FM World 2011-10-13 by Redactive Media Group

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF FACILITIES MANAGEMENT | 13 OCTOBER 2011

FMWorld www.fm-world.co.uk

FM leads at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS 01_FMW_Cover.indd 1

CASE STUDY:

Gain share at the Home Office

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VOL 8 ISSUE 19 13 OCTOBER 2011

CONTENTS

7 | Death of the office tower?

14 | The FM mergers market

22 | Howard Bridges, Battersea

NEWS

OPINION

FEATURES

6 Food and drinks sector reports cut in water use over recent years 7 Survey predicts that the days of iconic office towers are numbered 8 Project of the Fortnight: Transport pods at Heathrow Airport 10 FM 100 poll: what is the status of your cost-of-accident analysis 12 Business news: Graeme Davies discusses the recent political party conference season 13 SitexOrbis acquired by US security specialist firm VPS 14 Special report on current mergers and acquisitions in FM by David Arminas 16 A report from Worktech 11 Asia by Niels Kemp Rasmussen 18 Charity sector FMs downbeat at annual event as cuts bite

20 Diary of a facilities manager: David Walker’s regular look at the daily challenges he faces in his working life 21 Five minutes with Virginia Newman, CPD director at RIBA 50 Felicity Messing

MONITOR

28 | Home Office gain share

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home: Martin Read finds that the historic pound, which first opened its doors to dogs in 1871, is breeding top class FM

E-Auctions: How e-auctions offer a means for supplier and buyer to meet at the price point that best reflects the value of the job, by Neil Birkbeck

Home Office: A ‘gain share’ system, involving suppliers Amey and BGB, is seeing the Home Office share the rewards of innovation, finds Martin Read

34 Technical: Linoleum is tempting specifiers with its green credentials 32 Legal: An insight into the RIDDOR guidelines covering injury reporting 36 How to: Instigating a carpark strategy can help make an impression

REGULARS 38 BIFM news 44 People & Jobs 47 Appointments For exclusive online content including blogs, videos and daily news updates

visit fm-world.co.uk FM World Jobs – the best place to find FM career opportunities online

visit fm-world.co.uk/jobs COVER IMAGE: John Reynolds

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Redactive Publishing Ltd 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP 020 7880 6200 www.fm-world.co.uk EDITORIAL Tel: 020 7880 6229 email: editorial@fm-world.co.uk editor: Martin Read ⁄ news editor: David Arminas ⁄ sub editor: James Richards ⁄ assistant editor: Natalie Li ⁄art director: Mark Parry ⁄ art editor: Daniel Swainsbury ⁄ picture editor: Sam Kesteven ADVERTISING AND MARKETING email: sales@fm-world.co.uk

MARTIN READ EDITOR COMMENT

LEADER

senior display sales executive: Adam Potter (020 7880 8543) ⁄ display sales executive John Nahar (020 7880 6230) ⁄ recruitment sales executive: Carly Gregory PRODUCTION production manager: Jane Easterman production executive: Aysha Miah PUBLISHING publishing director: Steve Bagshaw Forward features lists and media pack available at www.fm-world.co.uk/about-us SUBSCRIPTIONS BIFM members with FM World subscription or delivery queries should call the BIFM’s membership department on 0845 0581358 FM World is sent to all members of the British Institute of Facilities Management and is available on subscription to nonmembers. Annual subscription rates are UK £110, rest of world £130. To subscribe call 020 8950 9117 or email fm@alliance-media. co.uk – alternatively, you can subscribe online at www.fm-world.co.uk/about-us/ subscribe/ To order the BIFM good practice guides or the FM World Buyers’ Guide to FM Services call Natalie Li on 020 7880 6229. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Simon Ball, business development manager, Interserve ⁄Jason Choy, director, Persus⁄ Ismena Clout, energy consultant, powerPerfector ⁄ Nick Cook, managing director, Haywards ⁄ Rob Greenﬁeld, director for health, safety, environmental and quality, Sodexo ⁄ Anne Lennox Martin, FM consultant ⁄ Peter McLennan, joint course director, MSc Facility Environment and Management, University College London ⁄ Lionel Prodgers, principal, Agents4FM ⁄ Chris Stoddart, general manager, Heron Tower ⁄ Jeremy Waud, managing director, Incentive FM ⁄ Jane Wiggins, FM Tutor and author ⁄ Chris Wood, senior associate at Advanced Workplace Associates

Average net circulation 11,357 (Jul 10 – Jun 11) FM World magazine is produced using paper derived from sustainable sources; the ink used is vegetable based; 85 per cent of other solvents used in the production process are recycled © 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 the 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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o what is gain share? Taken at face value, it seems an entirely sensible idea: the client agrees with its service provider that any savings made on energy consumption across the client’s portfolio are split between both parties. The service provider is incentivised, the client gets to put a massive tick in the CSR box and an extra few tonnes of carbon are prevented from entering the atmosphere. What’s not to like? The Home Office is in the second year of just such a deal with two of its service providers, Amey and British Gas Business. It’s piqued significant interest in the public sector and beyond. You can read about how the three year contract works on page 28. Cynics might point to the complexity inherent in such arrangements: the initial horse trading required to agree a starting point from which to measure subsequent success; the onus on the service provider to provide capital funds for new equipment (in the Home Office case); the enhanced element of trust; and the additional levels of administration needed to document the difference between old and new. Like so many good ideas, the devil is in the volume of additional detail. You won’t need to look too hard to find pundits concerned that gain share is too much risk for too little reward. And certainly, it’s a high risk strategy for the supplier, who risks miscalculating the success of energy-saving initiatives to end up out of pocket. Indeed, this kind of arrangement requires many such initiatives if it is to work, with each additional initiative meaning yet more exposure to risk. Perhaps all of that is true. But right now, the rhetoric from the three parties involved in the Home Office deal is entirely positive. The world needs a few colourful splashes of unadulterated optimism, so let’s imagine that gain share deals might actually satisfy some of this sector’s long-running sores. Longer contracts, for instance? We often decry clients’ knee-jerk rush to switch providers just so that their eggs are in multiple baskets. But under gain share, interested parties are obliged to report routinely and discuss performance in more granular detail. There must be an argument that the level of communication required on gain share contracts and the way in which suppliers are tied in together, could lead to longer and more fruitful relationships between contractor and client. On the ground floor, there’s greater operative involvement and fewer more consistent decisions on critical equipment, such as building management systems. Of course, energy management contracts can be based on the empirical data of past performance – the bills. For other FM services, an initial performance baseline can be more difficult to find. But it’s worth wondering if gain share isn’t, in fact, where BS 11000 comes in. If the collaboration standard means anything, it’s this from the BSI description of the new standard: “a consistent and structured approach to facilitate a focus on integration of collaborative working within operational procedures, processes and systems”. Sounds like the minimum stipulation for a successful gain share agreement to me.

“THE SERVICE PROVIDER IS INCENTIVISED, THE CLIENT TICKS THE CSR BOX AND TONNES OF CARBON ARE PREVENTED FROM ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE. WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?”

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SECURITY

DAVID ARMINAS newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

Food and drink manufacturers that have committed to using less water are reporting a 12 per cent reduction in water used per tonne of product made. Overall, 2010 saw signatories to the Federation House Commitment (FHC) reduce their water use – excluding that in product – by 5.3 per cent when compared to 2007, according to an annual report. The amount used in 2007 was 24.2 million cubic metres. Last year, it had fallen to 22.9 million cubic metres. The 5.3 per cent reduction is equivalent to almost 1.3 million cubic metres, or 520 Olympic swimming pools, noted the 21-page report. “This reduction is impressive considering that production for these sites increased by 7.5 per cent in 2010, while water usage – excluding that in product – per tonne of product decreased by a significant 11.9 per cent.” The FHC, set up by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), has been running for three years. Between April 2010 and March 2011, 16 companies signed up to the FHC, bringing the total to 54 active signatories across 245 sites engaged in making on-site improvements to reduce their water use. WRAP operates in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to help businesses reduce and develop sustainable products and use resources in an efficient way. “These figures are a clear sign that the food and drink industry is making good steps towards achieving the ambitious target 06 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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of a 20 per cent water saving by 2020,” said Liz Goodwin, WRAP chief executive. “It’s also encouraging to see the strong increase in signatories signing up to the agreement. The benefits of the voluntary approach are that the organisations involved secure a corporate commitment to specific targets that are integrated into business strategies. Signatories also benefit from access to technical expertise and through peer working groups.” According to WRAP guidelines, signatories to the FHC make a pledge to assess water use at each manufacturing site by mapping water use, developing a sitespecific action plan, report annual water and cost savings and share best practice. The report includes three case studies, one of which is Cott Beverages. The business reported

ANALYSIS

Water, water, everywhere? DAVID ARMINAS

With a lot of media coverage focusing on cutting carbon, counting H2O molecules gets forgotten. So the report from WRAP is a wake-up call for organisations not to forget the liquid stuff. Efficient use of water, regardless of any environmental issues, can offer a handsome financial payback, as the WRAP report shows. But is it worth saving water if you are an office occupier, one with only a floor or two?

ISTOCK

Food sector cuts water use by 5 per cent

a saving of £52,000 a year as a result of using a water recovery and re-circulation system. Among the 16 new signatories to the FHC are food distribution

The answer is yes, says Paul Edwards, chairman of the environment and sustainability group at the British Council for Offices. “Savings can be substantial for offices, but the problem is water is too cheap,” he told FM World. The cost of retrofitting largescale, water-saving technology such as grey water and black water systems is expensive. The result Scan code for FM World’s digest of security news, features and reference material

business Brake Bros, chocolate maker Thorntons, processed food manufacturer HJ Heinz Company and meat production firm Oscar Mayer.

is payback periods of up to 20 years, said Edwards who is also head of sustainability at property developer Hammerson. However, more and more new developments have these expensive technologies designed in – a much better financial prospect, he said. Hammerson has had water-saving targets for its new build for the past four years. FMs should not forget about the low-cost technology that can be retrofitted, such as flowmeters and low-flush toilets. In one Hammerson project, waterless urinals saved up to 58 percent of the entire water bill.

www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 16:56:21

Survey predicts death of iconic office towers

BRIEFS BIFM modular courses ISTOCK

The days of the iconic office tower are numbered, according to a survey of developers, occupiers and industry bodies. Demand for office space will rise in the next 20 years, but the size of offices will decrease, says the survey by engineering consultancy hurleypalmerflatt. The result will be for fewer large, speculative office developments and more incremental development, according to 64 per cent of respondents. People will be working in smaller, more flexible and adaptable spaces very close to public transport and with advanced IT systems embedded into the building’s fabric. This will lead to fewer iconic buildings being constructed,

NEWS

“Occupiers are unable to commit to long leases and are increasingly demanding smaller, flexible and adaptable spaces better suited to the modern agile workforce. The future’s small and efficient and not about iconic buildings or trophy assets.” Meanwhile, the vast majority of respondents – 92 per cent – believed legislation is the key to reducing carbon. Hurleypalmerflatt surveyed 116 senior managers from major occupiers, blue chip developers and industry bodies on a confidential basis between during 12 May to 29 June 2011.

according to 62 per cent of respondents. And 98 per cent of respondents said the decline in construction will also be due to economic uncertainties and less capital being invested into large projects. Stuart Bowman, energy and sustainability director at hurleypalmerflatt, said the trend is happening already. “We are seeing a fundamental shift in office design as a direct consequence of the economic downturn and the current uncertainty will have a major impact on the next generation of offices,” he said.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

M&S fined £1m for asbestos breaches Marks and Spencer has been fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £600,000 for breaching health and safety rules over asbestos removal. Three of the retailer’s contractors have also been fined for putting members of the public, staff and construction workers at risk of exposure to asbestos-containing materials during the refurbishment of two stores in Reading and Bournemouth. In July, M&S was found guilty of offences during the work carried out in 2006 and 2007. PA Realisations was fined £200 and principal contractor Styles & Wood fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,000 for breaches that took place at the Marks and www.fm-world.co.uk

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ISTOCK

DAVID ARMINAS newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

Spencer store in Broad Street, Reading. Willmott Dixon Construction was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £75,000 for offences at the Marks and Spencer store in Commercial Road, Bournemouth. Sentencing took place in Bournemouth Crown Court.

Willmott Dixon Construction is applying for permission to appeal against conviction, according to a statement by the Health and Safety Executive. During the three-month trial, which ended in July, Winchester Crown Court heard that construction workers at the two stores removed asbestoscontaining materials that were present in the ceiling tiles and elsewhere. The court heard that Marks and Spencer, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store. The contractors had to work overnight in enclosures on the shop floor, with the aim of completing small areas of asbestos removal before the shop opened to the public each day.

The BIFM has launched an interactive online learning portal, SkillZone, to help FM professionals develop essential knowledge and skills. Subjects for the eight online courses include negotiation skills, advanced negotiation, key performance indicators, conversations with customers, managing professionals for results, budgeting in the real world, innovation and strategic thinking. Students can fit the modular courses, developed with distance educator Nelson Croom, around their jobs. Until 30 November, the BIFM is offering three-for-two when purchasing courses. Contact the BIFM on skillzone@bifm. org.uk or call 0845 058 1356

Minimum wages rise The adult minimum wage rose on by 15p on 1 October, reaching £6.08 an hour. The rate, announced by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) in April, also sees a boost for 18 to 20-year-olds – up by 6p to £4.98 an hour. For 16 to 17-year-olds, the rate rose 4p to £3.68 an hour, while apprentices get 10p more, making their minimum wage £2.60 an hour. More than 890,000 of Britain’s lowest-paid workers will gain from the changes made this week, the LPC said.

Universities to collaborate The higher education sector should aim to put 30 per cent of its indirect spend through collaborative procurement, according to the report Efficiency and Effectiveness in Higher Education, published by UUK, the sector’s representative body. The driver for improved buying should be the Strategic Procurement Group, set up as part of UUK in 2008. The SPG should be set up by the coming spring, have senior-level membership with a vicechancellor as chair and be staffed with representatives from both the public and private sector.

Big plans for Little Chef Little Chef is rolling out 126 electricvehicle charging points in its restaurant car parks across its UK estate. It will be the biggest deployment of charging points by any restaurant chain worldwide, according to a Little Chef statement. The project is being carried out with SSE, a generator of renewable energy, and Chargemaster, a provider of charging technology. Work will be completed by the spring and charging will be free until December 2012, paid for by Little Chef and SSE. FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 07

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PROJECT OF THE

FORTNIGHT NEWS BULLETIN

The incredible shrinking lunch hour The office lunch hour is only 21 minutes on average, according to a survey. Almost a quarter of people eat lunch at their work desks, noted the eating habits survey from independent contract catering group Westbury Street Holdings. Lunch is a sandwich, 30 per cent of respondents said, or a salad, according to 11 per cent of respondents. When it comes to drinks and snacks, tea is by far the most popular hot drink. Those choosing coffee go for instant, with lattes second. At dinner time, 62 per cent of respondents said they eat in front of the TV. The average time spent eating dinner is 27 minutes and 6 seconds, while the average time spent eating breakfast is 12 minutes and 24 seconds. Just over half of parents pack school lunches for their children, with 38 per cent going for school lunches and 6 per cent for lunch outside school.

Workers turn a blind eye to grubby keyboards

HEATHROW

Pods take over from buses at Heathrow Servest Group has won the cleaning contract for the futuristic ‘pod’ transport system recently launched at Heathrow Airport. The personal rapid transport (PRT) pods, from Bristol-based developers Ultra PRT, carry people from the business car park to Terminal 5 – a distance of 2.4 miles, with a travelling time of five minutes. The Heathrow system – the first commercial installation of the pods – consists of 21 low-energy, battery-powered, driverless vehicles capable of carrying four passengers and their luggage along a raised concrete track. The pod system could be expanded to other terminals, its creator and former rocket scientist Professor Martin Lowson told FM World. The pods receive power and operational signals by picking up electronic signals from rails buried under the floor of the concrete trough through which they travel. They also pick up signals that alert the pod to an object that may be in the way, Lowson explained. The pods are “very, very smooth”, one passenger on the system told FM World. Passengers operate the vehicle through a touch-screen and there are no stops along the way. Trials of the system started last April with operating hours gradually increased to 22 hours a day in May. Around 63,000 people had used the system prior to the official launch, according to airport operator BAA. BAA has now withdrawn the bus service from the car park and around 800 people use the pod system daily instead. Ultra PRT has pitched systems similar to the Heathrow set-up to 10 cities and airports in the US, including San Jose, Ithaca in New York State, Raleigh in North Carolina and Hillsboro in Oregon. It is also in talks with Amritsar, India. Ultra PRT began developing the system in 1995, in association with the University of Bristol. Servest is also cleaning the stations for the pod system.

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Two-thirds of office workers admitted, in a survey, to eating lunch at their work-stations, but half were unaware of bacterial problems that can result. Around 56 per cent of office workers also said they had a colleague with a grimy desk. However, only 40 per cent of those surveyed “had the courage to approach their messy colleague about cleaning their desk”, noted the survey carried out on behalf of Viking a direct-mail office supplies business aimed at small- to-medium sized organisations, owned by Office Depot. Around 300 swab samples were taken at large multi-national companies, small businesses, schools, hospitals and police stations and analysed in an independent UCAS-approved laboratory.

Restaurant sets up prisoner mentoring The Clink Charity, a commercial restaurant operating inside a British prison, has launched an ex-offender career-mentoring scheme. The Clink operates what it claims is the ‘first public-access restaurant’ in the prison regime at Her Majesty’s Prison High Down, Surrey and has trained 84 prisoners to date. Prisoners who have qualified as chefs and waiters and have some practical kitchen and restaurant experience at The Clink, will receive professional support and guidance after leaving prison. The mentoring scheme takes place in conjunction with Springboard, an educational charity. Mentoring will include three or four visits by an assigned mentor during the prisoner’s last month in prison and include an interview with the prisoner’s prospective employer, if they have one.

Filipinos set sights on solar lights People in a small town near Manila in the Philippines are using a locally made sustainable light source for their homes, ‘solar bottles’, which emit around 55 watts of light. An ordinary plastic bottle is filled with water and a capful or two of bleach. A malleable metal sheet, about a foot square, has a whole cut in the centre where the plastic water bottle is tightly fitted. A little grouting goes around the contact area of the bottle and sheeting to keep out rain. The bottle is then inserted through the metal corrugated roof. The bottle hangs about two-thirds into the room below. Sunlight filters through the externally exposed part of the bottle and is diffused through the water, making bright light in the room. Around 1,000 bottles have been installed to allow for a ‘new living standard’ in previously dark rooms, where the occupiers either had no electricity or could not afford to use it if they were hooked up. The solar lights have the added environmentally friendly aspect of recycling discarded plastic bottles. www.fm-world.co.uk

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FM 100 POLL

WE ASKED 100 FMS… Knowing how much an accident really costs is useful to all companies, regardless of size

Nearly half of FMs in the latest FM 100 Poll admit to never analysing the cost of an accident to their organisation. But 40 per cent of respondents said they regularly analyse the cost, and “to the n-th degree”. Another 5 per cent of respondents said that they had done it in the past and intended to do so again. Ten per cent of respondents said it was not an issue for them. Just because an FM has not analysed the cost of an accident, it doesn’t mean he or

she is negligent, one respondent suggested. “A technical organisation with a large semi-controlled workforce needs to undertake analysis as part of their responsibility to their staff to identify and minimise risk,” he said. “Whereas, a small-to-medium non-technical organisation would rightly consider such analysis a waste of resources.” But another FM in a small-tomedium-sized business (SME) believes SMEs are exactly the ones which need to know the

Never No analysed it significant(45%) change in staffing levels (27%) Our analysis is old (5%) Not a hot Less topic stafffor us(60%) (10%) More staff (13%)We analyse this issue regularly (40%)

true cost of an accident. “With margins tight and a close eye being kept on overheads, we do not have ‘spare’ people in our business,” she said. “This means we work very hard to avoid accidents and if and when anything does occur we record it, investigate it thoroughly and then issue what we call ‘lessons learnt’ guidance.” The same correspondent said that this approach, paying particular attention to why accidents happen, has taken

absence through injury at her organisation to a record low. Our poll comes following a call by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) for businesses that have estimated the cost of accidents and ill health to contact them. IOSH is compiling information for use as a guide to help businesses estimate the cost of an accident. Any data supplied is kept confidential, IOSH said.

Boris puts £8.5m towards Spurs site Universities need

NDP

DAVID ARMINAS newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has offered Tottenham Hotspur FC £8.5 million towards the regeneration cost of the area around the Premier League team’s proposed stadium in Haringey. Of the £8.5 million, £5 million will be for “vital infrastructure and public realm works”. Funding of £3.5 million has been earmarked for key improvements to transport links to and from the area at Tottenham Hale and White Hart Lane stations. Haringey Council has offered to match London’s £8.5 million in an effort to ensure the club remains in the borough, in the hope that the project kick-starts major regeneration in the area. The total package of £17 million is ring-fenced for regeneration in and around the Tottenham area and is not intended to fund development of the stadium itself. A statement from the mayor’s

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office said that Johnson and the leader of Haringey Council, Claire Kober, have urged the club to press ahead with their proposal to build a new stadium at Northumberland Park, next to their historic ground in White Hart Lane, now that Haringey has approved the plans. Earlier this month FM World reported that an agreement by Tottenham Hotspur to pay £17 million for local transport and infrastructure improvements has cleared the way for the club’s proposed stadium. The agreement was the last hurdle for planning permission for the £400 million stadium called the Northumberland Development Project. The joint offer totalling £17 million is seen as an inducement for Tottenham to confirm that it will go ahead with the stadium. The club has not confirmed it will go ahead with the new stadium because it is also

to collaborate

Spurs: fighting for Olympic Stadium

contesting its unsuccessful bid to use Olympic Stadium after the 2012 London games are finished. Tottenham Hotspur remains locked in a legal challenge to the decision to award West Ham use of the Olympic Stadium from 2014. If the review is successful, the government would have to re-run the tender. But if Tottenham decides to go with a new stadium, it would drop its legal challenge for the Olympic Stadium.

The higher education sector should aim to put 30 per cent of its indirect spend through collaborative procurement, according to Universities UK (UUK). The sector must step up collaborative purchasing to save more money, according to the report Efficiency and Effectiveness in Higher Education, published by UUK, the sector’s representative body. The driver for improved buying should be the Strategic Procurement Group, set up as part of UUK in 2008. The SPG should provide “highlevel leadership and strategic co-ordination” in developing purchasing across national higher education sectors in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to meet the target. A refocused SPG should be set up by spring 2012. www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:14:48

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Extensive indoor and outdoor break-out space, high quality syndicates, and availability of free parking spaces are just a few more reasons why clients choose us. Food is also important to us, and our commitment to sourcing the best produce available has contributed to so many of our restaurants being consistently recognised with AA Rosette Awards. Here are 3 perfect examples:

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ANALYSIS

Politicians scrape barrel to feed confidence GRAEME DAVIES newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

The mood of the body politic in the UK is one of thinly disguised concern over the weakening state of the UK economy, if the recently finished party conference season is anything to go by. True, there was the usual political posturing and point scoring as each party sought to blame the other for our economic woes and talk up their own solutions to the malaise. But the overriding sense was of politicians scratching around for ways of renewing and revitalising the UK economy as slowing growth threatens to collide with weakening employment and business investment figures to push the UK back into to recession. Indeed, scaremongerers such as Ed Balls used the party conference to issue dire warnings of a ‘lost decade’ for the UK if the government does not slow down its austerity drive and revive spending on infrastructure. The parties of the coalition government were more circumspect and, in the main, toed the line of sticking to ‘plan A’ of deficit reduction at all costs, but there were signs even from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives that they are seeking to find funds to plough into capital projects with the aim of long-term job creation. The Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander claimed he had 12 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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identified £500m of loose change in the form of underspend by various government departments that could be redirected to capital projects meanwhile Chancellor George Osborne proposed vacuuming up unspent allocations to give further relief on council tax to households and to boost housebuilding. Deal, but no new deal But this is by no stretch of the imagination a ‘New Deal’ for the UK and its infrastructure sector, the sums mooted are far too modest to be transformative. Obviously any additional spending will be welcomed by private sector providers, including

companies in the FM sector who have benefited from such spending over the past two decades. Such political strategies are not new. Indeed this trick has been tried time and again around the world in times of economic strife and such amounts are merely a short term sticking plaster at best. The main problem in the UK at the moment is private sector business confidence, which appears to be at rock bottom. True, some sectors are performing creditably, but very few are expressing any confidence about the future. With global economic worries growing, business confidence is brittle at best and the banks are becoming increasingly unwilling to lend to all but the safest of bets, which means small and medium businesses are seeing growth opportunities choked off by a lack of capital, a scenario which is beginning to have worrying echoes of 2008. But what can government do?

Very little in such circumstances, to be honest. It can cajole and encourage and break down regulatory barriers such as the recent dramatic simplification of the planning laws, but it can’t force businesses to invest and banks to lend. That requires a confidence among the business classes that just isn’t there at the moment. Nonetheless, some FM’s are still riding the wave of outsourcing and will be looking to grab more infrastructure construction and management work and this is welcome. Furthermore, a renewed wave of cost cutting in the private sector could also benefit service providers as more companies look to lighten their balance sheets. So FM may not be too badly placed in the wider scheme of things, but the next year is not going to be much fun for any of us, especially if the eurozone crisis worsens or the US economy falters further. Graeme Davies writes for Investors Chronicle

Contract wins

NEW BUSINESS After a three-year break, Portico is back at London’s Tower 42 providing front-of-house and guest services. The contract at the 183-metre (600-foot) skyscraper sees more than 500 daily visitors and 2,000 occupiers pass through the entrance. Mitie and G4S have been awarded contracts by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for total FM services in England and Wales. The contracts start 1 February 2012 and have basic revenue of around £40 million a year, and up to £25 million of project work annually.

Security firm Legion Group has renewed its contract with Petroplus Coryton Refinery in Essex for a further three years. Mitie has secured a £350 million minor works and maintenance contract with the West Midlands Construction Framework. The fouryear contract, with two two-year extension options, includes reactive and planned repair and maintenance to all non-housing council-owned buildings, mainly in the Birmingham City Council South area.

Integral has won a five-year hard FM contract for all the sites of National Grid Property, the estate management division of National Grid. NG Bailey has won a three-year deal to maintain Overgate Shopping Centre in Dundee. The agreement between the facilities services division of NG Bailey and the owner, Land Securities, is for mechanical, electrical and building fabric maintenance. Wrexham council has awarded north-west social housing maintenance specialist Forrest an £18 million contract to fit solar panels to 3,000 homes. Property consultant Alder King has signed up Inviron to provide planned preventative, reactive and building fabric maintenance at 22 sites across the south west. www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:15:29

Mark Silver, group chief executive, VPS

BUSINESS BRIEFS

SitexOrbis acquired by US security specialist Vacant property management business VPS has bought SitexOrbis Holdings. With operations in the US and Europe, the enlarged VPS Group will have a turnover of £200 million and manage more than 90,000 properties, according to a VPS statement. The merged European business will have a turnover of £100 million, with 1,300 employees. It will operate from nearly 100 locations in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. There will be no changes to the US operations of VPS Group,

although “the acquisition will benefit customers with a global requirement”, noted the statement. VPS is owned by TDR Capital, a London-based private equity firm. SitexOrbis has an annual turnover of around £50 million for all its operations and employs more than 700 people. “The acquisition of SitexOrbis establishes VPS as a leading player in the provision of vacant property security and services,” said VPS Group chief executive officer Mark Silver. David Walker, chief executive of SitexOrbis, said the deal is “a unique window of opportunity to

create a truly focused proposition for vacant property owners and managers”. The deal awaits finalisation because it was voluntarily submitted to the Office of Fair Trading, Walker told FM World. He has no fear of it being refused but the enlarged group wants a stamp of approval for it. The mergers and acquisitions market is entering a much more “sane” era, said Walker. “The froth has gone from the market.” Walker was managing director of Chesterton Workplace Management, the outsourced FM department of Fujitsu that became part of JSG. Walker was delivering mergers and acquisitions for JSG for more than three years before joining Orbis in 2008. (See our M&A feature, page 14.)

Healthy margins push up Kier profits

www.fm-world.co.uk

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statement said. “The order books are at a healthy £2.03 billion to 30 June 2011 (2010: £2.13 billion). This figure does not include potential contract extensions, which could add approximately £750 million if all were exercised by our customers.” Kier’s maintenance business alone saw revenues increase by 2 per cent to £351 million (2010: £344 million), despite the budget restrictions that are now affecting local authorities. Among the division’s larger contracts was an extension to a partnership with Sheffield City Council, known as Kier Sheffield LLP, for another year to 2014, with a value of £64 million. “We have also secured the remainder of Sheffield City Council’s Decent

Homes Programme for the threeyear period to 2014, with a value of up to £27 million over the period.” For the group, revenue for the year at nearly £2.18 billion was slightly higher than last year (£2.1 billion). Operating profit for the group, before the amortisation of intangible assets, was 23 per cent ahead of last year at £71.1 million (2010: £57.7 million, excluding homes land transaction).

ALAMY

Operating profit soared 23 per cent at Kier Group on the back of strong operating margins in its construction and services businesses. Preliminary results for the year to 30 June 2011 showed revenue for its services division rose 3 per cent to £484 million (2010: £471 million) with growth, in particular, in maintenance and environmental contracts. Operating profit for the division, before deducting the amortisation of intangibles of £3.4 million, increased to £21.7 million (2010: £21.4 million). The division’s operating margin remained “resilient” at 4.5 per cent, the same as for year-end 2010. Cash balances were ”healthy” at £28 million (2010: £32 million), the

Kier shows steely resolve in Sheffield

Compass trading update Fourth quarter organic revenue growth for Compass Group is expected to be over 4 per cent, according to a trading update. For the full year, including the contribution from acquisitions, revenue growth is expected to be around 9 per cent and organic revenue growth is likely to be around 5 per cent, noted the statement. The underlying rate of business retention is around 94 per cent. Results for the year up to 30 September will be announced on 23 November.

Carmarthen framework Carmarthenshire County Council is looking for contractors to join a £100 million framework agreement for residential construction work including major renovations. The authority has around 9,000 properties and has embarked on what it says is “an ambitious business plan to deliver the home standard by 2015”. A major aspect of the work will be to boost the number of apprenticeships on offer, according to the authority. In addition, the authority has embarked on a ‘Modernising Education Programme’ covering its 115 primary and 14 secondary schools, for which contractors will be considered.

Minimum wage rises The adult minimum wage rose on Saturday 1 October by 15p, reaching £6.08 an hour. The rate for 18- to 20-year-olds has gone up by 6p to £4.98 an hour, while for 16- to 17-year-olds the rate has risen by 4p to £3.68 an hour. Apprentices get 10p more, making their minimum wage £2.60 an hour. FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 13

6/10/11 15:15:40

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ANALYSIS

Market sober due to bank caution Gone are the days of ‘buy-quick and-sell-on-almost-as-quickly’. Mergers and acquisitions are still happening, but it’s a much more sober market, according to financial analysts and FMs with an ear to the ground. Banks aren’t lending as much and a lot more due diligence is going on, meaning deals take longer – if they happen at all. During the early part of the recession, buyers were attracted to FM businesses because of contractual earnings and an expected increase in outsourcing, says Eleanor Wilkinson, a director at Livingstone Partners LLP. For all sectors, M&S activity eventually tailed off and picked up again. But because FM businesses were “late in, late out” of the recession, there’s been significantly fewer FM transactions than usual. A notable buy-out in 2011 was Sala International. LDC, the leading mid-market private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, bought a majority stake for £11.5 million in the document archiving and records storage business. “We would expect further management buy-outs [MBOs] and bolt-on transactions for businesses already backed by private equity as most private equity houses have cash to spend and a shortage of quality assets to pursue,” says Wilkinson. “It is the houses with experience and understanding of the FM sector that we expect to continue to be active in this space, including LDC and Lyceum Partners.” 14 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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PHOTOLIBRARY

DAVID ARMINAS newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk

Also in 2012, private equity firms can be expected to be sellers as well as buyers, says Wilkinson. “A number of FM businesses have had institutional backing for more than three years and pressure is building for private equity houses to show returns on their investments.” At the top end, large trade buyers – acquisitive private support services companies – and private equity firms remain active, especially to improve their geographical spread or gain market share, says Jonathan Harrison, managing director of Robert W Baird Investment Banking. Compass picked up UK manned security business Vision Security Group in August and Sodexo bought Puras do Brasil

in Brazil in September. The ¤525 million purchase of Puras do Brasil, founded 30 years ago and a major FM player, was part of Sodexo’s strategy to move into or grow nascent businesses in emerging markets, the company said. Puras do Brasil has revenues of around ¤500 million and employs 22,000 people across 1,300 sites. Many of these acquisitions are plug-and-play purchases – bolton businesses for the big players. But deals at all levels are taking longer to be cemented, such as the acquisition of SitexOrbis and vacant property specialist VPS. The two companies circled each other for more than a year, says Harrison. The owners of SitexOrbis

“At the top end, large trade buyers and private equity firms remain active, to improve their geographical spread”

were looking to exit a market and another investment group, TDR, was wanting to grow their business, VPS, within that market (see comment by David Walker, right). Because of general economic uncertainty, there is a greater mismatch between stock market valuations and offers, said Harrison. “Before the recession hit, companies were asking for up to 10 times their earnings before tax knowing that buyers could borrow such high multiples.” Companies are still asking – at least at the start of M&A negotiations – a high price based on earlier higher stock market evaluations. But debt financing is much more difficult and buyers are lowering their offers accordingly. For this reason, deals are taking longer as the two sides haggle to meet somewhere in the middle, or the seller eventually withdraws www.fm-world.co.uk

5/10/11 15:46:54

the business from the market. One such company to watch is Herbert T Forrest, the public and private sector social housing business based in Preston, which recently won a major contract that will see it install solar power on social housing. In May, Herbert T Forrest owners LDC appointed Rothschilds, the investment bank, “to review strategic options”, according to H T Forrest. Harrison believes H T Forrest is likely to appeal to private equity firms and trade buyers within the sector. The high-profile collapses in the past year of Rok and Connaught – two large players that left their contracts to be picked over by competitors – are stark reminders that market-share doesn’t ensure survival in the social housing sector. Indeed, margins are small so buyers must be familiar with how to make efficiencies. This is even more important because of the ongoing local government budget cuts that could squeeze margins even further.

Green gold? One area where M&A activity is likely to remain high is the energy efficiency and consultancy market. Bosses are interested in energy efficiency, says Harrison. Energy-related businesses grab the attention of acquisitive chief executives, chief finance officers and chief operating officers (the ‘c-suite’) due to the drive to cut energy costs. The past year saw several energy management M&As and such businesses will continue to be sought after, says Wilkinson. Three of the energy related deals in 2011 were M&C Energy Group’s acquisition of Utility Masters – a continuation of its private equity-funded buy-and-build strategy – Carillion’s purchase of Eaga and Balfour Beatty’s takeover of Power Efficiency. www.fm-world.co.uk

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Viewpoint: Martin Corbett

CLOSER SCRUTINY BY BANKS AND FIRMS here’s a lot more caution in the M&A market, says Martin Corbett, managing director and founder of Derwent FM, the facilities division of not-for-profit Derwent Living, the Derby-based social housing provider. Gone are the days of getting funding from banks with only a couple pages of A4 explaining the purchase – it’s more like a 100 pages, says Corbett who was managing director of Operon FM before it collapsed and whose job included looking for acquisitions. The market will remain tight for three to five

years, Corbett believes. There will still be aggressive, predatory firms. But even these companies will want to see the fine print of long-term contracts as part of their due diligence. Because money is tighter, the difficulty and cost of integrating the acquisition could kill off a potential M&A, he says. A good cultural fit could greatly influence a potential M&A deal. Similarly, the prospect of a drawn-out rebranding to merge two culturally very different businesses into one could push down offering prices, or even scuttle a deal.

Viewpoint: David Walker

BIG FISH SQUEEZING OUT SMALL IN FM MARKET t’s a much more sane M&A market now, in the age of “Connaught, plus one”, says David Walker, group chief executive of SitexOrbis. “The froth has gone from the market,” explains Walker, a diedin-the- wool FM who is also steeped in M&A activity. He was managing director of Chesterton Workplace Management, the outsourced FM department of Fujitsu, a £200 million operation with 900 employees; that became part of JSG. Walker was delivering mergers and acquisitions for JSG for more than three years before joining Orbis in 2008. It’s been a year since social housing business Connaught collapsed, leaving various social housing firms picking over its contracts. Rok soon followed Connaught to the wall. The problem in that the market is one of big versus small. Larger FM companies or fund management firms look to acquire smaller FM providers, but many are contracting to the big players – Mears, Inspace, Morrison, Kinetic and Apollo. These larger players squeeze the margins of the FM subcontractors, meaning they have a financially precarious life. Even for the big players, as we saw with

Connaught and Rok, the social housing sector is a high-risk environment, says Walker. It will remain so in the years ahead of local authority budget cuts. “Generally, it’s increasingly difficult to do traditional leverage buy-outs in any market,” he says. “Several years ago you could borrow six or seven times the earnings before tax, grow the business a bit and sell it off for a nice profit. “But now, banks are inclined to ask for the buyer to put in half the equity of the purchase, a move requiring much more vision where the buyer must show good strategic reasons to the shareholders for the high investment. You are literally putting your own money where your mouth is now.” This may make for less M&A activity in the next year, but the deals may be less risky and more for the long term. No more flipping businesses for a little profit. The coming together of SitexOrbis and TDC Capital, whose business VPS Holdings made the acquisition, is a case in point. Discussions went on for a year. VPS and SitexOrbis both get more UK clients, VPS accesses SitexOrbis clients in Europe and SitexOrbis gets a foothold in the US. It’s a deal for the long term, he says. FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 15

5/10/11 15:47:13

FM FEATURE WORKTECH 11 ASIA

EASTERN BLOCK?

Niels Kemp Rasmussen finds some good ideas, but not enough decision-makers at Worktech 11 Asia uilding design and agile working were the hot concepts at Worktech 11 Asia this year. Held in Singapore on 29 September, the conference had the theme ‘Connected buildings, connecting people and agile working’. It drew a sizeable crowd of corporate real estate representatives (CREs) and suppliers to the new Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre to discuss the latest workplace trends. The presentations and panel discussions were grouped into five areas in which different perspectives were shared: ● Connected real estate ● Digital clusters ● Connecting and collaborating ● Working finance ● Attracting and retaining talent

DREAMSTIME

This allowed participants to hear about developer challenges and the digital focus of connecting ourselves with our workspaces, with references to various workplace solutions in the world of banks and technology. Interesting research and facts were shared too, especially in the context of what the researchers in furniture and interior design

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companies are doing and how they see the world of work. Challenges were also thrown out to the delegates about intergenerational conflicts. They were asked: ‘Is the death of the owned desk finally approaching?’

What, no Asia? The conference was managed professionally and most of the presentations were valid and interesting. However, it was disappointing that there was not more of a focus on Asia, especially since the event was being delivered in the middle of South-East Asia. Only Unilever presented in full on its ‘Agility at work’ project in Singapore. Other Asian examples were only drawn upon through the panel discussions, with references to two major regional banks and brief examples of Cisco and SAP’s workplace initiatives. This meant the conference saw more of a sharing of generic viewpoints than any Asiaspecific perspectives. This allowed for only snippets of discussion regarding how Asia differs to the rest of the world. One example was that projects in the US may focus on decreasing footprint, whereas in Asia the discussion is on how footprints

may have to increase to deliver collaboration areas in already dense office spaces. Perhaps the most interesting presentation was Accenture’s case study involving a recent project in its Houston office. The cultural differences between Texas and Singapore are enormous, but nevertheless the journey on which the company embarked with its Houston collaboration project – including getting the necessary leadership buy-in for the radical change required – was just as relevant. Otherwise, while new ground is apparently not being cut in Asia, it certainly is in Sydney, where ‘activity-based working’ is in place at a major bank. That is indeed an impressive evolution, especially for a bank, although architecture practice Woods Bagot was probably right to sound a note of caution against blind copying of such initiatives in other sectors. The matching of both client culture and desired outcome may have been unique in this case. Worktech Asia’s organisers did a great job of getting the CRE community engaged and sharing their learning. However, I can’t help find it puzzling that in spite of more than two decades of intense workplace strategy development across the globe,

the ability for organisations to get engaged with what happens in their workspaces still seem to be lacking. CRE professionals and their suppliers know the themes intimately, yet we never seems to be able to move the agenda beyond what happens to the real estate and its space. Costs and management buy-in are still big parts of the debate.

Lack of leadership Where are the chief executives and heads of HR? Haven’t they seen the light? Are we quietly pretending that we represent their views in full or are we ignoring the possibility that they don’t really get it? Either way, we could all do with more involvement of top-level decision-makers. After all, the panel of Bank CREs agreed that good workplace projects start with business transformation, which enables the workspace change. Why can’t we hear about how the workplace enables business change from the other perspective? The workplace is a powerful place and it rightly calls for attention by the most senior members of any organisation. Let’s hear their views next time, too. Niels Kemp Rasmussen is founder and chief executive of Kemp Associates Pte, Singapore

www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:16:02

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FM FEATURE ANNUAL CHARITIES FM CONFERENCE

TOUGH LOVE

Delegates at the Annual Charities FM Conference were told to prepare for the worst as cuts start to bite and salaries come under increasing scrutiny, reports Dave Arminas here’s nothing like scare tactics to galvanise people into action and attendees at the Annual Charities Facilities Management Conference, organised by the Charities Facilities Management Group, got a fair dose of it. Budget cuts to the charity sector mean that FM jobs are on the line, said Tom Hunt, head of facilities for the charity Citizens Advice, during his presentation on collaborative FM. The sector will lose around £911 million a year in public funding by 2016. “This could be the beginning of a very difficult period for all of us,” he said. Unfortunately, salary makes up a large part of any charity’s budget, he continued. Around £250,000 of his nearly £2 million FM budget is for basic FM pay. It’s very tempting to cut the FM headcount to save money, he said But there is safety in numbers. In an impassioned presentation, Hunt urged FMs to work together to show their organisations that they can save money. Charity FMs need to meet more often to exchange ideas, network and learn from each others’ experiences. Joint procurement is one form of collaboration because, “sadly, size really is important when it comes to negotiating contracts”. Hunt’s theory that the FM headcount could be under threat was reinforced by one delegate who said her department had cut three out of five

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FM jobs in the past year. More collaboration between charity FMs might be difficult because of differing business ethics, said one delegate. Their organisation will work only with suppliers who pay the London Living Wage and this may not be essential for other charities. Smaller charities may not have the time or the personnel to join FM organisations, according to another delegate. Their collaboration would be ad hoc and for specific programs only. It doesn’t matter how charity FMs work together, as long as they communicate, Hunt told FM World.

Silver linings Visions of FMs in the dole queue apart, there are some enlightened senior directors in the sector. Even before the first presentations started, a delegate told FM World that she had come from Bristol to find new ideas to take back to work. She manages energy consumption for her organisation, a charity that provides homes for elderly people. She and her job went unnoticed for a couple of years until the recent hike in energy prices. She now has “the ear of the chief executive for the time being and must make the most of it”, she said. The conference theme of generally saving money, space and resources was exemplified by the Electoral Commission’s recent relocation within

Tom Hunt, head of facilities for the charity Citizens Advice (top); Brian Cuthbertson, head of environmental challenge at the Diocese of London (below)

Westminster and the introduction of flexible working. The search for new offices started in April last year and by December it had moved; it was a downsize from two floors and 1,624 square metres (17,481 square feet) of mostly cubicle offices to one floor and 1,141 square metres (12,282 square feet), open plan. It was a massive culture change going from a desk ratio of almost one per person to seven desks for 10 employees, said Helen Reeves, head of human

resources for the commission. But statistics suggested flexible working was possible without too much upheaval. Desk occupancy in the old office was 55 per cent at peak times, she said. The public sector average is 58 per cent and private sector is around 68 per cent. It was design-consultantemployee communication that helped complete the project on time and on budget, which included the £750,000 office fit-out. Reducing office space is hard and so is reducing a carbon footprint. But the Diocese of London believes it is on the right track. It reached its 80 per cent target for its headquarters, but says achieving a similar reduction over the rest of the estate will be particularly hard. In fact, the reduction at the HQ was met years ahead of the target date – 2050. But the same target is set for all the estate and that includes 479 churches as well as many community-type halls, offices, a cathedral, schools and residences. Getting near the targets, which start at 20 per cent by the end of next year, will be “very difficult”, Brian Cuthbertson, head of environmental challenge at the Diocese of London, told delegates in his plenary session. The problem highlights the need for a good environmental auditor to know what baseline consumptions are and what consumption can accurately be measured. FM www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 14:00:12

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FM OPINION THE DIARY COLUMN DAVID WALKER

“IT DID GET ME THINKING THAT LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS ARE SOMETHING THAT CAN, AT TIMES, GET FORGOTTEN”

David Walker is facilities project manager at Northumbrian Water

L IG HTN IN G D O ES ST R I K E T WI CE

t is often underestimated how much I lightning can affect a building. Suitable protection is a must in the event of a possible strike. An updated risk assessment is also necessary to prepare for potential strikes I mentioned in a previous column that part of my role covers the responsibility for three historic pumping stations. In case you’ve forgotten, they are all run and looked after by a team of volunteers who devote their time to ensuring that these buildings remain in working order. They also make sure they remain open and safe so that the public can enjoy and view them. So you can imagine my joy when I arrive on site to see CCTV pictures of the local vandals

removing all the lead from the roof valleys and removing the lightning conductor strips. It did get me thinking that lightning conductors are something that can, at times, get forgotten There are more than 35,000 strikes reported on buildings annually and with climate change this figure is expected to increase. In response to this, much tighter rules have been introduced. The implication is that if these rules are ignored, your building may not be

insured. My concern, of course, is that heritage buildings are far more vulnerable to strikes. And I can assure you, lightning does strikes twice: multiple strikes are not uncommon. Lightning systems only protect the fabric of the building. Specific protection is required for secondary effects that may affect the electrical components. The protection usually takes the form of poles, rods and ground electrodes designed to provide a low resistance path to the ground for potential strikes. The main thing to remember is to always keep an up-to-date risk assessment in place that will detail the size of the building in terms of area, the building height, and the number of strikes per year for the region. Another little project dropped on my desk this week, to convert

an existing cabin into a sampling building where water samples can be delivered, tested and finally stored. There is not a great deal of scope in the work to be honest. I have some drainage to sort out, walls to remove and replace, and a number of modifications to the power/data in the building. I also have to construct a new ramp, which will be DDA compliant to enable the samples to be brought into the building in a safe manner, and finally to replace the floor coverings to the building. Finally, by the time you read this, I will have made it to London for the BIFM awards evening with the chairman Ian Broadbent and completed his latest challenge. I am sure I won’t really want to look at a bike or my training shoes for a while. FM

BEST OF THE WEB The latest views, comments and reaction across the web BIFM LinkedIn group discussion thread (http://linkd.in/kZ6MbR) Is there any difference from facility management here in the UK and FM practised in the US? Sarah M, facility planning & management student, Wentworth Institute, Greater Boston area Rob Farman: Sarah, I have heard American colleagues say the UK is ahead of the US in FM. I did belong to

20 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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IFMA when I contemplated working in the US, but I did not find its material particularly useful and left after it decommissioned its UK chapter. They also spoke despairingly about OSHA, whereas the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) here is very realistic and targets its activity on preventing deaths and injuries. Construction is one of the most

dangerous industries and it has successfully pursued reducing deaths from falls. As a result, the UK has one of the best safety records in the world, although you will hear people outside FM complaining about the HSE. Many of the things it is supposed to forbid have been imposed by people that don’t understand risk assessment and have no health and safety training.

Gwendoline Murray MBIFM: Having worked for an American company some years ago and spending time in the New York office, it was obvious that the US has a much better understanding of FM than in the UK. There are many in the UK who still believe that FM is about ordering stationery and arranging internal office churn. Obviously, it goes

without saying that health and safety laws/statutory requirements are totally different across the pond to that of the UK. Jane Wiggins: Note the wording: ‘facility’ (premises or building) so the focus is on the client’s premises. In the UK, we use ‘facilities’ (plural), inferring a range of many services that support the client. So for us in the UK, FM is not just the premises, it’s much more. www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 10:51:00

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

BEST OF THE

FMWORLD BLOGS PFI: A risky business? Annie Gales/director, Service Works Group The news is bleak when it comes to PFI contracts, particularly when you hear suggestions in the press that many NHS trusts at financial and clinical risk. This situation is made worse by higher borrowing costs resulting from the global credit crisis. There are, however, a number of PFI NHS (and other) contracts where this is not the case. We fail to celebrate the successes of these. The government doesn’t have a good track record on the construction of public buildings. PFIs deliver infrastructure on time and on budget, often using genuine innovation, which otherwise would not have been delivered had it been left to public funding. Hospitals are a good example of this. Until the invention of PFIs, no new hospitals had been built in the UK for 30 years. Each PFI contract includes the repayment of capital, interest on the loan and ongoing services for the term of the contract, such as maintenance and upgrading equipment, so that the building is returned to the public as new at the end of the contract. Not forgetting of course, the benefit that we, the public is receiving from the new infrastructure and services, in addition to the numerous jobs that building the infrastructure itself has created. A good analogy of the PFI situation is the mortgage market. When taking out a mortgage, the onus is on the mortgage applicant as well as the lender to calculate the risk to ensure that the repayments are affordable. Where there has been frequent failure to meet mortgage repayments and houses have been re-possessed, we have not discarded the mortgage concept altogether, but implemented more stringent regulations. The PFI vehicle isn’t the problem, it’s the way in which many of the contracts have been negotiated (and forgive me for sounding political – not to mention other issues such as the last government using the PFI model to keep the liabilities off the balance sheet). The people who took responsibility for the contracts and payments didn’t calculate the risk properly. The answer to getting the PFI model isn’t a simple one, but many countries have adopted the concept and have demonstrated that it delivers innovation, value for money, high-quality services. Also, where transparency is incorporated into the contract and backed by a properly integrated payment mechanism system to secure performance, the model can really work. In essence, call it PFI or re-hash the model and rename it, we need long-term private sector involvement in the delivery of public services.

More from FM World’s blog pages: Straight to the top If the next generation of FMs can be specialists that is great, but we must not lose sight of the need for FMs to have a wide business education, blogs John Bowen. http://bit.ly/pHayo0

FIVE MINUTES WITH NAME: Virginia Newman JOB TITLE: Chair COMPANY: RIBA CPD Committee

Design meetings these days can be packed. it used to be just the surveyor, now you have access consultants, historic building consultants, geotechnical specialists, archaeologists and a whole raft of sustainability consultants. Architects should be in a position to recommend that FM is brought in at an early stage in the design process. When FMs get pulled in at the end, it’s a missed opportunity. We need to encourage more cross-fertilisation between the built-environment professions. We can learn from each other, and the CPD topics we cover reach out to more than just architects. My hope is that CPD becomes more ‘panprofessional’. Across the built environment we all work together in teams, so why can’t we have related institutes working together to provide CPD? We’re seeing more architects going to CPD sessions instead of conferences. It makes sense to attend quick lunchtime sessions rather than spend lots of time travelling to and from conferences. RIBA has become more focused on how it provides its CPD. Before, it was left a little to chance and there had been a large variation in quality. Today, the organisations that provide CPD are vetted by RIBA. We check that the information they provide is not promotional. CPD has become a more established part of how architects work. There are always going to be people who don’t think it applies to them, but CPD allows you to show that you’re up to date and that you can prove specialist skills. Rapidly changing legislation demands you keep up to date. Interview by Martin Read

www.fm-world.co.uk

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FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 21

6/10/11 13:58:38

FM FEATURE CASE STUDY MARTIN READ

BATTERSEA: 18,210 SQUARE METRES (196,020 SQUARE FEET) OLD WINDSOR: 76,890 (827,640 SQUARE FEET) BRANDS HATCH: 14,569 (156,816 SQUARE FEET) NUMBER OF STAFF IN THE ORGANISATION: 317 FULL TIME, 400 VOLUNTEERS NUMBER OF STAFF ON FM TEAM: THREE MANAGEMENT AND A TEAM OF SIX ACROSS THE THREE SITES CLEANING: INTERNAL STAFF FOR ANIMAL AREAS, EXTERNAL CONTRACTORS FOR COMMON AREAS. SECURITY: BROOKNIGHT SECURITY SERVICES (BATTERSEA & BRANDS HATCH), KNIGHT SECURITY SERVICES (OLD WINDSOR) M&E MAINTENANCE: HOVEAIR CATERING: ACCENT CATTERY – ARCHITECT: CHARLES KNOWLES ARCHITECTS CATTERY – QUANTITY SURVEYOR: LISTERS CATTERY – STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: CAMPBELL REITH CATTERY – VALUE: £3.9 MILLION

OLD DOGS, W NEW TRICKS

PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN REYNOLDS

A new breed of manager at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is bringing the historic pound into the 21st century. Martin Read reports

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hen Howard Bridges joined Battersea Dogs & Cats Home as head of estates back in 2007, little did he realise that an initial six-month contract would blossom into the most rewarding facilities management role of his life. Arriving at Battersea after a short career break, Bridges knew the challenge would differ somewhat from his previous post as Pearson Group’s director of operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The publisher’s portfolio includes properties in Istanbul, Milan and Madrid – Battersea’s, by contrast, are in south London, Old Windsor and Brands Hatch in Kent. And certainly, Battersea is far from a typical facilities operation. The organisations’s unique challenge requires a facilities service that’s part hotel, visitor centre, hospital and secure facility. Initially, Bridges was brought onboard as head of estates to oversee the construction of a new car park and dog exercise yard. Seen from the train out of Victoria Station, London, both are highly visible signs of the site’s recent development. During his initial placement, Bridges was also tasked with setting up a few FM staples; a business continuity plan and health and safety manual, plugging gaps in the Home’s

FM infrastructure. But it was immediately clear to Bridges that the charity’s intentions required more than six months’ attention – and accordingly, Bridges was appointed to the head of estates role on a full-time basis in 2008. It’s been an eventful few years since then. As well as serving a stint as interim chief executive for nine months, Bridges’ job titles currently include deputy chief executive, director of operations www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 11:02:01

BATTERSEA DOGS & CATS HOME

The iconic Battersea Power Station, seen from the forecourt of the home

how dogs and cats travel through the home, we in facilities are involved directly.” Managing the main Battersea home is a real challenge. “You wouldn’t decide to build a dogs’ home in Battersea today,” says Bridges. “But here we are, and here we’ll always be.”

It’s a dog’s life

and director of estates and facilities (the operational part of will be reviewed next year).

Leading the pack Some of this extra responsibility comes as a result of a major efficiency review, recently undertaken and piloted by Bridges. The review saw significant restructuring of management and the loss of two operational directors, leading to the creation www.fm-world.co.uk

22_25_Battersea.indd 23

of Bridges’ temporary role overseeing the day-to-day business of the home. “As director of estates I have always had an influence on operational decisions,” says Bridges. “The unique nature of these premises means that somewhere along the line the facilities department is bound to get involved in operational issues. Whether it’s with the clinic, the day-to-day animal welfare or just

The main Battersea site sits on 4.5 acres. It’s awkwardly situated, surrounded by three major railway lines, a major road to the south, and, to the north, the River Thames. Half of the site is owned by the charity, with the rest rented from Network Rail. For the Home’s’ ambitious redevelopment plans to succeed, Bridges is hoping to secure longer-term leases. At present, Battersea’s operations are affected by the structural reinforcement work that Network Rail is conducting on one of the busiest bridges on the rail network. A total of 54 kennels have been temporarily lost to the home as the work – encasing the old brick arches in concrete – is carried out Network Rail has provided replacement kennel facilities, and when the work finishes later this year, Battersea is hoping to start raising funds to build new kennel blocks. Among the Home’s neighbours is the QVC TV Channel, whose

UK headquarters back on to the site. Also next door is a National Grid site that is currently being decommissioned before being developed into both residential and commercial property. Battersea Power Station lies directly to the northeast, and Nine Elms – the biggest redevelopment area in Europe – lies to the immediate east. As well as plans by QVC and the National Grid to further exploit their land, an extension to the London Underground tube network is also a major issue: the Nine Elms development includes the proposal to build two new stations, Nine Elms and Battersea, which will be linked to a spur of the Northern Line from Kennington. Construction of Battersea Underground station will happen next to, and under, the home’s current sales kennel block (where potential owners come to look at potential pets). For the last eighteen months, negotiations have been ongoing about the effect this will have on Battersea’s operation.

Pounding headache “Managing this site? People just wouldn’t believe it,” says Bridges. “When I became director of operations, I took on an interim head of estates to carry out the functions I was going to leave behind. He’s an experienced FM, FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 23

6/10/11 11:02:42

FM FEATURE CASE STUDY MARTIN READ

but even he couldn’t believe all the complications we have to deal with.” And Battersea is not the only site under the Battersea banner. The complexities involved in managing the throughput of animals are the reason for the charity’s acquisition over the years of two satellite sites – one in Old Windsor, Berkshire, the other in Brands Hatch, Kent. Old Windsor was originally a training centre for kennel maids. It was acquired in the 1980s and used as an additional kennel facility. Built on Crown Estate, its 3.5 acres include various types of accommodation, from a large mansion house (where the kennel maids originally lived), new sales kennel blocks, a cattery, a clinic and treatment kennels. Brands Hatch was originally acquired ten years ago for the temporary homing of animals displaced by work taking place at Battersea. The site was originally used for boarding kennels, its 19 acres needed for accommodation during building. Today, the site is useful for housing dogs suffering from stress, which can be quickly moved away from the many stressful sights, smells and sounds of urban London.

Breeding success The way that standard FM services are carried out on the main Battersea site is influenced by two issues – the presence of animals and the variety of some peculiar old buildings. Among the hotch-potch is a building designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, designer of Portmeirion Village in Wales. It certainly stands out, positioned plumb centre as you come through the double-gated reception. Cleaning is split between human and animal needs. Common areas used solely by the staff are cleaned by a local contractor, while Battersea uses its own cleaning 24 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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and hygiene staff for the pens and kennels. Catering for Battersea’s on-site café for staff and visitors is provided by Accent, and manned guarding is deployed on all three sites. At Battersea, the operation of a lost and found department means occasional confrontations with angry people hoping to rehome animals but refused for welfare reasons. It’s the reason why the new cattery/entrance block has a double-gated entry system. There are manned guards during the day, one on the gates and one patrolling the facility for the security of staff when visitors are on site. Plant maintenance at Battersea is complicated by the need to take into account a curious mix of new and old buildings. Gradually, Bridges is moving away from a situation where plant issues were addressed only when the plant itself gave out and a planned

preventative maintenance contract is now in place, won earlier this year after a retendering process for all three sites by Hoveair. The contractor is responsible for HVAC maintenance and repairs, although the site’s older buildings are dealt with by in-house FM staff. “Rather than put too much investment into something that’s not going to be around in the next few years, our own maintenance team keeps the older buildings going while there’s a maintenance schedule for the newer buildings with the contractor,” says Bridges. Ultimately, all buildings across the portfolio will come under a PPM schedule, but when that happens it will coincide with Bridges’ next major project – revising the animals’ entire experience of the Battersea site.

Cool cats and dogs At present, sales kennels are positioned close to intake

blocks, which in turn are close to quarantine and treatment kennels. This means that handlers with potentially dangerous or sick dogs are forced to walk past handlers taking dogs to the public kennels, significantly raising the risk of infection. It’s far from the ideal situation when looking both to minimise stress for the animals and speed up their rehoming. “We’ve got to stop this crossover of animals,” says Bridges. “Our plan is that animals should arrive at the back of the facility and go through a journey from assessment of temperament and behaviour, treatment, and then sales.” New buildings will be developed for this project as part of the Home’s five year plan. As well as improved day-to-day operation and better infection control, it is hoped that the length of each dog’s stay will be shortened. “We’re going to reduce the chance of dogs being stressed www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 11:03:10

BATTERSEA DOGS & CATS HOME

FACT FILE

BATTERSEA’S NEW CATTERY ith the number of cats gifted to the home on the rise, plans to develop a new cattery had been under consideration for the last fifteen years. Meanwhile, cats shared kennel blocks with dogs – not an ideal solution. Howard Bridges found that there was no real excitement for the project among staff, a result of plans that didn’t adequately reflect the needs of those who worked with the cats. And so, Bridges re-briefed the architect. “We gathered all the operations people responsible for cats together and asked for their wish list. What we ended up with was a fully contained building, in which cats would be able to ‘sell themselves’ to the public (previously, cats were kept in smaller pens). Before it was knocked down to make way for the new building, the Home’s old administration block also served as the home’s main entrance and retail shop outlet. “It was a square, sixties brick building which looked at lot like an old signal box,” said Bridges. “Visitors couldn’t look in to see the site beyond, except via a hatch. It wasn’t particularly welcoming.” “We knew we were going to be replacing our main entrance building, and it was clear to me that someone could drive past Battersea and not even realise that the Home existed. I felt it was important for the new building to make a bit of a statement.” In this, the cattery has undoubtedly succeeded. Deliberately highly-specified, Battersea’s new cattery wouldn’t look out of place on Bond Street. “There probably isn’t anything to this standard anywhere else in the world”, says Bridges. Construction contractor John Sisk was brought in to build a four-storey building featuring reception and waiting areas, meeting rooms, a unique suite of cat pens, preparation areas and staff rooms. Solar thermal and photovoltaic panels provide hot water, while a ground source borehole array provides heating and ventilation. There are no templates for this kind of building – no rules about how they should be built, or what they should be built of – and the charity has learned on the hoof (paw?). Ventilation for the enclosed building has proved insufficient to deal with the natural odours from cat litter, and the building’s HVAC is currently being remodelled to allow for greater airflow. All in all, the new building has been a resounding success. Since being opened by the Duchess in Cornwall in October last year, the new cattery has helped Battersea increase the number of cats it re-homes by a third.

Some of the treatment rooms (above); the staff and visitor café (far left); home residents (left); a treatment block (top right); the spacious new pens for cats (right); the cattery’s reception (bottom right)

before being re-homed,” says Bridges. The plan is for this project to be complete within five years, although like everything at Battersea the schedule is entirely dependent on fund-raising. New initiatives are underway, inspired by the success of the recent campaign to raise funds for the new cattery (see sidebar). Under Bridges, Battersea has moved from a policy of growing and adapting facilities as the need arose to having five and ten-year development plans. As well as restructuring the way that animals progress through the facility, Bridges has innovative plans for the charity’s future. The idea of a visitor centre on the Battersea site is certainly innovative, and would take advantage of the huge Nine Elms development on Battersea’s doorstep. “Footfall over the past couple of years has fallen away quite a lot,” says www.fm-world.co.uk

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Bridges. “We want Battersea to be somewhere people choose to visit. Bear in mind the area is going to become increasingly residential with 15,000 new residents on the Power Station site alone – why not have something which educates people about pet ownership and allow them to see the animals?” Already, Bridges and his team have put draft plans forward. Exciting times, then, for this facilities team. But as I leave, I’m reminded that facilities management in a dogs’ home can be an emotional experience. “Sometimes it can be a hard place to work,” says Bridges. “You see these dogs day in and day out and get used to them being around – and then you find out they haven’t made it, for whatever behaviourial or medical issue, and that they’ve had to be put to sleep. That’s difficult because you can’t help becoming bonded to these animals in some way.” FM

FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 25

6/10/11 11:03:50

FM FEATURE E-AUCTIONS NEIL BIRKBECK

HAMMER TIME he supplier held up his thumb and first finger, put the tips close together and announced “we missed that contract two years ago by this much’’. How frustrating was that? He’d had the ability to improve the competitiveness of his price, but not the opportunity to do so. Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, the tendering organisation will have paid a higher price than was necessary for that particular contract. Yes, it’s possible for post-tender discussions to address these issues, but any such negotiation is always long winded. And when a tender is supposed to have closed at a certain point, it seems slightly unethical to then start new discussions with suppliers to

fine-tune the price. An e-auction can work well when a supplier’s opening bid can be revised upwards when that supplier is made aware of their position in the bidding. Companies have time to improve their offer, and only when there has been no counter-offer for two minutes does the ‘best price’ stand and the auction end.

All’s fair in e-auctions For suppliers, this is at once a very competitive environment and also an incredibly fair one. The process starts with a meeting between the tendering organisation and a consultant contracted to oversee the tendering process. It’s at this stage that the consulting firm gets a full understanding of the

PROFILE: PETS AT HOME David Hurst, head of FM at Pets at Home, explains how e-auctions have had a positive impact on the company “It’s a year since Pets at Home completed the tender for its cleaning services contract to cover its 300 stores. The process was conducted using an eRFX and eAuction. “A year later, in-store cleaning has improved as a result of the work done on the tender. Although the e-auction was only a part of the process, it was integral to the review, without which the competitive bid would not have been possible. We improved the service, and also the pricing element.”

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ISTOCK

e-auctions have become another tool with which to control supplier costs, but how they operate can often be misunderstood

specification and requirements of the tender. A list of suppliers is nominated and a contract agreed between client and consultant for conducting the tendering exercise. At the next stage, the initial tender questionnaire that suppliers will be required to complete online is structured. This is used to gather all the relevant information about the suppliers seeking to be involved in the e-auction to come. It covers all the issues normally asked of a supplier in the tender process (how they might manage the contract, the clients they already work with, their references, their pricing proposal, any qualifications required of them and their acceptance of the client’s terms and conditions). Suppliers are then sent passwords to access an online questionnaire, or ERFx, in order to provide the required information (ERFx systems are

accessed through standard web browsers). The standard supplier review day is usually still required; e-auctions are not designed to save time on this stage of the process, and indeed review days ensure that only suppliers fit to fulfil the client’s requirements are invited to tender. At this stage there is a shortlist of acceptable suppliers, with each supplier’s initial pricing proposal entered into the e-auction as an opening bid. Another password is then submitted to each supplier, together with the time of the e-auction. At the allotted time, each supplier goes online to take part.

Let bidding commence! E-auctions typically run for a short time, usually 20 minutes. In practice, that’s long enough for suppliers to be able to assess whether they should (or could) improve their bid. At no time www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:56:31

E-AUCTIONS

Lowest bid

Current price

% Current difference

£615,075

BID CHART

Expected price

£881,000

Supplier A

Supplier B

% Expected difference

-30.18%

Supplier C

Supplier D

n/a

Supplier E

£950,000 £900,000 Extension period

Sealed bids period

Current Price = £881,000

£850,000 £800,000 £750,000 £700,000 £650,000 £600,000

15 :3 6

15 :3 5

15 :3 4

15 :3 3

15 :3 2

15 :3 1

15 :3 0

15 :2 9

15 :2 8

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15 :2 6

15 :2 5

15 :2 4

15 :2 3

15 :2 2

15 :2 1

15 :2 0

15 :19

15 :18

15 :17

15 :16

15 :15

15 :14

15 :13

15 :12

15 :11

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15 :0 9

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15 :0 0

14 :5 9

14 :5 8

£550,000

This graph shows a typical contract from the client’s perspective. Here, you can see five suppliers and an opening bid of £881,000. The winning bid was £619,000, and you can see how four suppliers ended up within a few pounds of each other. In this example, price certainly seems to have focused minds in the final minutes.

can they see how many other suppliers are involved, or who they are. Importantly, if a bid comes in as the 20 minutes comes to a close, a three minute extension is triggered. Through this mechanism, all interested parties have a fair opportunity to put forward their best, most competitive bid. Proponents of e-auctions say that this price transparency is a boon. New suppliers, for example, may not be quite sure how to pitch their bid. Through the e-auction process, they can quickly assess whether the contract is actually a viable one for them. Another positive is that any incumbent supplier feeling that they can rely on an existing relationship with the client will see, as the price falls, that they cannot rest on their laurels.

Lots of value Ideally suited for contract values in excess of £100,000, e-auction results can be spectacular because the final price is what the market dictates rather than what the client has been paying. In some cases, this can mean cost reductions of 15-20 per cent. E-auctions’ proponents also point to the time that can be saved compared to traditional dealing www.fm-world.co.uk

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– a result of reduced administration and negotiation. E-auctions rely on the database technology generally provided by e-procurement companies. After 10 years of operation, it’s possible for companies considering the e-auction route to find providers with proven track records and client rosters. Consultants now advise on the best infrastructure to choose. Critics point to the way that e-auctions focus on price, but the counter-argument is that if a poor buyer is going to take the lowest price it won’t matter what method is used. When a supplier puts forward an unrealistic price on any type of tender and a buyer accepts it, both parties are asking for trouble. With e-auctions, standard due diligence remains an integral part of thev process – the e-auction simply covers the pricing element, involving all interested suppliers. The key difference is that the supplier who missed that contract by so small an amount was going through the traditional method. He had no way to improve his price. An e-auction gives him that chance. FM Neil Birkbeck is a procurement consultant for companies in the FM sector

CONCEPT IN FOCUS

THE E-AUCTION PROCESS 1) The facilities manager decides that he or she needs to review the contract 2) The FM discusses his or her requirements with the consultant, including a. Specification b. List of suppliers, including the incumbent c. The type of contract required 3) Consultant adds companies to the list of potential suppliers following client request 4) Consultant produces an online questionnaire and gives suppliers two weeks to complete it. The questionnaire covers all aspects normally included in a tender (company details, ability to do the job, references, similar experience, price) 5) Client and consultant select the suppliers for review days in order to further investigate their potential for the work. Only suppliers with whom he or she is absolutely comfortable to do the job to his or her satisfaction are then invited to e-auction 6) Consultant oversees the e-auction at which the suppliers tender price is the opening offer. Suppliers then have: a. 20 minutes to improve their offer with the knowledge of where they stand in the pecking order b. an extension period of three minutes if there are any late submissions c. a five minute ‘sealed bid’ period when no one is aware of the final result. This can also ensures suppliers can have total anonymity about their pricing 7) Client looks at results and makes a decision

FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 27

6/10/11 15:16:38

FM FEATURE CASE STUDY MARTIN READ

GAINFULLY T EMPLOYED The Home Office is currently running the first ‘gain share’ scheme in central government, where money saved through reductions in energy use across the estate is shared by the FM contractors

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he Home Office has put in place a pioneering energy management contract across 90 per cent of its estate. The arrangement sees the Home Office and its suppliers, Amey and British Gas Business (BGB) operating the first ‘gain share’ energy management contract to be used in central government. The arrangement has led to initial savings of £212,000 – equivalent to more than 1,200 tonnes of carbon – in the first eight months of the contract’s operation. Over the course of the threeyear deal, Amey and BGB are managing energy consumption at 350 Home Office-managed buildings across London and the South East. The two companies

are identifying inefficiencies, working out the engineering solutions required to overcome them, and investing their own money in the new technologies and infrastructure required to bring the new efficiencies about. Amey and BGB manage risk on the assets and are paid on a sliding scale according to how much they save the client. Based on the figures as of August, Amey and BGB are on track to save the Home Office £1.3 million in reduced energy bills over the lifetime of the contract. John Cole, head of sustainability at the Home Office, says that his department was already well placed to consider this type of arrangement. “The Prime Minister had announced www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:16:59

GAINSHARE AT THE HOME OFFICE

Home Office head of sustainability John Cole (top left); Gillian Duggan, managing director of Amey’s built environment division (top right); electrical testing (far left) at the Home Office building (right)

that he aimed to create the ‘greenest government ever’ and that all central government departments would reduce their carbon emissions by 10 per cent within 12 months,” he comments. “In the Home Office, we had an advantage in reaching this target because we were already in the second year of our carbon management programme. We’d already started to invest in improving energy management systems which led directly to energy savings. This, in turn, had led to improvements in the quality of data through automatic meter reading (AMR), real-time data, and monitoring and targeting software. With better data and a good working relationship with our FM www.fm-world.co.uk

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providers, we could consider setting better targets and striving for greater efficiencies.” One year on and government has achieved the Prime Minister’s target, reducing carbon emissions by a total of 13.8 per cent. The Home Office’s reduction was even higher, at 17.6 per cent (against a weather-corrected baseline), meaning a cut of 5,386 tonnes in carbon emissions – in part, a result of the gainshare arrangement. Discussion about the contract began in 2010 when Amey was already delivering a five-year contract to provide FM services at 350 Home Office-managed buildings across London and the South East. (FM World, 14 October 2010). Amey is one of

the FM companies that have helped generate a total of £18 million in efficiency savings for the Home Office via sustainable FM services. Gillian Duggan, managing director of Amey’s built environment division, says: “We knew that the Home Office’s priority was to reduce its carbon footprint. We had a proven track record with our FM contract and knew we could do the same in energy management across the same buildings. “Amey and BGB were offering a complete solution. Amey had strong relationships and engineering expertise, while BGB brought technical expertise in building energy management systems and complex monitoring tools. In addition, with a shared responsibility for investing in new energy infrastructure, Amey and BGB could upgrade the Home Office’s energy systems at their own cost, taking some risk away from our customer.” Says Cole: “When we embarked on this, they [Amey and BGB] already had some ideas; things like boiler control were part of the negotiating of the contract. It was important for us to get those ideas down and then carry out discussions with our local facilities delivery people to make sure that what we were planning was applicable to their specific buildings.”

Controlling influence Some Home Office buildings date back to the 1960s and have energy control systems in need of further investment. No-one at the Home Office had been responsible for looking at daily patterns of consumption and comparing them to what was going on in the building. Amey and BGB were able to interrogate the building far more closely and in greater detail than either the building occupiers or

“AMEY AND BGB WERE ABLE TO INTERROGATE THE BUILDING FAR MORE CLOSELY AND IN GREATER DETAIL THAN THE HOME OFFICE’S OWN FACILITIES TEAMS COULD” .

the Home Office’s own facilities delivery teams. “We had had a fairly reactive approach to energy management,” confesses Cole. “We needed a complete culture change. We were keen to make the system proactive, understanding the root cause of problems and preventing issues arising in the first place. “Ultimately, the Home Office does not specialise in energy controls or management. It was unlikely we would create a new post to oversee this, so the only viable way to achieve the ambitious savings set by the Prime Minister was to widen and improve the existing contract we had with Amey. “We all agreed on a simple FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 29

6/10/11 15:17:12

FM FEATURE CASE STUDY MARTIN READ

Mike Chessum, head of energy services at BGB (right); frontline staff monitor equipment performance (below)

variation to our existing contract with Amey and BGB, capped the total amount we could pay and used engineers we already knew and trusted. “We took advice from the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office and our own professionals in Home Office estates, and financial and commercial.”

The next steps Determined to prove the gain share system would work, Amey and BGB carried out a trial run. Originally, the Home Office paid for some new equipment and the companies proved that it significantly reduced consumption. With a tested business case, the Home Office was able to agree to the idea of a wider initiative. “Communication was key to the success of the energy management contract and it was vital that a team ethos was developed between Amey, the Home Office and BGB,” says Duggan. “John Cole, head of sustainability at the Home Office, was key to the integration of these multiple teams. He has been an incredibly helpful link between the complex organisational structure of the Home Office and Amey.” The team set up monthly meetings dedicated to environmental issues and invited all parties involved – the Home Office Property Group (HOPG), Amey and BGB – to participate. The team also devised a simple pro forma that allowed cleaners and engineers to monitor climatic conditions and record the condition of existing equipment while they worked. This has now been completed at around 100 sites. “We realised that frontline staff should become the ‘eyes and ears’ of the gain share 30 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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programme,” says Gillian. “They can monitor conditions outside of office hours when no-one else is in the building.” “By providing basic yet fundamental information about conditions – such as the temperature, or whether windows are open – we’re making best use of resources and developing a bank of anecdotal knowledge about each building.” “We then co-ordinate their observations about real-time conditions with technical data about energy consumption, generated by the BMS, to get a complete picture about the performance of buildings within our remit. Having two sets of data means we can monitor trends, spot anomalies and take early action to resolve problems. “After assessing the condition of existing assets we develop plans to invest our own capital, based on the likely return

on investment for all parties, in terms of predicted carbon and financial savings.”

Practical delivery The first step was to understand the functionality of all of the Home Office’s building management systems. The team started by assessing the 20 buildings that consumed most energy. Mike Chessum, head of energy services at BGB says: “This quickly generated significant benefits as many of the BMS were found to have complicated software issues that had developed over many years. This included some systems being completely over-ridden in an attempt to maintain occupants’ comfort levels. “For example, in some buildings, heating, cooling and ventilation systems were set up so that they actually operated 24/7 even though they were programmed to operate in normal working hours.

On another occasion, the software had corrupted so that building services replicated Sunday’s settings on a Wednesday, which resulted in all systems being switched off automatically. This again led to services being overridden manually.” It’s not just poor programming – sometimes controls are set based on wholly inaccurate assessments of a building’s energy requirement. The UK Border Agency office at Status Park near Heathrow is a case in point. This building was accepted as a 24-hour operation but, in reality, it wasn’t. Accordingly, controls were reconfigured and savings made. “Sometimes the culture of a building is that it’s open all hours, but in reality only certain elements of that building are actually running 24/7,” confirms Chessum. “Identifying this kind of misconception is a key element of what we’re doing. What is the pre-conceived www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:17:28

GAINSHARE AT THE HOME OFFICE

idea of the building’s use, versus its actual use? For John Cole, this way of working is quite a change. “Sometimes in the past, a BMS might have broken down and not been noticed,” he says. “Now, because of the pressure of time on this contract, that’s not likely to happen. Also, we have some BMS systems that are not particularly sophisticated, so they require regular visits in order to check their performance.” Chessum describes how he found several software corruptions and re-programmed BMS systems based on demand rather set them on the basis of time. “Through this, we have already delivered substantial carbon emission reductions and cost savings from the reduced usage of electric, gas and oil.” From May 2010 to May 2011, total Home Office emissions savings were 5,386 tonnes (weather-corrected). Amey saved around 1,600 tonnes – about a third of the total.

Showing the results Proving that savings have been made after the implementation of energy efficiency measures is vital in gaining client confidence, and to create a snowball momentum on the contract. “We agreed benchmarks for historical data and designed a new measurement tool based upon actual invoiced energy to demonstrate where we had – and had not – made energy savings,” says Chessum. “This helped gain the trust and confidence of the client that we would deliver.” With the client’s major sites addressed in year one, the expansion of the contract across the rest of the Home Office portfolio, representing far more buildings, of smaller size, can only mean more complexity as the contract partners seek further savings. The number of www.fm-world.co.uk

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ventilation systems alone will run into the thousands. But Cole is confident that the terms of the gain share deal will survive without change through to its completion in year three. “We’ve had two reviews since we started the arrangement, but it’s still early days. There’s no mechanism in place to change the parameters of the contract between the three parties, so we’d have to stop and start it again. I don’t see that happening. We will learn from this agreement, but the fundamentals of it are fine.”

Only the beginning Amey’s Gillian Duggan is pleased with the efficiency and carbon savings made so far, and believes the model has potential to be replicated in other government departments. “Ultimately, this is an ongoing learning process,” she comments. “Amey continues to listen to the Home Office and suggest further innovations and improvements to the service.” And for the Home Office’s John Cole, the reward has been worth the effort. “Getting the process in place and improving communication felt like a long process at times,” he says, “but at the heart of the agreement there is a simple message: prove and reward actual savings based on the fuel bills. In the end, the results speak for themselves.

Paving the way “We’ve all accepted that there’s an element of trust,” continues Cole. “Obviously I’m under pressure to prove this works, because at any time the National Audit office could come in and ask to look at how the contract operates. Yes, there is more recording and management of data to be done, so by volume the job is a bigger beast than it used to be. But the only thing the Home Office would have done differently is to have started this process sooner.” FM

SPOTLIGHT ON...

GAIN SHARE AT THE HOME OFFICE – HOW IT WORKS gain-sharing contract is one in which service providers share with their client any financial gains made as a result of innovation on the contract. A baseline for measuring subsequent savings is agreed at the outset. In the case of the Home Office, this was based primarily on the energy bills paid by the Home Office in the years prior to the contract taking force. The issue is one of administration. As well as using the bills, complicating factors include whether the building is in constant use, whether the number of people in the building varies, and how the weather varies compared to the last recording period. Gain share contracts are written carefully to exclude cost savings that may accrue as a result of minor price changes or processes. Instead, they’re based around significant changes to working practice or service provision. How all parties agree on what’s minor or significant is a critical part of the contract. In the case of the Home Office, the three-year contract is designed to: ● Reduce the Home Office’s CO2 footprint by 15 per cent over the lifetime of the contract ● Save up to £1.3 million in reduced energy bills ● Amey and British Gas Business have the power to invest in solutions and technologies for the Home Office estate, on the provisio that they do not increase capital expenditure for the Home Office.

Amey and BGB assess the condition of existing equipment; invest in new energy systems and take steps to reduce consumption. Both companies are paid on a sliding scale based on how much they save the client. Amey already provides FM services at 350 Home Office properties across Whitehall and the East of England. This includes delivering catering, cleaning, grounds maintenance, security, project management, pest control, porterage, reception and mechanical and electrical services.

“FRONTLINE STAFF BECAME THE ‘EYES AND EARS’. THEY COULD MONITOR CONDITIONS OUTSIDE OFFICE HOURS WHEN NO-ONE ELSE WAS ON SITE” FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 31

6/10/11 15:56:58

FM MONITOR KATE GARDNER

LEGAL UPDATE

Kate Gardner, business manager for health, safety and facilities management at Workplace Law

RID DOR RU LES

IMAGE SOURCE

he RIDDOR rules are designed to ensure T injuries at work are reported properly. Kate Gardner explains how to comply

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), require organisations to look at certain situations that occur within the workplace and report them through a centralised point to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). From this information, a picture of how health and safety is being managed within the UK can be produced which enables the HSE to determine any areas that need to be addressed. This article discusses what the current RIDDOR reporting procedures are, and the proposals to extend the time threshold for reporting workplace injuries from the current level of over three days to seven days. Reporting duties RIDDOR places a legal duty on three groups: employers; selfemployed people; and people in control of premises, to report work-related deaths, major injuries or over-three-day injuries, work related diseases, and dangerous occurrences (near miss accidents). You must file a report: 32 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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In cases of death, major injury, or dangerous occurrences. In these circumstances you must notify the enforcing authority without delay, most easily by calling the Incident Contact Centre (ICC) directly on 0845 300 9923 ● In all other cases, you must report as soon as you’ve been notified that someone’s injury or absence from work is due to a RIDDOR reportable situation. Cases of over-three day injuries must be notified within ten days of the incident occurring ● Cases of disease should be reported as soon as a doctor notifies you that your employee suffers from a reportable workrelated disease (See below). Only call the contact centre to report fatal or major incidents, for all other reports go to the HSE web site, download the form, complete it and email it back to the RIDDOR email address or return it by post. ●

Record keeping You must also keep a record of any reportable injury, disease or dangerous occurrence. This must include the date and method of reporting; the date, time and place

of the event; personal details of those involved; and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease. It is also important that you keep good records which include the following information: ● date and method of reporting; ● date, time and place of event; ● personal details of those involved; and ● a brief description of event or disease. Reportable over three-day injuries This is the one area that causes some concern because trying to identify when an accident is counted as ‘over three days’ can be difficult. An over three-day injury may not be something “major” but should be reported if it has resulted in the injured person being away from work or unable to fulfil their full range of normal duties for more than three days This includes acts of physical violence such as assaults on staff by members of the public or assaults on medical staff by patients. Acts of violence also need to be reported to the police as well at the HSE. Diseases A range of diseases listed in the regulations include: ● certain poisonings; ● some skin diseases such as occupational dermatitis, skin cancer, chrome ulcer, oil folliculitis/acne; ● lung diseases including: occupational asthma, farmer’s lung, pneumoconiosis, asbestosis, mesothelioma; ● infections such as: leptospirosis, which can occur when working with water sources exposed to

rat urine; hepatitis; tuberculosis; anthrax; legionellosis and tetanus; other conditions such as: occupational cancer; certain musculoskeletal disorders; decompression illness and hand-arm vibration syndrome. In all these cases, if a doctor notifies you that your employee is suffering from a reportable workrelated disease, then you must report it to the enforcing authority. It’s important to note that when reporting dangerous occurrences there does not have to be any harm caused, only that the potential for harm is present. Proposed changes In Lord Young’s Common Sense, Common Safety report, published last year, it was proposed that the reporting period for RIDDOR be extended from three to seven days – the time you are off work, before you class this as an injury or accident that has to be reported. Allied to this is the proposal to extend the reporting time frame from ten days to 15 days, although this is still to be confirmed. The HSE reports that these proposals went out to general consultation and gathered 775 responses, of which 67 per cent supported the proposals being made. The key message is that everyone needs to be aware of the RIDDOR requirements. If you haven’t already done so, you can obtain a copy of the RIDDOR Approved Code of Practice from the HSE website which will help you identify which areas of your business you may not be aware you have a duty to report. FM For further information, please visit: www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/ index.htm www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 15:18:07

LEGAL NEWS

New legislation HSE prosecutions

F-GAS REGULATION The F-Gas Regulation came into force on 4 July 2011. It requires those who operate refrigeration or air conditioning systems above a certain size to carry out regular checks to ensure refrigerant is not leaking into the atmosphere. Many commercial, industrial and public sector organisations will have obligations under the F-gas and/or the Ozone Regulations. Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) are powerful greenhouse gases which contain fluorine, and contribute to global warming if released into the atmosphere. The legislation is part of a European-wide push to reduce emissions of these gases, as part of its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Types of F-Gases The types of gases being regulated are Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – the most common type of F-gases. These are mainly used as the refrigerants in air conditioning and commercial refrigeration systems. F-gases are also used in other areas such as fire protection systems, insulating foam and solvents. Other gases include Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) which are used in semi-conductor manufacture and a few other specialised applications, plus Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) which is used in high voltage switch gear, for magnesium smelting and other similar processes. Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Ozone depleting substances are chemicals that can damage the Earth’s ozone layer if they escape into the upper atmosphere. The ozone layer protects all living things from harmful

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ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Type of ODS include HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) which are still used widely as refrigerants in building airconditioning and in industrial and commercial refrigeration. Who is affected by these regulations? End users of F-gases and ODS have a number of obligations related to containment, gas recovery and record keeping. There are a large number of organisations that use F-gases and they must all ensure they are complying with the regulations. Contractors working with F-gases and ODS have obligations related to the use of suitably qualified personnel and provision of appropriate equipment. Contractors in refrigeration, air-conditioning and fire protection will also need to obtain a certificate to allow them to work with F-gases. Equipment manufacturers and distributors have obligations related to equipment labelling and must ensure that they adhere to the applicable F-gas and ODS product bans. They can help endusers by selling equipment that has very low leakage rates. ODS/F-gas bans will apply in a number of markets including the use of F-gases in certain types of containers, the use of SF6 in magnesium smelting and the use of non-refillable F-gas containers. HCFC refrigerants will be phased-out between 2010 and 2015. What next? Since 4 July 2011, it has been an offence to undertake installation, servicing and/or maintenance on stationary refrigeration,

air-conditioning and heat pump (RAC) equipment that contains or is designed to contain F-gas refrigerants without valid certification. All interim personnel and company certificates are no longer valid. Engineers must hold a full F-gas qualification and their employer needs to hold a full company certificate. The requirements for a company certificate apply to businesses that employ personnel to work on. Take action now If you or a company you work for have not upgraded to a full company certificate you need to take action now. To obtain a full certificate, businesses must show that: ● They employ a sufficient number of engineers who hold full F-gas qualifications to cover the expected volume of activities; and ● They have proof that the necessary tools and procedures are available to engineers engaged in activities for which certification is required. F-Gas Support is a government funded team set up to help organisations understand their obligations under the EC Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) and Ozone Regulations. F-Gas Support is also helping regulators promote compliance with these important environmental regulations. A visit to the F-Gas Support website will help you identify your obligations. For more details F-Gas Support information sheets RAC 3 and RAC 5 are available to download from www.defra.gov.uk/fgas

Health and safety prosecutions will take place before an accident inquest in an effort to speed up the legal process. The move for swifter justice is the result of an agreement between those who investigate and prosecute work-related deaths and the judiciary in England and Wales. Currently, cases are only taken before an inquest by regulators other than the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in exceptional circumstances. “Health and safety offences are only usually brought at this stage if they are being tried in conjunction with manslaughter-related charges,” according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which issued a statement on behalf of the Work Related Deaths National Liaison Committee (NLC).

Firm fine for waste offence Trago Mills stores has been ordered to pay almost £200,000 in fines and costs for illegally dumping and burning waste at two of its out-oftown shopping complexes. Several thousand tonnes of mixed waste including asbestos was illegally tipped and disposed of at Trago Mills stores and leisure parks near Newton Abbot and Liskeard. On September 14, 2009 Environment Agency officers visited the Newton Abbot store and found that waste had been illegally landfilled. Materials found at the site included soil, stone, plastic, electrical goods, plumbing pipes, broken paving, tiles, concrete, wood, packaging, pots of paints and chemicals and broken dustbins. Trago Mills (South Devon) Limited and Charles Robertson (Developments) Limited were fined a total of £185,000 after pleading guilty to five offences of illegally depositing and disposing of waste at sites near Newton Abbot and Liskeard. They were also ordered to pay £14,558 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 33

6/10/11 15:18:26

FM MONITOR JULIE DEMPSTER

TECHNICAL

Julie Dempster, marketing manger at Forbo Flooring Systems

LIN OLEU M – A S USTA I NA BL E CH O I CE

ard-wearing and sustainable, linoleum is emerging as a cost-effective choice of floor covering for many specifiers, across a range of sites, explains Julie Dempster

based on strict environmental criteria. Some types of linoleum have been awarded independent eco-labels, including the Swan Mark and the Nature Plus Label, and have an independent LifeCycle Assessment study (LCA) available online.

Cradle to grave

As the pressure to be sustainable continues to grow, many facilities managers are looking for high performance products that also boast some sound environmental credentials. Durable, easily cleaned and with excellent anti-bacterial properties, linoleum ticks all the boxes when it comes to resilient floorcoverings. Already widely recognised as a sustainable product, linoleum, invented in 1855, is a natural product made predominantly from harvestable, renewable natural raw materials. Marmoleum, which is Forbo’s own brand of linoleum, contains 97 per cent natural raw materials, 70 per cent of which are renewable, and has a recycled content of 40 per cent.

Flax of the matter The name ‘linoleum’ derives from the Latin words linum (flax) and oleum (oil) and means oil from the flax plant, a reference to the linseed oil that is the key raw material in the product. The oil 34 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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is a harvestable and renewable crop produced by the seeds from the flax plant, widely grown in temperate climates, notably in Canada, the UK and Argentina. Other harvestable and renewable raw materials are the rosin tapped from pine trees, which is mixed in with the solidified linseed oil; woodflour, a fine sawdust, which comes from managed softwood plantations; very finely ground limestone and jute, a vegetable fibre grown in India or Bangladesh. Linoleum is naturally biodegradable and in this way, some brands fit perfectly in sustainable building concepts and have been specified within Breeam ‘Excellent’ rated projects. Many manufacturers now employ responsible manufacturing processes and hold ISO 14001. In addition, eco-labels and accreditations are independent assessments or third party endorsements where the products have been externally assessed

LCAs are crucial in measuring a product’s true eco-credentials. The studies investigate the environmental impact of a product from ‘cradle to grave’ – from raw materials, pre-processing, production, distribution, installation, use, maintenance and recycling to disposal. LCAs therefore allow all environmental aspects related to a product to be taken into consideration. As a natural, raw material-based product, which is efficiently produced in terms of energy and waste, linoleum performs very well in these studies. Consumers and end-users are now more considerate in their choices, which is why they often favour a sustainable product like linoleum.

Case study For example, when Nightingale Associates began work on a new £34 million Elective Care Centre at Liverpool’s Aintree University Hospitals, strict standards of hygiene, durability and sustainability were set across all aspects of the design, including the flooring. In addition, the flooring products had to contribute to a bright and welcoming atmosphere that would help put patients at ease. Searching for a solution, the team sourced Forbo’s Marmoleum, as they have worked with it over the last 25 years and knew

they could trust it to perform as required. “With infection control a major concern in healthcare environments, the high antibacterial performance of linoleum makes it an obvious choice,” explains John Knape, frameworks director at Nightingale Associates. “It’s also extremely durable and easy to clean, both of which were key considerations for the hospital. In addition, Marmoleum is composed almost entirely from natural materials, making it a particularly sustainable flooring choice – something that was important both to us and to our client.”

Fit for all purposes Extremely versatile, linoleum is suited to a wide range of applications, including commercial, retail, healthcare and education. What’s more, design techniques such as water jet cutting have widened the scope for creative application even further. For example, a flooring design chosen by pupils has been created using this technology for Kobi Nazrul primary school in Tower Hamlets, London (pictured). Each Marmoleum design was cut using the unique water cutting system, which enables reproduction of the most intricate designs. The sophisticated technology allows for endless creativity in creating bespoke patterns, to company logos – the possibilities are limitless, with each section of the design supplied in pre-assembled pieces to be fitted together on the floor. Technologies such as this, along with the ever-increasing range of patterns and colours, have given linoleum a new lease of life. FM www.fm-world.co.uk

6/10/11 13:59:02

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19/4/11 17:41:52 FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 35

3/10/11 16:36:41

FM MONITOR JIM VALENTINE

HOW TO…

Head of hard services at G4S FM Jim Valentine

MANAG IN G CA R PA R K S

safe, secure and clean car park is essential for supporting staff and creating a lasting positive impression for guests and customers, explains Jim Valentine

Car park management is often taken for granted. But without effective facilities management to implement maintenance regimes and co-ordinate signage and security, car parks can easily fail to support business needs and create a poor first impression of an organisation. The latest advances in car park management systems also provide FMs with new opportunities to support wider organisational goals. As many businesses look to mitigate their environmental impact through efficient lighting and green travel plans, car park technology is an effective way of helping to achieve these aims.

Space for improvement With more organisations looking to rationalise their estates and relocate staff to existing offices, car park management increasingly has a role to play in helping to accommodate more employees and maximise space usage. Every organisation has different needs. Large organisations with multiple sites need to develop bespoke car park management plans and weigh up the benefits of implementing centralised electronic management systems that can be administered by FM partners.

1⁄

Security

It is estimated that around 20 per cent of all car crime occurs in car parks. Home Office research has shown that car park crime can be reduced by up to 80 per cent

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by implementing appropriate management practices. If possible, FMs should ensure the layout of the car park maximises natural surveillance of parking areas and pedestrian routes. Organisations need to assess whether to use CCTV and permanent on-site security, CCTV on its own, or have regular patrols at set periods. These decisions need to be measured up against the specific site that is being protected and weighted against the cost to corporate insurance of not using permanent guards. In many car parks, utilising barriers to control vehicular access is a preferable option, but capital costs to retrofit these systems can be high and it is important to factor in ongoing maintenance costs. Operators of public car parks must also consider whether they issue tickets or clamp cars that have been parked in unauthorised areas. Both are effective, but ticket issuing is substantially less threatening than wheel clamping.

2⁄

Lighting

Ensuring car parks are well-lit is key to ensuring staff and visitors feel safe and is an important element of site security. FMs can support corporate social responsibility goals and cut running costs by looking carefully at lighting specification. Simple options such as changing bulbs from 100w to 50w longlife can deliver this while not affecting output. Similarly, taking out alternate rows of lighting can

immediately halve car park energy and life-cycle costs, providing that lux levels necessary for CCTV to work are maintained.

3⁄

Maintenance

Like any asset, maintenance and life cycle management of car parks is key to providing a user-friendly environment and also reducing costly reactive maintenance. Regularly maintaining the road surface and tackling any occurring defects in the surfacing as soon as they appear is important. Equally, it is vital to driver and pedestrian safety that road markings are clear and are regularly repainted.

4⁄

Online booking systems

Implementing an online car park booking system can help FMs to manage car parks, particularly for those organisations where there are significantly more employees than spaces. As more organisations rationalise their estates and relocate staff into existing offices, it is not just a question of desks, but also about understanding the challenges on the car park. The premise behind workspace utilisation is that regardless of whether you have 300 or 3,000 employees at a particular location, you probably don’t need a permanent desk for all of them because it is unlikely that they will all be in the building at the same time. Equally, the same rule can be applied to parking provision. Before choosing and implementing

an online system, FMs need to consult widely with employees and undertake research with staff on their day-to-day routines and car park usage. Effective online systems should provide staff with the flexibility to book their car park space each day, while helping to reduce the number of spaces not taken.

5⁄

Green travel plans

FMs have an opportunity to align car park management with green travel plans. By researching how people travel to work and their monthly car park needs, it is possible to develop a system that provides parking options, but also makes employees think about their chosen mode of transport. One way is to get employees to sign up for a series of parking packages and offer incentives to those that do not always use the car. People that travel to work by public transport or bicycle could be rewarded with credits for the staff canteen, for example. Staff who opt for a package whereby they car share with colleagues for two to three days a week could receive a designated space close to the office building. Those employees who need parking provision for five days a week can park, but must book their space via the online booking system. To support this type of programme, there needs to be adequate and secure bicycle facilities, and shower and locker facilities. FM

“Large organisations with multiple sites need to develop bespoke car park management plans and weigh up the benefits of using electronic systems” www.fm-world.co.uk

5/10/11 15:48:05

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BIFM NEWS BIFM.ORG.UK

Th!nkFM 2011: Delegates in one of the conference hubs

BIFM AWARDS

Award winners 2011 If you missed the BIFM Awards on 10 October you can see who won at www.bifm.org.uk/awards2011. Think you could be a winner next year? Entries for the 2012 Awards are welcome from 16 January. The ceremony will take place on 8 October at the Grosvenor House hotel. CONFERENCE

Th!nkFM 2012 Following the success of Th!nkFM 2011, which allowed delegates to build their conference agenda based on their professional development needs or interests, the BIFM has announced Th!nkFM 2012. Th!nkFM will take place on 18 June at the Royal College of Physicians in London. The college is an elegant, award-winning, modern building, situated in a stunning setting overlooking Regent’s Park in the heart of London. This year’s theme is ‘Ideas for change: how great facilities management makes the difference.’ Th!nkFM will include a day of learning, debate, interaction and, of course, networking. Delegates will take away new ideas to implement in their organisations to make a difference. In 2012, Th!nkFM will include new features such as site visits so delegates can see firsthand how great FM has already made a difference. The ‘hubs’ for 2012 have been designed to reflect key facets of FM, including the workplace, people and getting the competitive edge in the current economic environment. Delegates can 38 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD

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pick and choose which sessions they wish to attend during the conference, so can either focus on just one hub, or move across all three to maximise topics. i If you are interested in advertising at Th!nkFM, contact neil.everitt@ bifm.org.uk or call 0845 058 1356.For more details on the conference visit www.thinkfm.com, email conference@thinkfm.com or call 08701 632 804

SPONSORSHIP

BIFM sponsorship Did you know that there are sponsorship opportunities with the BIFM? The benefits could be bigger than you imagine and outlay smaller than you may think. If you are looking to target a specific geographical region or sector then perhaps sponsoring a BIFM group could help you concisely generate new business or raise your profile. Or for more national and intense exposure maybe working with the BIFM, on a national event could be more suitable. i Options to sponsor with the BIFM come up throughout the year. To be notified of key opportunities contact neil.everitt@bifm.org.uk or call 0845 058 1356

KEEP IN TOUCH

flickr

» Network with BIFM @ www.networkwithbifm.org.uk » Twitter @BIFM_UK » LinkedIn » facebook » YouTube » Flickr

MEMBERSHIP

Join as a corporate member Joining the BIFM as a corporate member can raise your company profile and help reach key decision makers in FM, giving your organisation the competitive edge. Chris Box, hard services director at OCS Group UK, explains his view of BIFM corporate membership: “As a leading international facilities services organisation, it is vital to link ourselves with the industry’s leading professional membership bodies to ensure our customers and stakeholders know we are committed to the industry and to the continuing future professional development of this industry. “We have been involved with the BIFM as a corporate member for more than 10 years and have found this membership to be

invaluable to the growth of our business through networking and training opportunities. We recommend the BIFM to our customers and stakeholders and will continue to do so going forward to ensure that the profile of the FM industry continues to be raised.” Corporate membership benefits include: ● Use of the BIFM Corporate Members’ logo ● Inclusion in our online corporate showcase ● A 20 per cent discount on display advertising in FM World ● Unique networking opportunities for your company ● Discounted upgrade in the FM World Buyers’ Guide ● The chance to be featured in our corporate newsletter You can nominate staff to receive the benefits which include FM World and membership of local BIFM groups. i Contact us on 0845 058 1358, membership@bifm.org.uk or www. bifm.org.uk/corporatemembership

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

POLICY

Public policy work Institute members are helping the BIFM to impress the knowledge and experience of the profession to policy makers. Following the call upon people to sit on virtual public affairs panels covering issues such as energy, PFI and skills, members have contributed to a number of initiatives. These include responses to the European Commission Proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive; a joint CSSA/BIFM workshop on contract cleaning issues; the development of government Facilities Management Service Standards and the Government Property Unit’s call for a soft landings representative. Through the good work of the Rising FMs Sig, the BIFM has nominated two representatives – Richard Keane and Vicky O’Farrell – for the 2050 group, which contributed directly to the influential Morrell report on the construction industry. The 2050 group’s vision is to provide a collaborative forum and platform for members of all construction disciplines and professional bodies to develop ideas, share knowledge and promote advancement of sustainable industry initiatives. The BIFM now has five ambassadors to help the institute engage with EuroFM and wider European issues. Tony Angel, Rob Grassom, Gary Herbert, James McVeigh and Huw Thomas will ensure the BIFM is well represented and that EuroFM makes good progress. i If you are interested in the BIFM’s public policy work, contact Richard Byatt, corporate & public affairs director at richard.byatt@ bifm.org.uk

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Ian Fielder is CEO of the BIFM

BIFM COMMENT C E L E B R AT I N G SU CC E SS

s this edition of FM World hits our desks, many members and their guests will be reflecting on the BIFM Awards held this week at the Grosvenor House hotel, London. If you peel away the glamour and excitement, what we are left with are stunning case studies that lie at the very heart of facilities management. Every submission has been examined with a fine toothcomb and a critical eye from our team of expert judges. The winners will be celebrating knowing that they have been judged best in class. Those with shortlisted submissions will be holding their heads high, proud that they gave their very best shot and hopefully be thinking maybe next year. The year’s awards saw the inclusion of three new award categories: FM Client of the Year, FM Consultant of the Year and FM Service Provider of the Year. These sat alongside our more established categories of Innovation in Customer Service; Innovation in Technology and Systems; Innovation in Products; Impact on Organisation and Workplace; Sustainability and Environmental Impact; Communications and Marketing; FM Excellence in a Major Project and, of course, the highly coveted Facilities Manager of the Year award. Entries for the 2012 awards will open on 16 January 2012. Which projects do you and your team have that you could enter? Now is the time to start your planning, and who knows, this time next year you could be a BIFM Award winner, or our FM of the Year. The awards typify what is happening in every well-run facility up and down the country. Innovative solution, customer focus, excellent designs and sustainable ideas are the bedrock of the facilities management world. The next edition of FM World will cover the awards in detail and there will be an opportunity to delve into the details of the awards submissions at the Th!nkFM conference in 2012. ThinkFM will take place on 16 June at the Royal College of Physicians, London, with the theme ‘Ideas for Change, how great facilities management makes the difference’ (www.thinkfm.com). Those attending this week’s TWM Exhibition at Olympia in London will also have a chance to see the presentation of the show’s Innovation and Sustainability Awards. Held in the Innovation Showcase seminar theatre on Tuesday 11 October at 1pm, the awards highlight innovative and sustainable products and services that support the effective and efficient management of a workplace. With categories including Best Innovation in Energy Management and Best Product Innovation, this is a great chance for us all to recognise supplier excellence in our field. I was delighted to be on the judging panel for these awards. If you are visiting the exhibition this year, come and visit the BIFM on stand B20 where staff and other members will be delighted to chat with you.

“THE WINNERS WILL BE CELEBRATING KNOWING THAT THEY HAVE BEEN JUDGED THE BEST IN CLASS. THOSE WITH SHORTLISTED SUBMISSIONS WILL BE HOLDING THEIR HEADS HIGH, PROUD THAT THEY GAVE THEIR VERY BEST SHOT”

ian.fielder@bifm.org.uk

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BIFM NEWS BIFM.ORG.UK

Presenting at region training days: Valerie Everitt:

WORKPLACE WEEK

F O O D I N F L AT I O N TO P S 7. 3% – WHAT D OE S T H I S M E A N F O R YO U R C AT E RING S E RVIC E ?

Workplace week 2011

● Workplace Week convention on 9 November, KPMG Canary Wharf offices, London. The 2011 convention, entitled ‘Life, work and place in 2020: action now’ gives senior leaders a glimpse of the future and what organisations should be doing now to prepare. ● Workplace visits, each lasting 90 minutes, to some of the United Kingdom’s most notable workplaces, ranging from some of the funkiest (Mintel, Innocent Drinks and Rackspace), to the more formal yet equally innovative workplaces (Barclays, PwC and KPMG), to the best alternative workplace models including Lloyds of London and Tower 42. ● ‘A workplace through the lens’ photo competition will portray the essence of great workplaces supporting great people working together or alone, any time, any place, anywhere. Visit www.workplaceweek.com to get involved i

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ood inflation seems to have accelerated over the summer, pushing the cost of providing a catering service at work to even higher levels. It looks like a similar story for next year. The professional caterers will have already implemented plans for dealing with this in the short term and there is much that can be done if client, operator and user are prepared to work together. But what does it mean for the long-term future of employer-provided catering services? Before answering this, clients need to be clear as to the reason for providing catering services at work. Strangely many are still doing it because “they have always done it”. Others have carefully articulated their reasons, which form the basis of a plan or catering strategy that will drive change for the forthcoming years. We are finding that the driver today is less to do with which contractor can operate the existing service the cheapest, but rather who has the best proposal for reducing costs over the medium term while still continuing to meet the client’s objectives and needs of the users. For clients who are quite focused, broad minded and prepared to embrace change, the solutions are there already – we see them every day in the high street. To achieve this, client and contractor need to review the culture that surrounds staff catering to challenge the custom and practice that leads to operating subsidies and space being occupied by non-core activities. Catering doesn’t have to be a simple, budgeted workplace expense, but can represent a commercial opportunity where basic entrepreneurship can meet everyone’s objective for a quality, value-for-money service. Clients need to recognise the value of break-out spaces and places to relax away from the desk. Quite apart and separate from catering, these spaces will never produce a return – they are part of the organisation’s core activity and the cost of doing business today. Entrepreneurs will then see a semi-captive, in-house market that is entitled to use these spaces to which services can be sold that will require little additional space and can be operated at a profit with little or no cost to the client. High street operators have begun to exploit these opportunities and we are currently designing new facilities needed to accommodate them. The trend towards a more commercial approach started years ago and maybe spiralling food costs will provide the trigger for a more rapid change.

REGIONS

Workplace Week is a showcase of workplace innovation taking place in the UK on 7-11 November in aid of Children in Need. It is organised by Advanced Workplace Associates and supported by the BIFM, the British Council for Offices, CoreNet Global (UK) and BCS – the Chartered Institute for IT. Highlights from this year’s event include:

BIFM TRAINING

Quarterly training day The South West region quarterly training days continued in September with a ‘Working smarter’ day held at the Bristol Hilton and sponsored by AMX. The morning was dedicated to learning and development, with presentations from Valerie Everitt, professional standards and education director at the BIFM, and Karen Waterlow from Asset Skills. Martin Davies from BIFM Training explained the benefits of training. The next session covered the ever-changing role of technology within FM and how FM’s can make the best of what is available now. Christine Jones from Tiger Mouth delivered a lively presentation on social media, Tim Marsden from AMX explained the future of Integrated Building Solutions and Matthew Wailling from Cordless Consultants provided a glimpse into the future of technology. The afternoon workshop was about thinking strategically and delegates were tasked with developing FM strategies while aligning business drivers in a lively and engaging session run by South West region chair, Gareth Andrews. i The next training day will be on 25 November in Bristol. Email Joanne Bartlam at joanneb07@ ntlworld.com for details

i Want to know more? This article has been written by Tony Horton of Tricon Foodservice Consultants and presenter of BIFM Training’s Introduction to Catering Contracts and Making Catering Contracts Work programmes. They next run on 22 November and 23-24 November 2011 respectively, in central London. For information or to book call 020 7404 4440, email info@bifm-training.co.uk or visit www.bifmtraining.com. You can now follow us @ www.facebook.com/ bifmtraining and www.twitter.com/bifmtraining

www.fm-world.co.uk

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FM DIARY

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

NATIONAL BIFM EVENTS

24 January 2012 Agile working pilot at Oxfam Presentations on Oxfam’s agile working pilot and tour of Oxfam House. Venue: Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford Contact: carol.hearn@unilever.com or call 01234 222 421

8 November Women in FM/North West Region event Venue: Merseyside, venue tbc Contact: Liz Kentish at coach@ lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call 07717 787077 IRELAND REGION

HOME COUNTIES REGION 4 November The 15th Annual BIFM Ireland Region facilities management conference & exhibition The conference will include a number of illuminating and inspiring talks from FM professionals across the UK and Ireland. Presentations will touch on topics ranging from presentation development and delivery to retroﬁtting older buildings, to improving energy efficiency and implementing costeffective ﬁre safety management. This year, we will welcome Eric Hepburn, chief operating officer at Number 10 Downing Street, who will provide a unique insight into the day-to-day facilities management of the Prime Minister’s residence. Venue: Belfast Waterfront Contact: l.mcmahon@hjmartin.co.uk MIDLANDS REGION 10 November Communication & relationships in FM What is neuro linguistic programming? What is emotional intelligence? How can we use this in FM to help with relationships and communication? Venue: TBC Contact: carol.hearn@unilever.com or call 01234 222 421

21 October BIFM Home Counties and South Region member’s training day – engaging with FM A free event, and open to all our members. Venue: 3 head office, Maidenhead Contact: ash@fm-recruitment.co.uk or call 01635 43100 SCOTTISH REGION 1 October Scottish Annual gala ball Continuing the success of our renowned annual gala ball, join us again this year for a night of ﬁne food, drink, entertainment and networking in one of Glasgow’s ﬁnest hotels. The night will begin with a champagne reception, followed by a four-course meal and a variety of entertainment. Venue: Crowne Plaza, Glasgow Contact: joanmelville@virginmedia. com or call 07855 961774

Contact: sanneke@hydrop.com or call 0121 354 2030 25 November South-West Region November training day A free-to-members training day organised by the South West Region committee. Venue: Hilton Bristol Hotel, Aztec West, Bristol Contact: Joanne Bartlam at joanneb07@ntlworld.com or call 07808 908052 INDUSTRY EVENTS 19-20 October FM & Property event Join your peers and leading industry suppliers for a day and a half of networking and meetings, coupled with an exciting workshop programme. Venue: Belfry, West Midlands Contact: jasonawatar@ globalbusinessevents.co.uk

SOUTH WEST REGION

20 October Workplace Trends conference This year’s theme is ‘Property is a people business’ and will focus on how we can create working environments that enhance performance and wellbeing. Venue: Royal College of Physicians, London Contact: Email maggie@merlinevents.co.uk

27 October Legionellosis management & control 2011 A free half day seminar advising on management and control of legionellosis. Venue: Holiday Inn Express, Swindon West (nr Junction 16 M4)

26-28 October IFMA’s World Workplace Conference & Expo The largest, longest-running and well-respected annual conference and exposition for facility management and related professions.

Venue: Phoenix Convention Centre, Arizona, USA Contact: tj.mendieta@ifma.org 1-2 November Healthcare Estates Exhibition & Conference This exhibition brings together suppliers and customers in the largest gathering of the healthcare sector each year. Venue: Manchester Central (GMEX), Manchester Contact: Register online at www. healthcare-estates.com or turn up and register for free 7-11 November Workplace week Workplace Week is a showcase of workplace innovation taking place in the UK, in aid of the BBC’s Children in Need charity. Organised by Advanced Workplace Associates and supported by The British Institute for Facilities Management (BIFM), the British Council for Offices (BCO), CoreNet Global (UK) and the British Computer Society (BCS). Venue: Nationwide Contact: Visit www.workplaceweek. com 16-17 November Worktech 11 The eighth annual conference looking at implications of convergence between the worlds of technology, real estate, work and the workplace. Venue: British Library, London Contact: caroline.bell@unwired. eu.com or call 020 8977 8920 24-25 November IFM Congress Venue: Vienna University of Technology Contact: kongress@ifm.tuwien.ac.at

Workspace management defined Condeco is the booking system to manage not just your meeting rooms and desks – but all available resources. Our intelligent solutions allow you to operate more efficiently and make maximum use of your workspace. The interactive signage and advanced reporting provide real time utilisation data on which to base future business decisions. Room booking Desk booking Visitor management Interactive room and desk signage

Intelligent management reports Hospitality management Event management

Outlook and Lotus Notes integration Car park booking Resource scheduling

Find out more: call +44 (0)20 7001 2055 or go to www.condecosoftware.com 42 | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | FM WORLD 00 | 30 SEPTEMBER 2010 | FM WORLD

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BaxterStorey offers a wide range of contract catering services to business and industry. As the UK's leading independent contract caterer we offer a personal service that focuses on fresh food. We tailor our services to each clients individual needs and we ensure we provide the right people to deliver the exceptional. Whether you need a dining room for board members and clients, or meals for over 1000 people per day, and whether you have a single or multi-site operation, BaxterStorey will respond to your needs, very often with award-winning solutions. And if you need to provide special hospitality for meetings, we'll take care of that too. What's more, the solution will be designed to your individual requirements - whether it's a small trendy in-house cafĂŠ, a deli bar, or a large complex site with diverse catering services. For more information please call us on 0118 935 6700 e-mail sales@baxterstorey.com or visit us at www.baxterstorey.com.

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FM PEOPLE MOVERS & SHAKERS

BEHIND

THE JOB What attracted you to the job? What initially attracted me to the Royal Society is its beautiful Grade I listed property that overlooks Pall Mall and St James’s Park, designed by the architect John Nash. I also enjoy the diversity that the role brings.

NAME: Linda Alexander JOB TITLE: Facilities manager ORGANISATION: The Royal Society JOB DESCRIPTION: To strategically manage the Royal Society premises and develop and implement a strategy for the facilities management, health and safety functions. Overall responsibility for the operational aspects.

My top perk at work is… Meeting such eminent scientists such as Stephen Hawking, Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Brian Cox. Also, because of the property’s location, I get to see many of the large state occasions when they proceed along Pall Mall – my favourite is Trooping the Colour and the spectacular view of the Red Arrows as they fly past over the building. How did you get into facilities management and what attracted you to the industry? After leaving school at the age of 17 and mainly being employed in administrative and secretarial roles, I went off and completed the Camp America programme for the summer. Upon my return, I successfully landed an assistant facilities manager role. I was very fortunate to have a good boss who became my mentor, assisted me to develop my skills and abilities, and encouraged me to undertake postgraduate study. What’s been your career high point to date? Obtaining my MSc in Facilities Management qualification back in 2001. What has been your biggest career challenge to date? I have enjoyed the project management aspects of the many large refurbishment projects I have been involved with. But more recently, while maintaining

ON THE

MOVE Changing jobs? Tell us about your new role and responsibilities. Contact Natalie Li Natalie.Li.@fm-world.co.uk

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Swiss Post Solutions has appointed Gavin Harrison (pictured) as business development manager. Harrison is based in Blackburn and is responsible for increasing the company’s document processing business in the North of England and Scotland. Contract caterer Elior UK has appointed Tim Bowley as managing director. Bowley was previously managing director of Whitbread-owned Beefeater Restaurants. He will be responsible for Elior’s defence, vending, heritage and FM business.

the facilities and operational standards at my current property, I was heavily involved in managing the logistical and facilities operations at our recently purchased Chicheley Hall, a Grade I listed Georgian country house in Buckinghamshire. Interestingly, the film Enigma starring Kate Winslet was filmed there. Any interesting tales to tell? One day a group of NASA astronauts appeared in the main reception. They were returning a piece of Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree which had been taken into space. I couldn’t resist having my photograph taken with them (see left). If I wasn’t in facilities management, I’d probably be… a primary school teacher. How do you think facilities management has changed in the past five years? It is very encouraging to see a lot more women in senior facilities management roles. What single piece of advice would you give to a young facilities manager starting out? Concentrate on obtaining relevant qualifications and get involved in as many aspects of the role as you can. Do your friends understand what facilities management is? My friends and family understand what facilities management is, but I don’t think they or strangers appreciate the full level of responsibility involved, particularly from a health and safety perspective.

Hochtief Facility Management UK has appointed Simon Harris (pictured) as managing director. Harris joins from the international division of Hochtief Solutions AG Services Segment, where he was regional support director for the EMEA region for three years. Matthew Warner has been appointed partner at Hoare Lea. Warner joined the firm in 1998. He has more than 17 years’ experience in environmental engineering building design, with particular expertise in office and residential schemes.

Prestige London, Sodexo’s fine dining, catering and hospitality provider in the capital, has appointed Mark Parfait (pictured) as head of food operations. Parfait, who joined the business in September, is focusing on craft development and food operations across all Prestige London sites. He is also responsible for the development of innovative food concepts, brand standards and menu plans for major events, boardroom hospitality and staff dining. He has more than 20 years of experience as a chef.

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HOT DATES dates for a brighter future BIFM Training Conference Programme Our FM Experts take the speaker platform to discuss the key concerns and FM issues of the moment, providing an excellent forum to discuss best practice and innovation within the profession. We next meet to explore:

Contracting: FM Strategies, Options, Tactics & Pricing 15th November 2011, Central London - contact us for details

NOVEMBER COURSES 15

BIFM Training Conference: Contracting - FM Strategies, Options, Tactics & Pricing 15-17 The Professional FM 2 [Intermediate] 21-25 Management Development - ILM Level 3 Award in First Line Management 22 Introduction to Catering Contracts 22-24 Understanding FM Foundation - (optional) ILM Level 3 Award or Certificate in FM - FULL 23-24 Making Catering Contracts Work 28 Executive Programme: Exploring Innovation in FM 29-30 The Essentials of Property Management 29 Building Surveying & Maintenance 29 Fire Safety Law & Risk Assessment 29-1 Dec The FM Business School [Advanced] 30-1 Dec Understanding & Managing Building Services

+44 (0)20 7404 4440

Telephone info@bifm-training.co.uk | www.bifm-training.com facebook.com/bifmtraining

SkillZone SkillZone is BIFM’s new interactive e-learning portal available to all facilities management professionals to help you or your team develop business skills in bitesize, adaptable chunks. Courses currently available include:

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Negotiation Skills Advanced Negotiation Key Performance Indicators Conversations with Customers Managing Professionals for Results Managing Budgets in the Real World Innovation Thinking Strategically

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Call Adam Potter on 020 7880 8543 or email adam.potter@fm-world.co.uk For full media information take a look at www.fm-world.co.uk/mediapack

FM NEWS

FM innovations ▼Water storage at general hospital

▲ GVS Assist vending

Weatherite Building Services has provided a new water storage system at Warrington General Hospital as part of the hospital’s capital programme. Managed by Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Warrington General is a major general hospital that has invested greatly in upgrading patient services over the past few years, including Intensive Care, Endoscopy and Ophthalmic Daycase provision. Weatherite Building Services won the contract to dismantle the existing storage tank and associated infrastructure and supply and install a new potable GRP water storage tank, located within the rooftop plant room. The upgrade of the new storage tank was part of the trust’s programme of legionella management and will also ensure compliance with the latest WRAS and DWI standards.

▲ Stay green and save with Zigor Businesses could save around £5,000 per year on their energy bills by switching from an older, less efficient uninterruptible power supply to Zigor’s new Ottawa Plus, according to the leading UPS manufacturer. Zigor’s Ottawa range achieves an efficiency rating of 90 per cent and can save companies money and reduce their carbon footprint. Swapping an old 100kva UPS for a new Zigor 100kva UPS that is only ﬁve per cent more efficient, for example, results in a reduction in consumption of almost 46000kw per annum. Depending on an individual business’ power usage, at 10p/kWh running for 24 hours, 365 days per year this could become a saving of £4,610.39 per year on energy bills. It means replacing an old UPS system with a new more efficient one is now a proﬁtable exercise. T: 0844 854 6264 E: salesuk@zigor.com W: www.zigor.com/uk

GVS Assist is an industry leader providing a one-stop solution for servicing vending machines, refrigerated coolers and espresso machines throughout the UK and Ireland. The company has provided services to clients since the 1920s. GVS Assist also supplies vending and espresso machines, new and refurbished, as well as supplying a wide range of spare machine parts. You won’t be tied into any contracts for your machine contents and we service most machines from a wide variety of manufacturers. We provide truly national coverage through a team of over 150 ﬁeld engineers, dedicated to giving exceptional service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. T: 0845 5040 490 W: www.gvs.co.uk

▼ Talent FM – sourcing stars in FM Our mission is to provide the facilities management industry with recruitment and talent management solutions, delivered with passion, commitment and exceptional customer service. Looking to climb the FM Career ladder? Then make sure you join in at Talent FM and speak with one of our sourcing stars today. We want to help you get to where you need to be. We have vacancies in the UK and globally. @TalentFM Talent FM – Facilities Management Jobs Stars in FM

▲ Flowcrete innovate at TWM Leading industrial and commercial flooring manufacturer Flowcrete UK will be demonstrating its pioneering flooring systems, built on 30 years’ experience, at the Total Workplace Management Show. From stand number A79, the Flowcrete team will show how the company’s resin flooring offers facilities and estates managers ‘best in class’ solutions to meet all of their requirements underfoot – both functional and aesthetic. Innovations include Flowfast, the floor finish ready for use just two hours after application, which uses ‘Methylmethacrylate’ (MMA) technology to put flooring projects on the fast track. Energy-saving Isowarm Underfloor Heating, designed for use with the company’s Isocrete Floor Screeds, will also be on show and is likely to be of interest to M & E professionals. E: uk@flowcrete.com W: www.flowcrete.co.uk

stars@talentfm.co.uk 0844 880 2426 www.talentfm.co.uk

▲ Treble ISO success for CH&CO The independent catering group, CH&Co, has been awarded three major international management systems – ISO 9001 (Quality Management), OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) right across its 140 sites. Achieving company-wide accreditation in all three standards demonstrates that CH&Co has successfully accomplished internationally recognised business management compliance in all areas of its work and across each of its six niche brands. This includes safety, training and development, ﬁnancial, environmental impacts, human resources, customer focus, procurement, operations and ﬁnal service delivery. W: www.chandco.net

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0844 576 3710

one vision many advantages

Cost Transparency for your Facilities Services what we do UÊÊCleaning UÊÊM&E Maintenance UÊÊFabric Maintenance UÊÊSecurity UÊÊHelpdesk UÊÊReception & Mailroom UÊÊWindow Cleaning

www.anabas.co.uk Follow us on Twitter @AnabasFM

www.fm-world.co.uk

LOOK OUT FOR THE 20l2 BUYERS’ GUIDE TO FM SERVICES The UK’s most comprehensive directory of suppliers to the FM marketplace With a range of affordable advertising options, the FM World Buyers’ Guide is the simple and effective way to get your company noticed by potential customers when they are actively looking for a supplier.

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INFORMATION ON ADVERTISING: sales@fm-world.co.uk: 020 7880 6230

BOOK YOUR LISTING NOW: fm-world.co.uk/buyers-guide FM WORLD | 13 OCTOBER 2011 | 47

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Appointments

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

Find your ideal FM job at www.fm-world.co.uk/jobs

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B (Tec id-write hnic r serv al/ Hard ices ) Nort h W £3540k est bene plus fits

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XXX D DP VL

National Contracts Director (M&E), Cambridgeshire, ÂŁ60,000-80,000 plus car and package A well established M&E services provider is recruiting a Contracts Director to hold operational and commercial responsibility for all hard FM contracts in England. This will include leading operational teams on existing contracts and mobilising and directing new contracts. The role will involve working closely with the business development team to seek and convert new opportunities into contracts. You will have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the strategic direction and continued growth of the business. Candidates must be able to demonstrate strong leadership and technical (M&E) skills and have a proven track record in meeting profit and cash flow targets in a similar role. The role is based out of offices in Cambridgeshire but is a national role and will involve travel. CVs to russell@c22.co.uk

M&E Manager (residential), London, to ÂŁ35,000 plus package A property management firm are recruiting a Technical Services Manager to manage building and concierge services at a cluster of Thames-side, 5 star residential blocks. Candidates must have an M&E qualification, sound residential building service engineering experience including a hands-on knowledge of CHP Plant, Trend BMS and under-floor heating systems. Applicants should ideally also have a Health & Safety qualification. CVs to russell@c22.co.uk

Group Property/Facilities Mgr, Leeds with travel, up to ÂŁ55,000 1 year fixed term contract Our client are looking for a Senior Property and Facilities Manager with experience in working in a multi site environment and building relationships with key stakeholders. Candidates must have extensive understanding of and experience in the Property Acquisition and Leasing process; Extensive experience in managing tenders and vender relationship management; Extensive Budget Management experience - will be managing a budget circa ÂŁ8million; Excellent attention to detail, prioritising and forecasting; Experience in Mergers & Acquisitions; Experience with projects such as, disaster recovery, business continuity planning or sustainability planning is desirable; Qualifications: BIFM essential and NEBOSH or IOSH are essential. CVs to ed@c22.co.uk

www.randstadcpe.com/fm

Experts in FM & Maintenance Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering provide specialist recruitment solutions for the FM and Maintenance sector. Our specialist consultants offer tailored recruitment solutions for a broad spectrum of private and public sector clients operating in the commercial, domestic, leisure, retail, industrial and defence markets. We offer both temporary and permanent solutions within FM, health and safety, management and consultancy, throughout our UK and International branch network. For all your FM & Maintenance requirements please visit www.randstadcpe.com/fm or call 0800 169 0863.

providing quality people

Leeds 0113 242 8055 London 020 7630 5144

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News updated at least ďŹ ve times a day Archive of every FM World article since 2004 Job email alerts Career advice

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FINAL WORD FELICITY MESSING

FELICITY

MESSING

WHO'D BE A STUDENT?… On the subject of university, I can't help but feel for today's students. Three years of eating baked beans out of a can, the inevitable student loan debt and the struggle to find employment. Where is the fun in all that? 'They' say (who are these people?) that these are meant to be the best years of your life. Far from it – riddled with debt and the prospect of not finding your dream job is both depressing and crushing. OK, here comes the depressing statistic – 28 per cent of UK graduates who left university in 2007 were still not in full-time work three-and-ahalf years later (figures from Higher Education Statistics Agency). Now, I remember my wild days as a student. Let's not venture into too much detail about that. But those hedonistic days were filled with dreams, wild dreams of treading the boards, the glitz, the sparkle, my name in lights on Broadway... So perhaps I never did feel the wind in my hair cruising down Sunset Boulevard. But I managed to find myself a satisfying and happy career in facilities management, the chance to travel the world and, of course, my very own column right here.

AGAIN WHO WANTS TO BE AN FM? … BUT THEN AGAIN, As university freshers find their way around new university surroundings and undergraduates get back to their studies, the Rising FMs Special Interest Group of BIFM members is putting on the first FM careers day in London. I like to ask facilities managers what they wanted to be when they grew up (retrospectively, you understand) as virtually no-one presently working in the industry can say they actually wanted to become a facilities manager. The answers vary widely with very few directly linking to facilities, or even management of any kind. One memorable lady in the US said that she wanted to be an actress and that she was fulfilling that ambition in part by being a facilities manager. I know from my school teaching friends that if you ask virtually any child what they want to be when

they grow up, they will say they want to be famous. The present celebrity culture seems so ingrained that they will say "famous first", and then if pressed, add the qualification of singer/rapper/model/athlete/ actress/racing driver/facilities manager (ok, I made the last one up). The introduction of a 'careers day' will undoubtedly change that for the future, provided we can explain what FM is and what a glamorous career in the industry holds for the candidate. Of course, the FM industry has its rising stars and famous people; it’s just that they don’t get the exposure of being on Big Brother, or Strictly Come Dancing. Maybe the BIFM could turn the tables and diversify into showbiz. How about a new series I’m a Celebrity Facilities Manager... Get Me Out Of Here!

FM World Guide to Careers in Facilities Management 2012 In all seriousness, I'm glad to hear that the FM World team has put together this annual publication, sponsored by Interserve and aimed at attracting students into the wonderful world of FM. If you're involved in putting on events aimed at students, please get in touch with the editorial team and they'll send you a few copies. Email editorial@fm-world.co.uk

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OUT 27 OCTOBER

FM IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR – WHAT DOES THE LOCALISM BILL MEAN FOR FM? /// SPECIAL BIFM AWARDS ISSUE, BRINGING YOU ALL THE WINNING PEOPLE AND PROJECTS /// WHAT THE EC'S REVISED DATA PROTECTION DIRECTIVE MIGHT MEAN FOR YOU ///INTERVIEW – FACILITIES MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2011 /// MORE NEWS AND BUSINESS ANALYSIS

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meeting the pest problem head on Pests are incredibly well designed when it comes to causing disruption and damage.

: e e r f r o f e b i r Subsc lexo.org.uk www.a

Now there’s a publication that’s just as well designed to help you keep them under control: alexo magazine, for the public health pest challenges facing your sector.

SUMMER 2011 ISSUE ONE

ISSN 2046-4266

Meeting the pest problem head on.

GULL DETERRENCE Dealing with urban aerial pests

alexo has incisive articles by leading

experts, giving you the latest weapons in the fight for pest control. It’s packed with successful solutions and perfect providers. Read alexo for all you need to tackle your organisation’s pest problems… head on.

Also in this issue: INSIDE! IN-DEPTHROL NT PEST COPANY COM Y DIRECTOR PAGE 37

Public health pest control demand up MOTH CONTROL IS YOUR INSURANCE UP TO SCRATCH? Getting the best from your pest controller How to successfully manage your pest control contract

Issue one out now Issue two out November

Size doesn't matter Small companies punching above their weight

A recipe for success Pest prevention for the food industry

alexo is published by the British Pest Control Association Telephone Email Website

FMW.13.10.11.011.indd BPCA Full Page.indd 1 1

01332 294 288 enquiry@bpca.org.uk www.bpca.org.uk

3/10/11 30/9/11 15:51:55 15:02:13

www.dysonairblade.co.uk

Costs £1,460.00 per year to run.

Costs £39.76 per year to run.

Based on 100 people visiting a washroom twice a day, a paper towel dispenser will get through 146,000 towels a year.

For the same use, the Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer costs just £39.76 to run. It works in only 10 seconds and its HEPA filter cleans the air before it reaches hands.

That’s a cost of £1,460.00.

It’s fast, hygienic and a fraction of the cost of paper towels.

Usage based on 2 towels per dry (data from Dyson internal research – Sept 2008). 1600W machine shown. Calculations include standby power. Cost based on 1 pence per paper towel (data from Dyson internal research – Jan 2010) and £0.1194 per kWh (data from Eurostat 2009 Semester 2 – published March 2010). Paper towel dispenser and Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer purchase costs are excluded from comparison. 10 second dry time based on NSF protocol P335.

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