FM World - 26th November

26 November 2009 ÂŁ5

The magazine of the British Institute of Facilities Management www.fm-world.co.uk

How FM can assist emergency services in a CBRN incident

Insource vs outsource: how is the economy altering the balance?

Whistleblowers: defining detrimental treatment when staff speak out

The ins and outs of maintaining an international cricket venue

DEEP EXTRA COVER FMCov NOV 26.indd 1

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myfm

If you have a business problem, an issue with your senior management team, or just need challenging boxes ticked, call or email us. We are a leading team of Ă exible managers with proven expertise in managing fm services, properties, energy, key accounts, health and safety, mobilisation, environmental, business improvement and more. We would love to hear from you so please call us on +44 207 206 7275, alternatively you can email us at Ă exible@myfm.co.uk or visit our website at www.myfm.co.uk.

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FMworld

26 November 2009 Vol 6 Issue 22

CONTENTS

8 18

NEWS

REGULARS

6 Tories will drop school and hospital PFIs

14 Legal

7

28 BIFM news

FEATURES

31 Diary of events

18

Case study: Durham CCC Adam McNestrie reports on how the operations team at Durham’s Riverside Ground maintains its status as an elite international cricket venue

22

Insourcing v outsourcing With cost-cutting still an economic necessity for FMs, the question of whether or not to outsource services has never been more relevant, as Kevin Stanley discovers

26

Electrical safety A slapdash approach to electrical safety can be fatal. Knowing what to test, when and to which standard can be confusing. Tim Beardsmore advises FMs how to comply with regulations

COVER IMAGE: ISTOCK

16 How to...

Public tenants to have say on service standards

8 Speaker’s official home – true costs revealed

32 Marketplace

10 Defence and nuclear sectors have contrasting FM outlooks

34 FM people and jobs 35 Appointments

OPINION 12 Diary of a facilities manager David Walker’s regular look at the daily challenges he faces in his working life 13 Viewpoint

38

38 Felicity Messing

www.fm-world.co.uk ›› Visit the FM World website for the latest industry news, analysis, comment, advice and features

www.fm-world.co.uk/jobs

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›› Visit FM World Jobs – the best place to find FM career opportunities online

19/11/09 16:53:00

Accelerate your FM prospects To speed up your FM prospects ACT FAST and join the BIFM today.

If you want to get on in facilities management, get into the BIFM. As Britain’s leading association for our profession, we’re here to advance your cause. Use our extensive network of training and expert advice to progress your career.

Gain invaluable knowledge and contacts at our industry leading events and specialist networks.

Increase your standing through our recognised professional qualifications and accreditations.

Profit from the latest professional and industry news – online and in print.

Take your opportunity to shape your industry’s future by getting involved in everything from regional committees and local events to national strategy planning. And make it your first priority.

T: 0845 058 1358 E: membership@bifm.org.uk www.bifm.org.uk

BIFM accelerate 1

17/11/09 10:00:09

Invitation to Tender The British Academy, is currently looking to tender its M&E contract.

The British Academy was established by Royal Charter in 1902 and champions and supports the humanities and social sciences.

The Academy is based at Carlton House Terrace which is one of London’s Ànest Georgian buildings and overlooks St James’s Park.

The site covers some 2,500 Sq m over 6 Áoors, and it has been the headquarters for the past 10 years.

We are currently embarking on a major project to improve the facilities and services of the building, which will have a major impact on the events we offer.

Parties interested should apply in the Àrst instance for an Invitation to Tender pack to: Mr. Pablo Ramirez Facilities Coordinator The British academy 10 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5AH Deadline for the applications is Monday the 14th December 2009 4

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13/11/09 16:23:54 www.fm-world.co.uk

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redactive publishing limited © FM World is published on behalf of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about FM business and professional issues and articles do not necessarily reflect the views of BIFM nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any print or electronic format, including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet, or in any other format in whole or in part in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher. While all due care is taken in writing and producing this magazine, neither BIFM nor RPL accept any liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. Printed by Pensord. ISSN 1743 8845

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Comment 2.indd 5

GARETH

PRICE

comment HOISTING THE NAME SALE As a nation of sports spectators, we hold the arenas where the action unfolds in high regard. They have a greater fix on our emotions than most other facilities.

Take for example the national outcry at the news that Lord’s cricket ground was to take on a sponsors name.

Mercifully, the backlash saw MCC subsequently announce that it did not intend to follow such a path.

But the custodians of Lord’s are seeking guarantees about staging two test matches a year for the coming seasons to help meet the costs of their £400 million development plan. Such a request will be noted with interest at Durham County Cricket Club, the focus for our cover feature for this issue (page 18).

The operations and events team at Chester-le-Street had a plan to put this picturesque venue on the international sporting map and meet the ECB’s specifications for joining its list of elite venues. The continuing effort of the operations team was rewarded recently with the news that Durham will host an Ashes test when the Australians return in 2013.

But sports fans in the north east of England, of a blackand-white persuasion at least, are not happy at the news that another venue is to be renamed. Newcastle United’s owners have rather clumsily rebranded the club’s iconic ground as “the sportsdirect.com @ St James’ Park Stadium”. It’s not intended to be permanent, more a move to attract a new taker – a step shy of calling the place “Your-Ad-Here Park”.

Regardless of the merits of a new name, fans are incorrigibly nostalgic so it’s no surprise that the move has been roundly condemned. Meanwhile, the club’s owners will point to the need for ongoing investment. Poignancy will give way to pragmatism. After all, the naming of Lord’s in 1787 was effectively a sponsorship deal. Thomas Lord was a wealthy wine merchant, approached by cricket patrons of the day to build a ground in London.

Lord agreed on condition that he would be free to name the place after himself.

“Club owners point to the need for investment.

Poignancy will give way to pragmatism.”

FMworld • 26 November 2009

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FMnews FIRST WITH THE FACTS IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

PFI

Tories will drop school and hospital PFIs Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has pledged that a Conservative government would abolish Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as a procurement model for schools and hospitals.

Under PFI an agreement is reached between a public sector organisation and a private consortium to deliver a capital project. In exchange for bearing the project’s design, construction and operating costs, the private partners get yearly payments during the agreement – usually 25 or 30 years.

But PFI has come in for heavy criticism since the government was forced into a £2bn support package earlier this year when the credit crunch made it hard for joint ventures to secure debt finance.

The Conservatives hope that their new procurement model would address the public sector’s inability to properly manage

complex PFI projects. They also want to avoid the inflexibility of long-term contracts and the lack of competition once a deal has reached its financial close.

The government’s PFI model is “discredited” and “flawed”, said Osborne.

“We need a new system that doesn’t pretend that risks have been transferred to the private sector when they can’t be. The current system where ‘heads the contractor wins, tails the taxpayer loses’ will end.”

Osborne has asked shadow chief secretary to the treasury Philip Hammond to find new models for infrastructure investment.

According to the Tories, 640 PFI contracts have been signed by the government, with the total value of future payments for existing projects estimated at £206bn.

‘Shamed’ rail stations get cash help The government is to kick in £50m towards rail station improvements after an awaited report singled out 10 most in need of investment.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the fund, in addition to Network Rail’s money, will be supplemented by commercial and third party contributions and commitments by train operating companies.

The Station Champions report was written

by Sir Peter Hall and Chris Green. Hall is professor of planning at University College London and president of the Town and Country Planning Association. Green is a non-executive director of Network Rail and a former chief executive of Virgin Trains.

A report in The Times newspaper said “operators promise upgrade in light of a train station ‘shame’ list” it had compiled from its own visits. Manchester Victoria was the worst station needing improvement, just ahead of south London’s Clapham junction.

The Times report noted that Virgin Trains managed five of the 10 worst stations. But Virgin Trains plans to spend £100m on upgrades, said founder Sir Richard Branson.

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The Times’ “cross-country rail tour” found “stinking toilets, terrible food, peeling paint and too few parking spaces”.

The article noted that “Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Barking, Preston, Wigan North Western, Luton, Liverpool Central and Stockport were all awarded negative scores by the inspectors”.

The DfT news follows Network Rail’s earlier announcement of a £3.25bn station refurbishment scheme that will see everything from platform lengths to washroom facilities scrutinised for upgrades.

More than 2,000 stations across the country will be improved in the fiveyear plan. Improvements include new passenger information systems, lifts and stairways, toilets, waiting rooms and shelters and more CCTV. Current government initiatives to improve stations include Access for All, in which £370m will be spent on better access for disabled people, and the £150m National Stations Improvement Plan to upgrade around 150 stations.

Rabbits caught in the headlines FMs at a Canadian university are hopping mad about the local community abandoning unwanted pet bunnies on campus.

The University of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, covers 400 acres with playing fields, wide-open spaces and lawns. Rabbits are everywhere – munching on grassed areas, hopping along paths, running around trees and looking for student handouts.

So prolific are the rabbits that they have become a regular feature on YouTube.

But a pilot project, supported by the Society for the Preventions of Cruelty to Animals, is being set up to catch some of them – thought to number more than 1,000 former pets – sterilise them and find them adoptive homes off campus.

Richard Piskor, director of health and safety, told FM World that lethal means will be a last resort.

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 16:39:44

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EDWARD KAYE

Be part of the FM World Buyers’ Guide You have just a few more days to sign up to the 2010 FM World Buyers’ Guide to FM Services.

This is your opportunity to promote your company for free in the annual list of companies and suppliers in the UK FM marketplace.

The guide will include a list of useful organisations, diary of FM events and a glossary of FM terms, together with information about the BIFM and its partners.

It will be distributed free to all BIFM members with the 14 January 2009 issue of FM World, further copies will be available at £9.99 each.

Entries will also appear in the searchable online version.

Visit www.fm-world.co.uk/ buyers-guide to find out more

SOCIAL HOUSING

Public tenants to have say in service standards Social housing tenants will have the right to agree target response times for maintenance work with their landlords.

Under new rules, said housing minister John Healey, public tenants will receive a range of new rights to be overseen by beefed-up regulator, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).

From 1 April all 8m tenants in public housing will have the right to clear standards of service from their landlord. This will include national standards laid down by the TSA, as well as locally agreed priorities and targets.

Examples include target response times for maintenance work, the right to choose a convenient time to have work done and tenant input into the process of deciding priorities for neighbourhood improvements.

If agreed standards are not met the TSA will have the power to issue enforcement www.fm-world.co.uk

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notices and, as a last resort, to transfer the management of properties to another service provider. Other enforcement powers include fining housing associations and forcing them to pay compensation to tenants.

Healey said standards in public housing have been driven up in the past 12 years.

“Thanks to the Decent Homes Programme and over £33bn of investment many tenants’ homes have been made decent and I want these homes to remain that way,” he said.

The TSA is already piloting this local approach in a number of areas, it said.

Hanover Housing Association is reviewing its repairs process with tenants, so that call-out times, priorities and preferred contractors can be agreed on.

INTERIORS NEWS Officer interior design and refurbishment business Morgan Lovell has completed a fit out project for communications retailer TalkTalk Group. The 83,000 sq ft office space (pictured) is located in west London, covers six floors and accommodates more than 950 employees.

A web-based system that rates the environmental impact of an office fit out has been launched by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The free “Ska Rating” assessment scheme benchmarks fit outs against 99 efficiency measures. A fit out is then awarded a gold, silver or bronze ranking.

Clarement Group Interiors has delivered a fit out project for low carbon research and training company Energus.

The new development (pictured) is located at Lillyhall Business Park in Workington, West Cumbria.

Sisk has won a contract from Warwickshire Police to renovate and refurbish Rugby’s police station. The £3.5m contract will see the 1960s-style office transformed into a modern open plan workspace. Work will be carried out in four stages over a 29-week period, with a target completion date of March 2010.

FMworld • 26 November 2009 7 FMworld • 2 June 2006

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FMnews FIRST WITH THE FACTS IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT MAINTENANCE

Mars solar panels gets chocolate factory cooking Food manufacturer Mars in New Jersey has switched on 18 acres of solar panels, supplying 20 per cent of its plant’s peak energy needs.

The “solar garden” in Hackettstown is the largest in the state of New Jersey and part of a much wider renovation of the site and building. It has more than 28,000 ground-mounted solar panels adjacent to the firm’s North America headquarters where more than 1,200 people work.

The garden will provide 2MW of power at peak hours and should reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1,000Mt, equivalent to taking 190 vehicles off the road each year, Mars said.

PSEG Solar Source owns the system on Mars Chocolate North America’s property and Mars has contracted for the entire output of the system. Solar energy firm Juwi Solar engineered, procured and built the garden and is providing initial operation and maintenance services. The thin-film panels were provided by First Solar.

New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan calls for 20 per cent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.

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The new speaker of the House of Commons spent more than twice the amount originally reported on refurbishing his official residence, new figures show.

In August it was reported that John Bercow, MP had asked for improvements to be made to his grace-and-favour home at a cost of £20,659.

An official document revealed that the Bercows had spent £7,524.30 of public money on a new sofa and window seat cushions for the drawing room. Other costs included £1,087 to convert a study into a children’s playroom and £3,600 to fit window locks.

However, figures released under a freedom of information request show the true cost was almost £45,000.

A string of emails between the speaker’s wife Sally Bercow and the Parliamentary Estates Directorate show that as well as the £20,659 spent on “project works”, an

additional £24,922 of requested redecorating work was classified as “routine maintenance”.

Michael Martin, who resigned as speaker over his handling of the expenses scandal, had already spent more than £700,000 on refurbishments to the residence and £992,000 on the garden and enhanced security.

GETTY

PROJECT OF THE FORTNIGHT

Speaker’s official home – true costs revealed

FM 100 SURVEY

Poll: outsourcers must ‘manage expectations’ Despite predictions of increased outsourcing next year, only a quarter of respondents to our latest poll plan to go down that route.

The majority – 60 per cent – said they expect no change at all in the amount of FM work that will be outsourced in 2010.

For some, more outsourcing will arise simply because more businesses will be doing internal audits to see where jobs, departments and divisions add real value.

Respondents who will outsource stress that it will be tough managing expectations: “Clients … have very high expectations on savings which may not all be realistic or will compromise on quality of service delivered, so the model may prove unsustainable.”

A word of caution was given by one FM regarding tender submissions: “Many bidders are stripping their bids back to the bone to win work, some with comprehensive prices, some with maximum guaranteed

prices. But they return to the client for additional money to cover ‘extras’ and items not covered by the scope of the contract moving it to capital spend to mask the spend on the revenue account.”

Weasked asked100 100FMs… FMs… FM We 100

Are you or any of your clients going to outsource more or fewer services in the coming year?

NO CHANGE AT ALL 60%

MORE SERVICES 25 %

FEWER SERVICES 15 %

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 16:27:13

BRIEFS BBC bonus figures published The head of corporate real estate at the BBC received almost £40,000 in bonuses last year. Chris Kane, who oversees 2,200 outsourced staff, banked £38,849 on top of his £206,992 salary for year ending August 2009. Kane also claimed £831.74 of expenses via the BBC’s central bookings system in the first quarter of 2009/10.

The figures were released by the BBC as part of a corporate transparency exercise following widespread criticism of the sums paid to the organisation’s top talent.

Salary, bonus and expense figures were released for more than 100 top earners at the BBC right up to director-general Mark Thompson, who took home £834,000 in total.

2010 capital rents up 15 per cent Prime London rents could rise by between 10 and 15 per cent next year as the shortage of new developments begins to choke off supply, says a Drivers Jonas forecast.

The amount of new floorspace on the market in 2011/12 will be lower than at any time during the past 30 years. At the peak of the property boom, 50 projects with around 6.8m sq ft came onto the market. Last year only 12 projects were started – for a total floorspace of 1.5m sq ft.

Although prime rents are forecast to grow next year, older and lower specification floorspace is still expected to perform badly in the current low-growth economic conditions.

Rail staff prefer coaches Network Rail is sending 200 staff to a conference by coach because rail is too expensive. A spokesperson for the government-owned firm said it uses rail for most business travel and “makes no apologies for seeking best value for money for the British people”.

Olympics ‘a challenge’ The 2012 Olympics pose the UK’s “greatest security challenge” since World War II, Olympics minister Lord West said. Security planning is more advanced at this stage than with any previous host city and Britain is “in good shape”. The challenge is in handling the 29,000 athletes, coaches and officials, 20,000 press and 9m supporters.

Airport runs biofuel bus East Midlands Airport is running a passenger shuttle bus on bio-methane fuel for

six months. The German-made Cobus 3000 is the first airport vehicle for Gasrec, which produced bio-methane, mostly sourced from rubbish tips.

Green premium rejected Two-thirds of occupiers would not pay a rent premium for a green building, noted a survey from CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle. But 74 per cent would pay to retrofit owned space with sustainability features. Around 60 per cent said that they were trying to occupy less floorspace, up from 54 per cent last year.

New ideas for old builds FMs of historic buildings need more ways to share knowledge and best practice, said Martin Rance, who has responsibility for the Royal Courts of Justice’s million square-foot property on the Strand in London. The BIFM should consider setting up a Sig on the subject, he noted.

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FMworld • 26 November 2009

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FMBUSINESS ANALYSIS

Defence and nuclear sectors present contrasting outlooks for FM industry Graeme Davies Next year is likely to herald the most austere public spending review for almost 30 years as the party in power makes swingeing cuts to get public finances back on track. The perilous state of the government’s funds is well known. What is less clear, however, is where the deepest cuts are going to come.

In some areas there may actually be opportunities for private sector players – FM firms included – to bolster their order books and offset losses in other sectors.

One high-profile area of expenditure coming under scrutiny is defence, where a number of flagship, and extremely expensive, programmes are being publicly questioned after many years of being viewed as effectively untouchable. Indeed, defence is one area into which FM providers have made successful inroads in recent years as the Ministry of Defence has grappled with its bulging costs.

VT Group is a case in point. It recently sold off the last vestiges of its marine heritage (see story opposite page) to pursue a new future as a dedicated FM provider, with a defence slant.

Senior management is building the group’s services around a core £6bn contract to provide the military’s entire flight training requirements. VT is confident it is making the right move.

However, VT might be wise to use its cash pile to diversify into other sectors because of the threat to defence spending posed by the fiscal crisis. The next strategic defence review threatens to be particularly bloody with political parties vying to see who can pledge to cut most.

The party with nothing to lose, the Liberal Democrats, has been most radical. It wants to save £110bn over 25 years by scrapping some major military projects. These include development of the multination, single-seat, twin-engine fighter plane Eurofighter, the A400m air transport plane and the aging maritime patrol aircraft Nimrod, which continually undergoes upgrades. Also in the firing line could be the defence training review contract and whatever is chosen to replace Trident. The Tories and Labour have been less specific and are likely to be less severe – as that 300,000 jobs depend on defence.

Meanwhile, there will be opportunities in other sectors of which nimble private sector operators could take advantage. The nuclear industry is a prime example. Decommissioning costs are expected to top £2bn a year for many years as old reactors are taken out of service. Also, tens of billions are required to build up to 12 nuclear facilities over the next decade.

Many FM providers are already winning decommissioning contracts. The recent appointment of ex-BP man Tony Fountain as chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority should free up a series of contracts now on hold pending his appointment. A case in point is the recent series of contract wins by Redhall Group, a specialist engineering company whose fortunes have been affected by hold-ups at the authority. Redhall picked up around £10m worth of work at Sellafield and Aldermaston.

With the bottleneck easing, the nuclear opportunity could prove to be a similar salve for other companies worried about budget cuts elsewhere.

“Flagship programmes are being questioned after many years of effectively being untouchable.”

Graeme Davies writes for Investors Chronicle

good. In an interim management statement on the period since 1 July, Kier said its maintenance and FM businesses were both performing well, with opportunities to pick up new business now available across both sectors. Since July the group’s FM business has won £23m of new work.

BRIEFS Revenues at global FM provider Sodexo rose by 7.9 per cent for year-end 31 August. This includes organic growth of 2.5 per cent. Operating profit was up 8.1 per cent to €746 million and net income up by 4.5 per cent after acquisitions, financing and the proposed dividend payout. CEO Michel Landel said that 2010 revenues will be similar, with operating property between €750m and €770m, excluding currency fluctuations.

Kier Group has reported that the commercial outlook for its maintenance and FM divisions is

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Balfour Beatty’s good interim performance has been buoyed by a strong order book from its UK FM division, a trading statement said. In the period between 28 June and 10 November the group continued to trade in line with expectations.

Balfour Beatty reported that average net cash was in excess of £260m. The FTSE-100 company also completed the acquisition of Parsons Brinckerhoff, the statement said.

Security group G4S predicts a strong financial yearend based on a 12 per cent rise in operating profits in the first nine months of 2009. Revenues were up

9 per cent, at constant exchange rates, in the period to the end of September, with margins improving by 0.2 per cent.

Lend Lease is retendering the joint facilities management contract at two of its major shopping centres. Bluewater in Kent, the largest in Europe, and Touchwood in Solihull are nearing the end of their existing FM deal with Vita Lend Lease. The current contract expires on 30 June 2010 with the tender process expected to reach completion in April. Lend Lease has appointed Incentive FM to manage the tender process.

Swiss Post Solutions has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the billing services division of Microgen plc. Microgen provides document processing services for invoices, statements, copy invoices and chaser letters. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of November.

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 17:04:27

NEW BUSINESS WINS Interserve pays down debt Demand for FM remains strong in the public and utilities sectors with a number of wins in public sector outsourcing.

The group has continued to develop its portfolio of PFI investments since the end of June, reaching financial close on the Sandwell Building Schools for the Future project. This deal takes Interserve’s PFI portfolio to 34 contracts, with 22 operational.

REPORT DIGITAL

Interserve has reported a strong cash position compared to 30 June when net debt stood at £85.1m.

“This reflects continued focus on reducing capital expenditure, primarily within the equipment services business, and an improved working capital position, including a favourable contribution from advance payments.”

The services, maintenance and building group, said it has “committed facilities in place of £250m expiring in or after 2011 [and] the group retains a resilient balance sheet”.

Trading is in line with the board’s expectations, with a particular strength in the group’s Middle East construction and equipment services businesses, combined with ongoing stability in the public and utilities sectors in the UK.

Emprise Services has been awarded the contract to clean the entire Waitrose portfolio of 222 shops, as well as its warehouses and headquarters.

More than 1,300 Emprise staff will work across the contract.

A range of cleaning services will be provided including daily, early morning and periodical cleaning. Windowcleaning and janitorial services are also tied up in the package.

Emprise staff will take responsibility for kitchen deep cleans and jet washing as well.

Profits soar for VT Group Support services provider VT Group announced a 53 per cent rise in pretax profit for the first half year, noting more acquisitions could be coming.

Pre-tax profit was £11.8m, against £10.1m for the same period in 2008. Group turnover rose 17 per cent to £601.1m, from £513.7m. A reorganisation programme is on track to deliver expected cost savings of £7m net annually, noted the half-year trading statement for the six months ended 30 September.

The group is benefitting from the £300m sale last summer of its 45 per cent shareholding in joint venture BVT Fleet, the UK warship builder, to partner BAE Systems.

VT Group employs more than 12,000 people and turned over £1.1bn in the last full year.

VT Group chief executive Paul Lester said a strong first half performance and a support services focus are causes to celebrate in the business’s 150th anniversary next year.

Serco predicts revenue growth In an interim trading statement for the period since the end of June, Serco said revenue would grow by more than 10 per cent to hit £5bn in 2009. Operating margins were forecast to grow by 0.3 per cent to 5.6 per cent. In the second half of 2009, Serco secured £1bn of contracts taking the year-to-date total to £4.5bn.

The Environment Agency has renewed a security contract with Mitie for the protection of London’s main flood defence system. The two-year renewal contract includes on-site patrols, 24-hour monitoring of security cameras and access control to the site. All staff at the Thames Barrier must be fully trained to respond in the event of an alarm activation and need to know how to deal with safety and maintenance problems as well as trespassers.

Support services business Resource has been awarded two security contracts in the North of England worth in excess of £1m. Darlington Memorial Hospital has offered Resource a threeyear extension to its existing security and access control contract. The support services company has also been awarded a three-year contract extension by Woolshops, a 40-unit shopping centre in Halifax. Resource has been responsible for security at Woolshops since January.

Interserve has been awarded a place on the new £4bn Partnerships for Schools National Contractors’ Framework, covering the design and build of academies and other schools in England.

Interserve has been selected for the North and Midlands

regions as well as London and the South.

Charlton House has won a catering contract with the University of Oxford worth in excess of half a million pounds. The caterer will provide a full restaurant service for the 400 people based at the Wellington Square site of Oxfordshire University Administration Services. The catering contract is set to run for three years, generating annual turnover of £180,000. Prior to the mobilisation of the contract Charlton House undertook a full refurbishment of the restaurant with the aim of making it competitive with the high street.

Inviron has secured the contract to maintain the mechanical and electrical systems at the Live Theatre on Newcastle’s quayside. The Birmingham-based service provider will be responsible for the planned preventative and reactive maintenance of the water treatment works, fire alarms, building management system and Hvac units at the venue.

Property repair and maintenance specialist Rok has been appointed preferred bidder as part of a consortium for an Oldham housing project worth £130m. The contract was awarded by Oldham Council for work on the Gateways, a major regeneration project. Rok is part of the Inspiral Consortium that is under contract to carry out construction work, area management and maintenance. Rok will build 430 social and private homes, refurbish 324 existing council homes and provide long-term repair and maintenance work for all social housing. The agreement is part of a 25-year PFI deal.

1 TQY\i U]QY\ Re\\UdY^ _V 6= ^Ugc 7_ d_ ggg V] g_b\T S_ e[ d_ ceRcSbYRU www.fm-world.co.uk

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FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 17:04:53

DIARYCOLUMN

DAVID WALKER

Drawing up and implementing a planned maintenance routine, rather than just reacting to repair requests or putting them off until another time, can save you time and money

Be proactive, not reactive Maintenance forms a large part of my daily routine, whether planned or reactive, and it’s more often the latter if I’m honest.

I guess many of us spend large parts of our time responding to blocked toilets, broken windows or faulty lights, to name just a few of our routine tasks.

The nature of the FM job means we will always be dealing with such requests as things break or come to the end of their working life.

By adopting a planned maintenance regime in preference to a reactive one we may, however, be able to reduce the number of these regular repair requests.

It is worth remembering that our buildings are our assets and by planning maintenance and not putting off tasks until another day we could avoid costly repairs while simultaneously retaining and maximising business value to the shareholder.

Lack of maintenance causes downtime, lost production and, in most cases, frustrated staff, which in turn leads to morale problems.

We also have a host of legislative requirements we need to follow – the Health and Safety at Work Act, Workplace Regulations and the Fire Precautions Act, to name but a few.

Other aspects of a planned maintenance routine could cover accident prevention and avoidance of compensation claims as well as criminal and civil court case action.

There are advantages and disadvantages for both reactive and planned approaches – you need to decide what is best for you.

I was clearing out my inbox in readiness for my holiday and was amazed at the amount of emails I receive that help me

“Adopting a planned maintenance regime instead of a reactive one may help us to reduce the number of routine repairs.”

keep up to date with developments in our profession. You may consider this influx of information to be a nuisance sometimes, but many of these emails do serve a valuable purpose.

With the speed of change in the industry, as well as legislation changing almost constantly, it is important for FMs to keep up to date with any new developments. This in turn enables us to maintain our place in the market and also to meet client demands and expectations.

There are lots of ways to keep on top of the changes, such as reading FM press and newsletters, researching on the internet and attending FM events and networking groups.

On a personal note, the information can also be used for personal motivation and to aid career learning. It is also a valuable tool if you are studying for BIFM examinations.

Look out for tales from the faraway places in the next column.

David Walker is facilities project manager at Northumbrian Water

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Increasing desk and room occupancy will drive down real estate costs and help reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint.

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19/11/09 08:51:47

Email us at letters@fmworld.co.uk Or write to us at FM World, 17 Britton Street, London EC1A 5TM follow us at twitter.com/FM_World

VIEWPOINT

Facilities managers must also be safety managers – taking a lead in ensuring that corners are not cut, says H&S training consultant Jamie Cliffe

LETTERS & EMAILS Banks bottle up property assets

recent report in FM World Daily ebulletin on the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) survey, which shows that in only five EU countries does the workforce rank the importance of health and safety at work lower than in the UK. I agree wholeheartedly with the director of EU-OSHA’s comment that the current financial crisis may lead organisations to ignore or minimise the importance of workplace safety and health.

I would even go so far as to say that the economic downturn could set the perception, and hence delivery, of health and safety back by as much as 10 years. I would urge FMs to ensure this does not happen. With the responsibilities of the new “corporate killing” legislation and the clear steer that any inadequacies in the procurement process will see the failure of others landing back in your lap, you need now, more than ever, to be 100 per cent behind health and safety.

From the outset it is vital that procurement is more in tune with health and safety, which is often not the case at the moment. When new contracts are put out to tender it’s easy, especially in the current climate, to simply choose the cheapest option. A procurement manager who does not fully understand what is required for a job to be completed safely will not have the knowledge (or incentive) to scratch beneath the surface of either a tender invitation’s criteria or the contractors’ bids.

A better understanding of a contract, and the contractors’ attitudes towards the inclusion of sufficient health and safety provision in their response to an ITT, is the way forward.

I would like to see more procurement managers taking measures to improve their understanding of what safety procedures need to be in place and to raise their competency on their company’s legal requirements. This can

ALAMY

I was interested to read the

be easily achieved by working more closely with the organisation’s health and safety managers.

They should also consider taking a course such as the Iosh Managing Safely certificate, which is aimed at professionals outside the health and safety field.

There then needs to be a robust system in place for monitoring the contracts and the supply chain, including contractor control. This would encompass accreditations, auditing and ensuring sufficient competency levels, as well as a strategy for checking that the safety culture is continuously improved throughout the supply chain.

In times of financial constraints, there will inevitably be a tendency for contractors to look for ways to cut costs and increase profitability.

With all of the incumbent liability that “corner cutting” now presents for the client, it is even more crucial that FMs remain vigilant of the ongoing maintenance of high safety standards.

Future statistics will uphold this.

Jamie Cliffe is managing director of health and safety training and consultancy services provider SMTS

“It’s vital that procurement is more in tune with health and safety. When new contracts are put out to tender it’s easy to choose the cheapest option.” www.fm-world.co.uk

viewpoint 2 AC.indd 13

While confidence in the commercial property market is continuing to rise, this is not being matched by the availability of freehold assets that are available for investors to buy. This disparity between sentiment and availability is being further compounded by a steep increase in the amount of equity that is flooding into the UK commercial property market – some £320 million in the second quarter of 2009 compared with £185 million in the first quarter, according to figures from the Association of Real Estate Funds.

The role of the banks in releasing property and liquidity is therefore critical if the market is to capitalise on the improving confidence and positivity.

Indeed, the latest data from BDO’s own Commercial Real Estate Review – which provides analysis and insight on movements in the commercial property industry – shows that, while both property returns and activity levels hit highs not seen for at least 18 months, the number of transactions remains static.

The risk is that moribund bank lending will combine with banks holding back on releasing their property inventory, resulting in an artificial prolonging of the recession for the sector. This is yet further compounded by the fact that many banks are failing to put properties into administration, or to properly market those that are, thereby creating scarcity in the market.

London is proving to be the battleground for this struggle, but the implications could impact well beyond the city’s borders if banks don’t act soon to ease the bottleneck. I, for one, will be the first to welcome an improvement in lending and asset availability.

Solly Benaim Head of real estate and construction, BDO

CORRECTION

Dave Wilson, Agents4FM The last issue of FM World (12 November 2009) included a piece on volunteering written by Dave Wilson.

At the end of the article the editorial team added a reference to Mr Wilson’s job title which we later discovered to be outdated. FM World is happy to confirm that Dave Wilson is director of the consultancy Agents4FM. We apologise for any confusion or inconvenience that might have been caused.

FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 15:53:48

LEGALUPDATE

TIM WOODWARD

Staff who raise concerns about their workplace are legally protected from detrimental treatment – as long as they claim in time. But when does the detrimental act begin?

For whom the whistle blows A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has looked at the time limits for bringing a claim for detrimental treatment under whistleblowing legislation in the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996.

A key issue is when the time limit for bringing a claim begins, if the detriment suffered occurs some time after the protected disclosure is made.

Legal shield The ERA protects workers who ‘blow the whistle’ on their employers. Employees cannot be subjected to a detriment by: … any act, or any deliberate failure to act … done on the ground that the worker has made a protected disclosure.

A ‘protected disclosure’ is a ‘whistleblow’ that qualifies for the legal ‘shield’. If a worker believes that he or she has been subjected to such a detriment, they have three months to lodge a claim at the Employment Tribunal (ET).

The legislation says that the time to bring a claim runs from the date “of the act or failure to act to which the complaint relates, or, where that act or failure is part of a series of similar acts or failures, the last of them”.

Secure employment?

In Unilever UK Plc v Hickinson and Sodexo Ltd, Mr Hickinson was employed by Sodexo to provide security at Unilever’s site. He had originally been employed by Unilever from 1992, but his employment transferred to Sodexo a few years later.

On 4 July 2008 Mr Hickinson told Unilever that he had been making covert recordings of some workers at the Unilever site. On the same day Unilever sent an email to Sodexo requiring that Mr Hickinson be removed from the site. This was to have immediate effect.

Over the following few weeks, Sodexo considered placing him at another site but this did not work out. On 2 August 2008 Mr Hickinson was dismissed.

He appealed against the dismissal on 29 September 2008 and brought ET proceedings on 6 October 2008.

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“This reaffirms the importance of identifying the detrimental treatment and not being distracted by the date of dismissal.”

Mr Hickinson argued that he was a worker engaged by Unilever and that he had been subjected to a detriment by the firm. This is relevant because workers as well as employees are given protection under the whistleblowing law in relation to detrimental treatment. He further argued that the claim was in time because there had been a continuing act or series of acts which culminated in his dismissal on 2 August In its defence Unilever argued that the claim had been presented out of time because the detrimental act (ie, his removal from the site) occurred on 4 July 2008, more than three months before he submitted his claim.

Protecting disclosures The Employment Rights Act 1996 shields ‘whistleblowing’ staff against detriment treatment from employers • Workers as well as staff are covered • If detrimental treatment follows such a protected disclosure employees are given three months to lodge a claim with the Employment Tribunal • The time limit for a claim must run from the date of the act, or failure to act (or the last in a series of acts) • Detrimental treatment is more relevant than date of dismissal in cases when poor treatment of the employee is the cause of the claim

At a Pre Hearing Review held to determine, among other things, if the claim was in time, the ET had found that Mr Hickinson had brought his claim in time as, while there was no continuing act, it was necessary to “take the act and its consequences as a whole” into consideration when determining when the time limit began.

This decision was overturned on appeal to the EAT, wich found that, as the ET had made a finding that there was no continuing act, the claim could not have been brought in time.

The EAT agreed that the detriment complained of was inflicted on 4 July, when Unilever emailed Sodexo requiring that Mr Hickinson was removed from site. Mr Hickinson’s subsequent dismissal by Sodexo did not form part of the detrimental act.

Dismissal would form the basis of a different type of claim under the whistleblowing framework – and one that could not be pursued by anyone other than an employee.

Heart of the matter The EAT went on to consider whether there was a continuing act of detriment after 4 July. The EAT noted that once the ET had come to the conclusion that there was no continuing detriment, it should not have taken into account the consequences of the one detrimental act that had occurred. The claim was dismissed.

This case reaffirms the importance of identifying the detrimental treatment at the heart of the case and not being distracted by the date of dismissal.

The dismissal is not relevant to a claim like this one where treating someone badly is the cause. The time limit for bringing the claim runs from the date of the act, or failure to act (or the last in the series of acts). A continuing act is very different from lumping together the consequence of an act and the act together as the act of detriment.

Tim Woodward is a partner at Bevan Brittan LLP www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:06:45

LEGAL NEWS

Court report London Development Agency v Nidai and London Development Agency v Muir & Serenli [2009] EWHC 1730 (Ch) This report is of two separate cases which were heard together. Mr Nidai and Mr Muir were occupiers of two adjacent commercial premises under what they had understood to be leases from a company called Bentley Limited (or its predecessor).

The leases were for 20 years’ duration, of which approximately 10 had expired, however both occupiers were defending possession proceedings brought against them by the London Development Agency (LDA).

They claimed possession on the basis that Bentley itself did not have a lease, merely a licence, and therefore was not able to grant leases to the occupational tenants in such a way as to bind the LDA when it acquired the freehold.

The facts were quite complicated in that the two shops were built on a raft of reinforced joists over a river with the front of the shops being attached to a bridge over the river. The rear of the shops rested on a joist which was again supported by the retaining walls of the river on either side but was otherwise unsupported. A road ran over the bridge, so despite their unusual construction, in effect the shops were just part of a parade of shops fronting the road.

The immediate landlord, Bentley, had entered into three agreements to allow it to

attach to the bridge, attach to the banks of the river and suspend over the river. The question was whether any of these three agreements amounted to leases rather than licences. If they did then the occupational tenants had been granted leases properly and the LDA was bound to keep them as tenants for another 10 years. If they didn’t then the LDA was not obliged to allow them to remain in occupation after the date of their purchase of the freehold.

A number of different legal arguments were put forward as to why these agreements, or some of them, should be construed as leases. Ultimately, though, none of them were successful.

Accordingly an order for possession and mesne profits (equivalent to rent) was made against Mr Nidai and Mr Muir in favour of the LDA (who wanted the site for a development and regeneration project).

There was no suggestion in the judgment that the occupational tenants had done anything wrong during the course of their occupation of the premises. It appears that they had not breached any of their lease covenants and had always paid their rent on time – or at least there was no suggestion to the contrary.

The moral of this case is to make very sure that the title is properly investigated when a lease is taken out because there are established principles of land law that (1) a licence doesn’t create an estate in land and therefore cannot bind a successor in title; and further, (2) it is not possible to grant a higher interest out of a lesser interest.

To put it another way, if your landlord has only got a licence, he can only give you a licence and not a lease.

“ The moral of this case is to make very sure that the title is properly investigated when a lease is taken out.”

Beverley Vara is a partner and head of real estate litigation at solicitors Allen & Overy LLP

Total pleads guilty over blast Energy giant Total has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the 2005 explosions at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead that injured over 40 people. Total UK was one of five companies prosecuted following an investigation. At the Old Bailey earlier this month, Total entered a guilty plea to three separate charges. In a statement the firm said: “Total UK regrets the unfortunate events at Buncefield in December 2005 and would like to apologise to all those affected by the incident”.

Football guards face charge Two security guards at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium have appeared in court charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a visiting fan during September’s Manchester derby. Mark Roberts of Oldham and Paul Stringer of Runcorn are alleged to have pushed Manchester City fan Peter Sweeney down a flight of stairs. The incident left Sweeney with two broken legs.

SIA warns NI ahead of deadline The Security Industry Authority has visited firms in Northern Ireland to warn them that they face severe penalties if they deploy unlicensed staff after the new licensing enforcement rules come into force on 1 December. Staff at the high-risk companies were asked to read and sign a compliance notice during the SIA visits. This was to acknowledge that they understood their duties and the consequences of non-compliance.

Caterers facing deportation Three catering workers have been arrested during a UK Border Agency operation at a company near Slough.

Acting on a intelligence, Border Agency officers raided the premises of Chef in a Box on the Poyle Industrial Estate in Colnbrook on 10 November.

Three Indian nationals were taken into custody on immigration offences.

Two were identified as failed asylum seekers and the third was found to be in breach of his visa. All three now face deportation.

NEED SOME GOOD ADVICE? The Good Practice Guide to Procuring and running catering contracts The BIFM publishes a series of good practice guides which are free of charge to all members.

For a full list of titles visit www.bifm.co.uk Non-members: call 020 7880 6226 to order your copy

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19/11/09 09:06:56

HOW TO REDUCE THE EFFECT OF A CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL OR NUCLEAR (CBRN) INCIDENT

TONY

DEACON WITH PETER SIMPSON

Although responsibility to act after a CBRN incident lies with the emergency services, FM, security and business continuity management teams can do a lot to lessen its effect

Counter terrorism Back in March, the government published its revised Counter-Terrorist Strategy (Contest II), which outlined the renewed threat of attack by terrorists with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Although the responsibility for the initial response to an incident and decontamination lies with the emergency services, much can be done by FM, security and business continuity management (BCM) teams to reduce the effect of such an incident. There are a number of steps your organisation should be taking to ensure it has executed its duty of care to staff. These require co-operation between FM, security and BCM functions to ensure an integrated approach.

Risk assessment

1

First you need to ensure your BCM and crisis plans include a risk assessment of an accidental CBRN release or a deliberate terrorist act, covering: • the threat of an incident occurring in your building or area • the hazards and severity of an attack (covering potential agents) • the impact of an incident • the effects of protective measures.

For any preventative measures it is important to assess the level of protection proportionate to the risk, cost of implementation and benefits.

2

CBRN scenarios

Planning for a CBRN scenario should include both deliberate and accidental incidents, because the effects are the same.

The nature of the hazard depends on the incident (whether C, B, R or N) and the location of the release. Some agents have rapid and obvious effects on people, while others may have long-term health effects or only cause symptoms following prolonged exposure. Your organisation’s vulnerability will depend on your building’s ability to resist particular hazards; contingency planning can have a big impact on its ability to mitigate specific incidents.

3

Staff involvement

All staff should be aware of the organisation’s crisis management and BCM plans for a CBRN incident and these 16 FMworld • 26 November 2009

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should be exercised regularly. Familiarity with the nature of the hazard, risk and unique response should be developed across FM, security and BCM teams and disseminated to team heads.

4

Exterior release

A building’s exterior may provide an effective primary barrier against a range of contaminants. However, a pre-planned lockdown procedure to prevent interior contamination is essential and needs to include all external doors, windows and service areas, providing a means of controlling air infiltration at primary and secondary entrances. The design and operation of buildings and Hvac services can be used in response to a CBRN event in two ways: • passive protection where the operation of the building systems provide protection • active response where Hvac systems are operated to respond to either internal or external releases.

Hvac inlets at high levels give some protection, but may be subject to diluted contamination and if your building has low-level inlets or exhausts then you will need specialist advice.

Key actions • Conduct a risk assessment, involving the security and BCM teams • Understand the vulnerabilities • Ensure staff are briefed and plans practised • Understand what measures can be instigated to mitigate the impact of an internal or external release • Understand the roles of the emergency services • Collaborate with tenants and building owners to develop a seamless approach to planning • Understand who has responsibility for decontamination and what insurance cover is available • Seek specialist advice www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/response/ recovery_guidance/environmental_issues/pollution_ decontamination.aspx

Interior release

5

Reception areas and post rooms are most vulnerable to interior releases and planning should cover their post-attack isolation. Security measures covering access control should be included in the security plan to reduce vulnerability to interior releases. The building envelope should be protected ensuring Hvac inlets are resistant to the introduction of an agent. Building and Hvac systems can be used to limit the spread of contaminants and to clear a building.

Emergency responders will seek advice from FMs regarding an Hvac system’s operability and its ability to help manage the incident.

Collaboration

6

It’s imperative that FMs and both building occupiers and owners should have a clear understanding of each others’ roles and responsibilities, as well as their relationships with the emergency services.

This gives a clear appreciation of who does what and when and allows your CBRN BCM activity to run in parallel with the emergency services operation. You must brief emergency services when they arrive on the nature of the incident, the state of the occupants and the measures already taken.

Decontamination

7

The nature of the contaminant determines the decontamination process. You will need to: • identify specialist contractors to carry out decontamination • render surfaces in post rooms and other vulnerable areas resistant to contamination (or easy to decontaminate) • protect important items and identify items for disposal and decontamination • plan for continuity of utilities during and after an incident.

The cost for decontamination should be discussed with your insurers and if you are a tenant check the terms of your lease for decontamination planning.

Tony Deacon and Peter Simpson are senior CBRN consultants with risk management specialists CPA www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:08:52

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19/11/09 09:01:03

DURHAM COUNTY CRICKET CLUB FEATURE by Adam McNestrie

Maintaining Durham’s status as an elite international cricket host is no walkover for operations and events manager Richard Dowson. Competition is fierce and standards exacting, but it is transport that stumps him the most

Playing to

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win

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:09:17

DURHAM COUNTY CRICKET CLUB

T

he backdrop for Durham County Cricket Club’s Riverside Ground is picturesque. Where The Oval in London has the imposing metal frame of an old gasworks looming over the stands, this Chester-le-Street venue offers unobstructed views of Durham Castle, perched upon its hill, framed by a profusion of trees. But don’t let the idyllic setting and the traditional image of cricket as a sleepy village-green affair fool you. However much the setting belies it, as soon as one starts asking questions it becomes apparent that, at least for the FMs involved, it is a case of cricket, red in tooth and claw.

In the world of cricket facilities, the operative principle is survival of the fittest. The acid test of success for the top–ranking grounds in Britain is whether they are able to host well-attended, crowd-pleasing international games. The problem is that the number of international standard grounds outnumbers the number of games in each set of fixtures.

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This situation hasn’t arisen accidentally – the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the body with the international games within its gift to give, wanted it this way. Because if you create conditions of scarcity then the remarkable competitive spur created drives all of them to aim for perfection. The grounds change, they improve – they evolve.

Because if they don’t the international games dry up and they face financial extinction.

However, cricket facilities haven’t always been organised along these lines. In fact, it isn’t unfair to say that Durham County Cricket Club inaugurated the current era of fierce competition. In 1992 the ECB decided to award Durham first-class status, allowing them to play against the best sides in the country. But there was a catch. In exchange for granting this status, the ECB wanted Durham to build a ground that was capable of hosting international fixtures. No guarantee that Durham would be awarded England games was forthcoming; the requirement was simply imposed and the tantalising possibility laid out before them.

Richard Dowson, operations and events manager at the Riverside, talks in characteristically understated fashion about the part that Durham played in lighting the touch paper for the competitive era.

“There hadn’t been a new test match ground in 80 years.

We came along and ruffled the feathers a bit,” he says. The ECB reacted by drawing up a set of facilities guidelines for clubs with international aspirations. They called it TSF2. Want to host international games? You must meet the minimum standards set out. Still want to be hosting internationals in five years? Find a way to hit the exacting » FMworld • 26 November 2009

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DURHAM COUNTY CRICKET CLUB FEATURE

“model” standards. The Riverside’s arrival on the international scene and the demands placed on the clubs by TSF2 have given a huge impetus to redevelopment work. In London, Lord’s has increased its capacity to 40,000; Nottingham’s Trent Bridge has been heavily redeveloped; and The Oval has plans to construct a hotel. Even the relatively new-build Riverside is in the middle of a continuous programme of redevelopment work. In 2005 a new media centre was built, last year a new tier of seating was added to the stand next to the scoreboard and plans are afoot to install permanent floodlighting.

With only five Ashes tests played in England, and intervals of four years between the games, what can Durham do to convince the ECB that its facilities warrant the exclusion of one of the grounds with decades of history, such as Headingley in Leeds or Manchester’s Old Trafford?

“Well, we’re the new kids on the block,” Dowson admits.

“So we can’t be the biggest or the most famous ground. But we can look to be the friendliest and the most welcoming.”

The key to providing that experience, and perhaps the most crucial part of Dowson’s role, is the massive matchday facilities workforce. On a rainy Tuesday afternoon in November, there are 30 members of staff at the Riverside – a real skeleton crew for such a big site. But on international match days, such as September’s seventh one-day international game against Australia (which England won), staff numbers swell to more than 500.

“It’s a real challenge and a real contrast,” Dowson accepts.

The worst-case scenario is that a spectator will walk up to a member of staff and ask them where the nearest toilet is, only to be met with an unhelpful shrug of the shoulders because the temporary worker doesn’t know the ground. Durham’s approach to the issue is twofold. One, source good suppliers and build long-term relationships with them. Two, identify the key temporary staff and use them to cascade the necessary information down the chain.

The other crucial thing is not to expect too much of agency staff, many of them inexperienced, some of them teenagers – such as making sure the supporters don’t drink too much, for example. “It’s difficult to expect an agency member of staff who came in on the bus in the morning to tell a big guy who’s had too much to drink that they won’t serve them.” Trained supervisors are expected to intervene in such cases.

And Dowson accepts that it does happen. “Wherever you have lots of people and alcohol available you have the chance of some issues.” But at Durham measures have been put in place in recent years to ensure that it maintains its family

‘‘We’re the new kids on the block, so we can’t be the biggest or most famous ground, but we can be the friendliest and most welcoming”

»

Durham CCC’s vice captain Paul Collingwood walks to the centre at the Riverside in England colours ready to take on Australia in September’s one day international

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atmosphere, without turning it into a killjoy ground where a grown-up can’t enjoy a beer on a sunny afternoon while watching the cricket.

Stringent search procedures are in place for anyone entering the ground. All alcohol is confiscated. Once inside no-one can buy more than four drinks at a time at the bars. Queuing tends to have a sobering effect on the more excited members of the crowd. The same effect is achieved through the use of scheduled “cooling off” periods when the shutters go down on the bars. Facilities staff can always make an unscheduled closure if they think the crowd is getting too rowdy.

Transport causes far more headaches at the Riverside than drink does. With 18,000 supporters, many of them coming from far afield, lots of them unfamiliar with the area, problems are unavoidable. With a look of genuine www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:10:10

MORE THAN A CRICKET VENUE It’s easy to forget sometimes but sports clubs are businesses. Maybe not in the sense of having a single-minded focus on maximising investor returns but they are always going concerns in that they need to make money. Turning a profit is a precondition for everything else that a club wants to achieve in sport. However well loved it is by its fans, and however much coverage a club gets in newspapers and sporting almanacs, if it can’t make money then it’s a goner.

Durham County Cricket Club is no different. It wants to make money. It needs to make money. But it does that so that it can promote the game of cricket. In Dowson’s words: “Cricket comes first. It is the priority, the be all and end all.”

In order to do that the club has to be more than a cricket venue. An increasing focus for the club is on providing conference facilities. It has four lounges and 15 boxes, all of which can be booked for meetings and conferences. The club also boasts a 400-seater conference theatre. This provision goes a long way towards subsidising the cricket.

Revenue has also been raised by taking on Austin’s Bar and a Bannatyne’s gym as tenants. The revenue that this brought in was used to fund the additional tier of seating.

More ambitious, however, is the attempt to turn the club into a top-class music venue. A number of big names have already played at the venue, including the Sugababes and Elton John. Two weeks before a one-day international between England and Sri Lanka 10,000 music fans were dancing on the pitch – something that presumably didn’t go down too well with the ground’s staff. “These are the gambles that you’ve got to take to make the most of the pitch,” says Dowson. Like any other business out to make money, a cricket club has to take some risks. www.fm-world.co.uk

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ruefulness, Dowson calls it “the most difficult and frustrating part of my role”. This is another side of the ground’s picturesqueness.

Unlike other international grounds, such as Lord’s or the Oval, the Riverside is not located near the centre of a major city next to public transport terminals. In fact the ground is not even in Durham. Chester-le-Street is a relatively small town with a population of 24,000. Perhaps somewhat short-sightedly, the ground’s transport strategy was originally devised around its accessibility by road. Just minutes from the A1, if the parking were adequate and the traffic bearable, it would be an easy drive – even for people travelling long distances.

But the environmental agenda has scuppered any thoughts of a number of mega car parks round the ground. So Dowson spends his time pleading with obtuse railway companies to add extra carriages to trains and making the case for more trains to stop nearby rather than just rolling through.

To supplement this he has set up a park and ride scheme with capacity for 1,000 cars. There is also a second scheme that allows you to park relatively close to the ground before completing the journey on foot – they call it “park and stride”.

It’s not just a case of finding one plan that works and sticking with it, either. “With the Riverside there is no such thing as one travel plan fits all,” says Dowson. If the game is on a Sunday, the trains will be bad. If it is a day-night or a 20/20 match, the evening traffic has to be factored in. If, as with this year’s one-day international against Australia, it is also the day of the Great North Run then, difficult though it is, you have to try and find a way to allow for that.

Very quickly one starts to understand why Dowson works on such issues with a specialist travel planning company.

Conference supremo, transport coordinator, music promoter, alcohol-rationer, cricket-protector, general-inthe-fight for Test matches: it sounds like a very taxing role, particularly for a five-year stretch, but think about it like this: the cricket season runs from May to September – every year Dowson has about seven months to recover (“strategic planning” he calls it) before the rush of summer fixtures starts again.

FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 09:10:56

CONTRACTING FEATURE by Kevin Stanley

To have or to With cost-cutting still till an economic necessity for FMs, the question of whether or not to outsource services has never been more relevant. You need to ensure you balance short-term gains with long-term -term efficiencies when making your decision ecision

PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM KES KESTEVEN

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hich is best – insourcing or outsourcing? The issue has long been a source of debate. The key drivers of large-scale outsourcing are cost reduction, efficiency and the edge and support gained from a expertise, knowledge der. specialist provider.

What better time to put outsourcing to the test than in a recession,, when every penny counts? In a downturn companies must take advantage of any strategy that might give them a competitive edge. Can outsourcing non-core sections of your business allow you to concentrate on more important elements? Richard Thompson, managing director of PBMS (UK & Ireland) believes it can: “In an economic n, outsourcing is a smart way to get your organisation downturn, moving forward. Managing processes internally can distract an ation from focusing on growing the business and from organisation being flexible and can possibly contribute to missing out on h opportunities,” says Thompson. “Sometimes people fail growth to actt in this type of economy, to create positive change through w partnership.” a new ndeed it seems that the prominent opinion in these Indeed ugh economic times is that more organisations should tough bee outsourcing their FM in an effort to cut costs. “In this conomic climate, cost is critical. Businesses need to be more economic robust when dealing with suppliers by benchmarking service provision and working closely with them to drive value and achieve savings. Outsourcing gives access to the skills and knowledge that will help reduce expenditure while improving service quality,” says Tony Sanders, managing director, commercial, at Interserve Facilities Management.

“In fact, we would often argue that businesses should move to the next level of outsourcing, from single to bundled, or 22 FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 14:31:50

hold bundled to total, to help drive further value across their assets,” says Sanders.

However, organisations are now clearly being more frugal with their money than ever. The question is, are companies willing to spend money to save money?

Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions (GWS) advises companies to concentrate on their core business and outsource FM services to an external provider. “But companies should feel free to challenge the outsource process too,” says a spokesperson for the company. “This can typically extend over 12 to 18 months and use up large quantities of internal or costly consulting resources. Companies should be careful to choose a reputable supplier, with a good track record, because benefits can be delivered within a few weeks.” wee

The burning question With businesses continuing continui to feel the pressure of recess recession, some, so caught up in the d drama of it all, are not even prepared to listen to advice. What about those still cconsidering taking FM back in house, should th they do it? outsourcin to “A cycle of changing from outsourcing busin – there is insourcing is not productive for any business a tremendous amount of work involved and tthe costs can be substantial. If you bring in house a smaller ccontract currently outsourced with an external single service sspecialist, you su will lose the expertise that delivered the superior service you previously enjoyed,” warns Martin W Whitten, of Arena21. strateg decision designed “Where a service sits should be a strategic to support the business, not a reaction to the vagaries of the economic cycle,” he says.

Andrew Mawson of Advanced Wo Workplace thinks, however, that the most important issue is to consider what kind of FM capabilities a business needs aand what is the best way of sourcing and sustaining them. “The idea that outsourcing reduces cost is only true when yyour organisation is flabby, has poor processes and is not b buying services competitively

‘‘Where a sservice sits should be a strategic d decision to support the business, not a reaction to the vagaries of the economic cycle” www.fm-world.co.u www.fm-world.co.uk

Insource 2.indd Sec1:23

– the question is whether you think you can do it better than an outsourced provider or whether you want to build a capability to do it,” says Mawson. “The decision to insource or outsource should embrace a range of issues, cost being only one of them.”

For businesses still unsure of whether to outsource non-core activities, does the lure of outsourced FM providing them with better services and skills than its internal staff can act as an incentive?

“This is the main reason why companies and organisations appoint us,” says Sanders. “Our specialist expertise and the economies of scale we can access through turning over £1.8bn of business a year mean we can deliver on both quality and cost. Staff development throughout the organisation is fundamentally important to our business,” he adds.

Interserve was one of the first companies to sign the government’s Skills Pledge, a voluntary public commitment to guarantee all employees the chance to realise their potential through training. The company subsequently rolled out a new training platform that gives their employees the opportunity to develop skills while working towards relevant and valuable qualifications, such as the FM and cleaning apprenticeships » FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 14:32:19

CONTRACTING FEATURE

FM QUICK FACTS

OUTSOURCING PROS AND CONS

• Value of the contracted-out sector anticipated to reach £77.5 billion (at 2008 prices) in 2013

Advanced Workplace’s Andrew Mawson highlights the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing:

• Anticipated growth of contracted-out sector partly attributable to rising trend for companies to outsource noncore activities to focus on core activities and gain expertise

Advantages: 1. Focus upon core business – investment of management attention upon core business can detract from back office tasks or infrastructure management.

2. Cost and efficiency savings: the purchasing power of an outsourcer should provide cost benefits and efficiencies through their specialisation in FM infrastructure.

3. Staffing flexibility: an outsourced contract can provide flexibility in applying the right level and skill mix of resource quickly and at less cost.

4. Reduced overheads: spreading the overheads of an internal operation over several accounts can enable the supplier to provide this management service at lower costs.

5. Continuity and risk management: outsourcing should aid continuity while reducing risk that a substandard level of operation would bring.

6. Developing internal staff: bringing in new skills from outside can develop your own staff.

• Value of internal FM projected to increase to £126.9 billion by 201.

• Segmentation of UK market for contracted-out FM, by service, 2008, top three: Cleaning £13.3bn (19 per cent) Catering £12.4bn (18 per cent) Security £9.7bn (14 per cent)

developed in conjunction with Asset Skills. “All employees have the opportunity to develop their careers, which leads to a more motivated team delivering services for our clients,” says Sanders.

A major factor against outsourcing is the fear of leaving in-house staff underskilled. Is this a genuine potential problem?

“It certainly shouldn’t be,” says Whitten, “but this is the real world. Businesses should drill down into the detail to discover what kind of training and development the outsourced employees would really receive. Most companies include a charge for training in their proposals, but you need to ask what this delivers?”

Whitten advises companies to request training plans, records and course details. “We’re happy to back up what we offer by including a contractual commitment to training in our contracts,” he says. “Will the companies you’re considering do that? They certainly should.”

So can outsourcing result in receiving better service and skills for less than paying your own staff? “Outsourcing FM means companies have access to the highest levels of services and innovation in the industry,” according to Johnson Controls GWS. “The company has a talent pool that works on client accounts such as Barclays and Shell. Outsourcing can help clients save money – positively impacting the bottom line.

Over the past 10 years Johnson Controls GWS has delivered es $3 billion in savings for some of the world’s largest companies ty and is currently providing FM to the UK’s BBC property portfolio. Again Johnson Controls GWS reiterate the point that ntrate on outsourcing FM allows companies to concentrate their core business.

»

Cost implications ns There is evidence to suggest that the recession tsourcing a has played a part in making outsourcing utsourcing more popular option, but have outsourcing costs increased or have the servicess being provided changed at all?

“The downturn hasn’t increased the cost of outsourcing, s. but there has been a definite shift in focus.

Clients are looking to achieve greater savings and cut costs to ensure they remain -term gains competitive,” explains Sanders. “These shorter-term 24 FMworld • 26 November 2009

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Disadvantages: 1. Loss of management control: client and provider business objectives are different and this can lead to different management control objectives.

2. Hidden costs: there are costs incurred in procurement and selection of outsourcing suppliers and in the mobilisation of the contracts.

3. Threat to security and confidentiality: make sure your data is protected and the contract has a penalty clause if an incident occurs. Issues such as intellectual property rights need protection.

4. Being tied to financial strength of another company – providers operate in different marketplaces to your core business. Your services are in their hands and this risk needs to be carefully evaluated.

5. Bad publicity – outsourcing can lead to ill will and poor morale in the rest of your organisation.

6. Different cultural approaches – ent businesses inevitably have different approaches so partnerships can be difficult.

need to be balanced with longterm efficiencies. We work in partnership with our clients nts to evaluate service delivery and nd best practice to ensure servicess drive efficiencies and value on a daily basis.”

Julie Kortens, head of FM at Channel el 4 Television agrees: “The recession has made de outsourcing agencies more focused on service delivery, ensuring their nsuring th teams are well managed,” she says, before summing min up her experience of outsourcing: “There have been many advantages to outsourcing our services. Partnering with organisations whose core business is the service that you require means w their training and development is geared to the provision of the the servic service you need,” she says.

“Out “Outsourcing has vastly reduced the amount of time and managem management expertise required to manage and motivate the team. Outso Outsourcing responsibility for the likes of sickness and disciplinary is issues allows me to focus on more strategic issues,” concludes Korte Kortens.

Useful websites: www.assetskills.or www.assetskills.org/FacilitiesManagement/ FacilitiesManageme FacilitiesManagement.asp http://inourhands.lsc. http://inourhands.lsc.gov.uk/employers-pledge.html www.outsourcing.co www.outsourcing.com www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 14:32:47

hot dates Planning your future with us All courses are held in London unless otherwise stated

January 2010 19-21 Understanding FM Foundation (optional ILM Qualification) - FULL 20-21 Creating a High Performance Workplace 25-29 IOSH Managing Safely Certificate February 2010 1-5 NEBOSH National General Certificate (Week 1) 2-4 Understanding FM Foundation (optional ILM Qualification) 9-11 The Professional FM Intermediate 1 9 IOSH Safety for Senior Executives 9 The Tender Process 10 Contract Management 11 Negotiating to Win 0207 404 4440 info@bifm-training.co.uk www.bifm-training.com

Follow the best FM career path Take the fast track with the BIFM today.

Whatever your position in facilities management, joining the BIFM can send your career in the right direction. Our extensive targeted training and recognised professional qualifications can give you a clear path through to the top of your profession. As well as qualifications, our dedicated BIFM Training division offers over 40 different interactive short training courses.

You also get Good Practice Guides and updates on key FM issues in our fortnightly FM World magazine.

BIFM is a recognised Awarding Body and sets the national standards for FM competencies. As a member, you also get the chance to learn through the BIFM’s extensive local, regional and international network of expertise and events. So why not follow in the footsteps of our 12,000 plus existing members and join today?

BIFM career path.indd 1 www.fm-world.co.uk

FMW.26.11.09.025.indd 25

T: 0845 058 1358 E: membership@bifm.org.uk www.bifm.org.uk

17/11/092009 10:02:3125 FMworld • 26 November

19/11/09 09:02:04

ELECTRICAL SAFETY FEATURE

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hen danger is not obvious or visible, it is easy to overlook and suffer from “safety blindness”. The government spends millions on campaigns to avoid this, but sadly little is spent on raising awareness of electrical safety. And yet electricity is responsible for at least 25 deaths and about 1,000 accidents in the workplace each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive. It is also, according to Norwich Union, the second largest cause of fires in commercial and industrial premises.

Many companies are negligent in compliance with safety legislation and many more either misinterpret their obligations or are misguided by suppliers. Some clarity is required in order to negotiate competently the minefield of electrical testing.

Legislation and standards

Charged with care PHOTOLIBRARY

A slapdash approach to electrical safety can have fatal consequences. Knowing what to test, when and to which standard can be confusing. Tim Beardsmore advises FMs how to comply with regulations and so prevent any injury or damage

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FMworld • 26 November 2009

Elec guide.3 AC.indd Sec1:26

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 provide the legislation for electrical safety. The regulations state that “as may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, such danger”.

To interpret this broad statement into practical terms, the specific regulations covering electrical safety are the IEE Wiring Regulations BS7671: 2008 17th edition. Reg 135.1 makes a positive recommendation that “every electrical installation is subjected to periodic inspection and testing”.

Any faults found as a result of testing have to be coded and reported. Those classified as codes one and two will need remedial action in terms of electrical repair.

Quite simply, you must deal with electrical safety and ensure that your staff, customers and visitors are not placed in danger. As the IEE Inspection and Testing Guidance Notes state: “Periodic inspection and testing is necessary because all electrical installations deteriorate due to a number of factors such as damage, wear, tear, corrosion, excessive electrical loading, ageing and environmental influences.”

Testing, testing Electrical safety falls into two elements: portable appliance testing (PAT) and periodic fixed-installation testing.

PAT includes not only truly portable equipment, such as an office fan or a drill; it includes everything that is attached to the electrical wiring system. A drinks machine, for example, is classed as a portable appliance as is a freezer cabinet or photocopier. The PAT groupings used by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) include “stationary”, “IT”, “moveable”, “portable” and “handheld”.

This wide interpretation means that PAT testing usually involves large numbers of individual tests – on many sites it can run to thousands. In an office, for example, it’s typical for every employee to have about seven portable appliances around them and a computer can require three or four individual tests, not just one as many mistakenly think.

Similarly, don’t assume that brand new equipment is automatically safe and doesn’t need testing. Unfortunately electrical manufacturing is not perfect and even when an item has just come out of the box it can still be dangerous.

The fixed installation is the wiring of the building, including anything that is hard wired into the mains rather than plugged into a socket. Here we’re concerned with electrical circuits such as lighting, socket outlets, supplies to airwww.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:11:55

conditioning units and other fixed plant. A range of testing can be applied to establish whether the wiring is safe to use.

Tenants should not assume their landlord is managing the electrical safety of the building. It is unlikely that the equipment owned by your organisation and operated in the workplace is covered by the landlord so it is best to check your lease.

How often to test is a common area for confusion. For guidance consult the IET – a summary is provided (see right).

Coded faults After your electrical testing is carried out you should receive a report that details any “damage, deterioration, defects and dangerous conditions within the installation”.

Faults fall into four codes, with the first two requiring essential remedial action: code one, “requires urgent attention”, is used to indicate that persons using the installation are at risk; and code two, “requires improvement”, indicates that the observed deficiency requires action to remove potential danger. Any fault reported as code one or code two must be remedied. As part of a National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC) report, the test engineer must notify the commissioning contact in writing on the same day of any code one faults, advising that remedial action should be taken without delay.

If you have a code one or two fault you will then need to establish what remedial work is required (note that the scope of the testing engineer is to provide “a factual report on the condition of an installation, not a proposal for remedial work”) and make swift arrangements for it to be carried out.

Remedial repairs In a recent survey Epsilon Test Services found that more than half of the 400 organisations contacted had conducted electrical safety testing but had not gone on to carry out the essential remedial work. This “remedial gap” constitutes a significant risk for any organisation.

Immediately after you receive the test report it’s best to contact at least three qualified electricians and for quotes responding to the test report findings.

Source safe suppliers According to the NICEIC standards, testing must now be carried out by a “competent person”, defined as “a person who possesses sufficient technical knowledge, relevant practical skills and experience for the nature of the electrical work undertaken and is able at all times to prevent danger and, where appropriate, injury to him/herself and others”. In practice this means electrical engineers should be trained and qualified to City & Guilds 2377, 2391, 2382-20 or 2382-10.

Look for suppliers that are accredited by both NICEIC and the Electrical Contractors’ Association. Check that they comply with IEE codes of practice and current wiring regulations to BS7671 2008, 17th edition and IEE Guidance Note 3. Also ask to see certificates guaranteeing that their equipment is calibrated.

Ensure the supplier has the capability for your size of job and can deliver to your specific requirements such as test times (out of hours, weekends) and speed of programming.

Ideally you should look for a supplier that has continuous performance monitoring systems in place to ensure quality of service. Do they have technical compliance officers deployed www.fm-world.co.uk

Elec guide.3 AC.indd Sec1:27

FREQUENCY OF TESTING Periodic fixed installation test frequencies On new builds the initial test frequency will be set by the designer responsible for the wiring installation. Thereafter it is specified by the test engineer in line with the following guidelines:

Maximum period Five years between inspections and testing • Commercial (or change of occupancy) • Offices • Shops • Hospitals • Educational establishments • Restaurants and hotels • Public houses

Maximum period Three years between inspections and testing • Industrial • Leisure complexes (excl. pools) • Theatres • Agricultural and horticultural Note: for some special installations (eg, swimming pools, petrol stations, caravan parks) it is recommended that the maximum period between inspections and testing is one year.

Other regulations may apply such as Local Authority conditions/ cinematograph (safety) regulations.

Full details are available in the IEE Guidance Note 3: Inspection & Testing

Portable appliance test (PAT) frequencies The recommended frequency for PAT testing depends on the environment and the type of equipment. A full

matrix is provided in the IET Code but recommendations for combined inspection and testing frequencies are summarised here: Construction sites • 110V equip • All equipment every 3 months Industrial • including commercial kitchens, S, IT & M every 12 months • P & H every 6 months Equipment used by the public • S & IT every 12 months • M, P & H Class 1 every 6 months • M, P & H Class 2 every 12 months Schools • All Class 1 equipment every 12 months • All Class 2 equipment every 48 months Hotels Class 1 equipment: • S & IT every 48 months • M & P every 24 months • H every 12 months Offices and shops Class 1 equipment: • S & IT every 48 months • M & P every 24 months • H every 12 months Key: S = stationary equipment, eg, vending machine IT = IT equipment, eg, computer M = moveable equipment, eg, extension lead P = portable equipment, eg, fan H = handheld equipment, eg, drill Full details are available in the IEE Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment, 3rd Edition

in the field? Also look for traceability in terms such as time/ date stamping for every test and full audit trail capability.

Consider the supplier’s reporting speed and standard.

Online reporting is quickest and most accessible. The best will capture data that you can scrutinise from all angles.

Useful Sources www.epsilontest.com, for a free Guide to Electrical Safety in the UK www.theiet.org, for test frequency recommendations www.niceic.com www.eca.co.uk Tim Beardsmore is managing director of Epsilon Test Services FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 09:12:21

bifmnews ENVIRONMENT

Pencil-saving idea wins Wipe Out Waste Award Ten schools from around the country were selected as finalists for the Footprint Friends Wipe Out Waste (Wow) Awards, which took place on 3 November.

Eco social networking group Footprint Friends invited the 10 finalists to pitch their sustainable ideas in a BBC Dragons’ Den style presentation at the Frontline Club in Paddington, London. BIFM chief executive Ian Fielder was one of the “dragon” judges.

Ideas ranged from meat-free Mondays to recycling school uniforms, making it a tough decision for the judges. However, a decision was finally reached and the results were: In joint third place was Park School in Lancashire with Local Milk for All and St Luke’s Science and Sports College in Devon with Project Gold.

Park School delivered a thought-provoking presentation, suggesting that milk bottles replace the Tetra Pak milk cartons that are not easily recycled. St Luke’s Science and Sports College introduced Project Gold – a well-researched campaign that recognised that litter was one of the biggest waste problems. Their proposal was to bring in a giant composter for biodegradable food containers and waste foods.

In second place was Smithycroft Secondary School in Glasgow with What a Load of Rubbish. Their idea was to introduce an environmentally friendly equivalent to polystyrene dinnerware throughout schools in the UK, therefore eliminating the need for precious space in landfill sites.

And winning the competition in first place was Canon Burrows CE Primary School in Tameside with Stop Throwing Away Perfectly Good Pencils! The dragons were presented with a prototype of a pencil holder, designed to grip the pencils from full size until completely used.

This simple but effective idea was judged to be well researched and won the hearts and minds of the dragons, and even sponsorship from powerPerfector, which also sponsored the Wow Awards.

The winning school will have their Wow idea rolled out to all schools in the UK and 28 FMworld • 26 November 2009

BIFMnews.2.indd 28

Please send your news items to Jessica Beaven at the BIFM jessica.beaven@bifm.org.uk or call 0845 0581356

New membership fees for 2010 The price of BIFM membership will rise next year. From January 2010 an individual annual subscription for Member grade will be £158.

The 8.8 per cent increase is in line with the decision made in 2007 to increase BIFM subscriptions, following a period of near inflation rises, to reflect significant investment in services, development and infrastructure.

Investment

Wow Award winners from Canon Burrows CE Primary School in Tameside with powerPerfector chief executive Angus Robertson

will receive a complimentary powerPerfector, enabling the school to potentially reduce its energy usage by up to 20 per cent.

Fielder congratulated the winning team on demonstrating the “E Factor” – environmental, educational, engaging and effective.

He said: “All the schools have come up with bright and innovative schemes with many of them well thought out and based on excellent solutions.

“For a scheme to be a true Wow it has to have the E Factor. The winning solution of providing a recycled pencil holder that holds a pencil right down to the stub, thus preventing throwing away 55 million short pencils a year was simple, effective and epitomised the thinking behind the Wow Awards,” said Fielder.

Fielder was joined by the following judges: Dr Liz Goodwin, chief executive of Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP); Professor Bill McGuire, Footprint Friends science advisor; Casper Ter Kuile, co-director of UK Youth Climate Coalition and Kevan Roberts, South Coast Business Entrepreneur.

Those ver the last few years BIFM has invested heavily in developing a new set of qualifications for the profession, in better communications (particularly through the institute’s website and FM World magazine) and in upgrading head office systems.

This investment supports BIFM’s mission, endorsed by Members’ Council and the board, to “Advance the facilities management profession.”

The BIFM board believes membership continues to represent good value for money. All members receive: • Full access to the BIFM website • Daily and weekly update emails • Fortnightly FM World magazine • Good Practice Guide series • A range of national and regional networking events • Access to member sections of partner websites • Discounts on training and events This is in addition to BIFM’s work raising the profile and influence of the FM profession. The support of practitioners for this work, through their membership of the institute, is invaluable.

Discounts Those who have been particularly affected by the downturn but are keen to maintain their contacts and knowledge, an unemployed concessionary rate is available for one year. If you do not already pay by Direct Debit you can offset over half the increase by switching to this form of payment which attracts a 5 per cent discount.

Visit the membership section of the website for all member grades or contact the membership team by email membership@bifm.org.uk or phone 0845 0581358 if you have any queries or comments

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 14:15:32

IAN

bifm.org.uk

BROADBENT

INTERNATIONAL

BIFM welcomes top Jordanian FMs A senior delegation of four members of the Jordanian Ministry of Public Works visited London at the end of last month.

The British Council hosted the delegation and many FM experts shared their knowledge and experience of the industry.

FM is still relatively new in Jordan and its government has recognised the need to improve the management and maintenance of its 5,000 buildings, which include judicial and government departments, schools and hospitals.

The objective of the Ministry of Public Works’ visit was to gain the benefit of UK experience in FM strategy, mechanisms and processes. These included how FM contracts, specifications and standards are managed and implemented. Procurement processes and PFI projects were well covered by the speakers, as was managing hard and soft FM services, through insourcing and outsourcing.

A full programme of speakers and site visits was arranged by the BIFM and the British Council. BIFM chief executive Ian Fielder and Garry Gordon, British Council head of global estates hosted the visit. Speakers included John Bowen, chair of Procurement Sig; Richard Tierney, partner, BDO; Dave Wilson, director Agents4FM; Peter McLennan, director of MSc in FM, UCL; Bridget Hardy and Richard Graham of the Office of Government Commerce; David Pike, IPD; Steve McDowell, director, Comet Consulting; Ian Broadbent, director of group property services, Hallmark Cards; Rob Greenfield, director, www.fm-world.co.uk

BIFMnews.2.indd 29

BIFM DEPUTY CHAIR

comment ONWARDS AND UPWARDS “So what does a retired FM World columnist do with his time?” was a question posed to me last month at Total Workplace Management, Olympia. Well it’s almost a year since my last column appeared and while I really miss writing it I have been very busy since. In April I was elected deputy chair of BIFM and now sit on the main board. This has been a great experience and another step on the journey since joining BIFM some 13 years ago.

Since becoming deputy chair I have been involved in the judging process for the BIFM awards and attending the event itself. I’ve been to regional meetings in London, the Home Counties and the north and represented the institute during a recent visit to the UK from Jordanians hoping to learn more and exchange views. I have also spent 10 days walking the Pennine Way, continued writing my book, got married and, of course, still have the day job at Hallmark.

But also, like many of you, I have been deeply affected by the economic situation; there will be few businesses in the UK that have not been affected in some way or another. However, during this period I really feel the FM industry has risen to the challenge and proved itself to UK business.

Wherever I’ve been I’ve met with positive stories of FM genuinely adding value to business and members really making the most of their membership by sharing and networking with their colleagues. So as we approach 2010, if you make resolutions, ensure the first one is to renew and maximise your membership, taking the opportunity to enhance your CPD, network with peers and use the benefits to drive advantage in your business.

Back to my role as deputy chair – what does it entail?

With my fellow deputy Rob Greenfield we support Iain Murray in his role as chair, represent BIFM at events throughout the UK and chair a number of groups. One of the best parts of the job is the opportunity to meet with so many of the lifeblood of the institute – the members – and engage in correspondence. Looking at my inbox, BIFM correspondence often accounts for about 20 per cent of it, but hopefully I do a good job of getting back to you and helping you with your queries.

I look forward to working with you all over the next few years and urge all of you to share your experience, continue to add value to your businesses and most importantly, advance our profession.

“The FM industry has really risen to the challenge of the recession and proved itself to UK business.”

BIFM chief executive Ian Fielder with HE Osama Maghaydah, director-general, governmental buildings department, Jordanian Ministry of Public Works

Sodexo; Jane Bell, director, BIFM Training; Joe Garrod, associate director, Navigant Consulting; and Simon Toseland, head of HSE, Workplace Law. An evening reception held at the British Council was well attended by many BIFM board members, speakers and site visit representatives.

HE Osama Maghaydah, director-general, governmental buildings department, Jordanian Ministry of Public Works, said the visit had exceeded all their expectations. A number of the speakers offered ongoing support to the Jordanian delegation, including BIFM Training.

ian.broadbent@bifm.org.uk

FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 11:28:04

bifmnews SIGS

Historic buildings and catering Sigs proposed The BIFM is considering introducing two new special interest groups (Sigs): Historic Buildings and Catering & Hospitality.

The new groups will aim to address issues for those practising FM in both arenas, and therefore is currently trying to gauge interest in the creation of these new groups. Do you have any views on the implementation of these groups?

Let us know which areas you would like the Sigs to cover, and which would offer you the most benefit. Would you be likely to support the group and to participate?

Depending on the backing and uptake of the new Sigs, the BIFM would also explore the possibility of developing further

resources, such as good practice guides, case studies, site visits and CPD events, etc.

Participation and support can range from specialists to just a general interest for those wanting to know how today’s FM works in different environments. Maybe you manage a property portfolio containing historic buildings? Or perhaps you recognise that although catering is often a small expenditure it has a requirement to become more specialised in FM knowledge.

If you would find these groups a useful resource to you and your work, and would like to get involved, then get in touch via the Forum postings on the website, or contact jessica.beaven@bifm.org.uk.

ISTOCK

Start planning your CPD for the year ahead With 2009 fast drawing to a close, now is the time to start planning ahead and preparing for what you would like to achieve in 2010.

With the UK recession now the longest since records began, and looking set to continue into next year, the need to address your skills set and maintain your employability remains crucial. Whether we soon emerge from the recession or not, one thing’s for sure: fundamental change to the business world and the economy is already taking place – do you have the skills to succeed?

Rather than presenting you with a bumper month of training sessions from the word go, we recognise you’ll be settling back into your working routine after returning from the festive period. But don’t completely overlook the personal development process 30

FMworld • 26 November 2009

BIFMnews.2.indd 30

during this time. Even better, why not start to plan now so that you can relax, safe in the knowledge that you’re already prepared for future opportunities with your 2010 training schedule. The year begins with some excellent programmes, including our flagship foundation course, Understanding FM on 19-21 January, followed by Creating a High Performance Workplace on 20-21 and the IOSH Managing Safely Certificate on 25-29.

As we head further into 2010 the diversity of the training programme broadens, providing choice and flexibility for all those with an FM role, at both operational and strategic level.

In addition to a full range of CPD courses, we do deliver an increasing collection of accredited training programmes that have been approved by leading professional

Please send your news items to Jessica Beaven at the BIFM jessica.beaven@bifm.org.uk or call 0845 0581356

Clarity on launch of ILM level 3 award In an article that appeared in FM World on 29 October (“Cartwright gets there first”, p38), it stated that the ILM Level 3 Qualification, a QCA recognised qualification, was launched by BIFM Training earlier this year. It should be noted that BIFM Training launched its delivery of the ILM level 3 Award in FM this year. The ILM Level 3 FM qualifications, which were developed jointly with BIFM and accredited onto the Qualification and Credit Framework in autumn 2008, develop both leadership and management skills, alongside specific facilities management competences.

institutes. We launched the delivery of the new ILM Level 3 Award in FM in April this year, which has proved exceptionally popular with more than 200 candidates taking the qualification to date. Other accredited programmes you can complete through BIFM Training include: • ILM Level 3 Award in First Line Management • ILM Level 2 Award in Team Leading (supervisor level) • IOSH Managing Safely Certificate • IOSH Safety for Senior Executives Certificate • NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety • Display Screen Regulations and Risk Assessment Be proactive and invest in the skills you will need for the future because when we do eventually emerge from the recession the business world in which we operate will have changed significantly, calling for new skills and competencies if people are to adapt successfully to the year 2010.

For further information on any of our courses and services please contact BIFM Training on 020 7404 4440 or visit www.bifm-training.com.

2010 dates are now available

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 14:15:47

FMdiary National BIFM events 13-14 April 2010 BIFM Conference Venue: TBC Contact: TBC

International Region 21-23 January 2010 Euro FM networking meetings Venue: Hanze University Groningen, The Netherlands Contact: Email eurofm@eurofm. org or call +31 35 694 27 85

1-2 June 2010 European Facility Management Conference Venue: Hotel Eurostars Madrid Tower, Madrid, Spain Contact: Call Stefanie Kluckhuhn on +49 211 9686 3754 or email stefanie. kluckhuhn@euroforum.com

Scotland Region 3 March 2010 Managing asbestos in premises: the survey guide Venue: Crown Plaza, Glasgow Contact: Call Louise Hall on 01332 250 713 or email louise@bohs.org

East Region 25-26 January 2010 The FM Forum Venue: The Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted Airport Contact: Call Graham Price on 01992 374100

South-west Region 8 December Quarterly training day – Hard FM explained Venue: Hilton Bristol Hotel, Aztec West, Bristol Contact: Call Beth Goodyear on 07901 858875 or email beth. goodyear@fmhsconsulting.co.uk

20-21 April 2010 The FM and property event Venue: Celtic Manor Resort, Newport Contact: Call Leigh Hussain on

www.fm-world.co.uk

bifm_events 2.indd 27

01633 411336 or email leighhussain@ globalbusinessevents.co.uk

London Region 16 December WiFM forum – making a difference Venue: Channel 4, London SW1 Contact: Email Julie Kortens at jkortens@channel4.co.uk

27 May 2010 Energy legislation for FMs Venue: Central London Contact: Call Kay Morrow on 020 7404 4440 or email info@bifm-training.co.uk

Home Counties Region 24 February 2010 Managing the changing world Venue: IBM Bedfont Lakes Contact: Call Clive Hilton on 07976 299735 or email clive@inlocum.co.uk

Industry events 26 November Commercial Leadership: putting corporate real estate at the heart of commercial strategy Venue: Riba HQ, 66 Portland Place, London W1 Contact: Call Alison Judd on 017722 339 811 or email alison@sasevents.co.uk

Contact: Call the CIPD on 01780 756 777

9 December Green travel and transport ‘09 Venue: The Barbican, London Contact: Call Angela Clarke on 0161 832 7387 or email aclarke@publicservice.co.uk

20 January 2010 Achieving results in contract management seminar

18-20 May 2010 FM Expo

26-28 May 2010 Health Estates and Facilities Management Association conference

Venue: Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London Contact: SAS Event Management on 01722 331313

3 February 2010 Infection Control 2010: leading by example Venue: The Barbican, London Contact: Contact Helen Atherton on 0161 832 7387 or email hatherton@publicservice.co.uk

11 February 2010 DECs – the role of maintenance

15 March 2010 The Cleaning Show

Venue: Thistle Hyde Park, London

Venue: NEC Birmingham Contact: For more information visit www.safety-health-expo.co.uk

26 January 2010 British Council for Offices Annual Dinner

Venue: Glasgow, Scotland Contact: Visit www. carbontrust.co.uk/events

3 December Tupe – and its impact on procurement seminar

11-13 May 2010 Safety and Health Expo

Venue: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre Contact: For more information email mail@fm-expo.com

1 December Conducting your own industrial energy survey

Venue: Central Hall, Westminster Contact: Call Mike Agnew on 0161 832 7387 or email magnew@publicservice

Venue: The Concourse, Belfast Contact: For more information www.carbontrust.co.uk/events

Venue: Radisson SAS Manchester Airport Contact: Call the CIPD on 01780 756 777

Venue: Wales, Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells Contact: Contact the Carbon Trust events team on 02920 694916 or email walesevents@carbontrust.co.uk

2 December Project and programme management - delivery best practice

30 April 2010 Low carbon buildings rising to the challenge

Venue: NEC, Birmingham Contact: Visit www.cleaningmag.com

24-25 March 2010 Iosh conference – health and safety: making the case Venue: The Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre, Glasgow Contact: Visit www. ioshconference.co.uk

Venue: Majestic Hotel, Harrogate Contact: Visit www.hefma. org.uk/events.php

9-10 June 2010 Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals Annual Conference and Exhibition Venue: Bristol Marriott Hotel Contact: Email helen@ nextlevelinfo.com

15-16 June 2010 The public procurement show Venue: ExCel, London Contact: Visit www. publicprocurementshow.com

5-7 September 2010 National Safety Symposium Venue: The Nottingham Belfry Contact: Kirsty Eaton on 0116 257 3378 or email events@iosh.co.uk

22-24 September 2010 National Housing Federation Conference Venue: International Conference Centre, Birmingham Contact: Julian Hurst on 020 8877 8899 or email julian.hurst@ foremarkeexhibitions.com

Send details of your event to adam@fm-world.co.uk or call 020 7880 6229 FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 09:12:48

Call John Nahar on 020 7880 6230 or email john.nahar@fm-world.co.uk For full media information take a look at www.fm-world.co.uk/mediapack

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FMworld • 26 November 2009

FMW.26.11.09.032.indd 32

7/10/09 10:08:06

www.fm-world.co.uk

19/11/09 09:03:16

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Have your finger on the pulse of FM Get to the heart of facilities management by joining the BIFM today.

Be at the very heart of your profession by joining the BIFM. It’s the one body that has something for everybody in the business. We offer the most prestigious training, development and recognition for facilities managers.

BIFM pulse.indd 1 www.fm-world.co.uk

FMW.26.11.09.033.indd 33

We provide a fantastic range of benefits, services, and offers for all our members. We enable you to network with your peers and share ideas at a whole range of national, regional and local events.

We keep you totally in the know through FM World magazine, our continuously updated website and networking groups.

We even give you a chance to influence your profession personally by getting involved and giving FM a better future.

If you want to put your heart and soul into FM, talk to us.

T: 0845 058 1358 E: membership@bifm.org.uk www.bifm.org.uk

17/11/09 10:03:41 FMworld • 26 November 2009 33

19/11/09 09:06:14

FMPeople & Jobs BEHIND THE JOB Name Peter Merrett Job title/organisation General manager, Tower 42 Brief description of the job and key responsibilities I am responsible for the day-to-day management of the tallest building in the City of London, including the leadership of an on-site team of 250 and ensuring the delivery of the highest standards of service to our 3,500 resident occupiers.

What attracted you to the job? As a former hotelier, the role at Tower 42 offered a unique opportunity to apply my hospitality background to the commercial world to help create and develop a distinctive “office-hotel” experience.

What’s been your career high-point to date? In 2008, we made history by becoming the first European building to win the prestigious International Office Building of the Year Award.

My top perk at work is… The Tower 42 team is a very closely-knit community, more like a family, and everyone genuinely cares and shares a willingness to take responsibility. No-one feels like

a contractor. It’s straight-forward, with no airs and graces or claustrophobic hierarchy. The view is pretty spectacular too.

If you could give away one of your responsibilities to an unsuspecting colleague, what would it be? Appearing in the annual children’s Christmas party pantomime.

Which “FM myth” would you most like to put an end to? That it’s a necessary evil.

It is a service Any interesting tales to tell? We recently hosted the UK’s first tower run, Vertical Rush, which saw 600 participants raise over £165,000 for Shelter by racing up the Tower’s 42 floors. The winner completed the 920 steps in an astonishing 4 minutes 22 seconds.

Do your friends understand what facilities management is? You receive mixed impressions; while some believe that the work is simply technical or contractual, many do understand the important role FMs play.

» Are you interested in being featured in Behind the Job? Contact Adam McNestrie on 020 7880 6229 or adam@fm-world.co.uk

NEWS IN BRIEF GREEN APPRENTICE PLACES UPPED Local authorities will get funding for 175 landscape apprentices to take care of parks and gardens in some of the country’s most deprived areas, the communities secretary has said. John Denham said that the decision to put aside £700,000 for the horticulture apprenticeships follows “the overwhelming response” to last year’s launch that created 47 apprentices.

FILLIP FOR SECURITY TRAINING A new government initiative will see colleges train 6,000 security personnel to meet the unprecedented demand for manpower that the 2012 Olympics will create. More than 60 further education colleges will participate in Bridging the Gap, offering a qualification in stewarding at sporting events that can be taken alongside a student’s main course of study.

ON THE MOVE

CHANGING JOBS? Tell us about your new role and responsibilities.

Contact Adam McNestrie at adam.mcnestrie@ fm-world.co.uk

Baroness Ruth Henig has been reappointed as chairman of the Security Industry Authority by the Home Office and will serve a second threeyear term in the post. Baroness Henig (pictured) is president of the Association of Police Authorities and the former chairman of Lancashire Police Authority.

Martin Payne has joined Brookfield Services as director, healthcare projects. He moves from Serco where he held the position of contract director at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Facilities Services Group has recruited David Simons as group chairman. Simons (pictured) has had spells with Tarmac (now Carillion), WS Atkins and most recently with GSH where he held the positions of CFO, CEO and chairman.

The Automatic Vending Association has appointed Jonathan Hilder as its new chief executive officer. Hilder (pictured) has more than 20 years of experience in the sector.

Finbarr Murray is to leave his position as head of corporate services at the Canary Wharf site of Chicago-based bank Northern Trust to take up the post of head of FM with the London Borough of Croydon.

Murray (pictured) will be tasked with delivering a range of FM services in partnership with Interserve.

CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) has appointed Maureen Ehrenberg as head of global facilities management for the company’s Global Corporate Services (GCS) group. GCS is CBRE’s FM, project management and consulting business. Ehrenberg recently joined CBRE as senior managing director in its strategic consulting division.

www.fm-world.co.uk/jobs Find the latest facilities management jobs online now!

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Facilities Services

Associate Director of Facilities Services Salary in the range of £58,507 - £71,211 p.a. inc The University of East London is a dynamic and rapidly expanding university at the heart of Europe’s largest regeneration area and adjacent to the site of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

This is an exciting new opportunity for a self-motivated individual to manage the ‘soft’ side services of Facilities Services, covering the activities of timetabling, cleaning, catering, security, energy & waste management, insurance, student residences, conferences, catering, post and insurance at our Docklands and Stratford campuses.

Educated to degree level and professionally qualified, you will have substantial experience and a proven track record

Appointments

at a senior level in facilities services operations management, with experience in the procurement of substantial service contracts, preferably in the public sector. Excellent communication, staff, project and financial management skills are essential, together with strong leadership skills and a commitment to delivering value to clients.

Photograph courtesy of Chris Walters

Call Ali Scott on 020 7324 2787 or email jobs@fm-world.co.uk For full media information take a look at www.fm-world.co.uk/mediapack

To obtain further details about this vacancy, please visit our website at http://jobs.uel.ac.uk/ (reference number 125m2009).

The closing date for applications is 10th December 2009 and interviews are scheduled for 15th January 2010.

CVs will not be accepted without a completed application form.

We are working actively to improve the diversity of our staff.

London 020 7630 7419 Leeds 0113 242 8055

Providing Quality People Senior Building Manager, London W1, £40,000k-£45,000k plus

Facilities Manager, Hertfordshire, to £33,000

beneßts A leading property management ½rm are seeking a Senior Building Manager for a high spec

An International FM Services Provider is looking to recruit an accomplished FM to manage the

multi-tenanted property in Mayfair. The site consists of both of½ce and penthouse residential

delivery of hard and soft services to a corporate client in Hertfordshire. Candidates must have

accommodation. Commercial tenants are international corporates demanding 5* hotel style

a good understanding of the workings of a commercial FM contract, be able to develop strong

property and customer services. Relevant experience, strong relationship building skills and a

client relationships and deliver a quality service at and above SLAs. CVs to russell@c22.co.uk

genuine desire for service excellence are essential. CVs to russell@c22.co.uk

Conference Coordinator, London, £26,000-£28,000, 12 month FM Senior Business Developer, Surrey, £30,000-35,000 plus excellent

contract

package

Become part of a vibrant team delivering ½rst class service to both internal and external clients.

Our client seeks an enthusiastic individual preferably with a mechanical & engineering background to develop new business for this growing company. The key skills required include excellent communication, both written & verbal; excellent customer facing skills; ideally a proven track record in sales; able to hit the ground running, a working knowledge or quali½cation in M&E advantageous. CVs to steve@c22.co.uk

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This role is an exciting and varied position within a Corporate Law Firm within the Technical Conference team.The role involves room bookings for the London Of½ce, organisation of events, AV bookings and set-ups,Video Conferencing,Webex.We are looking for someone with excellent attention to detail, excellent technical experience, great at client facing and the ability to stay calm in dif½cult situations. CVs to steve@c22.co.uk

CORPOR ATE MEMBER

18/11/09 15:53:54

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19/11/09 15:28:53

Business Development Manager

£50k-£90K + Bonus

M&E Engineer

£Negotiable

South East

Northwest

We currently have a number of BD roles throughout the South East of England. If you work within Business Development and would like to hear more about the vast range of opportunities on offer then please get in touch. We are looking for dynamic BD professional interested in joining major players within the FM industry. Some fantastic opportunities

Working for an international leader in the real estate and property markets, you will have a proven track record as an M&E engineer and be capable of responding to planned and reactive maintenance works. You must have full knowledge of HVAC systems and ideally hold a HNC in a relevant discipline.

Head of Operations/Account Manager

£50k-£60k

Fire Systems Director

£65k-£90k

London

Midlands or london

A global giant in the service industry is looking for someone to spearhead the UK operation of this major public sector contract. You will have fantastic leadership qualities and be extremely client facing. Reporting to the Account Director you will have full operational responsibility for the UK and P&L of around £6m. Ideally you will come from and engineering background and have a proven track record within hard services.

You will be tasked to integrate three existing business within fire, access control and security.

You will the head up the newly formed operation to form part of one of the UK’s largest and most successful Service Providers. You will have a strong background in fire systems and be capable of running and growing a £10m operation. The scope for this business is tremendous with internal clients alone. A truly exciting prospect.

Senior Project Manager

£55k-£65k

Business Development Manager

£50k + Bonus

South East

Midlands

You will be responsible for all capitol works on this very lucrative contract. You will have a good understanding of FM and minor works and have a proven track record of delivery. You will form a key part of the senior management team on this Public Sector contract for a market leading FM provider. You will have experience of running teams and meeting tight deadlines

Working for one of the UK’s leading hard services providers you will be responsible for a winning new business to keep in line with growth plans. You will be a proven salesperson with a passion and drive to succeed at the highest level. You will have a strong M&E background and good technical knowledge. Fantastic company culture and career awaits a pro-active BDM. deadlines

Sustaining Your Future in Facilities Management Birmingham: 0121 450 5115 London: 0208 626 5225

Email: info@fmpropertyrecruitment.co.uk Web: www.fmpropertyrecruitment.co.uk

CITY SURVEYOR’S DEPARTMENT

Guildhall Facilities Manager £40,960 - £48,030 pa inclusive of London Weighting (depending on experience and performance) The Guildhall is the historic home of the City of London Corporation which houses 1,110 City of London employees. The Guildhall complex consists of approximately 58,000 square meters which plays host to a diverse range of events which include banquets in honour of visiting Heads of State and other dignitaries, royal occasions and receptions for major historical anniversaries.

In this operational role, you will oversee the management and delivery of facilities services across the Guildhall Complex.

You will also provide specific services to meet the requirements for those events staged at Guildhall. The scope of services for which you will be responsible include security, waste management, cleaning and catering together with a range of contracted services. You will be an excellent communicator liaising with Members, Senior Officers, other City of London departments and contractors.

To be successful, you should have relevant experience in the management and delivery of facilities services within a major multi-functional complex together with exceptional skills in delivering a customer-focused service within a high profile hospitality environment.

You should also be confident in developing services and contributing to change to achieve those objectives set by the City of London. In addition, you should have a commitment to best-practice, have excellent organisational and personnel management skills.

To apply online, please visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/jobs Alternatively, please contact the Corporate Recruitment Unit on 020 7332 3978 (24hr answerphone) or email: cru@cityoflondon.gov.uk quoting reference number SUR094.

A minicom service for the hearing impaired available on 020 7332 3732.

Closing date: 12pm, Monday 21st December 2009.

Interviews will be held w/c Monday 4th January 2010.

We cannot accept CVs without a fully completed application form.

The City of London Corporation is committed to Equal Opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

36 FMworld • 26 November 2009

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19/11/09 10:25:01

King’s College London is one of England’s oldest and most prestigious university institutions: a multi-faculty research-led university college based in the heart of London with over 19,700 students. It is ranked as one of the world’s top 25 universities.

Together its buildings offer almost every conceivable challenge.

The Directorate of Estates is undergoing a restructure based around a new service model, focused on delivering world class campus based services. To drive this change the College is making two new senior management appointments.

Director of Operations

Director of Space Management & MIS

Up to c£85,000 p.a. plus benefits

Up to c£80,000 p.a. plus benefits

Working closely with the Director of Estates, you will provide the College with a 21st Century, integrated Asset Management strategy, with customer focus at the heart of the strategic service delivery. The successful candidate will have experience in the provision of Estates Operations to a large, diverse and historic estate, be an accomplished change manager and have led complex supply chains and driven change programmes to improve service levels. An understanding of the scientific research and healthcare services environment will be beneficial.

The newly formed Space Management & MIS department will seek to improve the way the College utilises its property asset in order to optimise usage and cost effectiveness. Going forward the team will provide the Estates Directorate with expert services and business case management for moves, changes and new projects.

Whilst the College has an effective property/space MIS data system, the current change programme will lead to innovation and review, with the newly formed department being able to support the new, rather than existing service model.

For an informal confidential discussion and a full job description, please contact either Michael Hewlett (Operations) at michael.hewlett@mrgpeople.co.uk or Ben Duffill (Space Management) at ben.duffill@mrgpeople.co.uk All direct or third party applications will be passed to the respective advisors.

The Management Recruitment Group, Three Tuns House, 109 Borough High Street, London SE1 1NL Tel. 020 3056 4018

Senior Appointments for the Built Environment

www.fm-world.co.uk/jobs

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FELICITY MESSING WELL, WHAT CAN I SAY?

Last year the British Heart Foundation produced evidence that if the present obesity trend continues, by 2010 one in four people will be unable to fit into a standard office chair. In response the furniture industry is planning to upgrade the maximum weight a chair can carry from today’s 18 stone to a more generous 25 stone.

Following completion of the new Dallas Opera House, designed by Foster & Partners, the size of the new seats has attracted some attention. The architects have reduced the number of seats from 3,300 in the old opera house to 2,200 in the new one.

They don’t explicitly criticise the size of the average Texan backside but are quoted as saying “people want wider seats, as basically they have bigger bottoms”. One–and–a–half times as big, though? Perhaps they’re giving them

some growing room, as one does with children’s shoes.

Of course, as with all things, size isn’t everything. When it comes to expensive performing arts venues and productions, it’s ticket prices that really matter. The airline industry illustrates a perfect market for seat prices. First you have the basic four prices according to seat quality and size: first class, business class, premium economy and standard. And now the sale price is even linked to market conditions, factoring in timing and supply and demand, all of this controlled and calculated by algorithms in real time.

Forget hotdesking. That is yesterday’s innovation. Now that we have the technology, it can’t be long before office chairs are made available on a ‘pay as you sit’ basis – with a choice of sizes, colours and all sorts of exotic ‘extras’.

Things to say if you’re caught sleeping at your desk:

➲ “They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”

38

➲ “This is just a 15 minute power nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to.”

FMworld • 26 November 2009

Felicity 2.indd 38

➲ “I wasn’t sleeping!

I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm.”

Things I wish I could say at work… ➲ I see you’ve set aside this special

time to humiliate yourself in public. ➲ I’m trying to imagine you with a

personality. ➲ I don’t know what your problem

is, but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce. ➲ I’ll try being nicer if you’ll try being

smarter. ➲ I like you. You remind me of when I

was young and stupid. ➲ I don’t work here. I’m a consultant. ➲ Can I trade this job for what’s

behind door #1?

Play it safe Health and safety is boring. It might not be the most helpful thing for a facilities manager to hear, but that doesn’t make it any less true. And if you try to tell people about boring things, then they won’t listen. (I know this from personal experience: when I talk to people about myself usually they don’t listen.) Repackage things, though, give them a jazzy, sexy rebrand, and all of a sudden people can’t see the boring anymore.

That was clearly the thinking of asbestosremoval company Rhodar when it came up with a health and safety board game. There are counters and dice and yellow cards and questions about risk. And it has a nice square board. Think Monopoly but rubbish and you’ll be somewhere in the right area.

Game effort, pardon the pun, on Rhodar’s part but some things are just impervious to sexing up. Filing, traffic management, Gordon Brown: sometimes no matter how talented the PR people it’s just impossible. I think that health and safety could probably nestle very snugly in the same list.

Anything to add?

Felicity welcomes your contributions, anecdotes, observations and photos so get in touch... felicity@fm-world.co.uk

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