Search Results for: facilities

The wider debate about workplaces gives facilities managers a chance to crack the code

The wider debate about workplaces gives facilities managers a chance to crack the code

The most vocal debate that has followed the BIFM’s change of identity to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management remains that focused on the issue of taxonomy. We are being asked to consider, as part of a sometimes bad mannered debate, whether facilities management is part of the workplace ecosystem or vice versa and which profession – typically designated as IT, HR and FM – is best placed to become the apex beast in this particular jungle.  More →

What is in a name for the UK facilities management sector?

What is in a name for the UK facilities management sector?

Westminster. Home to fiery debate, unwavering scrutiny, calls for change, and cries of “Order! Order!”. Once again, RICS’s HQ, on Parliament Square, was jam-packed with a passionate and feisty crowd, panellists and audience alike, all set on pushing the industry conversation forward. While some were keen to maintain order during FMJ’s most recent RICS-IFMA debate concerning facility management’s place in the 21st century, others were set on redefining FM in order to pinpoint what this yet unestablished definition means for the future of the profession.

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From FUBAR to Five Star: Delivering Excellent Facilities Management

From FUBAR to Five Star: Delivering Excellent Facilities Management 0

Mark Wilcock is an experienced facilities management professional and he has something to share with you. His self-written new book From FUBAR to Five Star: Delivering Excellent Facilities Management offers reflections and guidance on a range of challenges that face facilities managers in their day to day lives. Mark is currently Business Support and Planning Manager at The Co-operative Group based in Manchester and was one of the first three thousand members of the BIFM. He has around 25 years experience in facilities management across a number of sectors and in different countries. In the book he shares his thoughts on key issues related to both the day to day and strategic role of facilities managers. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Alzheimer’s Research. Image: Co-op One Angel Square office Manchester, Buro Happold/David Hopkinson

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Facilities managers are smarter and more data driven than ever

Facilities managers are smarter and more data driven than ever

Facilities managers are responding to a range of macro influences such as changing demographics, the uptake of flexible working, new technology and social change by adopting a new way of looking at the workplace, claims a new report from CBRE.  The report claims to identify the major trends in facilities management, most important that people increasingly want to choose where and when they work and the effect this has on the physical workplace and its features, services and technology.

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RICS and IFMA launch Procurement of Facilities Management statement to address “race to the bottom”

RICS and IFMA launch Procurement of Facilities Management statement to address “race to the bottom”

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has today launched its first professional statement to ‘reduce risk, increase transparency and further trust’ in procurement in facilities management. The RICS Procurement of facility management, RICS professional statement, UK 1st edition, was worked on in collaboration with IMFA, and also the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). RICS says it will be looking to make this a global professional statement in due course. All RICS regulated professionals (mandatory from the 1 October 2018) will be expected to follow this guidance, but according to RICS, adoption of the framework would be competitively beneficial for all property professionals involved in the procurement of FM services, including those acting for landlords and occupiers, FM suppliers procuring services from sub-contractors and investors and public and private occupier organisations.

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A storm brewing around the workplace and facilities management

A storm brewing around the workplace and facilities management

In Shakespeare’s plays, the sky often goes dark and a storm starts to brew as a prelude to tragedy or violence creating a sense of foreboding. And so it was at today’s BIFM AGM in the lead-up to the special resolution to change the name of the institute from the British Institute of Facilities Management to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. After a fire alarm test appositely kicked off the event, sun poured through the windows and ceiling panes of the Friends Meeting House in Manchester as BIFM chairman Steve Roots gave an update on the institute’s performance in 2017 and plans for 2018. As he introduced the format for the three ordinary resolutions, the sun dipped behind a cloud and the room was plunged into gloom causing murmurs of nervous laughter among the 80-strong audience. More →

Podcast: a manifesto for change in workplace and facilities management and the question of what is in a name

Podcast: a manifesto for change in workplace and facilities management and the question of what is in a name

The latest Workplace Matters podcast features two brand new episodes. Usual host Ian Ellison of 3edges hands over the reins to Simon Iatrou to explore the intentions of the British Institute of Facilities Management to change its name to embrace workplace, and seek chartered status. Simon is joined by members of the BIFM leadership team: Chairman Steve Roots, CEO Linda Hausmanis, and Director of Insight Chris Moriarty. Ian also joins the discussion in his professional capacity as 3edges Director and workplace specialist, to talk about the research work 3edges have been doing over the past year about the future of FM and its relationship to workplace. BIFM’s manifesto for change announcement triggered a lot of industry interest, and inevitable discussion. It seemed clear from the comments that there were topics and issues worth digging deeper into, to give Workplace Matters listeners and BIFM members an opportunity for more context, so 3edges invited the BIFM leadership team to take open questions directly, and come round the table to discuss them.

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New framework aims to ensure facilities managers have the expertise to keep up with demand for services

New framework aims to ensure facilities managers have the expertise to keep up with demand for services

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA)  have created a new framework which sets out to provide strategic best practice advice and outline how facilities managers can make the most of their expertise to keep-up with the growing demand for FM services. The Strategic Facility Management (FM) Framework authored by Dave Wilson, FRICS, IFMA Fellow for the IFMA-RICS collaboration – sets out a more ‘holistic approach’ to planning the provision of FM, with best practice advice on how to achieve maximum value from a workplace, including gaining environmental benefits, improving productivity, whilst also protecting employees and consumers. The framework also sets out some of the key aspects of how and where facility managers can play a bigger, more valuable role in the corporate real estate decision-making process, including property acquisition and disposal.

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IFMA finally announces plans for new facilities management chapter in United Kingdom

IFMA finally announces plans for new facilities management chapter in United Kingdom

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has approved a petition for the formation of a regional chapter within the United Kingdom. Talks about the chapter have been ongoing for some time. The people behind the creation of the new chapter claim it will offer facilities management (FM) professionals ‘direct localised support that taps into the global industry in ways not currently available in the UK market’. The formation of the chapter, which joins 136 IFMA chapters across more than 100 countries, comes at a time when IFMA, through its collaboration with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), is driving formation of practice standards via the International Organization for Standardization and working to more tightly integrate FM with the larger built environment industry. Details of the collaboration can be found at define.fm.

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A vision of how the facilities management profession can embrace the modern workplace

A vision of how the facilities management profession can embrace the modern workplace

Following its March announcement of a proposed name change to reflect a greater focus on workplace issues, the British Institute of Facilities Management has published a new report to explore the relationship between FM and a nascent workplace discipline. According to the authors, the purpose of the report is to ‘highlight the opportunities and challenges that workplace presents for FM by exploring the relationship between FM and workplace – and considering how this relationship could change in the future’. While the report acknowledges that facilities managers have always addressed workplace issues as a core element of their role, recent developments in the way people work and the way firms think about their workspace have led to a new emphasis on workplace as a discipline coupled with a sense that its core principles are subject to a number of misunderstandings.

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What P T Barnum can teach us about the facilities management circus

What P T Barnum can teach us about the facilities management circus

Does any of this describe you? “You have a need for other people to like and admire you, yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable yet hidden strengths that you have yet to turn to your advantage. Self-controlled on the outside, you are slightly insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you always make the right decision. You prefer a certain amount of change and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept the statements of others without satisfactory proof. But you also think it can be unwise to be too frank in revealing too much about yourself.” Does this sound familiar? Well it should because that is how most people see themselves.

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Large majority of facilities managers believe BIM will have a significant impact on their role

Large majority of facilities managers believe BIM will have a significant impact on their role

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the facilities management industry, according to the results of a new survey published by The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). The FM Awareness of Building Information Modelling survey, developed in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, aims to establish a benchmark of the current perceptions of the impact of BIM on the FM sector and the benefits and challenges it presents. The report’s key finidng is that eighty-three per cent of respondents believe BIM will help support the delivery of facilities management, with the same number indicating it is already having an impact, or will do so, in the next five years.

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