sponsor her studies and Koseff agreed. Today, she is a BA Hons (Economics & Political Science) and an MSc (Economics) graduate from the University of Manchester, UK. While residing in the UK, she joined Investec Bank UK in its asset management division. When she returned to South Africa she then joined Investec Corporate and Institutional Banking (ICIB) progressing to her current position over a 13-year banking career with Investec.

Khumalo further provides pointers to assist entrepreneurs set achievable business targets and objectives, and explores ways to adopt a new mind-set and internalise the discipline needed to reach goals and help keep entrepreneurs and their teams motivated to accomplish these objectives.

“Thriving small businesses are essential to create the jobs and the growth we need for this country. We must support small business to help achieve this growth,” says Khumalo.

Here are Khumalo’s six ‘Ps” help entrepreneurs set achievable business targets and objectives: 1. Purpose – Have a purpose greater than yourself. Serve others. Make a difference.

2. Passion – Your purpose becomes your passion. Whatever it is – children, community, family – it is what gets you out of bed every morning and keeps you moving forward, through good times and bad.

3. Persistence – Never give up. Life is full of surprises. Don’t quit. Have a zest for life. In South Africa, many of our parents had nothing but made it work. Be careful of becoming complacent or dependent on others. Challenge others who have fallen into this trap.

4. Patience – We get impatient too quickly.

Be patient; not everything happens in the time you want it to. This is an unbelievably important quality.

5. Performance – Give your best. If you want something to happen, get on with it and do the job. This isn’t only about work, but also about work-life balance. There isn’t one perfect balance. It is all about the integration of all aspects of your life.

6. People – People and relationships are everything. You are who you are because of the people in your life. You are also accountable to these people. Serve those who matter to you. n

SECURITY

ARE YOU READY FOR CRIMINALS [AND INSIDE JOBS]?

No building is immune to criminal maliciousness. To avoid the misfortunes portrayed on American drama series Criminal Minds, what security measure does your facility have in place to keep the bad guys out and keep the good guys at your organisation safe?

By Masentle Siwela

I

n March this year, three suspects managed to steal 15 computers containing highly confidential information on 250 judges at the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ).

The acting national police commissioner, Kgomotso Phahlane, later confirmed that the perpetrators were found with unlicensed fire arms. Employees of the OCJ were fortunate that the burglary took place at night because had the burglary taken place during office hours the case could have

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ended with fatalities and/or injuries.

Imagine the impact of criminals purloining all of your company’s valuable assets and getting away undetected. This alarming case should prompt (if it has not already) facilities managers to ensure that the security of their facility is in check.

Although crime statistics in South Africa are always on the rise it is the responsibility of building owners and facilities managers to mitigate the risks their buildings are exposed to and this is first done by

“

Whilst the reason to install cameras is not to spy on your workers, it is acknowledged that installing CCTV cameras results in improved productivity.

conducting a security risk assessment: A risk assessment is conducted to identify hazards and risks, create an awareness, analyse and evaluate the risk associated with that hazard then determine the appropriate measures that should be taken to mitigate and eliminate possible threats. Not only does it provide knowledge about the risks a facility faces but it also provides detailed information about whether or not too much is being invested on security systems because security measures are not a one size fits all solution.

The South African Labour Law Guide website, www.labourguide.co.za, states the following as the three different types of risk assessments: • Baseline risk assessments (Baseline HIRA) is meant to establish a risk profile and priorities action programmes for issues based on the risk assessment.

The purpose of a baseline HIRA is to evaluate the type and size of possible hazards. It can be performed on a site, region or a national basis regarding any facet of the company’s operations.

• Issue based risk assessment (Issue based HIRA) is a detailed study which will result in the development of action plans for treatment of significant risk. This kind of risk assessment focuses on operational activities, processes and systems.

• Continuous risk assessments (Continuos HIRA) are as the name says.

The risk assessment needs to be conducted more frequently than the other types of risk assessments. The purpose of continuos HIRA is to point out which hazard requires immediate treating significant risks; gather information to feed back to issue-based HIRA; and gather information to feed back to baseline HIRA. Business Development Director of ASSA ABLOY, Hayley Elwen, says conducting risk assessments is critical start to any security improvements. “Without knowing what risks exist, these [risks] cannot be effectively managed and the relevant areas will not be secured. Possible threats could be to people and property – for example fire safety, people safety (reducing the possibility of criminal access to a building or site), clear egress and exit procedures in case of emergency, theft and terrorist attacks,” “A sound access control system, intrusion detection, clear fire, emergency safety procedures asset management and video surveillance can all assist in improving overall risk management.” she adds.

Criminals On The Job There’s an old psychological phenomenon known as The Hawthorne Effect, which has proved that when people are aware that they are being observed their behaviour and/or performance improves. Facilities managers can use this theory to cognitively keep the bad guys out, and mentally ‘manipulate’ a production workforce into bettering productivity.

While facilities managers implement measures on how to keep the bad guys out, they should simultaneously try to ensure that the employees don’t get caught with their hands in the till.

Employees hired without a criminal record might succumb to the temptation of stealing from the company because their chances of success are much better than those who break in. The reason employees have a better shot at getting away with stealing at their workplace is because they know where valuables are and how to get to them. The fact of the matter is that criminals in balaclavas could be your most loyal employees at work. That is why it is pivotal to run a complete criminal background check on new hires and avoid bringing in anyone with a dodgy record.

Whether a commercial building is big or small, authentically pleasing or bland, it is still prone to burglaries, vandalism and thefts because criminals never find them meh.

Elwen advices facilities managers to implement sound processes and procedures, along with key management and access control systems to provide a full audit trail of every main security access point or high value asset storage area.

“By doing this you have a full audit trail and clear accountability of which people have accessed which areas and storage facilities, enabling assets to be tracked and people to be kept safe. Adding additional doors into

Five benefits of installing CCTV cameras: • Discourage theft Installing a quality surveillance system – both internal and external – to discourage all kinds of theft and increase the security within the company, but it will also reduce the need for concern about it.

• Keep an eye on what’s going on “When the cat’s away, the mice will play” – this expression applies for many places; including the workplace. In addition to increasing employee productivity, installing CCTV cameras will enable you to view your cameras from wherever you are, provided you have an internet connection.

• Protect private areas Organisations need to be proactive in protecting themselves, so in the case of having an area or certain documents that are off limits to certain employees, installing CCTV cameras is the best solution to discourage forbidden employees from entering these areas.

• Improve work strategies Installing CCTV cameras can help in areas such as increased customer satisfaction and improved strategies. This is because by watching the recordings, you will be able to see how your customers are being treated, and monitor which aisles have more traffic, or which items get attention but don’t sell. By monitoring these things, you will be able to work on solutions that will improve your business in many ways.

• Protect your company Some people tend to go out of their way to take advantage of others, or to make life difficult for them by making false claims. Some of these people might craftily wait a few months before making a claim, knowing that most surveillance systems rewrite their video data after a certain amount of days and therefore any “proof” will be eliminated. Getting a surveillance system with unlimited video data storage will solve this issue, and provide you with peace of mind.

Source: www.jfgroup.com

the access control system reduces the need for multiple keys for multiple areas, expanding the auditable areas within an organisation,” “This can easily be done with wireless door locks, which provide a relatively inexpensive way of increasing the scope of an access control system as no additional cabling and chasing into walls is required, so installation time and cost is reduced,” says Elwen.

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SECURITY

harder and better than they did when there were no security cameras.

“Some would argue that camera surveillance deprives you of privacy which everyone has the right to.

Many employers who use cameras are required by law to notify their employees about the filming. Whilst the reason to install cameras is not to spy on your workers, it is acknowledged that installing CCTV cameras results in improved productivity.” safety and security solutions company, Chubb, shares on its website.

Safeguards

Big Brother Is Watching The safety of people (especially women) has been on everyone’s lips over the past few months as there has been an increase in the number of ‘femicide’ (sex-based hate crime) reports, with several women found dead around Johannesburg and around the country while others surviving abductions.

The most recent case of this kind is of an Eskom employee, Thembisile Yende, who was murdered in May this year. According to newspaper articles, closed circuit camera (CCTV) unfortunately did not working on the day of her death, footage at the Eskom substation (where Yende worked) did record her arriving to work.

Even though the Yende story is more about her trying to expose the unethical behaviour of her Eskom colleagues; the mystery behind the CCTV cameras that went down underlines their importance.

Had the cameras been recording, the murderer and suspects would have been identified and prosecuted from the onset.

Sometimes, the presence of a security guard can stop a culprit from going through with their mission to invade. The Hawthorne Effect proved that the sight of a camera could make them stop in their tracks because they know the footage will be sent to police.

Putting up surveillance cameras in and outside a production space has the potential to make employees lose their sense of privacy, resulting in them to feeling like they are reluctantly on the popular reality television show, Big Brother. On the contrary though, they could feel much safer, work

Hiring physical security personnel at your facility has several benefits.

They monitor who goes in and out of the building, which in itself prevents criminals from attempting to get in the building. Their presence gives employees peace of mind knowing that security personnel are patrolling around the building, keeping their lives, vehicles and other valuables safe.

Security guards can be a good business investment because they can also work as guides. When clients and visitors enter the building, the security guard attends to them and directs them to where they need to go, before clients even arrive at the reception area the security guide has already given clients a brief impression of the company as they are the representation of the company.

It is important to have well-trained security guards and not just hire someone who will wear a neon coloured reflective jacket and loitering around asking everyone for small change. In emergency cases or in the case of a burglary, the security guard is the first person who will assess the situation and alert emergency services.

Whether or not security guards carry hand guns (to protect themselves or occupants in a building) depends on the risk the building and/or the security guard faces. Security personnel are often the first to get attacked by outsiders or strangers.

It is said that people are a company’s greatest asset and that includes the man risking his life to provide security. It is therefore vital that emergency alarms are a security requirement because alerting the police that something has gone wrong will give the guard a chance of surviving whatever situation they face.

Building Management Systems Building Management Systems (BMS) are a great tool for enabling facilities managers to fulfil their role in protecting the workforce, controlling visitor access and keeping criminals. BMS is integrated into a wide range of vital data systems that facilities managers can use for the planning, monitoring, controlling and managing activities in, and around, a facility.

BMS can be integrated into CCTV cameras, motion detectors and access control. For security purposes, security guards can watch/keep track of activities taking place in the vicinity of a production space via CCTV cameras while the system captures data about who is accessing the building. The system also includes SMS and email communication options that keep facilities managers up-to-date with what is happening in the facility. The captured data will come in handy when the company does business progress check and for when unfortunate cases such as burglaries take place.

Every facility has security issues that are unique and it is therefore important to adapt options regarding security systems because there is no one size fits all solution to security. n

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FM INSIGHT

IT’S THE SPACE AGE!

By Hassan Shaikh Founder of Revolve Two suggestions to using your space more effectively There are numerous advantages of co-working spaces for small businesses and entrepreneurs and the five top co-working spots in Johannesburg listed on the Hello Joburg website, www.hellojoburg.co.za, reflect just that to him.

Stats SA reported that the South African economy moved into recession with the reported decrease of 0,7% in GDP during the first quarter of 2017, following a 0,3% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2016 in June this year, which also affects business that seek to rent out spaces and those that want to acquire more office space due to business expansion. However, corporates can save by alternatively using the spaces they already have more effectively.

“

What you really want to achieve is a place that facilitates employees and not contains employees.

Collaborative spaces address this issue very successfully.

“Especially during a recession, corporates should be making the best use of co-working spaces. Inter-departmental collaboration within an organisation is also deemed to be co-working and does not necessarily only apply to cross business co-working,” Shaikh says.

He further adds: “If for example, you need to expand current departments that require growth internally opt to create a smaller, more cost effective co-working space off-site, for functions that don’t necessarily need to be office bound. These co-working spaces can be located strategically in relation to the head office and close to high volume traffic areas that effect where staff live and travel from,” “What this does is it empowers employees to choose where they can work. Empowered employees are productive employees. Also, considering the time lost travelling in traffic and the need for high levels of productivity, these spaces can bridge the gap between remote working and office based working,” Shaik states that because people were made

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believe that open plan offices are the best option to moving toward a more progressive approach to workplace effectiveness, which is not the case, is the reason why most office spaces are have an open plan set up.

Contrary to believe, open plan office spaces lead to a disruptive and unproductive workplace as compared to stand-alone plan. “What you really want to achieve is a place that facilitates employees and not contains employees. Collaborative spaces address this issue very successfully,” Shaik reveals.

Shaikh states the following points as essential elements that make collaborative spaces effective: • Choosing the correct furniture for particular activity - For example, if you have an informal meeting area you would need furniture that is more relaxed furniture but also something that will offer some sort of acoustic value and sufficient privacy.

• The positioning of the collaboration space in the overall layout – When there are many people in the same space, unspoken boundaries start forming and people become territorial.

Collaboration spaces need to either be part of a team or divisional space or be completely neutrally positioned.

• Technology and equipment – The incorporation of electronic whiteboards, electrical connections and sharing technologies add further value to the position of the space and the make-up of the space, which will enhance the inclusion of collaboration spaces.

• Indoor environment – Consider window treatments, temperature controls and even lighting, especially in spaces that will facilitate presentations and video conferencing that are not boardrooms and meeting rooms.

“Remember, it is easy to create beautiful spaces with large budgets, but good design thinking creates effective, productive spaces. With everyone feeling the pinch of the recession now is a good time to start rethinking your office design and finding ways to optimise your space. This does not need to be at the detriment of productivity and office morale but, if done, correctly could in fact improve both,” Shaikh concludes.

Founder of Revolve, Hassan Shaikh

Make a great impression with your space Entrepreneurs should be mindful of the impression their office design gives to potential clients, as their first impression can make them either reluctant or eager to pursue business with you.

Shaikh says that “There is a direct correlation between how a potential new client perceives your offices and whether they want to do business with you.”

He believes that when your office spaces is a run-down and out-dated the clients’ perception of your office space will be a reflection of your business. Investing in office space design is therefore a must as the investment can dramatically improve the business, even though the idea of investing in office design may seems unnecessary and expensive for smaller businesses.

“Cost is always, even with large corporates, the deciding factor that determines how effectively design can serve and create value for businesses. In spite of the challenges, there are still many options available to SMEs to overcome financial constraints when it comes to workplace interior design,” he says.

Head of Finance and Corporate Responsibility for Umsinsi Health Care, Julian Moonusamy, attests that investing in a uniquely designed Customer Experience Centre designed by Revolve was fruitful. “We asked Revolve to model our centre on a UK concept which is definitely a first of its kind in South Africa in the health care sector. The response has been very positive from customers and it has given us a fantastic platform to blend the concepts of academic learning, alongside best practice use of the ConvaTec products,” Moonusamy comments. n

At Sodexo, we believe that to create lasting value, organisations and society as a whole must place people at the center of their thinking. We consider Quality of Life to be an essential factor in individual and collective performance, and improving Quality of Life is our business and our core mission.

Every day we deliver more than 100 services, from IFM, food services, maintenance and cleaning to facilities and equipment management.

We are constantly developing our offer with new services that impact the quality of life of our 75 million consumers and improve the performance of our partners in 80 countries around the world.

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GBCSA 2017

GREEN BUILDING CONVENTION 2017 Five of the top sustainability minds will headline this year’s Green Building Convention, hosted by the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA), which will take place in Cape Town from the 9th till the 11th of October 2017.

The event now in its tenth year – in conjunction with this year’s lead sponsors: Standard Bank, Growthpoint, Lafarge, Rabie Property Group and the Century City Conference Centre and Hotel.

T

he Green Building Convention has only 600 seats available this year for attendees to gain knowledge and get inspired by more than 50 local and international thought leaders. Delegates will be presented with the opportunity to intensely explore and share insight on their relevant areas of expertise.

Furthermore, the convention will celebrate the first ten years of the existence of the GBCSA as well as its many previously accomplished milestones in conjunction with its members. The convention will also recognise members who have shown outstanding commitment to the green building agenda over the past 10 years will be presented with Lifetime Achieve Awards accolades.

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Green buildings are only one part of a connected system and attention needs to be paid to the likes of land use, technology, transport, materials and wellness.

GBCSA CEO, Dorah Modise, revealed that this year’s keynote speakers include: Lance Hosey (architect and author), Vivian Loftness (environment advisory group AIA Committee member), Fred Kent (Founder and president of the Project for Public Spaces in New York), Professor Mark Swilling (Professor of

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GBCSA CEO, Dorah Modise Sustainable Development in the School of Public Leadership at Stellenbosch University) and Jason Drew (business leader, environmentalist and author).

“The green building movement has made great strides in the past 10 years and deeper greening is required going forward. Green buildings are only one part of a connected system and attention needs to be paid to the likes of land use, technology, transport, materials and wellness. The convention programme reflects this and we are encouraging delegates to make the connections and dare to lead in transforming the future,” Modise says.

Attendees and delegates should look out for revitalised sponsored networking area, as opposed to a standard convention exhibition space, which will offer an engaging space for delegates to network and make the connections to lead the industry forward.

To book your seat and/or acquire further details on the Green Building Convention 2017 visit www.gbcsaconvention.org.za n

LIGHTING

SPOTLIGHT ON

LIGHTING

Lights are meant to illuminate but do you know what type of lighting should be used where and how you can mitigate electricity bill expenses?

By Masentle Siwela

B

riefly ponder on how lighting affects you – walking into a dark corridor makes you feel unsafe and vulnerable, knowing there are floodlights at the stadium makes you comfortable with watching a sports event live in the evening, you would not allow a surgeon to operate on you in the dark and you dim the lights to set the mood for a romantic dinner date but working in a dark office makes you feel sleepy. These examples illustrate how humans relate to lighting.

Lighting is an essential service for the operation of a facility – It is one of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) issues taken for granted in the workplace, yet deserving of the spotlight as it plays a number of roles in a facility. These roles including improving aesthetics and functionality, productivity of worker’s, employee wellbeing and of course the exorbitant utility bill of a facility.

The general understanding of types of lighting is simply that there are different types of lightbulbs. However, there are three different

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forms and they each have purposes that differ from each other.

There is such a thing as too much lighting or too little lighting. Knowing the difference helps determine whether or not a facility is well lit, consequently reducing effects of straining employees. The three main types of lighting are: • General Lighting – This is one of the most common type of lighting and sometimes referred to ambient lighting. It is meant for basic illumination of an area. It provides a soft glare that lights up a space just enough for visibility and functionality without causing the eyes to focus on anything particular or being too harsh. In a work environment, this type of lighting would be most suitable to use in the reception area because it gives off an atmosphere of calmness and relaxation due to its flatness.

• Task Lighting – Certain undertakings such as reading a book, working on the computer or performing surgical procedures require task lighting. Task lighting is often

called office lighting. This types of lighting is the most concentrated as compared to the others. Its intensity draws the eyes attention to a particular object. It is best used to improve the quality of illumination for employees working in an office and that can be achieved by providing side lamps to workstations.

• Accent Lighting – For directional, informative signs within a facility and beautifying a garden or a pathway, accent lighting is the correct type of lighting for this purpose. Its purpose is to enhance the authentic of a particular area (whether indoors or outdoors).

Cost Shedding Every facility manager knows that the utility bill is always high, hence findings cost effective ways to keep the digits on the bill low is a big concern.

Before the invention of artificial lighting, nature has always supplied us with day light.

Most production spaces do not capitalise on

Eskom’s tips on how to conserving energy

“

Every facility manager knows that the utility bill is always high, hence findings cost effective ways to keep the digits on the bill low is a big concern.

this free lighting because they do not know how to utilise it effectively.

Apart from the cost saving benefits, natural lighting has a positive effect on workers: it improves concentration, boosts moods and well-being.

Sustainable architecture at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Professor Boubekri, released a book about the impact of a lack of daylight inside buildings has on people’s health, behaviour, overall well-being and how they relate to sunlight. His research lead him to his empirical conclusion that states that the architectural design of office environments should place more emphasis on sufficient daylight exposure in order to promote the health of workers.

Most buildings do not retain sufficient lighting even though there are windows bringing in sunshine so artificial lighting supplements the shortage. Any kind of lightbulb will certainly illuminate but South Africa’s current economic status has forced organisations to make better financial decisions on lighting.

Retrofitting all the lighting in your facility with light emitting diodes (LED) bulbs to save money and over 75% of energy. LED bulbs use only 20% to 25% of energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent lightbulbs. Even though they are more costly than traditional lightbulbs, LED lights save you money because of their durability. Other advantages of using LED lighting include their availability of various colours, they are dimmable, can be used both indoors and outdoors and they can make it through any weather.

According to news website providing weekly real economy news on various industries, www.engineeringnews.co.za, Energy Management Systems (EMS) greatly minimise the utility bill. EMS involve monitoring, controlling, and optimization of an organisations to make its energy more efficient. They also do not require large amounts of upfront investment because they depend on a mixture of behavioural, operational, maintenance and infrastructural changes.

It is said that knowledge is power and having an understanding (provided by EMS) of how the energy in your facility is used is the ideal way to assist with the much needed control over the facilities expenditure. n

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• The wattage of a bulb is not a measure of the amount of light it gives, but rather the energy it uses. For instance, a 100 watt bulb gives 50% more light than four 25 watt bulbs.

• Never confine lighting to one part of the room.

Avoid heavy contrast by using lamp shades that direct light both up and down.

• Try not to install multiple lights (lamps or lighting fixtures) on a single switch. Above all, turn lights off whenever possible because, they use electricity while they burn.

• Clean your lamps and bulbs regularly, because dirt decreases the amount of light given out.

• Dimming switches allow you to regulate the light level and reduce electricity consumption to some extent.

• Use lampshades with a white liner. Liners should be sufficiently dense to hide the bulb but should transmit soft, even light.

• Use low energy lamps for exterior lighting.

Source: www.eskom.co.za

FEATURE

THE QUINTESSENCE OF YOUTH Each year, South Africans celebrate and commemorate hundreds of young people (protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction), whose lives tragically ended in 1976 when they were killed by the apartheid government, Seeing that June was Youth Month, it seems fitting to feature a young individual – Prantosh Lallan Ramlagan – winner of the South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA) – Young Achiever of The Year award.

By Masentle Siwela

I

only communicated with Prantosh via telephone and email because proximity refused to allow us to meet. He is based in Durban and the FM Magazine is based in Johannesburg. Over the phone, Prantosh sounds like a soft spoken person and he respected the schedule we had agreed on for him to answer the questions I had sent to him with regards to this article.

Prantosh is a 34-year-old family, spiritually orientated individual, father to a 4- year-old daughter named Aariyah and husband to Anusha (who he describes as beautiful). When he is not too busy excelling at work, Prantosh finds leisure in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects such as painting, carpentry, gardening and electrical work. If you’re someone who believes in star signs then you and I would both suspect that Prantosh is a Libra,because of his ability to balance his life.

“I have created a balance between family life and work and do not cross the lines,” Prantosh said when I tried establishing whether or not my suspicion was correct.

Becoming a facility manager was never a part of Prantosh’s career plans. The facilities management industry is one he fell into (just like many others who are now experts in the field) when he accepted an offer as a Technical Supervisor at Total Facilities Management in 2014. Today, he is the Technical Manager for

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Bidvest Facilities Management on the Standard Bank Contract. His promotion came after months of discussions with his client, which was Standard Bank at the time, in August 2016.

Career Nitty-Gritty’s After passing matric in 2001, Prantosh pursued a Diploma in Science, Engineering and Technology through the University of South Africa (UNISA). He then attained a National Diploma in Project Management and Higher Certificates in Fire Engineering and AutoCAD. Even with these qualifications to his name, Prantosh continues to expand his knowledge and is currently studying towards a Degree in Operations Management.

A common clichés states that hard work pays off, which is why receiving accolades is not something new to Prantosh – he received three prestigious awards including the Standard Bank Excellence Award for Acting Building Manager, Standard Bank Excellence Award for GOSS Project Delivery and Standard Bank Excellence Award for Continuous Pro-activeness.

Earlier this year, Prantosh was announced as SAFMA’s Young Achiever of The Year 2017, which was amazing for him because his hard work was recognised

“

There is great potential for growth due to the demand for commercial space.

South Africa is an ever evolving nation that is constantly keeping up with modern day technology.

and appreciated. “To tell you the truth, I was in total shock when my name was called as the winner of this prestigious award,” he said. The SAFMA winner says winning motivated him to take the industry to new heights and propelled him to stimulate personal growth.

According to SAFMA, he was recognised for demonstrating an ability to develop effective ways of driving down costs and mitigating client’s costs. He achieved that by developing solutions that incorporate current technology and applications. “I firmly believe that communication is the key factor to success in any situation. Since I have employees spread across various buildings, I communicated with them via popular social media platform, WhatsApp, to create chat groups for discussions. It worked like a charm and assisted in cost saving,” Prantosh attested.

When asked what challenges he faces in his profession, Prantosh said he finds multitasking difficult. “My biggest challenge is having to wear the Juggler’s Hat. Facilities managers know how problems can weigh on you over time. In a managerial role there are many responsibilities varying from ensuring the facilities under your domain are safe and functional, to meeting building regulations and compliance standards. Keeping all of these potential problems and tasks under control is one of the biggest challenges,” he revealed.

FM Online Future “Technology is changing every day. One has to be familiar with modern day technology to keep up with the market,” he says.

The following points are ways he says social media assists the facilities management industry: • Cost Saving • Time Management/Reduced Time Consumption • More Efficient Communication • Instant Results • Reduced Traveling (Skype meetings) According to Prantosh, the future of facilities management is very bright and exciting. “There is great potential for growth due to the demand for commercial space. South Africa is an ever evolving nation that is constantly keeping up with modern day technology. With that in mind, facilities management has a bright future as the upkeep of these modern buildings will rely on the facilities management industry,” he predicted. n

Nathanial Reddy, Prantosh Ramlan and David Pierre Eugene at the SAFMA awards.

Question & Answer Masentle (M). If you were not in the facilities management industry, which one would you have opted for and why?

Prantosh (P). My mom wanted me to be a Sports Physiotherapist.

I have a feeling I would have gone that route.

M. Which achievement are you most proud of?

P. Purchasing a house to provide my family with the comfort of having a home.

M. What advice would you give to aspiring facilities managers?

P. • Be responsible and professional

• Observe and educate yourself every day

• Do not become complacent

• Be proactive and creative

• Look after any facility as if it is your own

• Develop a passion to work hard, it will help you get ahead

• Always stay abreast in the industry M. What do people not know about you that you wish they did know?

P. I am a very family orientated and spiritual person.

M. Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?

P. Ten years from now I will be 44 years of age and hopefully I would have fulfilled all my duties as an excellent employee. I will then take with me all the knowledge and training I learnt to become the youngest CEO. “To tell you the truth, I was in total shock when my name was called as the winner of this prestigious award.”

“Technology is changing every day. One has to be familiar with modern day technology to keep up with the market.”

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.

FM INSIGHT

A HEALTHIER, HAPPIER WORKFORCE: RECENT TRENDS IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT The future is now, especially when it comes to facilities management.

W

ith FMs already employing energy savings, earthfriendly practices, and IoT and robotics to increase efficiency and reduce costs, technological advances to make all of that easier are welcome.

Many of those advances are based on making building occupants healthy, with employee wellbeing and work/life balance at the forefront.

While you don’t have to actually exchange hugs (there’s an app for that), the trends in FM do have a lot of feel-good about them.

A HEALTHY BUILDING LEADS TO PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYEES There are three major trends changing the facilities management industry according to facilities management specialist Martin Leitch: sustainability, procurement and thermal comfort.

Sustainability has to do with the built environment, taking into consideration such aspects as ventilation and lighting. It directly impacts the well-being of the building occupants and can lead to increased productivity which in turn can have a positive effect on an organization’s profits.

Responsible procurement has an element of sustainability about it, dealing with finding products and services that are better choices for the environment. This includes everything from cleaning methods and products to water management and recycling practices at a facility.

Sustainable procurement also affects the health of a building’s tenants and their performance.

Thermal comfort has to do with the air and temperature of a space. The impact of air movement, air-conditioning and natural ventilation on a building’s occupants is becoming clearer with research. Quite simply, temperature itself dictates performance: “[A]

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n optimal thermal temperature in an office has transformative potential in terms of wellbeing and productivity,” Professor Richard de Dear, director of Sydney University’s Indoor Environmental Quality Lab, writes in the same article at The Fifth Estate.

The built environment affects the health and well-being of its occupants so much that a public benefit corporation, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) was formed several years ago in line with a Clinton Global Initiative. IWBI administers the WELL Building Standard, a system that measures, certifies and monitors features of buildings that affect the health of those in them.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A COMMON GOAL More practically, perhaps, is the trend ISS Group Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Price has seen of the industry shifting from inputbased to outcome-based contracts.

Instead of relying on contracts that depend on “predetermined resources, delivering services within a specific time frame at an agreed price,” Price says the FM industry is moving to a two-party collaboration in which the provider and client have a “mutually vested

interest” in the outcome.

In order to secure that outcome, the building’s occupants need to be involved.

They need to be asked about how they feel and what things are important to them.

Price shows how easy this can be: Just find out how building occupants feel when they arrive in the morning. If it’s anything other than a warm, welcome feeling, pleasant and professional, then the outcome has not been realized.

Obtaining that outcome may well go right back to procuring organic cleaning products or running indoor air quality tests. The point is, though, that the service or product suppliers should have the FM’s big-picture goal in mind: a healthy building.

AS REMOTE BECOMES THE NORM, BUILDING CHANGE While remote working has become more mainstream, it’s not just the workplace: More and more students are going to school over the internet, with 83 percent of high schools now offering online classes. And according to the National Center for Education Statistics, back in 2014, almost 30 percent of students in degree-granting postsecondary institutions

in the US were enrolled in at least one distance learning course.

This trend has an obvious direct impact on building occupancy at campuses of all educational facilities. While a facility’s student population may stay the same or increase, a significant part of that student body may not physically attend the school. This calls for smaller classrooms and fewer of them. If you continue with how technology is changing the classroom, you see the tendency of teachers and students doing more digital work, with less reliance on paper hand-outs and even whiteboards, in turn leading to less waste, more recycling and time (and money) saved in cleaning and maintenance.

Back at the office, a mobile workforce requires a different design, possibly sharing space. “Office design should reflect this flexibility — furniture that can be relocated or shared among staff, such as hotdesks, can help accommodate the ebb and flow of employees on site at any given time,” Zoe North writes at OfficeSpace.

FMS HAVE TO MANAGE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED SPACES Along with shared desks and office spaces specifically designed to encourage collaboration, FMs are being challenged to manage and maintain spaces that are non-traditional, built to attract millennial employees, but still incorporate a sense of community among several generations of workers.

Neal Peters at DPM Care writes that the range can be extensive, “from purpose-driven conference rooms to open-seated areas to quiet/’contemplative’ spaces to workstations with modern furniture like sit/stand desks.”

“Companies are adding building features like concierge desks and creating spaces like cafes and workout facilities to drive employee satisfaction and improve work/life balance,” add Peters. “Such spaces, with their unique functionality, create new challenges that many FMs will have to tackle in [the future].”

building — including what office workers themselves carry or wear — will be part of one complete smart system, generating and autonomously acting upon all kinds of data.”

The effect of all this data gathering is that human performance on every level can be changed. If improved air quality has been proved to greatly increase the cognitive function performance of building occupants, it stands to reason that any improvements in an indoor environment are worthwhile, and the data gathered by a complete smart system can be analyzed to show what needs to be worked on.

Smart buildings also have several other advantages. The data gathered allows us to use space more efficiently, which in turn reduces expenses and environmental impacts. Automation makes facilities easier to run and maintain, too, and with open systems, the entire built environment is adaptable to future technological advances.

In its reports about FM trends, commercial real estate company CBRE agrees that smart buildings will be increasingly common over the next few years, with network integration of everything from lights, sensors and windows to HVAC units, doors and CCTV. The number of individually connected things in use will rise from 4.9 billion in 2015 to 25 billion in 2020.

The impact of this greater integration on facilities management won’t only be better building efficiency but also an increased opportunity to enhance the end-user experience with tailored services. This translates into a happier, healthier and more productive building occupant Thanks to Control Solutions for this article. n

REAL-TIME LOCATING AND LOCATION BASED SERVICES Technology has made mobility and real-time data a factor in everyday life, and FMs should be embracing this continued trend.

In facilities housing large numbers of people and supplies, which may include fleets of vehicles, operations are made as seamless as possible with real-time locating systems (RTLS). This tech allows for continuous tracking as it happens, and provides log data for later analysis and tweaking for better efficiencies.

Like RTLS, location-based services (LBS) can be especially useful for the FM responsible for multiple sites. Using LBS, the app provides the user a real-time inventory of supplies and flags those that need reordering.

TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO ADVANCE Advances in technology continue to change the facilities maintenance industry. From using holograms for elevator maintenance to drones for inspection and security work, you can even get microchip implants in building occupants to access doors, electronic devices and equipment.

The FM Forum cites a joint British Land/Worktech Academy report that sees smart buildings communicating with each other properly over the next year as open protocols come on stream.

While communication between devices within buildings is a given, the emergence of open protocols means communication between buildings will be easier.

And those microchip implants that the Swedes are wearing? “By 2020 the report predicts that the physical infrastructure of an office

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FM INSIGHT

IS FACILITIES MANAGEMENT MORE ABOUT MANAGING FACILITIES THAN MANAGING PEOPLE?

Many of us in business have heard the popular aphorism, “People are your greatest asset.” Some of us may even believe it. But is this sentiment reflected within our facilities management cultures and the way our leaders lead? For the most part, no — and there’s a reason for that.

By Cliff Hocking

I

t may be argued that people are not your organisation’s greatest asset. Even great people may not be your greatest asset. In fact, great people could well be the greatest liability in the company. So if it’s not people, what is your greatest asset?

It’s how you empower your people. Think about it. What is the primary purpose of a facilities management organization? To assemble a group of people, who previously may have had no association, and empower them to accomplish productive work toward the organization’s objectives. More effective empowerment typically equals more productive work. As leaders and managers, we should all be familiar with empowering people. We organize them into divisions, units, groups and teams.

So we always provide the goals and incentives for them to motivate themselves?

Do we enable them with the necessary authority, tools, resources and processes for them to motivate themselves? Do we do enough in terms of the development of our FM staff for them to motivate themselves?

Let’s take a look at a few scenarios.

Performance Management Often heard in industry discussions is “Yes, we have a performance management system in place”, but do we?

Does our performance management system encourage a culture of service excellence through: • the provision of personal development plans?

• encouragement to develop their full potential by linking career development plans to the organizational priorities?

• synchronisation with the organizational mission, vision and values?

• the identification and provision of training and developmental opportunities?

Recognition Employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. It is an essential communication tool that reinforces and rewards the outputs that people create for the organization.

When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviours you most want to see people repeat.

Your recognition reinforces the employee’s understanding of how you would like to see him or her contributing in the workplace.

Do we have criteria for contributions that constitutes rewardable behaviour or actions?

• Are all employees eligible for the recognition?

We should never exclude any employee or group of employees.

• Does the recognition supply the employer and employee with specific information about what actions are being rewarded and recognized? The design and communication of the criteria for eligibility for the award needs to be clear on order for employees to perform.

• Does the recognition occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible in order to reinforce the behaviour the employer wants to encourage? Monthly recognition is too infrequent and not reinforcing.

A process whereby management select the people to receive recognition should be avoided at all costs. Employees will see this as “managerial favouritism” and it will often be referred to as, “Oh, it’s your turn to get recognized this month.”

Engagement and Communication As FM leaders we need to ensure that employees remain focussed, engaged, and provide input into the operational plans and service delivery objectives of our orgainizations. Engaged employees are always positively present during the performance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort through feeling positively about a job, working hard to do the job well and feeling loyalty towards colleagues and the organization.

Do we therefore have a strategy in place that facilitates this engagement and provides a platform for meaningful communication?

• Are tools such as road shows and group activities arranged?

• Do we encourage regular orientation programmes?

• Has a communication strategy and plan been developed and implemented?

• Do we have newsletters and / or use social media to keep our staff informed of developments and organizational progress against goals?

It is imperative that engagement and communication achieves the results that we are looking for, and not just about moving a lot of hot air? One needs to measure whether

messages have been received, believed and understood and, ultimately, acted on. If not, something different must be tried.

Staff Wellbeing This has become a high priority and focus area which needs constant attention amongst all staff, but particularly amongst the more junior ranks.

Are we mindful of the need to continuously improve on the quality of service and productivity of resources?

• Do we insist on staff being punctual in reporting to work?

• Do we have a concern about absenteeism?

• Do we assist our staff to make every effort to maintain good health and wellbeing?

Regular reporting on absenteeism to management by H R affords the opportunity to investigate and monitor unusual patterns and trends which will afford the opportunity to treat the cause and not the symptom.

Staff Satisfaction Surveys A good practice within organizations is to conduct regular internal staff surveys in order to obtain opinion on aspects such as leadership, job satisfaction and effectiveness of policies and procedures. The results need then to be evaluated objectively and confidentially for the survey to have credibility.

How do we think our organizations would fare in the following?

• How is leadership seen based on parameters “yes”, “no” and “partly”?

• How is job satisfaction seen based on parameters “yes”, “no” and “partly”?

“

As FM leaders we need to ensure that employees remain focussed, engaged, and provide input into the operational plans and service delivery objectives of our orgainizations.

• How is effectiveness of policies and procedures seen based on parameters “yes”, “no” and “partly”?

As is always the case, the “yes” results need to be taken as positive and built on, the “no’s” need to be set as targets for elimination and the “partly” answers are areas for improvement to turn into “yes” responses next time round.

Conclusion It is a well known fact that a good working environment features only behind job content and colleagues when it comes to measuring job satisfaction. It therefore goes without saying that any organization that focuses on good performance within the facilities management arena will show good staff retention.

Effective management of the staff responsible for the facilities will naturally go a long way in setting the required standards. n

Jul / Aug 2017 FM

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FM EXPO JHB REVIEW

Proudly sponsored by:

JOHANNESBURG 2017

T

he 6th annual Facilities Management (FM) Expo successfully united, yet again, major buyers, suppliers and associations within the industry from 10 to 11 May at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand hosted exhibitors from various companies and they offered their products and services, while visitors engaged with exhibitors and attended seminar programmes.

Noelean du Plessis of Neopak Recycling said: “I enjoyed the expo tremendously.”

“Our name changed from Drake & Scull,” commented Pearl Mbono of Tsebo Facilities Solutions. “We used the platform to reintroduce ourselves to the industry.”

The Broll sponsored seminar, included speakers such as Environmental Advisor, Dr Anthony Turton, who addressed how the South African water crises affects facilities managers. Office layout and ergonomics experts, Elan Kabb and Hassan Shaikh, gave insight on the best ways to improve office productivity ergonomically. Samantha Choles of Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa, gave delegates insight on the

Jul / Aug 2017 FM

30

most common recycling mistakes that many facilities managers usually overlook.

Insurance Broker, Tersia Brown, said that the “Is Water a FM Risk?” seminar by Dr Anthony Turton left her in shock, but she will implement and impart the information

REVIEW

she acquired. “I will be mindful of water scarcity and inform colleagues accordingly,” said Brown.

The Building Information Modelling (BIM) Lounge at the expo proved popular and provided a cosy setting for experts and attendees to sit and discuss adopting BIM based solutions. A display of a gigantic spider-like drone kept facilities managers and building owners engaged in talks of how BIM can accurately provide relevant information prior and post the design and construction of a building and throughout the lifecycle of an entire portfolio of facilities.

In a first for the FM Expo, a Cape Town edition will run this October at the Lookout at the V&A waterfall. The Expo

“

“Is Water a FM Risk?” seminar

by Dr Anthony Turton left her in shock, but she will implement and impart the information she acquired. will offer expert knowledge, insights into the world of facilities management and new and existing innovative product and service exhibitions. For more information about the Cape Town Expo and its educational seminar programmes visit www.fmexpo.org n

Jul / Aug 2017 FM

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TECHNOLOGY

THE IOT CAN MAKE A MAJOR IMPACT ON AFRICA

T

he internet of things is a major buzz phrase now-a-days and there is the possibility of it making a huge impact on the facilities management industry. However, the system relies on communication data networks, either 3-4G or fiber and copper wire. EES Live (PTY) Ltd have a particular interest and specialty in this and here is their take on growth in this area “The Internet of Things (IoT), which bridges the digital and physical world, is already making its mark in Africa as smart connected devices are being deployed and the use of connected hardware emerges.

However, it has the potential to make a far more significant impact on the region, as long as circumstances specific to the continent are taken into consideration.”

This is according to Bradley Hemphill, Managing Director, EES Live (Pty) Ltd, The global association for the mobile telecoms industry, Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), states that SubSaharan Africa has in recent years been the world’s fastest-growing mobile region in terms of both mobile subscribers and mobile connections.

The IoT has a staggering reach globally and is driving companies the world over to redefine their business processes, can make a far more significant impact on Africa and facilitate major digital transformation.

“The IoT can be further developed in Africa to provide a range of innovative new services and solutions to people across the continent, and to gather data and gain insights to bolster efficiency and productivity. It can make a marked impact on numerous industries, as diverse as security, energy, finance and healthcare, and contribute significantly to the economy and wellbeing of the continent’s people,” Hemphill contends.

He emphasises however that when adopting IoT it is vital that issues and circumstances specific to Africa are carefully considered and defined within their unique context, before devising and

implementing an appropriate strategy and course of action. The continent’s unique business challenges and socioeconomic conditions must be addressed. An American or European strategy may not be the best fit for the local environment.

There are, for example, some unique barriers to adoption in Africa, such as effective connectivity. “In order for the IoT to work effectively it relies on high speed internet connections and this increases demands on available resources, such as bandwidth and network capacity.”

It is necessary to analyse the digital skills, infrastructure and technology required to connect so many devices and evaluate the data obtained.

Another barrier or challenge in Africa is the need to contain the cost of devices and new technology. A positive development here, also according to ResearchGate, is the decline of sensor and bandwidth prices and decrease in the cost of processing in the past ten years. Ubiquitous wireless networks, such as Wi-Fi, too have become cheaper and more accessible.

The availability of power to supply most devices that require automation has been

a concern for the continent, but alternative technologies for energy harvesting and ultra-low power devices have been beneficial to IoT. The sharing of content and data across multiple platforms is integral to IoT. As this initiative gains pace around the world, it becomes increasingly important that this information is secure. Prioritizing cyber security is essential to successful digital transformation.

The IoT and the global technological revolution, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are profoundly transforming client interactions.

“One of the strategic initiatives of EES Live this year is to grow our business and further expand our footprint in Africa. Our ventures this year into Nigeria and Botswana form part of this initiative. We have a new partner in Lagos and new offices in Gaborone.”

Hemphill concludes: “We are proud to be a part of the digital transformation throughout the African continent and to be working in conjunction with our clients and associates on far-reaching, leading edge developments. n

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We are extremely happy!

We are meeting new clients.

Excellent qualified visitors.

We will definitely be at the Cape Town expo.

We really enjoyed the expo, there were some interesting exhibitors that we met and the seminars were worth attending”

We were not sure what to expect when we visited the show, but it met all our expectations and was well worth the time.

– Sandor Dowling, Sanika Waterproofing

– Patrick Swart, SApackaging

– George Finn, Neotel

10-11 MAY 2017 GALLAGHER CONVENTION CENTRE These are just some of the comments we received from our FM Expo in Johannesburg and now the Expo is coming to Cape Town.

18 OCTOBER 2017 THE LOOKOUT - V&A WATERFRONT A great selection of exhibitors eager to give you the inside story on their products and services.

There is nothing better than a face to face meeting to get to ask all the relevant questions and compare with other suppliers.

A great networking opportunity, meet your peers and exchange problesm and solutions over a coffee.

Attend the convention and hear about great new ideas on FM and take away valuable insights on how you can perhaps do things better.

Visit the FM website www.fmexpo.org for more information