February 25, 2014

Musculoskeletal disorders rate highlights scale of ergonomic challenge

by Sara Bean • Comment, Facilities management, News, Workplace

More working days were lost last year to back, neck and muscle pain than any other cause. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that although there has been an overall downward trend in sickness absence in the UK over the last two decades; with 131 million days lost in 2013, down from 178 million days in 1993, at 30.6 million days lost, the greatest number of staff sick days in 2013 were due to musculoskeletal problems. Regulations and guidance relating to ergonomics in the workplace (the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992), were published over 20 years ago; and despite being amended in 2002, that’s still aeons in technology terms. The typical modern worker now routinely uses tablets, mobiles and other digital devices; whether at work, on the move or at home.

February 24, 2014

London conference debates international office measurement standard

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The implementation of an international property measurement standard for offices (IPMS for Offices) moved forward last week when a group of leading professional bodies from across the world met at RICS’ HQ in London. The two-day meeting (20-21 Feb 2014) brought together representatives from many of the 31 member organisations of the International Property Measurement Standard Coalition (IPMSC), who discussed plans for the launch and implementation of IPMS across international real estate markets. A rise in cross-border property investment and expansion by global corporate occupiers has exposed the difficulties that can arise when dealing with differing national and local measurement practices. The first of its kind, IPMS seeks to standardise the way office space is measured around the world. More →

February 24, 2014

HS2 is a project for today projected into an uncertain future

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology

Barely a day passes in the media without some new battleground opening up in the debate about the UK’s plan to develop HS2, the high speed line connecting London with Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and, for some reason, a place nobody’s heard of halfway between Derby and Nottingham called Toton (pop. 7,298). While the debate rages about the cost, the economic benefits, regional rebalancing, environmental impact, route and why the Scots and others are paying for a project that may leave them with worse train services, one of the fundamental flaws with the case for HS2 goes largely disregarded. It is that this is clearly a project designed for today, but that won’t be complete for another twenty years. The world then will be very different and, unfortunately, time isn’t quite as malleable as the movies would have us believe.

February 20, 2014

Could personality profiling help create a more productive office environment?

by Suzanne McMinn • Facilities management, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Creating the most productive working space to help get the best from your people is an ongoing battle. What suits some doesn’t suit others. So if there was some way of assessing up front how people like to work and the environment that would make them their most productive, engaged and committed – before you rearrange the furniture, fittings and layout – would you leap at the chance of finding out? One approach could be personality profiling. If you could climb inside the minds of your current and future employees and assess how they best like to work, their personality and how this then drives them to be more productive in certain working environments than others – who wouldn’t want to have a delve around? Or are we in danger of pandering to personality stereotypes? More →

February 18, 2014

Innovative new work space planned for the home of Dave

by Sara Bean • Company news, Facilities management, Property

The media company which counts Dave, Yesterday and Gold amongst its ten channels has announced its intention to move its 250 staff from its Hammersmith Road location to a ground-breaking new London headquarters by July this year. UKTV has signed a lease for 32,500 sq. ft. of an ecologically-recognised development at 10 Hammersmith Grove, London, and plans to work collaboratively with interior design and architecture studios PENSON to create a new headquarters that is inspirational, distinctive and “built for innovation”. The building itself is highly sustainable: one of the first in London to be entirely lit by LED lights and powered by solar panels and over the three floors of the development, there will be sociable working spaces, a café-bar and outdoor terrace, studio facilities and a screening room. More →

February 18, 2014

UK workers exhibit split personalities when it comes to energy management

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, Legal news, News

A new survey has highlighted the disparity between how energy (and hence money) conscious British people are in their domestic and working lives. According to research carried out by Rexel UK we exhibit a ‘split personality’ when it comes to the ways in which we use energy. Just under half (48 percent) of those surveyed describe themselves as energy conscious at home, whereas only a fifth (20 percent) would say the same about themselves in the workplace. Over a third (70 percent) say that they are concerned about wasting energy at home, whilst only two-fifths (43 percent) worry about wasting energy at work. In addition people are actively choosing to charge electronic devices at work in preference to home and, while nearly all turn the lights off at home (93 percent), only 60 percent do so in the office.

February 14, 2014

Virgin Atlantic first airline to apply Google Glass to customer service

by Sara Bean • Company news, Facilities management, Technology

It’s already been predicted that Smart Glasses will be a boon to technicians, engineers and healthcare workers, as well as useful interactive, hands-free devices for office staff. Another obvious application for wearable technology is in customer services. Virgin Atlantic is applying the technology to deliver the airline industry’s most high tech and personalised customer service yet. Working with air-transport specialist SITA, it’s the first airline to test how the technology can best be used to enhance customers’ travel experiences and improve efficiency. During a six week pilot scheme, concierge staff in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Wing at London Heathrow airport will use wearable technology to greet customers by name and begin the check in process. The benefits to consumers and the business will be evaluated ahead of a potential wider roll-out in the future. More →

February 14, 2014

Employers urged to offer flooded staff access to workplace facilities

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Workplace

As much of the UK prepares to endure yet another winter storm, the TUC has issued guidance for employers on ways to support staff affected by the flooding, and offered advice on the sort of health and safety risks the floods could pose to workplaces. The guidance aims to help employers and employees ensure that workplaces situated within flooded areas are safe before anyone returns to work. This covers both journeys to work through flooded areas and the sort of dangers to look out for in affected buildings, including for example, from contaminants and faulty electrics. The union also urges employers to offer extra support to staff whose homes are either already partially submerged or are at risk from the rising floodwater; which for example could include allowing them to use showers and washing facilities at work. More →

February 13, 2014

New BIFM professional standards give FMs yet more career choices

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News

Unlike HR, which is wholly represented by the CIPD, FM continues to offer a choice of professional bodies. RICS boasts it is the only one that gives FMs the opportunity to achieve Chartered Status, something which the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) is yet to offer. The BIFM has now announced the launch of a set of standards to “form a global competence model for the profession”. The Facilities Management Professional Standards its says, can be used to benchmark skills, knowledge and competence for those working at all levels in the FM profession. While RICS positions itself as the preferred route for a strategic facilities management career, the BIFM competences are intended to define each level in an FM’s career, from a support role through to a strategic role. FMs then, are still faced with the choice, to follow one or both organisations. More →

February 13, 2014

Why do we bother going to work? Good question.

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace

While the UK Government continues to explore new ways of getting people back to work more quickly following (or even during) illness, there are a number of counterpart questions that they continue to fastidiously ignore, one of which is ‘why bother?’. We might all ask ourselves that from time to time, whether petulantly or as a pressure-relieving alternative to ramming a co-worker’s head through a window or a laptop in a dumpster. But there are also reasons to raise the question coldly, rationally and with full awareness of all the facts, not least when it comes to assessing the increasing cost of going to work in the first place. Put simply, for many people it makes little or no financial sense to go to work.

February 12, 2014

Small steps to innovation debated at Workplace Futures 2014

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

New or refurbished workplaces are often described as ‘innovative.’ But while the architect and designers behind a building’s design are often credited with innovation, when it comes to the FMs tasked with managing the property, things are less clear cut. Although the FM sector is increasingly under pressure to demonstrate innovation, whether as services provider or as an in-house department; determining what exactly this constitutes, much less being able to demonstrate it in practice, is a lot more difficult. The 2014 i-FM Workplace Futures Conference, held this week at the Siemens Crystal building in London’s Docklands, bravely aimed to address this conundrum. It was, as the organisers admitted, a tall order to ‘nail this innovation theme,’ but it seems that taking small incremental steps may be the key to success. More →

February 12, 2014

Government BIM target ‘unachievable’, claim construction industry experts

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

The majority of building industry experts surveyed by law firm Pinsent Masons believe that one of the key UK Government target for the uptake of Building Information Modelling is now unachievable due to unfit contracts and the lack of a collaborative approach between clients and builders. The Government had hoped that all central Government construction projects would achieve BIM Level 2 by 2016. But according to the new report, nearly two thirds (around 64 percent)of the 70 people surveyed claimed it was impossible for the target to be met. ‘Level 2’ refers to a collaborative 3D setup in which all project information, documents and data are electronic with fully integrated software and interfaces.