Search Results for: professionals

Leading US organisations pledge to promote healthy buildings and communities

by • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

Adobe pledges to promote healthy buildings and communities Adobe, one of the first companies to adopt the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard, is to conduct a study of its LEED certified workplaces to determine if they measurably contribute to more collaborative, creative, innovative and healthy employees. The move is part of a new Building Health Initiative launched last week by the California chapter of the USGBC. Google, Arup and Interface are amongst the founding partners, along with approximately 20 other organisations from a range of sectors. The movement aims to elevate green building as a benefit to public health as well as encourage the development of transparency standards in building materials.  (more…)

Many UK facilities managers still failing to see the magic of BIM, claims report

by • Facilities management, News, Technology

Zim Sala BimAccording to a new survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the UK’s facilities managers are simply not ‘getting’ what Building Information Modelling is all about and how it can be applied. The latest research into the acronym replete debate about the role of BIM found that more than a third of facilities management professionals are unfamiliar with building information modelling and its uses. RICS is calling on facilities managers to increase their general awareness of the potential of the technology. The survey was carried out on behalf of RICS by the crudely monikered and government funded BIM4FM initiative and found that of the nearly two thirds (65 percent) of respondents who were aware of BIM, nearly all (62 percent) believed it would help them in their roles.

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Global urbanisation trends present UK cities with new opportunities

by • Comment, Environment, Property, Technology

Country_Mouse1There is a great deal of talk about the growing urbanisation of the world right now, and its effects on societies, economies and individuals. The numbers of people involved are daunting, especially in the developing world.  As a  result, many countries are currently experiencing the sort of upheaval we in Britain experienced nearly 300 years ago, and they are doing so in a very compressed time span compared to the 150 years it took in Britain. But the changing nature of cities is also apparent in the UK where it is having an effect not only in the country’s only megacity but in regional centres too.  For places such as Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow the challenges presented by a new generation of initiatives focussed on urbanisation can be profound and mark an opportunity to shift at least some of the UK’s economic focus away from London.

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RICS is first professional body to introduce BIM standard

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology

RICS is first global professional body to introduce BIM standardThe Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has become the first global professional body to introduce the first recognisable building information modelling (BIM) standard. Employers and clients are struggling to find industry accepted criteria on which to base knowledge of practitioners’ BIM skills, while BIM competent professionals lack a single indicator that will demonstrate their abilities to the sector. This has resulted in different assessment methods being used across the industry. RICS’ BIM Manager Certification aims to assure contractors, consultants and investors that the professionals and firms delivering construction and infrastructure projects have the relevant knowledge, experience and skills to implement BIM at an industry tested and approved level. (more…)

New Smart City Forum to capitalise on $400 billion global sector

by • Environment, News, Property, Public Sector, Technology

Infographic Smarter Cities. Turning Big Data into Insight

IBM Infographic

London, Dublin, Barcelona, Boston and Bristol have something in common – they’re smart cities that use intelligent technology to monitor their urban infrastructure. The data is used in a variety of ways; to save money, minimise waste, measure water usage and manage transport routes. Solutions range from utilising IBM’s ‘Big Data’ to analyse traffic congestion on Dublin’s public transport network, to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from Boston’s buildings. The smart cities industry has been valued at more than $400 billion globally by 2020, with the UK expected to gain a 10 per cent share ($40 billion). Now the government has announced it is to set up a new Smart Cities Forum, chaired by Universities and Science Minister David Willetts and Cities Minister Greg Clark, with representatives from cities, business, and scientists. (more…)

Why the serviced office sector needs to put more effort into its customer service

by • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working

Serviced offices at Cheapside

Serviced offices at Cheapside

It’s National Customer Service Week, a week-long initiative set up to inspire businesses to take a step back, look at their customer relations and promote excellence in customer service amongst their teams. Across every business in every sector, excellent customer service is key to gaining and retaining custom, and this is particularly the case when it comes to the serviced office industry. Average customer retention rates are just eight months in the officing sector, so addressing this through improved customer service can have a huge impact on the bottom line. I believe the serviced office industry can do more. There is a danger that low retention rates cause companies to place a greater emphasis on winning new businesses, with existing clients’ needs coming second place. (more…)

New CIOB survey lifts lid on extent of corruption in UK construction

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Property

Bribe brown envelopeA new survey from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) claims that the majority of professionals in the UK construction industry believe that corruption in the sector is commonplace. The survey, which can be downloaded in full here, found that over a third (35 percent) had personally been offered a bribe or some other form of inducement at some point in their career, while nearly two-thirds (65 percent) believed the offer of gifts and corporate hospitality to win contracts is commonplace. A similar proportion (38 percent) of respondents had come across anti-competitive practices on at least one occasion, and of those, 29 percent had experienced cartel activity in the year running up to the survey.

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Joint survey investigates where energy use is on the FM agenda

by • Environment, Facilities management, News

Joint survey investigates where energy use is on the FM agendaThe British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and the National Energy Foundation (NEF) have announced a joint survey exploring FM professionals’ experiences and expectations of improving the use of energy in the buildings. Both organisations hope the findings, which will be made available in a report in January 2014, will identify new areas of focus and shed light on how FM professionals are tackling the gap between actual and predicted energy performance in the buildings for which they are responsible. According to Lucy Black, Chair of BIFM’s Sustainability Special Interest Group (SIG), the survey should help identify areas where barriers persist, and FM knowledge is strongest or needs further support. (more…)

Stress taboo is the elephant in the room in many workplaces

by • News, Workplace

Stress taboo is the elephant in the room in many workplaces

Attitudes towards mental ill health are supposed to be more enlightened these days, but the fact that a large supermarket chain would sanction the sale of a “mental patient” Halloween outfit shows that in business, there is some way to go. The mental health charity Mind, which received an apology and a donation from Asda following the withdrawal of the offending outfit, has published new statistics today which reveals 42 per cent of employees believe that in their workplace, stress and mental ill health is regarded as a sign of weakness or that you can’t cope. 45 per cent of workers said that staff are expected to cope without mentioning stress at work and a third (31%) would not be able to talk openly to their line manager if they felt stressed. (more…)

New microsite shares sustainability knowledge with the built environment

by • Company news, Environment, Property

New microsite shares sustainability expertise in the built environment

One of the biggest design and construction firms in the UK, BAM Construct UK, has launched a sustainability microsite to share its green building knowledge. The website is broken into six key performance indicators: sustainable design; carbon; resource efficiency; sourcing responsibly; community; and health and wellbeing. BAM Director of Sustainability Nitesh Magdani said: “The sustainability team at BAM includes a range of professionals from site managers and environmentalists to architects. We advise our teams on issues including sustainable design; waste and environmental management; community engagement; LEED and BREEAM certification; Post Occupancy Evaluations; and air quality issues.” (more…)

Record number of managers in the UK, but who or what are they all managing?

by • News, Public Sector, Workplace

quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodesThe number of managers in the UK has reached record levels according to a new report. But who or what they are all managing is slightly less clear as structural changes in the UK economy mean there are fewer people in full time and skilled work, especially in the public sector, as well as a growing number of the self-employed. An analysis of ONS statistics by the Jobs Economist reveals the number of people defined as managers in the UK is now 3.1 million, up 7.8% in just two years and now more than 10% of the entire workforce. By contrast the number of skilled trades people has fallen by 2.2%, the number of people working full time has fallen to 21.4 million, public sector employment has fallen by 437,000 in three years while the number of self-employed has grown by 367,000 since the 2008 downturn.

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Businesses report a growing appetite for social media work tools

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

social-media

Social media, as politicians and celebrities are all too aware is a double edged sword. Just last week David Cameron read out a Twitter message during Prime Minister’s Questions sent to a Labour MP, who had asked people for suggestions about what to ask at PMQs. The first reply was “how happy are you that the Labour leader will still be in place at the next election?” And Cameron himself has not been exempt to the odd twitter gaffe. Social media is such a powerful tool however, that employers can’t afford to ignore it – so demand for enterprise social networks – business tools that use Facebook-style features to allow staff to interact with one another on work projects are on the increase. (more…)

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