2013-07-04 FM World

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | 4 JULY 2013

FMW www.fm-world.co.uk

How to pay for green building improvements

SEED FUNDING

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VOL 10 ISSUE 13 4 JULY 2013

CONTENTS

6 | Flexible working

16 | Energy improvements

24 | Adapting office furniture

NEWS

OPINION

FEATURES

6 Flexible working is low down on employee must-have list 7 First female FM wins top Middle East award in landmark decision 8 Project of the Fortnight: Bristol’s digital development site takes over Brunel rail gateway 9 Think Tank: Will greenhouse gas reporting be a good thing?

10 Business news: Graeme Davies analyses the impact of green league tables 11 Contract caterer WSH sees turnover surge to over £465 million 12 In Focus: Simon Scrivens of Sodexo discusses pathology services

14 Perspective of a facilities manager: Roger Amos compares FMs with wicket-keepers 15 Five minutes with Kenneth Freeman technical director, Ambius 46 No Two Days

MONITOR 32 How To: Video conferencing holds potential for FMs 33 Comment: Ian Jones reacts to the treatment of procurement at ThinkFM 34 Technical: Part two of our series on the value of FM benchmarking 35 Technical: UPS systems allow for constant power across a facility 39 Insight: Market intelligence

REGULARS 36 BIFM news 40 Diary of events 42 People & jobs 43 Products 44 Appointments

26 | Risk-based costing

16

Funding energy projects: There are now at least four pots from which FMs can receive funding for energy saving measures, explains Andrew Cooper

20

US and them: Despite historical differences, workplace trends mean that more now unites than than divides us from our American colleagues

24

Adapting office furniture: The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has found a novel way of making the most of its office space

26

Risk-based costing: Bernard Williams argues that a risk-based approach to FM can reveal its vital role within the wider organisation

28

Thoughts on Think FM: David Arminas analyses the key issues emerging from this year’s conference with its theme, ‘the leadership challenge’

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nterviewed in our last edition, new CIBSE president George Adams put forward what seemed at first to be two contrary positions – first, that we need to get “back to basics” and make the most of currently available equipment to improve energy efficiency in our existing buildings (shunning cuttingedge “green bling” technologies); second, that we should involve ourselves in “macro strategies” that go way beyond just our own buildings, thus helping to facilitate the de-carbonisation of our cities.

Those are two pretty broad themes, both seemingly pointed in different directions; a narrow, internal focus on making the most of maximising the potential of the equipment you’ve got, against a wider, external focus involving interaction with those around you to bring about a much larger goal.

Mutually exclusive? In fact, says Adams, both objectives can be achieved if we concentrate on bringing some ‘joined-up thinking’ into play.

On the face of it, that’s hardly the most original of messages. I think we can safely say that joined-up thinking is, in all likelihood, more constructive than disconnected non-thinking. But that’s to belittle the core aspect of Adams’ message. Because if you joined-up think about it, FM is going through a bit of a data-driven connectivity revolution at the moment. From the analysis of operational data in order to better plan maintenance and capital expenditure (as posited by specialists such as Tim Oldman) to the importing of operational data into building information models (as being mandated by central government for projects on its own estate), the logic of joined-up thinking underpins it all. (If anything, the equipment we install in our buildings is easier to analyse and connect to our wider plans than any human issue.)

The problem isn’t with the concept, it’s in getting the message across to those in charge of the purse strings that, when it comes down to it, good FM is always a matter of joined-up thinking. It’s just a case of following a cause with its effect.

Keen on introducing more flexible working? OK, Mr/Ms Senior Director – but have you considered the impact on our heating requirement? Looking to fit more people into less space? Well, that’s fine, The Board – but have you worked out whether the telecoms infrastructure can handle it? Or the air conditioning? Good analysis of these impacts should be easier to conduct now than it’s ever been.

By now you may well be rolling your eyes. Yes, you’re saying, I know all of this. It may be common sense, but the problem is that those that count still don’t get it.

While this may be true for many, the fact is that these developments, and the need they introduce for joined-up thinking, are here to stay; the data genie is not going back into its bottle (it’s probably calculated the spaceto-working ratio involved in doing so). Whatever the future for BIM, for example, and FMs’ stewardship of it, the logic involved will only grow.

Yes, data can and will be misread from time to time, but in our interconnected new world it’s increasingly visible and thus, from a wider organisational perspective, impossible to ignore. Joined-up thinking in FM: it’s a no-brainer.

I

“In our new world, data is increasingly visible and thus, from a wider organisational perspective, impossible to ignore.”

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WORKPLACE

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Flexible working low on employee must-have list Around 90 per cent of UK professionals think flexible working will become the dominant employment model in the near future, according to research from HR recruiter Ortus.

HR professionals are even stronger in this belief – 96 per cent said flexible working will become the main model.

But only 12 per cent said flexible working is a vital benefit. This is lower than the percentage who said a free company mobile phone is vital to them, the research noted.

Half of the 450 professionals surveyed said the reason behind the growth of flexible working is to boost efficiency and productivity, a clear business benefit.

Again, only 12 per cent thought it would be implemented to help people manage the number of hours they work. Also, only 10 per cent said it would be adopted to help with gender equality.

Perhaps as a result of flexible working being seen as a benefit for the business rather than the individual, separate research among 3,000 professionals found it is only the sixth-most valued benefit.

Flexible working ranks behind personal benefits and financial assistance, including holidays and a company pension.

Top benefits ranked as ‘vital’ are: 1. 25 days holiday (40%) 2. Company pension scheme (29%) 3. Annual bonus scheme (24%) 4. Mobile phone/Blackberry (18%) 5. Insurance (16%) 6. Flexible working (12%) “These findings suggest that HR professionals have their work cut

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out for them in convincing staff of the relative merits of flexible working,” said Stephen Menko, UK director of Ortus.

“The business case is obvious as it allows for efficiency savings on office costs and greater output.

However, the benefit to the individual of a better work-life balance and less time and money spent commuting are, perhaps surprisingly, ranked low.”

The report said the majority of people appear to be unaware that they are entitled to request flexible working. Only a third of those surveyed said their company offered flexible working, whereas government statistics estimate that 91 per cent of employers offer flexible working.

Survey reveals employees are lukewarm on importance of flexible working

Almost twice as many female professionals rank flexible working as ‘vital’ compared with men – 16 per cent of women said this, compared with just 9 per cent of men.

“Despite changing family structures, the responsibility for childcare still very often falls on the mother, explaining, in part, some of the reasons for gender inequality in the UK workforce,” said Menko.

In February, another flexible working report, published by mobile operator O2, suggested that

the rhetoric surrounding flexible working continues to outweigh the reality.

The study of 400 businesses and 2,000 employees found that 75 per cent of workers claimed to be more productive when allowed to change when and where they work.

However, just 19 per cent say that their company encourages them to work flexibly – despite 77 per cent of employers also saying that flexible working is “actively encouraged” across their organisation.

Government hand-out for empty-home revamps Sixty-five local authorities and housing associations will share £41 million from the government to upgrade empty homes into rental condition.

Nearly 2,000 affordable homes could be made ready to rent under the scheme, which excludes London, where money is being allocated by the Greater London Authority.

Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) minister Don Foster announced the latest round of funding bids open last November.

The agency decided last month which authorities and housing associations had won the money.

“As well as tackling empty homes, this additional bid round

Local councils to reap benefits

has an emphasis on the refurbishment of empty commercial and non-residential properties as affordable housing,” said a statement from the HCA. By region, that of northeastYorkshire-Humber will get the largest slice of government money, amounting to around £11.5 million to tackle nearly 500 homes. The

Midlands gets the second largest slice – £9.7 million to upgrade 560 dwellings.

The North West receives £8.55 million, the South and South West around £5.83 million, and the East and South East will get £4.9 million.

Funding also went to local authorities and agencies where there was a clear demand for more social and affordable housing.

Eight organisations were awarded more than £1 million, including Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which will get the largest award of £6.86 million.

The second largest amount went to Hull City Council, around £4 million. www.fm-world.co.uk

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NEWS

BRIEFS Cleaners’ group appoints

First female FM wins top Middle East award Fawzeia Hamad Al Marzouqi, an FM manager with the Emirati government’s facilities services division, has become the first woman to win FM of the Year at the Facilities Management Middle East Awards in Dubai.

Fawzeia is seconded from the United Arab Emirates government’s Musanada division to Macro’s FM team, which is delivering FM services to hundreds of government buildings.

Musanada was set up by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, in December 2007 as a shared service company serving government departments and agencies.

Fawzeia was recently appointed

regional facilities manager of the western region and manages services delivery across a diverse portfolio, including schools, mosques and municipality buildings and other facilities.

Her primary focus is on the quality of service performance and maintaining a safe occupied environment.

“For me as an Emirati woman, this is an honour, especially since I was short-listed with four men,” she said. “This will inspire me in my career.”

Musanada and Macro are working on a long-term project to implement health and safety, as well as environmental programmes in Abu Dhabi. Fawzeia is taking a leading role in driving contractors’

compliance with regulations from the Abu Dhabi Environment Health and Safety Centre.

Fawzeia has also acted as head of the committee that worked on preparing a new strategy for service agreements with Musanada’s supply chain.

Musanada and Macro were jointly shortlisted for the Overall Facilities Management Company of the Year Award at the ceremony, which took place at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai on 4 June.

Macro is a property consultancy and facilities management company working with Musanada, with Macro staff embedded within the organisation.

BIFM AWARDS

Gladwin set to take the helm at BIFM Awards Steve Gladwin will be the new chairman of the judges for the BIFM Awards.

He will take up the role from incumbent Oliver Jones, who ends his four-year term after the 2013 awards in October.

The chairman of the judges is responsible for maintaining the success of the BIFM Awards by adhering to high ethical standards, and ensuring the quality and coherence of the judging process.

Furthermore, the role includes the annual assessment of award category and criteria, making sure categories are relevant and reflect changes in the sector. For example, in 2012, a Learning and Career Development Award was www.fm-world.co.uk

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introduced to mirror the greater emphasis being placed on professional development within FM. Gladwin said: “I am delighted and honoured to be selected by the BIFM nominations committee as chairman of the BIFM Awards.

In recent years, under Oliver

Jones’ leadership, the entire process of the BIFM Awards has become internationally recognised.

“It has been particularly pleasing to see several of our BIFM finalists receive further recognition at an international level. Building on this excellent foundation, together with our large and dedicated team of lead and support judges, I look forward to continuing to seek the best examples of FM that promote both our profession and our industry.”

Winners will be announced in front of 1,300 FM professionals at the BIFM Awards Ceremony taking place on 14 October at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (AHCP) has appointed Simon Sharpe as national chair.

Sharpe has worked within the NHS since 1980, working as a supervisor and then assistant manager at the old district hospital in Selly Oak, south Birmingham.

In 1990, he was appointed domestic services manager at Birmingham General Hospital, before moving to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1994 as facilities manager, housekeeping services.

Sharpe has been a member of the AHCP’s Midlands branch for the past five years.

ISG to scale back work Construction and fit-out specialist ISG said it will reduce work volumes in London despite an improving outlook for UK construction.

ISG’s core London office market is improving along with the market for data centres, hospitality and high-end residential buildings. Even so, ISG said it will focus less on the London market.

“In respect of outlook, in the UK we have positioned the group to reduce volumes in our UK construction business,” according to an ISG statement.

“In our UK construction business, trading conditions in the year have remained difficult, in particular, in our eastern and Midlands regions.”

Benchmarking driving FM FMs are already benchmarking at an internal level, but probably don’t realise, or convey, that they are, according to a panel of commentators in the FM sector.

At the latest BIFM FM Leaders Forum, the role of benchmarking in FM as a measurement tool and strategy driver was debated.

A discussion paper has since been published: Benchmarking: Effective performance management for FMs is available to download at www.bifm.org. uk/fmlf.

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PROJECT OF THE

FORTNIGHT NEWS BULLETIN

Mandatory greenhouse gas reporting imminent

Full steam ahead for Bristol Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s terminal for the Great Western Railway, built in Bristol in 1842, is to be transformed into a business and innovation centre for fast-growing technology firms.

Construction firm Rydon has been appointed by Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol to refurbish the Grade 1 Listed Engine. Shed that was part of the original Temple Meads railway station.

The shed is 22 metres wide and fronted by an office building in the Tudor style.

The shed was closed in 1965 and lay derelict for around 20 years, while partly being used as a car park. It was eventually transformed into the home of the Empire and Commonwealth Museum.

The next transformation, costing around £1.5 million, will create offices for 20 companies and provide resources and facilities for another 40, including a business lounge at the centre of the building.

It will be managed by Bristol SETsquared Centre – the University of Bristol’s business incubator – that will take the majority of the space to provide premium serviced offices for its early-stage technology businesses.

SETsquared is a collaboration among the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. They support new business opportunities through spin-outs, licensing and incubation. It also works with industry through research collaboration and consultancy.

The project is funded principally by Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol, together with central government funding through City Deal, the government’s inner city redevelopment agency.

Work to the Brunel building forms part of the Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, a 70-hectare regeneration programme, which is centred around Temple Meads railway station.

Over the next 25 years, the Enterprise Zone aims to attract more than 400 firms – mostly in the creative, high-technology, specialist engineering and low-carbon sectors – and to create more than 17,000 jobs.

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Publicly quoted companies should get ready for mandatory annual greenhouse gas reporting as soon as the next financial reporting year ends, the government said.

Greenhouse gas reporting will be part of the government’s package of reforms to simplify and strengthen non-financial company reports.

Details are in the draft Companies Act, which has been laid before Parliament, said Jo Swinson, business minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

A statement from the department said annual reports are a shareholders’ key tool to hold quoted companies to account over the course of the financial year.

“From 1 October this year the reports will include additional information on human rights issues, gender representation across the company and disclosures on greenhouse gas emissions.”

The reforms address concerns that over time, many of these reports have become bogged down in corporate jargon, which is confusing in many parts for readers and lacking the clarity that they should have in order for them to be effective and fulfil their purpose.

Asbestos failings lead to fine for health board A Scottish health board has been fined £6,000 for safety failings that led to several workers and contractors being potentially exposed to deadly asbestos fibres.

Glasgow Sheriff Court found that Greater Glasgow Health Board, known as Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS, had failed to properly manage the risks of asbestos in a basement plant room of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children – Yorkhill, in Glasgow.

The court heard that a survey in February 2009 had identified the presence of asbestos-containing materials in various locations within the plant room and noted that they were in good condition and presented a low risk.

The survey recommended the asbestos material should be labelled and its condition monitored so any future deterioration could be managed.

In January 2011, a survey of the plant room was carried out prior to the installation of a new MRI scanner at the hospital. This found that some of the asbestos material was in a poor condition and now posed a high risk.

It recommended removal and environmental cleaning of the area.

An investigation by the HSE found that the health board had taken no action since the 2009 survey to monitor the asbestos material within the plant room. No labelling of the asbestos-containing materials had taken place and nothing had been done over the following two years to maintain the materials in good condition.

Lincs Police and G4S surpass savings target A 10-year contract between Lincolnshire Police and G4S saved around £5 million for the force in its first year.

The savings exceeded a planned £3.6 million, according to a report

by Lincolnshire Police, Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick and G4S. The amount equates to the cost of putting 125 police officers on the beat, noted the report that examined the first year of the G4SLincolnshire Police Strategic Partnership. Under the contract, the bulk of the force’s organisational services transferred to G4S. Hardwick said the contract could be an example to the other 42 police forces in England and Wales as they struggle to manage budgets that are 20 per cent less on average than in 2010.

“We have not only managed to reduce crime by over 14 per cent – better than most other forces – but we have done so while putting more officers on the beat, improving public confidence and delivering a better service to our communities,” said Hardwick. www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 15:35

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THINK TANK

WE ASKED 100 FMS…

Yes, a good thing 40%

Won’t make any difference 44%

Will mandatory greenhouse gas reporting be good or bad for UK companies listed on the Stock Exchange?

A slim majority of facilities managers believes mandatory greenhouse gas reporting will have little effect on private companies, the latest FM Think Tank poll shows.

Forty-four per cent of respondents said greenhouse gas reporting won’t make any difference to a company. But 40 per cent said it will be a good thing.

On a more negative note, 16 per cent said it would be a bad thing.

In 2012, the government announced that it would introduce regulations requiring quoted companies to report on their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Climate Change Act 2008.

Publicly quoted companies should get ready for reporting as

soon as the next financial reporting year ends, the government said last month. Reporting will be part of the government’s package of reforms to simplify and strengthen non-financial company reports.

Details are in the draft Companies Act, which has been laid before parliament.

A respondent said that mandatory reporting, when it comes into force, “will create focus and we need to encourage other countries to follow”.

But the devil will be in the detail, according to other respondents.

Administration costs, at least in the short-term, are likely to be heavy. But reporting could send a positive message to the sector and clients that the business is doing

No, a bad thing 16%

its part to combat climate change.

Another respondent said a negative rating could reflect badly on a conscientious business.

Mandatory reporting might be balanced by a statement mitigating the outcome. For example, a building’s listed status makes it difficult to implement effective measures to reduce emissions.

At least one respondent sees the mandatory aspect as yet another intrusion by government into the freedom of private companies.

It’s “yet more nationalisation by regulation” he said.

“The government needs reminding that public companies are owned by shareholders, not by the public. It’s time public servants stopped interfering with private business. If MPs want businesses operated in a particular way, then they should dip into their own pockets, invest and run their own companies. Then we can all see how successful that would be.”

Join the FM World Think Tank LinkedIn group by visiting www.tinyurl.com/fmwthinktank

WIKIPEDIA

Barts’ project saves £105,000 on energy bill Barts Health NHS Trust has saved around £105,000 in the first year of a major sustainability project.

Potential savings could be as much as £800,000 on the £12 million annual energy bill, said Trevor Payne, director of estates and facilities for the London hospital.

The real payback will come in two years’ time now that the initial groundwork – development of the ‘intellectual capital’ – has been done between hospital departments and suppliers.

St Bartholomew’s Hospital – Barts – is the oldest hospital in the NHS and includes both primary and acute care facilities.

The ambition is for Barts to be the most sustainable healthcare trust in the NHS, Payne said during a presentation of the ‘TLC sustainability project’ given to energy suppliers and NHS Trust www.fm-world.co.uk

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Barts: rising to sustainability challenge

heads gathered in the Great Hall on the hospital site, near Smithfields in London.

The trust has a turnover of £1.25 billion and a workforce of 15,000. The trust’s five hospitals are St Bartholomew’s, The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, Newham University Hospital in Plaistow, and Whipps

Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone.

To this end, the hospital has just put a notice in OJEU for a five to 10-year contract for an energy performance partner, said Payne.

By this time next year, the trust will have made an appointment.

By 2016, around 45 per cent of the trust will be new-build through a private finance initiative that includes FM, done by Skanska.

But the trust has a £178 million maintenance backlog – one of the reasons why Barts is keen to get an energy efficiency contract on board, said Payne.

TLC has a simple theme, he told the audience: “Sleep at night, shut the door and have quiet”.

It comes down to doing a small number of small things, but done every day. He said TLC is about health and wellbeing, but not just for colleagues working on wards.

It must be for patients, who are, in the end, a hospital’s core business, said Payne.

The most energy efficient building can be the most uncomfortable for patients if lights are left on, people are coming and going at all hours, and noise pervades in wards.

For years, NHS management has looked at sustainability for five main reasons, but on the condition it “doesn’t break the bank”, said speaker David Pencheon, chief executive of the sustainability development director for the NHS. The key for changing people’s behaviour is good communication.

For the Barts project, there was a visible campaign for people to turn off lights and close doors that included a large light bulb travelling around the wards, said Sir Stephen O’Brien, chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust.

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ANALYSIS

League tables could sow green seeds for FM GRAEME DAVIES newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

When the coalition government came to power in 2010, its leading figures were unequivocal on their environmental policy. This was going to be the “greenest government” ever.

But despite all the good intentions, progress on environmental policies, emissions reduction and renewable energy capacity has been somewhat erratic. Some of the notable successes, such as domestic solar power, have become victims of their own success and the government’s compromised

finances and subsidies have had to be slashed. And in the corporate sphere, plans to crack down harder on emissions and energy wastage from business, laid out by the previous government, have also been watered down due to fears of damaging an alreadyfragile economy.

But despite all this, the business world is increasingly aware of its impact on the environment, most notably through the soaring energy bills that finance departments are forced to grapple with. And this has meant that although environmental services

have not proved to be the widespread boon that many predicted at the start of the decade, some FM companies have still built up decent businesses and franchises in environmental and green services.

And now the government looks like it is getting ready to up the ante a little with business. Within the terms of the draft Companies Act that has been put forward for consideration in Parliament is the requirement for a company’s annual reports to include a statement of greenhouse gas emissions. This requirement was first set out in the Companies Act of 2008, starting with quoted companies, but with the intention that it would be rolled out down the corporate ladder over the coming years.

Although long-held hopes that such reporting would lead to production of league tables and fines for the worst offenders, at the

Contract wins

NEW BUSINESS Contract caterer Elior UK has signed a five-year deal with the University of Chichester. The contract involves offering breakfast, lunch and evening meals at its two campuses, as well as running Costa Coffee outlets and providing conference and banqueting services. The university currently has about 4,500 students, but this will rise to 5,000 over the course of the contract.

Social housing and care provider Sanctuary Group has picked construction group Seddon for its £11 million housing deal. The development will create 86 extra-care 10 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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apartments for people over 55, as well as 12 apartments for people with learning difficulties. The contract does not include repairs and maintenance for the homes.

ISS Facilities Services has won a one-year contract to deliver manned guarding to insurance brokerage firm RK Harrison Group. ISS is to provide 24/7 security guarding services including patrols, control room and reception services.

Specialist dining company Lusso has won a catering deal at Canary Wharf’s Level39, which rents office space to

finance and retail sector start-ups.

Level39 occupies the 39th floor of the One Canada Square building. Lusso will supply a reception and concierge team, offering a-la-carte and all-day dining, and provide conference facilities.

Lindley Venue Catering has signed a £13 million deal to extend its catering services at Swindon Town Football Club. Lindley has been providing public match day catering at the County Ground since 2009, when it took over the in-house operation under a £1.25 million contract. The new 10-year contract sees the company expand its services to include all aspects of match day and non-match day catering, as well as event management.

Interserve has won a three-year facilities contract with Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems at its Coventry and Birmingham sites. Interserve is delivering services, including industrial and domestic cleaning, equipment servicing and building maintenance.

moment, an embarrassing report will be unlikely to lead to financial penalty. However, the government is hoping that, by opening up such figures for public scrutiny, those companies who are performing poorly will feel compelled to act.

This is where further opportunity could lie for those services companies which have invested in environmental consultancy and services skills over recent years. Those that stuck at it could now find themselves in pole position to pick up extra work. And those companies who made acquisitions in this space in recent years, such as Mitie, which acquired Dalkia Technical Facilities Management in 2009 to bulk up in this area, have already built themselves a strong competitive position.

Even the best-performing businesses, in terms of emissions, often find there is still plenty of scope for improvement. Indeed, FM suppliers are in a particularly strong position; older buildings, for example, are a huge source of emissions.

Even small improvements can be money and emissionssavers over a prolonged period, such as boiler efficiency technology, supplied by companies like Sabien Technology, which improves efficiency of commercial-scale boilers by up to 8 per cent.

The case of a company like Sabien also illustrates how the emissions reduction game does not have to be the sole preserve of the bigger players. Within its supply chain can often be found small specialist players who have the potential to thrive, as the sector, and the wider economy, continues to ‘green’.

Graeme Davies writes for Investors Chronicle

www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 15:36

WSH sees turnover surge Privately-owned contract caterer Westbury Street Holdings (WSH) had a £60 million increase in turnover for 2012, topping £465 million.

The increase in sales for the group – whose clients include the BBC, Goldman Sachs and The British Museum – was around 14 per cent on 2011, according to a company statement.

WSH was set up in 2000 and operates the brands BaxterStorey, Caterlink, Holroyd Howe, benugo and Portico.

Together, the brands created 1,000 jobs in 2012, taking the employee count to 12,000 in the UK and Europe, according to the statement.

BaxterStorey, the biggest brand in the WSH stable, grew turnover by 9 per cent in England and Wales, 17 per cent in Ireland and 29 per cent in Scotland during 2012.

WSH’s clients include the British Museum

According to the statement, “In this time, the business has gained contracts with many notable names, including RBS Group, as well as retained significant contracts with leading organisations, such as Deutsche Bank and IPC Media.”

Benugo, the retail and public

BUSINESS BRIEFS

venues operator, “had a record year”, increasing its turnover by 35 per cent, and expanding its offering in all sectors, with delis opening at Covent Garden, Waterloo Station and Luton Airport.

It also secured a contract with the British Museum.

Caterlink, the state education catering specialist, had yearon-year growth of 18 per cent.

Holroyd Howe, which caters for the independent education market, saw sales rise 28 per cent. Contract wins in 2012 include Wokingham Borough for Caterlink and St Paul’s School in London for Holroyd Howe.

Alastair Storey, chief executive of WSH, said: “We have already secured some new contract wins and retentions for this year, and are encouraged by the strength of our current pipeline.”

Strong year-end results for Norland Private facilities management, energy and project management company Norland saw revenues and profits jump by 23 per cent to year-end April 2013.

“Norland’s audited accounts show turnover of £384 million for the year to April 2013 and profits of £21 million,” according to a trading statement.

Chief executive of Norland Ian Entwisle said there has been a trend with clients for a “flight back to quality” in their contract dealings.

Norland has secured a number of high-profile corporate customers over the past year, including British Airways, the NEC Group and the Gherkin and Tower 42 in London. www.fm-world.co.uk

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The group also completed the first stage fit-out of a 1,066 square-metre (11,474 square feet) facility on the Cobalt Data Centre Campus in Newcastle last October.

The FM division received a major boost in June when Norland announced Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council had appointed it to a framework contract for FM for more than 500 of the council’s buildings.

The contract includes schools, children’s centres, libraries, museums, offices, storage facilities and public conveniences.

Work will involve mechanical and electrical maintenance, security, waste collection, asbestos consultancy and water hygiene management. The framework also

Amey in £150m council win Amey has been awarded a £150 million, 10-year FM contract with three London councils.

The deal sees Amey combine FM services at Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.

The deal, which is expected to save each council over £2 million annually, includes building security, maintenance, catering, landscaping, cleaning and environmental management.

Service mobilisation will begin in June and the contract is expected to start from October this year. All other London boroughs and schools will have the opportunity to buy into the service as partnering authorities.

May Gurney says yes to Kier Kier’s acquisition of support services business May Gurney is set to go ahead after May Gurney shareholders voted heavily in favour of the takeover.

A May Gurney statement in June said that trading in company shares will cease on stock exchange Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on 8 July 2013 or shortly thereafter.

Capita Symonds rebrands Ian Entwisle, Norland’s chief executive

includes extra works and capital projects.

Also in June, Norland announced that it had promoted Robert Giles from head of projects to the new role of construction director within the group’s critical environment services business.

Capita has confirmed Richard Marchant as chief executive of its property and infrastructure business after holding the post for several months on an interim basis. Marchant, who moved into the role in February, also joins Capita’s executive board.

At the same time, the name for Capita’s property and infrastructure business changes from Capita Symonds to Capita Property and Infrastructure.

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 11

27/06/2013 15:49

FM BUSINESS IN FOCUS

THE ISSUE: Pathology services – a new FM frontier THE INTERVIEWEE: Simon Scrivens, Sodexo Healthcare’s managing director

Health and wealth Sodexo’s recently opened pathology lab in Taunton, Devon, isn’t a hint that the French multinational’s UK division is moving out of traditional FM delivery.

Far from it, Sodexo Healthcare’s managing director Simon Scrivens told FM World.

It’s a natural extension of what Sodexo does best, said Scrivens, who is also chairman of Integrated Pathology Partnerships (iPP), a joint venture with Labco and in which Sodexo UK has a 49 per cent stake. Labco is a medical diagnostics group that operates over 300 laboratories in six European countries.

In turn, iPP formed Southwest Pathology Services (SPS), a joint venture with two trusts in south-west England.

SPS’s state-of-the-art hub laboratory for non-urgent work was opened by Lord Carter of Cole. Carter’s Review of Pathology in 2008 estimated the market was worth £2.5 billion a year to the health service.

The NHS has dominated the pathology market with most clinical tests performed either by the health service or on its behalf, according to the report.

The NHS has a £500 million annual savings target for pathology services in England.

The new deal sees SPS

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delivering full pathology laboratory services to Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil District Hospital. The contract serves a population of 500,000 and more than 100 general practitioner practices.

As well, iPP operates in-hospital pathology labs for when results are needed within minutes or hours, rather than days.

Other trusts in the south west can join the venture, a first for Sodexo. But such lab services have a geographical limit because of issues over the distances that samples can legally be shipped.

Sodexo Healthcare has been going for around 20 years and has 6,500 employees on NHS contracts.

Business has grown, mainly thanks to major private finance initiative (PFI) deals that financed contracts to build many hospitals, in which Sodexo picked up long-term traditional FM contracts.

To that end, Sodexo Healthcare has three “buckets” of work, explains Scrivens: the ‘patient environment’ bucket is for soft FM contracts, such as cleaning, catering and security, while an ‘infrastructure’ bucket holds hard FM contracts for building services maintenance, including heating and ventilation.

A third bucket, specialist clinical support services, was started about

six years ago to “help doctors do a better job”, he said. Work centres around sterile services contracts, such as bundles of surgical instruments, prepared for doctors as needed in theatres.

“Sterile services contracts were a natural progression of what Sodexo Healthcare does,” said Scrivens. “There is a whole bunch of services between traditional FM and the core business of a hospital, which is about making patients better.”

Scrivens says the deal with Musgrove and Yeovil hospitals is an extension of the sterile services strategy. “Sodexo understands the NHS and its processes, while Labco understands laboratory work.”

While the key is processes, he says, “do you as a business understand the market so well that you see opportunities? The challenge for the NHS is to do more with less money.”

Outsourcing is what a client might want, but not be sure where to go. That is where the proven provider of services – no matter what services – can make an even bigger difference to the client’s bottom line.

Also, if you are looking to grow your business today, relying on one or two activities can be risky, no matter how large or small you are, says Scrivens.

So is Sodexo, a noted global FM provider, moving into the wider and often highly risky world of business process outsourcing (BPO)?

FM delivery will remain “in our DNA”, says Scrivens. “Sodexo is known and trusted for it, but it also means clients can trust us to deliver other things.”

The big world of BPO is brutal, and failures, especially in the public sector, can be brand-emasculating.

But Scrivens, who joined Sodexo in 2007, is no stranger to the rough and tumble.

His professional marketing background has taken him into operations management within the light-manufacturing sector. He has been involved in business turnarounds and spent time within the packaged food industry selling to major supermarkets, notorious for putting pressure on suppliers.

Undoubtedly the Sodexo lab contract will be under the microscope of Sodexo’s FM competitors, both large and small, to see if a move in that general BPO direction is financially feasible. Success for any such deal depends on the FM provider finding a partner company with specialist knowledge, as with Labco having laboratory experience.

“The NHS has dominated the pathology market with most clinical tests performed either by the health service or on its behalf” www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 15:37

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25/06/2013 11:42

FM OPINION THE DIARY COLUMN ROGER AMOS

“WE ARE THE WICKET-KEEPER – ALWAYS INVOLVED IN THE GAME AND CONTINUALLY ADVISING THE CAPTAIN ON HIS NEXT MOVE”

NHS Trust

FM University Consultant Estates

Roger Amos is head of property and HR shared services at the London Borough of Ealing

DR IVIN G THE ST R AT EGY

s FMs must remind their organisations A of their importance to overall strategy, so too must they strive to offer value and a forward-thinking approach, finds Roger Amos As we know, effective FM is integral to an organisation’s strategy, although I think it’s fair to say that not all organisations see it that way. FM professionals continually have to remind their organisation that they exist; they must also demonstrate to colleagues that they are a strategic as well as an operational asset to the businesses. Likening an FM to part of a cricket team, I would say we are the wicket-keeper – always involved in the game from start to finish and continually advising the captain on his next move.

Here in Ealing, we are now

working on our FM strategy. Here are some of the headline items we’re currently working on.

To begin with, we are doing a lot of work around our current costs.

There is the obvious question of how much our services cost to run; beyond that is the strategic issue of starting to benchmark our costs and analyse them in more detail. This is giving us a sound basis upon which to understand our resources, how efficient (or not) they are running and if they are deployed correctly.

We are also now starting to get into the detail of our maintenance activities, assessing planned versus

reactive, as well as the true cost of planned, preventative maintenance (PPM) including statutory maintenance.

Another component to our strategy is a more in-depth look at how the services are delivered.

By linking our FM strategy with the over-arching property strategy and, more specifically, the property disposals list, we can take a more informed view on run-to-fail strategies, if appropriate, and generally matching service standards to meet specific needs or ‘design quality’, to put it another way.

This, in turn, enables more strategic and proactive discussions with our customers, and helps us to ensure our services continue to meet their needs today, as well as looking ahead to tomorrow.

For our central office complex,

there is the ever-present issue of occupancy rates and, in turn, our strategy will report on this and the running costs per work station.

Then we have our forward maintenance plan. Set over 10 years, this will start to identify the true cost of backlog maintenance through our programme of condition surveys. This identifies life-cycle replacement for our planned maintenance and capital works programmes, as well as better informing our budget planning process going forward.

Again, this is a key loop back into the property strategy.

Property compliance and risk management generally is always a high priority, of course, and while that may not seem strategic – understanding the true cost of these obligations will, in turn, influence the property strategy.

BEST OF THE WEB Views and comments from across the web What attracts people to the FM industry? (BIFM group) Bernard Crouch: I noticed that FMs were unlikely to have dull days – something different would always be happening: a new project or unusual problem to solve.

Bryan White: Unlike other positions where you know what you will be doing from one day to the next, FM has a habit of throwing you a curve 14 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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ball that keeps you on your toes. It’s one of those positions in which you can learn something new each and every day.

Paul Maddison: In my experience from working with FMs, I am always amazed at the diversity of responsibility that seems to fall under their umbrella.

Tony Boothe: Being very people-orientated, I find communications to be a major part of the job. It is also rewarding to achieve

great outcomes by being the ‘go-to’ person in the business.

Practical FM tips – can we put together 100 FM tips for everyone to use?

(BIFM group) Jim Picken: Correct time scheduling of the BMS is paramount. I saved 12% electricity and 9% gas in a 12-month period, while venue use increased by 13% over the year.

Ian Jones: All of my service providers carry

workplace services business cards. If they visit someone in the company in response to a request or a complaint they leave the person with one of our cards giving our contact details for the future. They leave it on their desk if they are not there so that the person knows that we have responded.

Andrew Porter: Health and safety matters – don’t be afraid to close a building or area or eject a

person if anyone is at significant risk.

Robert Keady: Know when equipment is supposed to operate and why it is operating. Most energy savings can be realised by shutting off equipment after hours.

Mike Oppenheim: Upscale your reception and separate the switchboard duties. Yes – put the switchboard ‘behind the wall’ so that every client visiting is treated like gold dust. www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 13:28

You can follow us at twitter.com/FM_World facebook.com/FMWorldMagazine

BEST OF THE

FMWORLD BLOGS “Is this one of the most important questions you should be asking your FM provider?”

Mark Whittaker, Whitbags in FM How many times have you asked or been asked the following question: “Please describe your understanding of the culture of our organisation and describe the tangible steps you would take to ensure there is alignment between this culture and the services to be provided.”

To be frank, I have never been asked this question. Yes, I am constantly asked about health and safety accreditations, approaches to training and development, self-auditing regimes, waste disposal arrangements, and so on, but this question has just as much validity as the others, if not more so.

The culture of an organisation goes much deeper than simply mission statements, vision and values, which invariably are found on company websites and sometimes that is where it remains. Yes, these can all play a part in defining culture but, more fundamentally, it is how the organisation’s people feel about their own self-worth and contribution to an organisation, how they are managed and the passion and pride they feel in what they are producing. It is the modus operandi of an organisation.

So if the culture defines an organisation, then the service provider needs to mirror that. The selection of the FM service provider, therefore, needs to be based on how they will be able to complement and strengthen this culture. Misalignment of such cultures could be disastrous for the contracting relationship.

Read the article in full at tinyurl.com/qh4bkjf

The unspoken stigma of workplace flexibility Tara Siegel Bernard, New York Times Assume for a moment that your employer let you decide when and where you worked – you might arrive early so you could leave in time to care for a child, or work part of the week from home. Or you want to reduce your hours in order to care for an aging parent. How would you be perceived if you went for one of these options?

A group of researchers recently examined the stigma of workplace flexibility from all angles in a series of studies published in The Journal of Social Issues, co-edited

by Professor Williams and others. Among other things, the researchers examined the effect of men taking leave after the birth of a child (they were more likely to be penalised and less likely to get promoted or receive raises), as well as the reasons some professional women decide to leave work after having children (working reduced hours resulting in less meaningful work assignments).

They also looked at how the perception of women using flexible arrangements differs across class lines: affluent women are often told that they should stay at home, while poor women are more likely to hear that they shouldn’t have had children at all.

Flexibility does potentially present a double-edged sword. Long, paid parental leaves and the availability of part-time positions may encourage women who would have otherwise been more committed to working to take those part-time or lowerlevel jobs. And employers may be less likely to promote or put women in higher positions if they think they are going to take advantage of flexible arrangements. But it’s also an issue of perspective. For women to be able to take advantage of these arrangements without judgment, men need to use them freely, too. But that requires viewing men not solely as breadwinners, but as individuals who also have the same choices as women.

Read the article in full at tinyurl.com/ozmwp8f

www.fm-world.co.uk

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FIVE MINUTES WITH NAME: Kenneth Freeman JOB TITLE: Technical director, Ambius

There has been a lot of debate recently about the value of interior landscaping. It is true that the headline costs of purchasing and maintaining interior plants can seem high for what people perceive as decoration. However, I would ask, “Is it really just decoration?”

Research has shown that enrichment of spaces with items such as plants and art enable people to realise a sense of their own identity.

Subsequently, they can feel a lot more engaged in the office.

However, not all businesses agree. In recent news, we have learned that the BBC is encouraging staff at its London HQ not to bring in pot plants, among other items. According to the BBC, this foliage can be used as a form of ‘desk grab’ to mark territory.

This, they say, can create a sense of ownership of a particular area, which the BBC wants to avoid.

However, evidence suggests that businesses can improve the wellbeing of their staff and create measurably better workplaces that are engaging and sustainable. This can be achieved through the principles of ‘biophilic’ interior design, which uses plantlife, space management and staff engagement.

It gives employees a sense of empowerment, by allowing them to design their own workspace, which will inevitably improve productivity.

Simple pleasures, such as a walk in the garden have been shown to reduce stress and feelings of anxiety, so why can’t this be translated in the office?

Creating a healthy and nature-connected working environment can pay huge dividends in terms of well-being, productivity and business effectiveness. That’s a real return on a relatively small investment in interior design.

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 15

27/06/2013 15:37

FM FEATURE ENERGY PROJECT FUNDING ANDREW COOPER

GROWTH AREA

Andrew Cooper digs down into the available sources of funding for energy conservation measures and finds surprisingly fertile ground aking energy savings has always been an effective method of reducing overheads for a business. However, many businesses are unaware of the ability to now convert those energy savings into a means of raising finance.

This is becoming an increasingly viable option as years of recession and austerity has had its impact on the money supply. There are no shortage of stories about banks and other financial institutions refusing

ILLUSTRATIONS: DALE EDWIN MURRAY

M

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to lend, or requiring such levels of surety and interest that borrowing is made difficult or even impossible. At the same time, we are all aware of the challenges faced by the public sector in reducing its running costs.

Consequently many businesses and public sector bodies face difficult decisions about how to prioritise investment. A business may have to decide between purchasing new plant and machinery – to allow it to increase its manufacturing

output – or replacing aged plant and machinery associated with building services such as heating, ventilation, cooling and lighting. A local authority or hospital trust may have to choose between providing public services or replacing inefficient or dilapidated building services.

However, this process of prioritisation – discounting one investment in favour of another, may not always be necessary if an investment in property leads to energy savings, as these savings can be used to www.fm-world.co.uk

08/07/2013 10:18

EPC/ESCO

www.fm-world.co.uk

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08/07/2013 10:18

FM FEATURE ENERGY PROJECT FUNDING ANDREW COOPER

generate new finance. This then releases limited cash reserves or traditional borrowing for other purposes.

Energy has a value which, in its simplest form, is equal to the amount paid to a utility company to supply it. Reducing energy consumption lowers energy costs and it is these savings which can be used to redeem finance. In addition, replacing aging building services with modern more efficient models and systems helps to reduce operational costs, leading to further savings, and helps to provide a better and more productive working environment.

The cost of energy is set to increase so these financial savings are likely to grow over time. Lord Rupert Redesdale, a Liberal Democrat peer and chief executive of the Energy Managers Association, says companies often fail to look at their energy costs outside of a year’s worth of bills. “But they need to start taking the view that year-on-year energy prices are set to rise and will certainly outstrip inflation.”

Sources of funding The easiest method of financing energy conservation measures is usually through self-funding using cash funds. But where this is not possible or feasible, there are four additional mainstream mechanisms for securing external funding.

These are: 1) Grant or subsidy funding 2) Financing based on actual or guaranteed energy savings 3) Financing based on predicted energy savings 4) Financing backed by specific assets used to achieve savings in energy.

Grant or subsidy?

Grant funding tends to 18 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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be periodic and limited in availability. Examples include the joint government and BRE Clear Skies Project in 2004, and BRE’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme, which expired in 2011.

However, subsidy schemes were introduced to encourage long-term investment in low or zero-carbon technologies, and include the government’s Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

The concept is simple; eligible technologies can apply for a subsidy for each kWh of energy produced. This helps reduce the payback period of the

investment, and improve the financial return. The FiT was so successful in increasing investment in certain technologies, such as photovoltaic (PV) panels, that the government was forced to lower the subsidy in December 2011 leading to several legal challenges.

Although the FiT has reduced, so too has the cost of the technology – particularly PV panels, so payback periods remain reasonably stable. This subsidy can be used to help repay traditional finance, or there are companies that will entirely finance the cost of

this technology in return for the subsidy, leaving the energy generated for the benefit of the occupants of the building or land upon which the technology is situated.

Financing based on actual or guaranteed energy savings Financing based on actual or guaranteed energy savings is commonly known as energy performance contracting (EPC). The Energy Managers Association, which is seeking to develop guidance and standards for energy performance contracts in the UK, uses the acronym www.fm-world.co.uk

08/07/2013 10:18

ENERGY PROJECT FUNDING

EnPC to avoid confusion with Energy Performance Certificates. An EnPC is an integrated programme of energy saving measures to deliver guaranteed savings. The model is traditionally a tri-party ‘partnership’ between a financier, an Energy Services Company (ESCo), and the beneficiary of the energy conservation measures.

The ESCo prepares an investment grade audit to accurately determine what energy savings could be made and recommends improvements works. The financier, which could be a bank or other financial institution or vehicle such as LEEF (see below) or SALIX, a not-for-profit company partially funded by the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC), pays for the energy conservation measures. These are undertaken by the ESCo, which in turn guarantees or shares the energy savings depending on the contract model used, and the loan is subsequently repaid from these savings. Well known FM companies often act as the ESCo. The process is made transparent and auditable through adopting the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP), ensuring that a mechanism exists in the event of a dispute for third party determination by a qualified professional. A key aspect of an EnPC is the ‘partnership concept’ with all parties working together to facilitate targeted reductions in energy consumption.

A possible barrier to the take up of an EnPC in the UK , particularly in the public sector, has been to do with the way in which the assets are accounted for and whether they are ‘on or off the balance sheet’, impacting debt levels. It is now possible to deliver an EnPC as a service with www.fm-world.co.uk

16-19 EPC-ESCO Corrected.indd 19

assets, comprising of the physical energy conservation measures, held off the balance sheet of the beneficiary. In other words, the beneficiary of an EnPC is buying an outcome rather than physical assets. In this case the outcome is a reduction in energy bills.

Financing based on predicted energy savings The coalition government promised to be “the greenest government ever”, and central to this pledge is the Green Deal. The Green Deal is a ‘pay as you save’ scheme based on the concept of Energy Performance Contracting.

Approved Green Deal Assessors run calculations and obtain quotes for recommended improvements and finance from Green Deal Providers, with work undertaken by approved Green Deal Installers.

Central to this arrangement is the ‘Golden Rule’, which states that the cost of installing and financing these measures must not exceed the saving in energy costs. However, unlike Energy Performance Contracting, these savings are not guaranteed, making the Green Deal a financial scheme based on predicted energy savings. A further differentiator is that repayment of finance is through the utility meter – so the loan has the potential to stay with the building.

It is not yet possible to secure finance for commercial properties under the Green Deal, but the scheme is now applicable to the commercial sector and therefore finance is likely to become available in due course.

The Green Deal Finance Company (TGDFC), a not-forprofit organisation, has set its initial interest rate at 6.96 per cent and these loans can be for a period of up to 25 years.

Compared to other forms of long-term borrowing, such as

a mortgage, these rates are high, but they are competitive when set against shorter term unsecured loan rates.

Adam Hewson, a director of ReEnergise, one of the 22 original Green Deal pioneers, advises that private sector finance companies are free to set their own rates, but although this is unlikely to be less than those offered by TGDFC because of the significant government subsidy, there would likely be much greater flexibility in the types of deal available.

While there are some who feel the Green Deal’s traction in the commercial sector is likely to be limited, when fully available, it could suit many small and medium enterprises. Larger organisations are likely to consider alternative financial sources, such as their own banking relationships, or dedicated funds such as the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF).

LEEF finance is available to public sector organisations or private companies undertaking improvements to existing buildings in London. Loans can be against the predicted energy savings or used to fund an EnPC. Interest rates are currently more competitive than proposed under the Green Deal, determined by the financial strength of the applicant and the project, but

FMs could form a central part of the viability of any loan in helping to identify efficiencies and realise savings

there is a greater degree of due diligence required to calculate energy savings using the IPMVP. Unlike the Green Deal loans may be on a corporate basis against a company’s balance sheet, or alternatively, off-balance-sheet structures are available.

Financing backed by specific assets In simple terms, financing of specific assets to achieve energy savings is a loan made to a company or individual to buy an asset, such as a new boiler or an air handling unit. In turn, there are different types of financing agreements, such as straightforward asset finance or hire purchase agreements.

In this case, savings are not guaranteed and the financier has no real interest in energy savings, merely the ability of the applicant to meet the terms of the agreement.

However, while this process of purchasing new equipment and plant can be detached from the concept of energy savings, if the savings are greater than the repayments then a sound business case can be made, meaning the investment is more likely.

It seems almost too good to be true, that finance can be raised and paid for through energy savings resulting in little real term cost to beneficiaries.

Nevertheless these mechanisms do exist, and in many cases are tried, tested and proven – both here in the UK and abroad. As such, they are increasingly likely to be considered alongside other forms of finance, which means FMs could form a central part of the viability of any loan in helping to identify efficiencies and realise savings. FM Andrew Cooper is an independent commercial property and energy consultant www.andrew-cooper.com

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 19

08/07/2013 10:18

FM FEATURE US VS UK MARTIN READ

US AND THEM

After 30 years of development, the US and UK are seen as torchbearers for the development of the facilities management sector globally, but in 2013 does the practice of FM differ substantially from one side of the ocean to the other?

This being our 4th July edition, we thought we’d ask

ince the 1980s, when moves to describe FM as its own distinct business discipline first took root in the US, the sector has evolved in different ways on both sides of the ocean. Today however, while traditional differences (many exacerbated by geographical considerations) continue to maintain a degree of difference, the move by organisations to embrace the concept of the wider workplace, and FMs’ role in managing,

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maintaining and developing it, is a common theme on both sides of the Atlantic.

As of 2013, does either market have a lead in terms of cuttingedge FM thinking? Dave Wilson, managing director of consultancy Effective Facilities believes that while the US was first to develop the discipline, it no longer leads the way.

“The first people into a market create the experience from which others can learn, and thus leapfrog ahead, which is

what I think the UK did,” says Wilson. “In addition, in the UK we had the artificial stimulus of enforced competitive tendering in the public sector, which dramatically opened up the markets to both more competition and created a supply of experienced internal buyers.

In turn, this led to increased acceptance of outsourcing, and in that part of FM we are undoubtedly ahead. The US market is also much larger than the UK, and much more

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FM FEATURE US VS UK MARTIN READ

Leading lights: London and New York

geographically diverse, so even where there was outsourcing it has taken some time for larger players to begin to offer credible national FM services.”

However, while Wilson believes the UK’s lead in FM outsourcing is particularly true in terms of the move to output specifications and contract management, “I think we are falling behind in terms of strategic analysis and alignment because the scale of typical US facilities is such that they have more, and often better educated, senior people on the internal side. I also think the US is now learning from our experience.”

John Bowen, MD at FM consultancy Gulfhaven, points to the more traditionally accepted difference between the UK and US approaches.

“The US focuses more on the site or building,” says Bowen, “and that aligns in many ways more to the ‘landlord model’ as we know it here, whereas we’ve begun to move towards a facilitiesled model whereby we run the building for the occupants.

But this US focus on the facility is changing, and quickly, according to Wilson. “It probably remains true for the majority of in-house practitioners that FM in the US is still primarily about buildings, as it is in most of the rest of the world,” he says.

“But the US is becoming more accustomed to the importance of alignment with the culture and strategy of the ‘core’ business than is often the case in the UK.”

ALAMY

Workplace first Paul Morgan is vice president and general manager, Americas and Oil & Gas Markets, Global WorkPlace Solutions, Johnson Controls. A Brit who’s currently based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he’s spent the past three years in the US and sees the story in

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general as one of a convergence in thinking between the two markets. He does, however, also recognise how the UK has been first to see FM as being primarily about the management of all aspects of a workplace, operating as an ‘enabling platform’ for the organisation.

“This idea that an organisation’s core business is enabled by people and that the more you support your employees the more you influence your core outcome – that’s a trend that first emerged in the UK, although in the US there’s no doubt we’re seeing an acceleration in recognition in the past five years of how much the workplace can impact on an organisation.”

Morgan sees the UK’s emphasis on workplace support as reflecting recent global and multinational deals, “…where large corporates have been more prone to talking about the workplace and facilities services as supporting occupancy.”

Gaining recognition Notwithstanding what would logically seem to be a wider role as a result of the broader workplace focus, Bowen thinks that FM in the US still benefits from a greater recognition of the role, both at boardroom level and with building occupants. “I think they have an advantage there,” he says.

“Over there, FM grew out of a recognition at the top that there was a need for it. As a result, FM is seen as an important tool for delivering corporate goals; its place in the hierarchy seems better understood, whereas over here FM teams and their contribution are often less understood or respected.”

Bowen wonders if there isn’t a broader cultural aspect to this. “More Americans rent their homes,” he says. “If

you’ve watched any US sitcom, especially those where the cast live in apartments, the building ‘Super’, or superintendent, will crop up regularly in the plotline.

Friends, Frazier and Seinfeld all gave examples of this – could US employees possibly have a clearer idea of where FM sits in their lives, at work and at home?”

The outsourced market So how does FM delivery by outsourced contractors in the US vary to that provided in the UK? “Gradually, the market has matured,” says Wilson. “It is now clearly a significant single market, hence the emergence in the sector there of Johnson

Controls, Aramark, JLL and CBRE, plus the incursion from European groups such as ISS and Sodexo, which is making the market more homogenised than it was.”

The gradual move to a ‘workplace-first’ mentality in the US is particularly marked in certain verticals, including hi-tech sectors such as telecoms where, like their UK equivalents, organisations are using the workplace to differentiate themselves. But beyond these early movers, says Morgan, workplaces in the US remain of the more traditional type.

“A lot of this is down to market dynamics and the specific industries in which organisations www.fm-world.co.uk

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US VS UK

“FM’s place in the hierarchy seems better understood in the US, whereas in the UK FM teams and their contribution are often less understood or respected” “This idea that that the more you support your employees the more you influence your core outcome – that’s a trend that first emerged in the UK” are participating,” he says.

“Take the provision of laboratory instrumentation: five-to-10 years ago, delivering that operational activity would not have been in the scope of service, but we’re now seeing that kind of service emerge as one that firms can now visualise as being outsourced.

I see this sector-specific focus on outsourcing opportunities continuing in the US as firms wrestle with market volatility.”

Skillsets The skillsets required of FMs in the UK and US would seem on the face of it to be similar, but differences in approach exist.

“Most US major corporations have defined competencies for all employees and FM is no exception,” says Bowen.

“These competencies are usually organised on a three-tier basis for new starters, experienced and senior people, respectively, and they form part of development plans. They’re usually aligned to a professional standard and, where international operations are involved, recognise local standards where necessary.”

While these competencies don’t have a formal qualification, they often align with promotion and advancement, thereby having a positive career impact that www.fm-world.co.uk

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qualifications in the UK are yet to achieve, suggests Bowen.

“There seems to be a stronger emphasis on delivering training in the US to bring people up to the required competencies.”

The focus on workplace and technology trends will narrow this distinction, says Morgan. “As the focus shifts from infrastructure to workplace, so the skillset requirements between FMs in the US and UK will become the same. ”When you move away from the idea of the building being managed to the idea of providing support to occupants, understanding core business activity and how FM can support that, then the skillset requirement of an FM becomes more about being relationship-savvy and data analysis-savvy rather than simply technically savvy.”

The skills requirement becomes linked to the need to predict and anticipate needs, and that requires more rounded business leaders, says Morgan. From that perspective, he says, UK FMs are perhaps more relationship-aware, although he believes that they’re now catching up stateside.

Different strokes?

So in 2013, what else separates the two markets? “In the US, there is less outsourcing overall,”

says Wilson. “The scale of some property portfolios means that in-house delivery is more viable.

There’s also much less ‘legacy’ property estate in the US and that allows them to achieve higher standards of building performance than we do.

Wilson also thinks that US offices, and the people who work in them, are culturally much more conservative in their expectation of work environments than those of us in the UK. “Although the examples we see from the hi-tech companies are impressive, they are the exception,” he suggests. “Cellular offices and ‘Dilbert’ style cubicles remain the norm for most.

We [in the UK] may have gone too far in terms of open-plan, pushed by our property values which are generally much more per square foot than in most US cities, but I think we remain ahead generally in workplace design.”

For Bowen, a remaining and significant distinguishing factor is the strength of the service ethic in the US. “It’s stronger over there, and that applies across the board,” he says. “The FM has a much more positive approach, especially in communication. Customers, or end users, are better informed about progress on jobs and are more likely to be assured that

a job has been closed down to their satisfaction. There’s a much stronger focus on customerfacing employees understanding how important the customer is over there.”

Bowen also believes that FM is much more closely aligned to the corporate real estate function in the US. “I would like to see more FM people leading CRE in Europe than they do now, so that we could develop the service-led side more,” he says.

“In the US, there’s better recognition of the role that the right surroundings play in enabling occupants to deliver corporate objectives; what goes on in the building has a greater prominence.

Here, we see technically-led CRE teams, who often seem to concentrate more on the building itself – that’s how I got into FM back in the late 1980s when the CRE-led team shut down part of my logistics operation with no warning. I still see that attitude in firms today and it is the worst aspect of the landlord model.”

Ultimately, it could be new technology that brings the practice of FM in the US and UK even closer together, says Morgan. “This concept of the technology-enabled FM has been bandied around for many years, but it’s accelerating now. More technology-enabled facilities will make the job of the FM easier and there are many dimensions to that – smart equipment, self-diagnosis, for example. I don’t think there’s necessarily any greater adoption of this IT in the US compared to the UK, but I do think the way FM is delivered will flatten out.”

More analysis of real-time information on occupants, where they are and what they’re doing, will inform occupancy decisions and lead to more sophisticated FM on both sides of the Atlantic, says Morgan. “Technology will play a big part as we move to a more ‘on-demand’ service position.” FM FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 23

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FM FEATURE ANN BEAVIS DESK REPURPOSING

hen the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham decided to replace its existing stock of large desks, it was conscious that the solution needed to be cost-effective.

Rather than purchasing new furniture, 215 desks have been remodelled over a period of one year, resulting in a cost saving of almost £20,000.

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is undergoing a transformation as it adapts to a tri-borough system, working with neighbouring boroughs. As the number of council-owned properties is reduced, facilities staff need to maximise the use of available space to fit more staff and desks into the existing office footprint.

Initiatives such as hot-desking and an increase in the number of staff working from home have been implemented, but an immediate solution has been to reduce the size of office desks.

Brigette Chambers, Space planning manager of London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham explains: “We have about 26 Category One buildings that house the main offices and around 244 properties elsewhere.

However, we are working to rationalise our use of space and, as a result, we are having to find space in our civic offices for more people.”

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Driver Hammersmith Town Hall also faces the challenge of housing an additional 181 employees after an extension project will see staff numbers rise from 643 to 748. Across five office sites, a total of 485 extra staff need to be accommodated.

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SIZE MATTERS The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham needed to generate space for additional staff. Cutting existing desks to size offered an effective solution that fitted the authority’s limited budget

from home; seven desks have been provided for every 10 staff. This, coupled with a clear desk policy and lockers that have replaced pedestals, the workplace has become more adaptable. However, even with these moves, more workspaces need to be provided.

Chambers says: “We were running out of space. Originally, people had large, L-shaped desks, because computers were so big.

Now they have flat screens so we

can use smaller, straight desks – 1,400 x 800mm instead of 1,800 x 1,200mm. Our old desks were still in good condition, so instead of throwing them away, we thought maybe we could cut them down and use them.

“Cost was extremely important to us – we are trying to be careful with public money.

We could go out and spend thousands on new desks and make it all look pretty; but it’s public money, so if we

can re-use, then why not?”

Solution Once the borough had decided to explore re-use, it approached Premier Sustain. Chambers explained: “They took three styles of desk as a trial, cut them down to size and finished the edges off. The edging was perfect and they included the cable ports for wiring, so we then sent them 100 desks to work on. ”Having a storage area was helpful to the www.fm-world.co.uk

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DESK REPURPOSING

FM QUICK FACTS

215

Number of desks remodelled over the course of the project, creating cost-savings of around

£20,000 “We could go out and spend thousands on new desks and make it all look pretty; but it’s public money, so if we can re-use them, then why not?”

Premier Sustain’s service involves cutting down existing desks (right; far right) to make smaller units, more spaceefficient units (above)

process, since it meant that staff were not left without desks to work from as remodelling took place. The authority already had one unstaffed floor in one of its buildings, which was being used as storage for desks, so Premier Sustain audited the items and started working on reducing them. Chambers added: “It was like a domino effect – as people moved out, we would take those desks for remodelling, and so on.

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can’t always get the same finish.

One might be oak and another beech; but it is still a good quality desk that people can work at.”

Quality assurance The desks are remodelled at Premier Sustain’s workshop in Edmonton, London, by two fulltime staff. Each item is given a warranty, typically for two years The quality checks in place match those applied to new items; they all undergo visual inspections,

weight-bearing and other testing, to make sure that they are fit for purpose. Workers look at the guidelines for new items and try and test in the same way, and also perform random spot checks with more rigorous testing. Once they’ve passed the inspection, they get their warranty sticker of record. In addition to the actual remodelling, off-cuts are manufactured into coffee tables and bookcases.

Premier Sustain also records information, such as the colour, condition and measurements of items, and manages storage sites for clients, of which there are predominantly three types: large, corporate organisations that need a flexible resource to support frequent change; clients who have to store items for historical reasons; and those undergoing a specific major project change, such as a merger. Organisations for which the firm has provided this desk remodelling include

Vodafone, ITV, Tesco Stores, Transport for London, Mid Essex Hospital, Origin Housing, BBC, The Cabinet Office and Hampshire Constabulary.

Environmental benefits With 215 desks already remodelled, and an associated landfill diversion of 8.6 tonnes and 23.2 tonnes of carbon equivalent saved, work is still underway for Hammersmith and Fulham.

An additional 300 desks were expected to be processed throughout 2012, adding to the environmental and cost-savings accrued by Hammersmith and Fulham, while Premier Sustain has also disposed of unwanted pedestal, saving 11.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. FM Ann Beavis is business development manager at Premier Sustain

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FM FEATURE PERFORMANCE BERNARD WILLIAMS

A RISKY BUSINESS

Justifying the strategy

Bernard Williams argues that a risk-based approach to FM can reveal its importance as a function to the wider business ithout adequate facilities management, no organisation has a snowball in hell’s chance of achieving best performance in the modern commercial world.

But what do we mean by adequate? Is adequate enough?

Should FM’s be striving for exceptional performance? If so, how can they demonstrate its achievement or, more importantly, justify it?

The fact of the matter is that nobody has yet come up with any hard, universally accepted conclusive evidence in support of the benefits to business of high-quality facilities. Anecdotes abound, but no organisation has yet told its shareholders that high-quality FM is the secret of this year’s increased profits.

So we have a conundrum: FM does not (apparently) add value to the business performance, while at the same time, most would agree that poor FM undoubtedly detracts from it.

However, this is a misconception – one must be the reciprocal of the other.

But because the benefits of good FM are not so far proven, and FM’s cannot make their business case coherently, the contribution of facilities

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performance to core business performance is rarely argued or understood in terms that are commercial.

The reciprocity of risk avoidance and achievement is a fact – people who want to deliver to the best of their ability play to their strengths – so as to avoid playing to their weaknesses.

The soccer striker shifting the ball to his preferred foot does so to increase his chances of scoring, while at the same time reducing the risk of not scoring.

So, until FMs can demonstrate, beyond question, that higher quality provides added value, maybe they should concentrate on proving that without it, business performance might subsequently suffer.

Quality and the FM policy The quality of facilities, that is the performance of facilities, should be enshrined in the facilities policy supporting the corporate plan.

Quality management in

facilities is primarily dependent upon a willingness by top management to accept the contribution of appropriate facilities to the productivity of core business.

However, down the line, any facilities managers unable to identify the relationship between their own goals and corporate requirements will be unlikely to make any pro-active contribution, even if management is enlightened enough to be seeking it.

Seeking an improvement in the quality of facilities performance must be accompanied by a two-way educational process – both within the organisation’s core business management and from within the discipline itself.

The core business customers must know what they are being offered and why – and accept or reject that. On the other hand, facilities managers must be able to make the case for what is on offer in language business can understand and interpret.

Justification for providing a specific level of quality in facilities can be based on either: ● conventional wisdom ● the potential effects on business performance.

Due to a quite universal dearth of good data, both approaches must inevitably depend on sensitivity analysis of different assumptions, with regard to increased benefits.

Sometimes justification for the adoption, or confirmation, of a specific level of service is derived from comparisons with peer group organisations – maybe in benchmarking groups – where facilities managers draw confidence (although perhaps not inspiration) from the decisions made by their peers, in other words, the conventional wisdom.

This is a safe route, provided the peers have got it right, but one that suggests a lack of business acumen in the FM slavishly following the fashion.

The easiest way to express the benefits of a given level of quality is to identify and appraise the risks to the organisation of not achieving the appropriate level of support.

This can be built on sensitivity analysis of options around a ‘zero-base’ drawn from normal or minimum conventional practice.

There is one fundamental difference that makes this risk exposure-based approach more likely to motivate the end user than one promoting the prospect of added value: that is the fact that whereas it suits some finance directors to be sceptical about unsupported financial arguments

“Most people can accept the existence of a risk through under-provision of quality and quality management, and risk management have exactly reciprocal implications” www.fm-world.co.uk

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PERFORMANCE

for higher quality facilities, most people can accept the existence of a risk – a possibility – of loss through under-provision of quality. At risk of overegging the piece, we repeat that quality management and risk management have exactly reciprocal implications.

Risk management is a discipline in its own right. Here, it is simply necessary to look at the areas of business supported by facilities which are the potential beneficiaries of added quality: these are, of course, the self-same areas which put the business at risk of loss through failure to provide adequate support.

Of these, in most organisations

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the impact of facilities on external and internal image is likely to be by far and away the most significant.

Effects on ergonomics and therefore productivity will be fairly important, with the benefits likely to be most achievable at and around the workstation.

Frequently, it is possible to reduce risk substantially with very little cost other than that incurred by dint of good management, for example, disciplined filing and storage, clean desk policies.

Meeting legal requirements such as statutory compliance (health and safety) and contract obligations (leasehold commitments) can be a problem

when quality falls away. But failure rarely results in more than miniscule hard revenue penalties.

That said, a bad image gained through adverse publicity due to such indiscretion may well have far-reaching implications for the core business.

Maintenance that affects assets that enhance or maintain a good image, and ergonomics, are concerned with quality management in terms of functional performance. However, the process of maintaining the assets at a level that avoids excessive depreciation and/or obsolescence is one for risk management in terms of physical performance.

It is not hard to see that the

same piece of work could fulfil both these objectives; the problem is that many property managers (and some facilities managers) are pre-occupied with the actual physical performance, to the detriment of the more significant functional issues stemming from any environmental failures.

Weighting the risks The value management process requires that performance objectives should be weighted, across such areas as internal and external image, physical property, intellectual property, intellectual property, ergonomics, legal obligations and assets.

The logic of this is that the impact of facilities quality (whether relating to appearance or comfort), on the way visitors, passers-by, customers and staff perceive the organisation will affect business success and productivity to a must greater extent than the effect of any better, or more comfortable or safer working conditions.

Loss of intellectual property can be very serious, but matters involving fines or penalties are normally insignificant in the context of business turnover.

Although this clinical analysis may not hold good in every business scenario – and may well be considered unacceptable by some on social and moral grounds – facilities managers do need to keep the right balance between philosophical and economic justification of their expenditure.

But to get that balance right they do need to be able to make the latter argument coherently.

FM is about getting the right thing at the right price, but getting the right thing at the wrong price is always better than getting the wrong thing at the right price. In other words, nothing’s cheap if it ain’t what you need! FM FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 27

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FM FEATURE THINK FM DAVID ARMINAS

eems that leadership is more complicated than we thought, if this year’s ThinkFM conference, with its theme of leadership, was anything to go by.

External leadership is the motivation of people to make them do greater things, either individually or in teams. Internal leadership is where you battle your own demons to lead yourself to accomplish things, great or small.

These two aspects of leadership are complementary and fit together. Mastering both should help propel an FM to greater heights, but there are pitfalls. Both involve minefields for timid facilities managers who must rise above not just the naysayers in their organisation, but also the naysayer inside themselves.

Accepting a leadership role could be one of the hardest things a person ever does. But delegates had lots of first-hand advice about how to improve their leadership skills.

The internal aspect of leadership was put to the 350 delegates right at the outset of the conference by Keynote motivational speaker Jim Lawless, no stranger to taming his ‘tigers’.

For Lawless, the tiger is the imagined beast that sits there waiting to roar its disapproval if you try to rise above your station.

Lawless, chief executive of personal development organisation Taming Tigers, who is also a qualified solicitor, tamed his tiger when he accepted a bet that he couldn’t become a jockey within a year, but did so in 2003.

He tamed another tiger when in August 2010 he became Britain’s deepest free-diver, plunging below 100-metres on a single breath of air.

Taming a tiger needs a commitment that “will take you out of reverse gear”, he

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said. You then have to challenge the naysayers, as there will be naysayers. People told Lawless he would never be able to ride a horse. Admittedly, he did have to lose weight: “Twenty-five per cent of me had to placed somewhere else.”

Once those tigers are tamed, you go for it, said Debra Ward, managing director Mitie Client Services, during her presentation.

Don’t be afraid of failure, but more importantly, don’t be afraid of the board – they’re only human, too.

Of course, you have to be prepared when you present your case for change, Ward told delegates in her session. But remember, like everyone else at work, they want help and you could be the one to give it, provided they – and you – know what you are talking about.

Chris Kane, chief executive

BURNING BRIGHT David Arminas analyses the themes from Think FM 2013, where beating back those innner – and outer – demons was a key message

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THINK FM

Chris Kane (far left); Debra Ward (left)

“That is where integrity will come to the fore.

Decisions should be made with dignity, grace, humility and respect for other people”

FM QUICK FACTS

100 metres The depth to which Jim Lawless free-dived in 2010 – a British record

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Jenny Garrett (above), presents to delegates at ThinkFM

of BBC Commercial Projects, knows about leadership. In his end-of-day keynote presentation, delegates heard about the challenges he faced during the high-profile and controversial move by the BBC from its London production sites to MediaCityUK in Salford.

You need a sense of humour and a drive to want to understand problems, Kane later told FM World. “From my past experience, relocations out of London have had limited success.”

So he was methodical about planning the move and for keeping the momentum going – essential for a project that was going to last around seven years.

Leadership also means ensuring you have the best team possible as your first line of resource, Kane said. For the BBC, that meant looking at what skills would be needed and then seeing who could

be drawn from in-house staff, who could be seconded if they weren’t part of the FM staff and what skills would be needed from external sources.

Leaders need to have total faith in their team and back them up accordingly if there are internal issues. A big payback for a leader’s efforts is seeing a team grow professionally because of the their efforts, said Kane.

“You have to give them the air-cover to allow them to develop professionally.”

It’s also a leader’s responsibility to keep the esprit de corps going, he said.

What made the BBC move a challenge was the fact it was one of several ongoing projects for Kane: “Leadership is about juggling priorities.”

Leaders must make sure there is enough glue – communication – to hold the whole thing together.

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27/06/2013 12:32

FM FEATURE THINK FM DAVID ARMINAS

Phil Ratcliffe exhorts FMs to leave the comfort zone

Communication can get tricky for a leader if there are a lot of dissenters around, said Jenny Garrett, leadership coach and founder of Reflexion Associates.

Be careful not to surround yourself with those who agree with you, she told FM World.

“Listening to the voices of dissenters is just as important.”

But dissenters can destroy a leader’s self-belief: “If you don’t have self-belief you can be easily swayed to the point those around you lose faith and trust in you. So recognition must come from within.”

Confidence can be crushed and a leader become resentful, embarrassed and angry if their role is taken away or another tier of management put ahead of them.

The person can feel demoted, Garrett said.

At that point some leaders will shrink into themselves and shy away from responsibility when it is presented. Others will walk, said Garrett, and a company’s brain-power exits through the front door to a competitor.

“Celebrate what goes well and, similarly, don’t hide from the stuff that doesn’t go according to plan. Share the bad as well as the good”

Leaders and self-belief Having coaching can buttress a leader’s self-belief when it has been destroyed by negative criticism. Helping leaders see their successes, what has worked for them and what their skills, qualities and attributes are helps maintain that momentum.

Garrett said a successful organisation will allow people at all levels of management to lead. “To do this, staff must be empowered to lead and to make mistakes as long as they learn from them.”

In stepping out of your comfort zone, mistakes will surely be made, said Phil Ratcliffe, managing director of FM consultancy Procore.

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time round, he told FM World.

Risk comes as part of innovation.

The trick is to know how to mitigate risk and accept failure as an integral part of the learning process and essential for getting things right in the end.

That’s not to say a leader should court failure, he says.

Do all you can to mitigate the risk of failure and face up to it when it arrives.

A leader should never think – nor be made to think – that they are the only person in their organisation to make mistakes.

Celebrate what goes well and, similarly, don’t hide from the stuff that doesn’t go according to plan. Share the bad as well as the

good, said Debra Ward, managing director of Mitie Client Services.

As a leader you will also be open to scrutiny from those below you and above you, said Ward. So operating with integrity – and to be seen to do so – is very important.

Having integrity Integrity can sometimes be a hard thing to define. “Basically, it’s ‘say what you mean and mean what you say’,” said Ward. Sometimes a company will have a vision or mission statement that points to integrity, but the culture makes operating with integrity hard.

“People can be too busy to hear that little voice inside them that

tells them something is not right.

But most people in a quiet little moment to themselves will know right from wrong behaviour.”

If leadership means doing the right thing, that raises the question of the right thing as defined by whom?

Those can be some of the toughest moments for leaders, said Ward. Remember, you are running a business and so some decisions may not be nice for employees or clients or other business partners.

“That is where integrity will come to the fore. Decisions should be made with dignity, grace, humility and respect for other people.” FM www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 12:32

Selected forthcoming features in FM World:

The world of building maintenance just got simpler.

15th August issue: Workplace interiors 5th September issue: Carbon Footprint 3rd October issue: Cleaning innovations

We have something of interest for all advertisers.

For a full 2013 features list visit:

www.fm-world.co.uk/about-us or contact : norbert.camenzuli@redactive.co.uk / 020 7880 7551 Features are subject to change - please contact the editor for further details. FM World welcomes contributions and ideas for articles. Send a short synopsis to Martin Read at martin.read@fm-world.co.uk.

Please note that we reserve the right to edit copy submitted for publication in the magazine.

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19/06/2013 12:37

25/06/2013 11:51

FM MONITOR DAN TANEL

HOW TO

Dan Tanel is CTO of BCS Global

VIDEO CON F EREN CI N G

eeing is often believing. But does the new interest in video conferencing mean there is even more pressure on space?

Not necessarily, says Dan Tanel

S

Nobody can really predict what tomorrow’s workforce will look like, but someone has to take a calculated guess to ensure all the practical needs of an organisation will be met.

However, there is one safe bet.

Office space will always be one of the most costly overheads for most businesses. Pressure will continue to reduce the average footprint of each employee, especially for companies operating in London and other cities, where commercial property prices remain high.

This demand is having an interesting side-effect.

Increasingly, facilities management, human resources and IT departments are coming out of their silos and working more closely, as all three functions are intrinsically linked by the implications of remote working and the subsequent rise of ‘hot-desking’.

For the FM team, the rise of virtual teams and shared workstations helps achieve the aim of reducing – or at least maintaining – space requirements. But from an HR and general business point of view, this brings its own problems. Often, employees can also experience difficulties in collaboration and decision making becomes delayed through lack of information or contact.

This has led to the rise of audio 32 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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conferencing and the increased demand for meeting rooms. But as employees become accustomed to working within a widely-dispersed team, they also become frustrated with instant messaging and meetings via the telephone.

It’s been shown that 55 per cent of communications are visual.

For example, it’s difficult to tell whether someone is smiling as they speak – are they making a joke or are they serious? As a result, we are unable to adjust our tone and language as we would do naturally if they were in the same room. It’s difficult to build a trusting relationship this way.

Yet, from a practical point of view, these calls are a convenient, affordable and environmentally responsible way of holding multi-site meetings.

By hook or by crook Most business people are resourceful. Consequently, some employees are taking the matter into their own hands and using Skype and other consumer-based solutions such as Google Talk video and Facetime for business purposes.

Although the quality is variable, these are great applications and can be all that’s needed for a quick chat with a colleague in the US or a supplier in Birmingham, for example. They can be used from the desktop, so are quick and convenient.

Yet, from the IT department’s point of view, these applications are unsupported and present a security risk, especially for those involved in government work.

It’s like the whole ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) scenario once again. Big companies can’t run a video collaboration programme on Skype – that’s like running an entire email system on Hotmail.

A virtual headache?

Many large companies are returning to the idea of video conferencing. Yet, for many in FM, the very thought can bring on a headache. According to Gartner, almost 90 per cent of video conferencing facilities bought a few years ago are now gathering dust and represent thousands of pounds worth of misguided decisions.

However, today the reduced cost of bandwidth and video hardware infrastructure, the introduction of telepresence and high definition (HD) systems and desktop and mobile video, have brought a far more flexible and satisfying experience within reach. New solutions also offer far better integration across different hardware and software platforms.

Besides, the cloud and mobile services have changed the way many of these businesses buy and use technology. Recently there’s been a greater demand for the provision of video communications as a managed service.

With a cloud-based solution the cost model can be attractive with a flat rate monthly fee and no additional ‘per call’ charges.

In fact, some managed services providers can even help revive older equipment by integrating the latest technology.

These providers can act as trusted advisors, developing video communications and collaborations strategies that incorporate the most sophisticated technology for high-level client meetings but enable day-to-day use of video on desktops or mobiles. These can incorporate support for Skype or other consumer-style applications, where appropriate.

Businesses that have embraced this new form of video technology are enjoying fast return on investment though improved collaboration and subsequent increased productivity. For example, a HR manager doing preliminary interviews by telephone, might find it difficult to get a sense of a candidate’s suitability before 40 minutes. With a similar interview, but using video, she can make up her mind within 15 to 20 minutes.

The balance of dedicated video conferencing rooms and desktop facilities will depend on individual businesses – and a managed service provider will certainly work with FM teams to get this right. It is the growing popularity of video conferencing that is increasing pressure on meeting room space – and this, in turn, is driving employees to use desk-top solutions, so expert guidance can help get the optimum mix of technologies for an individual business.

It doesn’t need the gift of foresight to predict that flexible, mobile working will impact the office spaces of the future somehow. But, nonetheless, investing in video is a far-sighted decision that will pay off in better productivity and employee motivation. FM www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 17:42

FM MONITOR IAN JONES

COMMENT

Ian Jones, director of facilities ITV plc

PROCU R IN G F M S ERV I CES

nsuring procurement works with the FM department sometimes involves educating the former in the everyday activities of the latter

E

out of ignorance of what we actually did.

After clearing the air, he spent more than six months actually sitting with my group. He sat with the helpdesk and went to meetings with my people and, shock horror, he learned.

I welcome him now as a valued member of my team.

I’ve worked on both client and service sides in my career so I thought I would note down my advice about how to deal with a procurement department.

First, for the client FM manager:

The procurement/FM relationship is the subject of a roundtable report next issue

Well, another Think FM has come and gone. I really enjoyed the mix of different presentations that I attended.

One theme that came up in several of the presentations involved ‘the people from the dark side’, otherwise known as procurement.

No-one seems to like the procurement department.

I didn’t hear a good word from any service provider, nor for that matter, any clientside facilities managers either.

Procurement departments, it would appear from what was being said, seem to have a real relationship problem – with everyone.

I learned at an early point in my career that good relationships are everything and that even includes with the people in procurement. If you know how to use their expertise, www.fm-world.co.uk

33_Comment Procure.sr.indd 33

they are a really useful bunch to have around – but only if they understand what the FM team actually does.

I’m at ITV and I arrived to find ‘Darth Vader’ was actually working for the procurement department, so I simply didn’t involve him in any of the conversations that I was having with any service providers.

Don’t get me wrong, he was a good procurement guy in pure procurement terms, but he had missed the fact that FM was all about people and value and not just about cost. He had the wrong approach to the job, borne

1. Don’t let a procurement person anywhere near your business unless they understand what you actually do. It is the FM or director that is ultimately responsible for the contracts that they help to negotiate 2. Start them with the basics, get them to sit on your helpdesk and listen to the comments about some of the services that you know they have helped negotiate 3. Then get them to go out with your people at all levels, from the guys dealing with post and print room, to the guys looking after security. Get them to talk to your stakeholders directly, to work in the kitchen for a few days and attend a few finance review meetings.

Involve them in everything 4. And then accompany them to every meeting with every service provider until you are happy that

“I arrived to find ‘Darth Vader’ was actually working for the procurement department, so I simply didn’t involve him in any of the conversations”

they will treat the service provider with respect, especially if you aren’t in the room.

5. It will take three months before they start to understand and six months before they become truly useful 6. Don’t forget, procurement is there to serve the facilities manager.

Yes, I said that out loud, serve.

And from a service provider view: 1. Don’t let any procurement people undervalue the services that you are trying to sell. It doesn’t matter what you do, make or provide, companies wouldn’t be buying it if they didn’t think they needed it so you are important 2. Tell procurement what your lowest price is at an early stage and stick to it. Don’t start off high and come down, it just becomes a game and you devalue yourselves.

Tell them what your price is and why your price might be higher than a competitor 3. Always have in the room the people who will be providing the service to the prospective client – it’s often not the slick guy doing the pitch that will be providing the service. So shock your prospective client and have everyone (including some of the cleaners, if that’s your game) in the room. The clients team, including procurement, will be impressed 4. Don’t tell them what you think they want to hear – and demonstrate to them that you can do what you are being asked to do. Too many service providers try to upsell on the first pitch so confine yourself to the business at hand 5. Be prepared to get up and walk out. Refer back to point 2 above! FM FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 33

27/06/2013 17:12

FM MONITOR DAVE WILSON

TECHNICAL

Dave Wilson, director, Effective Facilities

THE PROB LEM WI T H BEN CH M A R K I N G

n the first article in this series, Dave I Wilson discussed the difficulties in using benchmarking effectively in FM. In this concluding piece, he offers solutions to these issues, including the best way to compare data In particular, we saw how the large amount of data needed for most benchmarking studies is hard to handle, and often requires specialist knowledge. Despite the drawbacks, benchmarking can yield useful information.

The question is, how can we create meaningful, useful measures, and how do we communicate the results?

The European Standard [Table 1], mentioned in the first article, offers a sound methodology without providing any readymade solutions (see table one).

Another way to approach the issue is to find an area for analysis: 1. That needs improvement 2. That is within the control of the FM team 3. That will have an impact on the organisation 4. Where data is likely to be readily available There are several ways to simplify relevant and accurate data. Most overlooked of these ought to be the most obvious: comparison against our own performance.

That could be against previous time periods (not necessarily years – it could be months or just weeks in some cases) or by comparing performance between locations.

Indeed, self-comparison provides some of the best data, with the most ease and greatest speed. Not only should the information be reliable, complete 34 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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and accurate, but because the constraints of the operations and the sites will be known, it is easier to interpret the data.

Finding outliers (best and worst performers) and understanding what caused that will also be easier, since, internally there is less risk of the fear of exposure of poor performance being a barrier to data access.

At the same time, be wary of trying to move all performance to the ‘best-in-class’ level: not only may that not be achievable, but it may be disruptive and excessively costly to get to that level, when what is required is steady improvement and travel in the direction of the best. Put another way: we cannot all be in the top quartile of performance.

Adopting this approach offers a more ready application of continuous improvement as well, since because the data is easier to obtain it is also easier to ‘read’ the results more often; the impact of changes can be seen in shorter timescales, which the frequency of external data collection renders almost impossible.

However, there is one opportunity that is likely to be missed doing this and it is one that I believe a lot of benchmarking processes also omit. There is an obsession with comparing ‘like with like’, which I have referred to, and to some extent advocated in this paper.

But provided we know what

we are looking to achieve, it can also be highly informative to compare with operations that are not like our own. That can apply to comparing processes as well as other performance features.

For example, how do waiting times in hotel reception areas compare with those in office receptions? If we can legitimately compare our service quality aspirations with hotels, is there something there to learn about visitor handling that might improve our own service?

Our obsession with looking for like-for-like or peer comparators creates the risk of preventing us for looking to see whether what we offer is genuinely best practice, and whether we can learn from norms in other spheres of activity.

Like-for-unlike can be informative in the right circumstances.

But for those who are intent on measuring against direct comparators, and doing so regularly, then why not set up (or join) a benchmarking club. These already operate in some sectors (pharmaceuticals and petrochemical industries for example), and there are also some area and regional clubs operating through local chambers of commerce and similar organisations.

The caveats I issued against data comparability, especially at the more granular level, do apply here though: data that is shared has to be assumed to be accurate, since you cannot test it, and often it is agglomerated and averaged before being made available, which makes analysis more difficult.

But it can provide some insights and offer some suggestions about areas to improve.

Finally, reliable historical information is essential to understanding not only trends

but also to ensuring that any ‘snapshot’ of performance is not itself an exception to normal performance levels. So ‘banking’ data – capturing and maintaining information, that can be captured now, from a range of sources, for future use, is both fundamental to having good sources of data, but is an important safeguard against mistaking short-term variations for a longer-term trend in performance.

Benchmarking is certainly not a simple fix leading to service cost and quality improvements.

However, with a careful application of the methodology, and the development of solutions based on the resulting facts, it can not only improve services, but be a great tool for communicating outcomes to customers and, importantly, senior management. FM Table 1. BS EN15221-7 Benchmarking Process

www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 15:38

FM MONITOR PAUL NORGATE

TECHNICAL

Paul Norgate is Eaton’s UK sales & marketing manager

N EW U PS TECH N O LO GY

hen choosing an uninterruptible W power supply, FMs and IT professionals can have different priorities. However, new UPS technology may satisfy both groups of users, says Paul Norgate Ask IT professionals what they need most from an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and their top answers will almost certainly be: the best possible protection for their data; scalability to allow for future expansion; and, increasingly, support for virtualised IT environments.

Ask the same of a group of FMs and the emphasis will be a little different. Their priorities are likely to be biased toward energy efficiency and ease of maintenance.

This doesn’t imply that IT professionals aren’t interested in energy efficiency or that FMs are not worried about the protection provided by the UPS – it’s simply that the two groups have different priorities. There are, in fact, many areas where they agree, such as the importance of comprehensive monitoring facilities.

Nevertheless, the differences can cause problems, especially in the increasingly common situation where FMs are responsible for choosing UPSs that support IT operations. In these cases, should the FMs go for products that suit their own priorities, or products that tick the boxes for the IT department? A new generation of mid-range UPS systems ticks the boxes for both FMs and IT professionals.

Taking the load First, let’s consider providing the best possible protection for loads

and, therefore, for the IT system data. UPS systems based on double conversion topology are usually best in this respect, since, by converting mains power twice – first from AC to DC, then back to AC – they provide the best possible isolation between the equipment they are supplying and the raw power from the mains.

Quality protection Such a process allows them to provide protection against all nine of the most common power quality problems: power failures, power sags and surges, under-voltage and over-voltage, electrical line noise, frequency variations, switching transients and harmonic distortion.

For this reason, doubleconversion UPSs are often preferred for IT applications.

But they have a shortcoming – they are less efficient than other types of UPS. This is because, as their name implies, they have two power conversion stages – and each stage introduces losses.

Their relatively low-efficiency has, in the past, made doubleconversion UPSs less appealing to FMs, who are understandably never happy with a product that increases energy bills.

Recently introduced technology addresses this issue through the use of new techniques to reduce losses in the conversion stages, achieving 95 per cent efficiency in double-conversion mode,

where 90 per cent was the case with their predecessors. These new UPSs works by, in effect, feeding the load directly from the mains supply when this supply is within tolerance and problem free, but switching to full doubleconversion mode within two milliseconds of a mains supply problem occurring. This transition is completely invisible to the connected loads.

Improved filtering and control algorithms have made these ‘high efficiency’ modes possible.

Previously, ‘dirty’ mains power would have reached the critical load because the UPSs were not advanced enough to filter disturbances, but improved technologies and advances in the switching from high efficiency mode to standard online mode (typically under 10ms) means loads will not see any disruption in supply. It is also down to advances in IT equipment that allows this switching to occur without having any effect on the equipment.

The power factor Another key feature of these new UPSs, which will particularly appeal to FMs, is that they are compact and, for a given rating, offer more useful power. This is because they have a power factor of 0.9, compared with the 0.7 to 0.8 typical of older units.

In simple terms, the power delivered by a UPS can be considered to be the kVA rating of the UPS multiplied by the power factor of the unit. This means, for example, that an 8 kVA new generation unit with a power factor of 0.9 can deliver up to 8,000 x 0.9 = 7,200 watts of useful power, whereas an older unit with the same power rating but a

power factor of 0.7 may only be able to deliver up to 8,000 x 0.7 = 5,600 watts.

Previous generations of UPS operated at a lower power factor (pf) – for example, an 11kVA UPS with a power factor of 0.7 will only provide 8kW of ‘real’ power. But newer UPSs, such as Eaton’s 9PX, at the same KVA will provide 10kW of real power, due to a superior pf rating.

Finally, the savings made in the operation of the UPSs have increased as the efficiencies have improved so much, jumping from 91 per cent efficiency to 95 per cent in standard mode and even further to 98 per cent in highefficiency mode.

IT support The development of intelligent management software allows users to remotely monitor and manage multiple UPSs across their networks from a single interface. This could be a vCenter or XenCenter dashboard or even a standard web browser running on a PC. In short, close integration with the virtualisation platform increases productivity and operational responsiveness, as well as allowing the UPS system to trigger migration applications to transparently move virtual machines to an available server on the network as an aid to ensuring data integrity and eliminating downtime.

Support for virtualised IT environments is important for future-proofing as virtualisation is becoming increasingly popular – it is, in fact, estimated that around 45 per cent of SMBs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have already adopted virtualisation. FM FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 35

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27/06/2013 12:33

BIFM NEWS BIFM.ORG.UK

MEMBERSHIP

Upgrade Here, Emma Crake from the BIFM membership talks about how you can upgrade your BIFM membership and gain the recognition you deserve.

• Utilise • Progress • Grow • Recognise • Aspire • Develop • Enhance Does your current BIFM membership grade reflect your professional status in the industry? Have you held the same membership grade for a while?

Have you gained the recognition you deserve and would you like to hold post-nominal letters to reflect your developing skills and experience in FM? If so, upgrade your BIFM membership today.

Why? To gain the recognition you deserve and demonstrate your achievements in the FM industry.

As an FM professional, you can upgrade your membership to reflect your developing skills and experience.

BIFM membership is greatly valued by employers as it demonstrates a commitment to best practice in FM and continuing professional development.

By upgrading your membership to one of our assessed levels, you will be entitled to use relevant postnominal letters to highlight your successes within the FM industry.

Will I be eligible?

The BIFM recognises and values experience in FM and relevant qualifications from a Level 2 to a Level 7; you could be eligible for associate grade (ABIFM), member grade (MBIFM), certified grade (CBIFM), or fellow grade (FBIFM) dependent on your skills, qualifications and experience. www.bifm.org.uk/upgrade 36 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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How do I upgrade?

You will need to provide evidence of your skills and experience through relevant supporting documents, dependent on the assessed level of membership. The dedicated membership team will support you and the guidelines for membership upgrade can be found at www.bifm.org.uk/upgrade.

If you would like the chance to raise your profile in FM and to gain recognition for all you’ve accomplished, then a different BIFM grade could reflect where you are today. The BIFM membership scheme is designed for every stage of your career in FM and we will support you through every step. i Upgrade today at www.bifm.org. uk/upgrade, call the membership team on +44 (0) 1279 712 650 or email membership@bifm.org.uk

SOUTH WEST

Quarterly training day The South West region recently welcomed over 80 delegates to their June quarterly training day, kindly sponsored by Gregg Latchams LLP, for what proved to be a very insightful event.

Here, Nick Fox, secretary for the region, reviews the day: “Tony Cooper from ACAS South West kicked the day off with a presentation on TUPE regulations. With changes planned, it gave the delegates the chance to think ahead and consider how future service provision changes could be handled and how it will affect the tender process.

“Alan Bradshaw from WorkLife Solutions travelled down from Edinburgh to educate the audience on how to handle stress management and show what techniques are out there to help minimise stress-related absence.

The focus was on prevention and

The BIFM South West region (above) with sponsors Gregg Latchams (top)

the delegates took away some good practical techniques to implement in their workplaces.

BIFM deputy chair Liz Kentish presented on ‘From basement to boardroom – is training always the answer?’. This very engaging session was well received with an underlying message to go out and promote both ourselves as FM professionals and also to promote the industry as a career of choice.

“The dangers of social media were highlighted by sponsor Gregg Latchams and some good case studies were discussed to give the delegates real-life

examples of how companies have found themselves in deep water by not having a social media policy.

“Insights and Colour Works ran an ‘insightful’ afternoon workshop on personality profiling and this had delegates up on their feet organising a village fête. Needless to say, some people left feeling very enlightened – while others went away feeling mentally violated!

A great afternoon session was enjoyed by everyone in a fun and social environment.”

A fantastic £72 was raised for

KEEP IN TOUCH » Network with the BIFM @ www.networkwithbifm.org.uk » Twitter @BIFM_UK » LinkedIn » Facebook » YouTube » Flickr www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 12:33

Please send your news items to communications@bifm.org.uk or call 0845 058 1356

June 28 signalled the close to all categories in the 2013 BIFM Awards – as this was the deadline for entries in the prestigious ‘Facilities Manager of the Year’ category.

The judging is currently taking place, with the shortlist due to be announced in August. All winners will then be announced at the BIFM Awards ceremony taking place at The Grosvenor House Hotel on 14 October.

Booking now open To attend alongside 1,300 FM professionals, complete the booking form. By booking early you can guarantee a prime position at the event. Individual www.fm-world.co.uk

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Entries closed

am very excited about this comment column as it gives me the opportunity to share with you some great successes in our membership numbers.

We are currently at our highest-ever number of members in the 20-year history of the Institute. At the end of May, we had 13,453 members.

Rest assured that as a facilities management professional you are in good company and, as a BIFM member, part of an exciting time for both the sector and the institute. Our membership extends beyond just Britain, reaching members in over 60 countries around the globe.

In April 2013, we welcomed 415 new members to BIFM – a record-breaking month.

This was followed by a further 362 new members who joined the following month.

On behalf of the entire team at BIFM I would NET GROWTH (membership) like to welcome you.

April 12 - Mid June 13 The chart shows our 13800 membership growth 13600 since April 2012. I 13400 am sure that many 13200 of you have had 13000 increased engagement 12800 from the membership 12600 team here at BIFM, as 12400 this is one area Total Database 12200 in which we have 12000 invested resources.

11800 For example, when new members join the Institute, we contact them as part of our ‘welcome process’ to ensure they are aware of the full membership benefits they can take advantage of.

This also gives us time to explain ways they can get involved with BIFM; this could be from volunteering on a group committee – which can be very rewarding – to offering their FM expertise on some of our thought-leadership projects, such as Good Practice Guides or FM Leaders Forums.

The feedback we receive from all our members is vital – we need to understand what we are getting right, and where there are areas for improvement. Only by having this insight from you can we keep evolving, in order for us to deliver everything you need and expect to support you in your career. Feedback also enables us to enhance your membership experience with BIFM. If you have any feedback on your membership, need any support with your membership, would like to refer a colleague or learn how to get involved in the institute by way of volunteering, please contact the membership team, which will be happy to assist you. Contact them on membership@bifm.org.uk or call +44 (0)1279 712 650.

In closing, I would like to say “welcome” once more to all our new members and “thank you” to all other members – we greatly appreciate your support.

I look forward to sharing more good news with you over the coming months.

I

APR 12

BIFM AWARDS

G ROW I N G O U R F M CO M M U N I T Y

MAY 12

i For details on all BIFM groups go to www.bifm.rgo.uk/groups, or for all events, www.bifm.org.uk/events

BIFM COMMENT

Number of members

the chairman’s charity and some great prizes were won at the end of the day, with bottles of champagne, a free night’s stay at a Hilton Hotel, a headset, a month’s free in-house lawyer service subscription and a free executive coaching session among those prizes won by delegates.

Thank you to our sponsors Gregg Latchams LLP, The Bristol Hilton Hotel and to our speakers who clocked up several hundred miles travelling to Bristol to help us make the day a huge success. Our next training day is on Thursday 12 September at the Bristol Hilton Hotel.

The theme for the day will be ‘Essential FM Compliance’. For more information contact Beth Goodyear at Beth.goodyear@ fmhsconsulting.co.uk or visit the South West events page to book your place.

Sarah Hunnable is head of membership and business development at BIFM

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 37

27/06/2013 12:34

BIFM NEWS BIFM.ORG.UK

tickets are available at £230+VAT, alongside tables of 10, £2,300+VAT and 12, £2,760+VAT. Tickets to the black tie event include drinks reception, dinner, the awards and entertainment. i Book your tickets and tables at www.bifm.org.uk/awards2013, email awards@bifm.org.uk or call 01279 712 640.

CONSULTATION

Strategic FM guidance note BIFM members have until 8 July to contribute to a strategic facilities management guidance note. The note will help drive professionalism and enable benchmarking across the sector by creating greater consistency in the delivery of FM services.

Open invitation The Guidance Note open for consultation is provisionally entitled ‘Managing facilities to enhance organisational performance’. The development of the note is being led by RICS’ Strategic Guidance Working Group, which includes representatives from both BIFM and CoreNet Global’s UK Chapter.

Gareth Tancred, chief executive of the BIFM, said: “This guidance note will be an important resource for property professionals to access and utilise when undertaking facilities management activities, to ensure understanding and insight. Those whose roles require expert FM knowledge can also look to our qualifications suite for formal qualifications in facilities management.” i The consultation closes on 8 July.

Contribute at tinyurl.com/ RICSconsulation

38 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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MEMBERS

Corporate members The BIFM welcomed the following corporate members in May: ● AMP Infrastructure – end user, in-house FM team ● BHL – FM service suppliers, contractors ● Bruntwood – end user, in-house FM team ● ChangeStone Business Consultants LLP – consultant, provider of advice & guidance ● GSS Facilities Management – FM service suppliers, contractors ● Oaksure Property Protection – FM service suppliers, contractors ● Pall Europe – product supplier ● Savortex - product supplier ● Scanomat UK – FM service suppliers, contractors ● Surrey Commercial Services – FM service suppliers, contractors ● UK Security Facilities – FM service suppliers, contractors.

i Learn more about corporate membership at www.bifm.org.uk/ corporatemembership, email corporatemembership@bifm.org. uk or call 01279 712 650

IRELAND

FM futures The 17th annual Ireland Region Conference, sponsored

by Aramark and H&J Martin Facilities Management, will take place at the Belfast Waterfront on 15 November 2013 and will focus on the future of FM across Ireland.

Delegates can look forward to topics such as the art of intelligent negotiation, the A-Z of compliance and building information modelling.

See www.bifm.org.uk/IC2013 for further details. i

BIFM TRAINING BOOST CONTRACT PERFORMANCE WITH OUR DISCOUNTED CONTRACTING TRIO ontract management has become a central concern for facilities managers faced with increasing pressure to reduce costs and improve performance. It is more important than ever to try to get as much value as possible from contracted relationships and avoid unnecessary costs and risks.

But too many contracts fail to meet customer expectations due to poor specification and inadequate pre-qualification and tendering procedures. Even those that have been set up effectively can fail to achieve the performance requirements, if the objectives and targets are not managed properly and met within budget.

Strong negotiation skills will underpin the success of your contract arrangements and, on a daily basis, FMs need to negotiate with colleagues, customers, contractors and suppliers. So whether you’re setting up a new contract or reviewing the performance of an existing relationship, you need to ensure that you are able to minimise risk and fully exploit the opportunities.

To help you set up and manage a successful value-formoney contract and boost the performance of your FM operation, BIFM Training is offering a discounted deal when the following programmes are taken as one course:

C

‘The Tender Process’ – 10 Sept or 10 Dec 2013 ‘Contract Management’ – 11 Sept or 11 Dec 2013 ‘Negotiating to Win’ – 12 Sept or 12 Dec 2013 For BIFM members, each one-day programme costs £385+VAT when purchased separately, but you can buy all three days for just £995+VAT. For non-members, each one-day programme costs £480+VAT or buy all three for £1199+VAT. ILM-endorsed award for in-house clients In-house delivery is a cost-effective option for organisations that have groups of staff with similar needs. We can also offer in-house clients the option to have the contracting trio delivered with an Endorsed Award from the Institute of Leadership & Management, which includes free studying membership of the ILM for one year.

Other contracting courses Other available contracting courses include Managing in an FM Outsourced Environment, Managing FM Performance, Introduction to Catering Contracts and Making Catering Contracts Work.

For further information including how to book or to discuss in-house delivery, please call 020 7404 4440, email info@ bifm-training.co.uk or visit www.bifm-training.com

www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 12:34

FM MONITOR MARKET INTELLIGENCE

INSIGHT

The figures on this page have been compiled from several sources and are intended as a guide to trends. FM World declines any responsibility for the use of this information.

SUSTAINABLE HOMES AND PERFORMANCE OF BUILDINGS

VAT rates: Standard rate – 20% (from 4 January 2011) Reduced rate – 5% Zero rate – this is not the same as exempt or outside the scope of VAT

17,000 Official statistics on the 16,000 15,000 number of homes that meet 14,000 13,000 the standards set out in the 12,000 11,000 Code for Sustainable Homes 10,000 (the code) in England, Wales 9,000 8,000 and Northern Ireland show 7,000 6,000 that code certificates have 5,000 4,000 been issued in the majority 3,000 2,000 of local authority areas 1,000 0 across England as well as in Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 most authorities in Wales 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 2013 and Northern Ireland. The Design stage Post-construction stage largest total number of design and post construction code certificates (combined) in the last quarter were issued in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, followed by the London Borough of Greenwich. There were 111,582 post-construction stage certificates and 167,202 design stage certificates issued up to 31 March 2013.

The code measures the sustainability of a dwelling against nine different categories: energy/carbon; water; waste; materials; surface water run-off; health and well-being (which have mandatory performance standards); pollution; ecology; and management. Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

Bank of England base rate: 0.5% as of 6 June 2013.

The previous change in bank rate was a reduction of 0.5 percentage points to 0.5% on 5 March 2009.

Source: Bank of England (bankofengland.co.uk)

Consumer Price Index (CPI): The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual inflation grew by 2.7% in May 2013, up from 2.4% in April.

The inflation rate has returned to the levels seen in March 2013 after the slowing in the rate to 2.4% in April. CPIH, the new measure of consumer price inflation, including owner occupiers’ housing costs, grew by 2.5% in the year to May 2013, up from 2.2% in April.

Source: ONS (www.ons.gov.uk)

EMPLOYMENT

National Minimum Wage The following rates came into effect on 1 October 2012:

INSULATION MARKET

Hourly rate from 1 Oct 2012

Aged 21 and above

£6.19

Aged 18 to 20 inclusive

£4.98

Aged under 18 (but above compulsory school age)

£3.68

Apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

£2.65

www.fm-world.co.uk

39_Insight.sr.indd 37

TOTAL VOLUME OF CONSTRUCTION OUTPUT (COMPARING APRIL TO MARCH 2013) DOWN BY 6.5%

6.5%

1,100 1,000

9.7%

900 800 700

3.6%

600 500 400 2008

Category of worker

CONSTRUCTION OUTPUT

UK INSULATION MARKET BY VALUE £M

Value (£m)

Source: HM Treasury (hmrc.gov.uk)

Certificates

ECONOMY

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013 Fcst

2014 Fcst

REPAIRS/ MAINTENANCE DOWN BY 9.7%

PRIVATE HOUSING UP BY 3.6%

Since 2008, the market for building insulation products has mainly been driven by the impact of energy efficiency legislation. From late 2013, the Green Deal for businesses will drive demand. The range of low-cost energy efficiency measures for businesses is much wider than for households – the resulting demand for insulation products may well be less marked. Compared to the domestic retrofit sector, the housebuilding market for insulation is small.

However, from 2016, the Zero Carbon Homes initiative could spell an increase in demand for higher-spec insulation materials.

The estimated total volume of construction output in the UK in April 2013 was 1.1% lower than in April 2012. Comparing the three months from February 2013 with April 2013 with the same three months a year earlier, the volume of construction output decreased by 4.7%. New work was lower by 5.8% with large falls in public other new work and private-commercial other new work, which reported decreases of 17.3% and 8.8% respectively.

There was also a 2.8% decrease in repair and maintenance mainly due to a 7.5% fall in private housing repair and maintenance.

Source: AMA Research (www.amaresearch.co.uk)

Source: ONS (www.ons.gov.uk)

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 39

27/06/2013 12:35

FM DIARY

Send details of your event to editorial@fm–world.co.uk or call 020 7880 6229

INDUSTRY EVENTS

An update intended to educate FMs on best practice. Metering and energy control devices and engineered solutions to provide control switching and metering.

Also legionella control, risks and responsibilities.

Venue: Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford University.

Contact: Call 0333 323 0207 or email mark.gale@cataxsolutions. com

19 September | BIFM national golf finals 2013 The event returns to the venue of the first national finals, in 2001, following a series of regional qualifying events.

Venue: Bowood Golf Hotel & Spa, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN11 9PQ Contact: Don Searle at don@c22. co.uk or call 020 7220 8900 14 October | BIFM Awards 2013 The BIFM Awards is the most influential networking event within the UK’s FM calendar and gives national recognition to the leaders in our profession. The BIFM Awards are designed to celebrate the increasingly strategic profile of FM by highlighting the key role it plays in the success of organisations. The ceremony brings together the leaders of our sector with the winners and to celebrate excellence in FM. Venue: Grosvenor House Hotel, London Contact: communications@bifm. org.uk or call 0845 058 1356 INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

HOME COUNTIES REGION 20 June | Regional golf day Qualifying for September’s finals, sponsored by BMG. Venue: Pine Ridge Golf Club, near Frimley, Surrey, GU16 9NX Contact: charlie.sorbie@ temco-services.co.uk or call 07908 711 964 IRELAND REGION 15 November | Ireland conference More details to follow. Interest can be registered online.

Venue: Belfast Waterfront Contact: Laura McMahon at l.mcmahon@hjmartin.co.uk or visit www.bifm.org.uk/IC2013

2-4 October | IFMA World Workplace conference & expo The largest annual conference for FMs includes exhibitors, discussions and networking.

Venue: Philadelphia, US Contact: www.worldworkplace.org

LONDON REGION

BIFM SIG EVENTS

SCOTLAND REGION

9 July | Education SIG – Latest best practice in legionella control and energy management

4 July | Scotland region AGM To register, visit bifmscotland-agm. eventbrite.com

The BIFM London region holds its monthly CPD events on the first Tuesday of every month.

Contact: www.bifm.org.uk/bifm/ groups/regions/london/events

Venue: St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG Contact: Michael Kenny at mkenny@fesfm.co.uk or call 07920 136 784

Contact: Beth Goodyear at Beth.goodyear@fmhsconsulting. co.uk www.bifmswseptqtd2013es2.eventbrite.com or call 07901 858 875

10 October | All about FM! Conference and exhibition, with speakers currently being considered. Any proposals welcomed.

Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, EH12 5PJ Contact: Michael Kenny at mkenny@fesfm.co.uk or visit allaboutfm2013.eventbrite. co.uk

15 November | Hard services Detailed programme TBC. Venue: Hilton, Woodlands Lane, Bradley Stoke, Bristol BS32 4JF Contact: dan.knight@ norlandmanagedservices. co.uk or hazel.reason@ plantronics.com or visit www.bifmswregionnovqtd2013. eventbrite.com SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

SOUTH REGION 11 July | Health and safety compliance (details TBA) Venue: EDF Energy, Hove Contact: Dave Barrett at dave@ barrettassociates.co.uk or call 07961 684 579 SOUTH WEST REGION 12 July | Regional golf day Qualifier for September’s finals.

Venue: Orchardleigh Golf Club, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2PH Contact: gareth.andrews@gmacl. co.uk or call 07540 079978 12 September | Essential FM compliance Will include a B&B rate of £50 for those wishing to stay on the Wednesday evening.

Don’t miss what will be a fantastic day of learning and networking.

Venue: Hilton Hotel, Woodlands Lane, Bradley Stoke, Bristol BS32 4JF

11 July | Women in FM: designing workspaces for the new demographics – the impact of modern feminine identities Venue: Kinnarps, 69 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5RR Speakers include Marc Bird, on research into demographic trends; Liz Leese on returning to the workplace as a parent; and Gillian James, chief executive at TMI, on workplace cultures. From 5.30pm.

Contact: Victoria O’Farrell on 07976 963 889 or visit wifmkinnarps-eorg.eventbrite.com 25 September | Business continuity – incident management Venue: Haworth Showroom, Clerkenwell, London A panel discussion with incident management and technology platform professionals, discussing the significant impact of social media on incident management.

Contact: Steve Dance at steve1dance@btinternet.com

WHEN YOU NEED FULL POWER EVEN IN AN OUTAGE, YOU NEED A STANDBY SERVICE YOU CAN RELY ON AT ANY TIME. We know how damaging an outage can be; that’s why 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we guarantee an unrivalled response to emergency requests for temporary power.

Register for our FREE PowerCare 24/7 membership scheme today.

Sign up at mems.com/prepared

08452 230 400 40 | 4 40 | 4JULY JULY2013 | FM 2013 | FMWORLD WORLD

40_Diary.sr.indd 40

POWER TO BRITAIN

www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 12:36

The electrical inspection and testing specialists Quantec provide the “best value” service for Àxed wire electrical test and inspections, PAT testing, load recording and thermographic services throughout the UK and the Channel Islands.

Our competitive rates do not compromise either the quality or the high levels of customer service for which we are well recognised.

You may already use our services for which we thank you, but if not please contact us for immediate attention.

Email: qcltd@quantectest.co.uk Phone: (01634) 865750 Fax: (01634) 861195

www.quantectest.co.uk Quantec May13.indd 1

28/05/2013 10:57

r u yo ow k o ts n o B ke tic The must-attend event 14 OCTOBER, GROSVENOR HOUSE HOTEL, LONDON

Who will be recognised for their facilities management excellence and innovation.

Join over 1,300 facilities management professionals and see the winners crowned at the networking event of the Facilities Management calendar.

HEADLINE SPONSOR

Confirm your tickets or tables today

Email awards@bifm.org.uk or call +44 (0)1279 712 640 WWW.BIFM.ORG.UK/AWARDS2013 @BIFMAWARDS

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 41

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26/06/2013 12:31

FM PEOPLE MOVERS & SHAKERS

BEHIND

THE JOB What attracted you to the job?

The possibility of influencing and fostering the development of a whole industry.

My top perk at work is…

I get to meet a wide variety of interesting people and gain a broad view on the profession.

NAME: Jozsef Czerny JOB TITLE: Chairman ORGANISATION: Hungarian Facility Management Society JOB DESCRIPTION: Overall responsibility for running the society

How did you get into facilities management and what attracted you to the industry?

I met a colleague, Brian Pendry, the FM of Compaq Deutschland in 1995, who introduced me to FM and helped me to discover an interest in the sector.

What’s been your career high point to date?

Being part of the CEN TC 348 Facilities Management committee, which created the first European FM standards in 2005 in Paris. Also, becoming a board member of Global FM. What has been your biggest career challenge?

Dealing with a diversity of people, cultures and opinions in a way that allows us to co-operate with each other and aim for common goals.

Any interesting tales to tell?

We initiated a postgraduate course on FM at the Technical University of Budapest in 2000, still the only FM education in Hungary. After eight years, we found a quick shift in the composition of our students: more and more came from the demand side; they now account for 90 per cent of our students.

ON THE

MOVE Changing jobs?

Tell us about your new role and responsibilities.

Contact Jamie Harris Jamie.Harris@fm-world.co.uk

42 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

42_PeopleAndJobs.sr.indd 42

Pride Catering Partnership has promoted Joan Gilbert (right) to managing director from her previous role as business development director. She now oversees operations, business development and finance functions for the Guildford-based business. The firm’s founders will also move into new roles. Roger Aldridge becomes chief executive and Tim Price becomes chairman. Aldridge and Price will focus on the strategic direction of the business, which has seen a 73 per cent boost in sales within three years, according to a statement from Pride.

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

Certainly shifting the operational focus to more strategic thinking.

If I wasn’t in FM, I’d probably be…

In the construction industry, where I came from originally.

Which ‘FM myth’ would you most like to put an end to?

That FM is about buildings. No, it is about people and the organisation. The building itself is just one of the bodies to perform the services in question.

How do you think facilities management has changed in the past five years?

In my view, FM became more self-conscious and is on the way to become a recognised business discipline worldwide, not just in western European countries.

And how will it change in the next five years?

It would be nice to know. As the workplace changes so will FM. Delivery and management of FM services may become more standardised, based on some ISO standards covering the most important aspects of FM. What single piece of advice would you give to a young facilities manager starting out?

Learn to think in strategic terms and enjoy work.

Property maintenance provider Facilities Services Group (FSG) has appointed Jason Huxtable (right) as main board director of its helpdesk and customer support division, Managed Solutions.

Huxtable, who has more than 20 years of experience in FM, joined FSG from New Look, where he was head of group facilities. He was responsible for all hard and soft FM for New Look’s more than 700 stores and support centres in the UK, Republic of Ireland, France Belgium and Holland.

Data centre management firm Keysource has appointed Andrew Fletcher (right) as engineering director. The appointment is part of an expansion of the company’s data centre FM services. Fletcher will be responsible for the FM operations and engineering function. He has more than 15 years of engineering experience in the data centre, facilities management, building services and energy sectors. He joins Keysource from communications company Level 3, where he was a senior manager.

www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 12:36

FM NEWS

Call Richard York on 020 7880 8543 or email richard.york@fm-world.co.uk For full media information take a look at www.fm-world.co.uk/mediapack

FM innovations ▼ Success in RoSPA Awards for OCS International total facilities management provider OCS has had its approach to occupational safety and health recognised by the safety charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The Quality Safety Audit (QSA) Award Level 2 was presented to OCS Group UK at the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2013 ceremony on 15 May. The QSA awards scheme recognises levels of achievement of health and safety management and helps facilitate continuous improvement and benchmarking.

Graham Gilbert, managing director infrastructure and healthcare at OCS, said: “This is OCS’s first year of attaining RoSPA accreditation and we are committed to delivering safety excellence and getting it right, year on year.”

▲ ASSA Abloy delivers at The Place

▲ Legionnaires’ disease – concealed risks

Following its work on The Shard last year, ASSA Abloy Security Doors is now supplying its highsecurity steel doorsets to its sister building, The Place, which, with The Shard, forms the two million square feet London Bridge Quarter development.

More than 300 fire and acoustic steel doorsets will be installed throughout the new building, being developed by Sellar Property Group in association with LBQ. Working closely with joinery contractor Ruddy Joinery, ASSA Abloy security doors’ bespoke doorsets will address fire safety, successfully certified to BS 476 part 22 and providing the necessary level of fire protection under British and European standards.

W: www.assaabloy.co.uk/securitydoors T: 028 9266 2200.

The new TC Wall Port from TM Electronics is the ideal way to monitor concealed temperature points, including boxed-in TMVs, hidden pipework and covered water tanks.

Housed in a small white box measuring just 52 x 52 mm, this convenient temperature sensor monitoring point is used for spot checks on any test point with difficult or impaired access. Temperatures are taken by simply ‘plugging’ a thermometer into the port – much easier than dismantling boxing under sinks or using ladders to work at height.

The device is primarily designed for use with fine wire probes that are attached to the temperature test point and left in-situ. These wires are then run to the TC Wall Port, which is screwed to the wall.

T: +44 (0)1903 700 651 E: sales@tmelectronics.co.uk W: www.tmelectronics.co.uk

▼ Learn with Jangro Jangro, the largest UK network of independent janitorial supply companies has introduced a new way of learning.

Jangro Learning Management Solution (LMS) is an interactive suite of e-learning and mobile-learning modules, which are available over the internet and will be demonstrated at Facilities Show. Highlights of the Jangro stand will be its product range of over 4,000 items and new additional modules to Jangro LMS. Users can access these easy-to-use and costeffective training modules via a laptop or desktop in the office or even on the way home on the train using a smart phone or device. Visitors to the stand can download the free Jangro App, which offers product knowledge, giving users free advice on how to best use products. Visit us on stand 2B74.

T: 0845 458 5223.

▲ Zigor offers discounts on all UPS Uninterruptible power supply provider Zigor is offering the public and education sectors a special 10 per cent discount. The offer runs until 30 September with the aim of helping hospitals, schools and councils protect their power.

Organisations simply need to quote reference FMPS2013 to receive the discount. Zigor’s UPS range start at 650va line interactive plug ‘n’ play UPS systems extending up to 400 kva three-phase power solutions.

Zigor sales manager Gavin Banks, said: “Zigor likes to react to the demands of the market and tries to understand what constraints are put on customers during difficult financial times. This scheme will help organisations protect their power and equipment properly.”

T: 0844 854 6264 E: salesuk@zigor.com www.fm-world.co.uk

43_Products.sr.indd 43

▲ Regular vibration analysis – why do it?

Condition-based monitoring aids understanding of when machinery will fail and when servicing is required. A key part of this is vibration analysis.

As hardware costs reduce and equipment becomes easier to operate, vibration analysis is increasingly being adopted by FMs. Any asset with a motor, pump or fan will have a vibration ‘signature’ made up of the individual vibrations of the bearings, rollers, belts, and so on inside. As these components begin to fail, their vibration level will change and/or increase. With the correct equipment FM staff can easily notice changes and act before catastrophic failure. The new VM330 from C-Cubed is a rugged, hand-held vibration analyser, complete with PC based trending software to monitor and report asset condition over time.

T: 01256 895 050 E: info@c-cubed.co.uk FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 43

27/06/2013 12:37

Appointments

Call the sales team on 020 7324 2755 or email jobs@fm-world.co.uk For full media information take a look at www.fm-world.co.uk/mediapack

Facilities Manager (Customer Services) £34,821 - £43,659 This is an exciting opportunity to play a lead role in delivering outstanding service to those using the high profile Assembly estate and to ensure first class stewardship of the estate comprising the Grade 1 listed, Pierhead Building, the iconic Senedd and our Tŷ Hywel office located in Cardiff Bay as well as our North Wales office.

This is very much a client facing and hands on role leading a team overseeing all aspects of building FM services in a quality environment, reporting to the Head of Estates and Facilities and ensuring consistently strong links with client and internal stakeholders, guaranteeing high levels of customer service and responsive reaction to address client concerns including: • Overseeing hard & soft service contracts including FM, building management and maintenance, catering and cleaning and working closely with contracted partners to ensure a ‘one team’ approach to service delivery; • Contract performance management and monitoring including the use of KPI’s to ensure delivery of outstanding services; • Supporting the Head of Service with capital works / projects; • Managing and developing the FM team to deliver outstanding customer service; • Ensuring legislative compliance; • Act as a deputy when required for the Head of Service Applicants will need to demonstrate: • A proven track record of effectively managing hard and soft FM services and contract management and monitoring as well as the associated statutory compliance and health and safety framework;

JOBS

• An effective track record in facilities management including works / capital projects in a quality FM environment.

• Experience of successfully role modelling and inspiring an established team to deliver outstanding customer service.

• An ability to use expertise to prepare concise and reasoned reports/ business cases and papers for management board and others.

A recognised qualification in facilities management is desirable.

Closing date: 19 July 2013.

For information and an application form visit www.assemblywales.org/recruitment or call 029 2089 8659 (24 hour answering line).

Completed application forms must be sent to ac.recruitment@wales.gov.uk We are committed to being a good equal opportunities employer.

The National Assembly for Wales is the democratically elected body that represents the interests of Wales and its people, makes laws for Wales and holds the Welsh Government to account.

WE CAN HELP YOU FIND

YOUR PERFECT JOB

JOBS BY EMAIL Be the first to receive your perfect job straight to your inbox. To sign up simply; • Enter your name and email address • Choose the sector, salary and location you would like to work within • Create up to five different tailor-made alerts

CV UPLOAD Upload your CV and complete your jobseeker profile and increase your chances of being found for your perfect job. No need to go through hundreds of job adverts, just fill in your profile and let employers do the work.

Contact the sales team on 0207 324 2755 | www.fm-world.co.uk/jobs Banner strip.indd 1 44 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

FM New appoints040713.indd 044

07/03/2013 14:28 jobs.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 09:50

London FM Opportunities Facilities Manager (corporate account) City of London • up to ÂŁ60,000 We require a proven Facilities Manager to join a service provider on a corporate account in the City of London. As the on-site Facilities Manager you will be based at the HQ for a ďŹ nancial institution and responsible for its delivery of total facilities management. You must have a proven track record in a similar role at a prestigious building or head office for a blue chip company. In addition you must be client facing, have excellent client relationship building skills and understand how to deliver a ďŹ ve star FM service. This is a fantastic new opportunity that Cobalt is recruiting for exclusively. A very competitive remuneration is available for the selected individual.

Technical Contracts Manager London • ÂŁ40,000-ÂŁ45,000 We are currently seeking a Technical Contracts Manager on behalf of a growing boutique service provider, to be responsible for ďŹ ve contracts based in London. The successful individual will be responsible for the delivery of hard services to corporate clients and will therefore be commercially astute, whilst holding the technical bias to manage a team of engineers. The role is suited to a time served engineer who has had experience in contract management as well as handling budgets and teams across multiple sites.

Ref: 227931

Ref: 227911

Offices globally www.cobaltrecruitment.com Please apply for any of the above roles by emailing apply@cobaltrecruitment.com or call 020 7478 2500 to speak with Claudio Rojas or Matt Thomas quoting the relevant reference number.

The power of people

Facilities Manager

natural choice the

in FM recruitment

Metroline is one of London’s major public transport providers with a eet of over 1700 buses operating from a number of sites in the North West greater London area.

We are looking for a Facilities Manager, who will be responsible for ensuring that all premises, services and equipment is maintained and repaired to a safe and acceptable standard and in compliance with all statutory and legal requirements and budgetary restraints.

Your responsibilities will include:

Essential Criteria for application

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You will work 38 hours per week, Monday to Friday with exibility required to work over and above these hours and weekends if deemed necessary. We offer a competitive salary and free (non contractual) travel on London buses and tubes.

For more information on the role please visit www.metroline.co.uk/careers

To ďŹ nd out how you can beneďŹ t from working with Eden Brown, contact us today on 0845 4 505 202. www.edenbrown.com

jobs.fm-world.co.uk

FM New appoints040713.indd 045

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to Samantha Smith, HR Advisor, Metroline, ComfortDelGro House, 329 Edgware Road, Cricklewood, London NW2 6JP or samsmith@metroline.co.uk Applications should include the reasons you are applying for the post, examples of how you meet the skills and any relevant qualiďŹ cations or experience.

FM WORLD | 4 JULY 2013 | 45

27/06/2013 09:50

FINAL WORD NOTES FROM AROUND THE WORLD OF FM

TAKING THE TABLETS

NO 2

DAYS

THE SAME

HOPE SPRINGS It's World FM Day as we go to press and our contribution this year is a 'flash poll' in which we've been inviting readers and other FMs from around the world to select their biggest FM priority as of 27 June 2013 from a list of eight.

There may be plenty of change between the end of our working day today and the end of the working day on the North American continent, but at present, the leading topic is ‘adapting our FM model to changing corporate circumstances’. (Interestingly, ‘understanding how new forms of IT affect my role’ is the least most important topic.)

In second place, perhaps to no one's great surprise, is ‘maintaining our service levels while cutting costs’. Although it was early days for our poll as we went to press, we've already begun wondering about a connection between these top two topics, major organisational change resulting from the need to cut costs. If true, perhaps what this means is that adapting the FM model can be connected in to other operational change, thus allowing for a more expansive conversation about FM's role. (Look, it's World FM Day – allow us this optimistic sign-off just for once.)

An interesting innovation at this year's ThinkFM was the provision of an iPad for every delegate. As well as an electronic equivalent of the event programme, users could see the presentation in the session they were attending replicated on the tablet's screen. You could say that all we actually gained was a heavier programme showing exactly the same thing in their lap as they could see on the big screen. Ah, but there's more! Delegates could also ask questions of the presenter via the hub chair and send messages to other delegates too. Very useful stuff.

Although as workplace tools they're still limited in many aspects, we appear to love tapping away on our tablets. iPads and their equivalents are proving more popular than even Apple thought (and you

know how prone that company can be to hyperbole).

In March, research firm IDC upped its forecast for the number of tablets it believes will be sold worldwide this year to a quite frightening 191 million.

To put that in perspective, that's the equivalent of three tablets each for every man, woman and child in the UK. It's also a figure that could prove something of a tipping point, with 2013 the year that tablet sales overtake those of PCs. IDC also predicts that tablet sales will double again by 2017.

The ramifications for the workplace are profound, not least because of the way in which tablets liberate access to the systems required by FMs, field engineers and indeed workplace users. So what else to do but embrace the future? Swipe away those tears…

CHAIR PLAY Speaking of tablets, it's not escaped the notice of furniture manufacturers that the use of myriad palmheld devices is beginning to supplant the use of PCs. Described as “a new seating experience”, the Steelcase Gesture is in fact a chair designed whose design just happens to accommodate the results of a global workplace user study undertaken by the company (and reported on in our 9 May edition.)

Mark Spragg, VP for Steelcase Northern Europe, said: “We love our technology, but the way it impacts our bodies as we work has largely been ignored.”

The Gesture chair is described as a system of interconnected parts – inspired by the human body – designed to support every movement. The key here is that the chair “encourages motion” rather than forcing the body to hold a single posture. The upper limb

interface allows people to draw closer to a work surface to avoid hunching over a screen and easily move close to the body to support texting postures.

Its core interface 'hugs the lower back when a user reclines to scroll on a tablet screen, while the seat interface adjusts rapidly to help users avoid perching on the edge of their chair'.

It's unlikely this will be the last chair of its kind.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OUT 18 JULY

ROUNDTABLE – CAN FM & PROCUREMENT WORK TOGETHER? /// FM AND THE BANKING SECTOR – EMERGING TRENDS /// TUPE UPDATE /// RENT REVIEWS /// REPORT: SPORTS FACILITIES FORUM /// REPORT: BIFM RISING FMS CAREERS DAY /// ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND BUSINESS ANALYSIS

46 | 4 JULY 2013 | FM WORLD

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www.fm-world.co.uk

27/06/2013 17:06

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FMW.04.07.13.047.indd 38

26/06/2013 12:32

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FMW.04.07.13.048.indd 2

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25/06/2013 11:41