Journal of Facilities Management

Purpose – To disseminate information on a new scope of Service for building projects that embodies post occupancy evaluation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon recent practical experience in the field by the author and examples the background and detail of the new scope of service. Findings – The results of field experience are exampled. Topical research is used to underpin the recommendations. Originality/value – This paper contains the justification for a novel method of delivering new buildings and the detail of the methodology. It will be of practical value to project managers, estates directors and facilities managers.

This paper endeavours to present building owners, managers, architects and design/builders with a compelling business case for considering a green building for their new construction projects. A green building, for the purposes of this paper, refers to any building that meets the high standards set forth in the US Green Building Council?s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System?, the pre-eminent metric system by which new buildings are judged to be environmentally conscious. The financial benefits of green buildings are many. They include reduced energy consumption and their associated costs, increased occupant productivity and worker retention, increased market values, and reduced health liability risks due to better indoor air quality. Individual building measures are presented through a tertiary examination of two LEED Certified buildings. These individual benefits are examined further as an integrated building whole, indicating that buildings constructed to LEED standards can save more than 250 per cent of its up-front costs over the course of its 40-year useable life cycle.

Purpose The purpose is to investigate the usefulness of standardized construction contracts for facilities managers. Design/methodology/approach Research methodologies include comprehensive literature review, examination of standard contracts and online survey with professional facilities managers. Findings The study concludes that, with minor alterations and diligence, information necessary for successful management of a built facility can be obtained from the constructor. Practical implications This research will assist facilities managers in preparation and review of standard construction contracts, to ensure they are receiving adequate information to properly manage a facility. Originality/value The paper helps to guide facility owners in their preparation and review of standard construction contracts.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic and systematic understanding of a fundamental issue within open plan office designs: the sustainability of two extremely contrasting requirements, concentration and collaboration, in the same workspace and work environment at a given time. A literature review is presented, along with initial suggestions for potential improvements in knowledge work organizations. Design/methodology/approach A thorough range of fields, including those outside the built environment, are investigated for their contribution to findings on distractions, especially auditory distractions and their impacts. Findings This research underpins the need for cost analysis of the impact that distractions have on knowledge workers. Provisions for appropriate and adaptable workspaces are needed to meet the dual needs of collaboration and concentration on complex tasks in order to maximize worker contribution and value. Research limitations/implications Additional field research on improved workspace is needed to confirm the hypothesis of savings from reduced or adaptation from auditory distractions. Practical implications As knowledge work grows, the evaluation of workplace architecture and design must include analysis of the needs of knowledge workers. The sole consideration of cost savings in real estate and facilities ignores the tremendous cost of human capital. This reduces overall value and profitability of the organizations choosing to ignore the workspace needs of their workers. Originality/value The paper provides a new and original review of multi‐disciplinary research on the impact of distractions, especially auditory distractions, providing the groundwork for analysis of total costs of auditory distractions in the workplace.

Centralised workplace and decentralised facilities management organisations combine several interacting functions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the workplace service environment from a ?network organisation? perspective comprising workplace knowledge-holder roles that have both formal and informal connections. This paper proposes that the core business customers, in-house and outsourced service providers, and the contract managers have a similar need to interact and learn from each other and presents a framework for ?network service organisations? to describe their changing collaborative roles. First, the customer interfaces of workplace networks are identified. Secondly, a theoretical framework for a network service organisation is presented, followed by a section on creating centres of excellence for workplace knowledge. Thirdly, a generic governance model for network collaboration is introduced. The aim of the paper is to increase knowledge about understanding and managing network relations in the new workplace environment. The paper ends with a discussion on limitations to formal cooperation and the need for further research on informal relationships within these networks.

Workspace is no longer defined by opaque surfaces. Transparency, through the extensive use of glazed facades and partitions, is a common ingredient in today’s office buildings. In some cases, this can lead to a loss of physical borders for the employee. For the end-user, this implies that the experience of the building and the interaction with the organisation seen from a visual point of view might be different from those seen from an acoustical point of view. This paper outlines how controlled transparency can bring value to office environments and proposes a set of guidelines for accommodating and managing office facilities where visual and acoustic interaction are in balance. In this way, transparency will not overrule the personal integrity and needs of each of employee.

A complete enumerative study was made of the operating and maintenance costs of the 1,255 delivery post offices throughout Japan in 2000, in order to grasp the characteristics of the whole life costs of post office buildings. The operating and maintenance cost of five standard post offices were also monitored for 20 years. This paper demonstrates how the acquired knowledge of the whole life costs is used for the decision making of the facility investment. After analysing the relationship between the rebuilding cycle, and rebuilding, repair and improvement costs, by changing the present rebuilding at age 40 to building additions at age 40 and rebuilding at age 60, it became apparent that a significant reduction in facilities investment costs could be expected.

The original Bullring complex opened in Birmingham, UK, in 1960 and was the first covered retail centre in Europe. It heralded a new approach not just to shopping but also to citycentre life and development. Little was understood at that time of the wide-ranging effects of a move towards this model, and in its declining years the complex was all too real an illustration of some of the disadvantages of the initial vision. The Birmingham Alliance, comprising three major international property developers/investors, Birmingham City Council and numerous stakeholders, brought together their respective citycentre property holdings and interests, and worked together to create an exciting new vision of a city centre for the 21st century, a vision which would once again place the Bullring in the vanguard of urban renewal. This paper considers the story of the new Bullring and the role that the facilities management (FM) approach has played in the success of the development to illustrate the way that infrastructure services for the complex can add strategic value rather than use up operational cost. It discusses four important challenges that the FM sector will need to address and resolve if the profession is to secure its position as a strategic value-added contributor to developers and investors in the global retail sector. Finally, it summarises a framework for the future management of regional shopping centres and the role of FM services within this sector.

There are many potential measures of performance for evaluating the success of a construction project. All address performance in three key areas: scope, schedule and budget. In a performance measurement framework where senior management wishes to minimise the numberof performance measures it employs, while ensuring maximal coverage or visibility into the programme, having a tool that captures each of the three areas would be ideal. Project managers have used Earned Value Management (EVM) for over 40 years to track actual schedule progress and actual costs against project plans. Earned Value Management has traditionally been applied to individual projects on which the manager is accountable for both schedule and cost variances. This paper proposes methods to apply EVM principles to allow: (1) analysis of portfolios of construction projects; (2) incorporation of the analysis into an innovative pay-for-performance human resources practice; and (3) use of regression analysis to develop baseline earned value curves. These extensions fit the needs of many government managers, who oversee a range of projects by multiple contractors, and whose cost risk is primarily due to schedule slips and change orders. Earned Value Management is described in the context of project oversight, and a dashboard system of performance measures is proposed for quickly assessing individual projects and portfolios. A method of generating standardised planned value curves is then specified, based on data from previous and ongoing projects. The paper concludes by showing how the US General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service is using these methods to analyse and oversee its portfolio of new construction and major repair and alteration projects.

Unwarranted allocation of personal space and the accumulation of personal ‘stuff’ can become impediments to business agility, turning conventional offices into ‘millstones’ which suppress an organisation’s ability to change direction smartly in the face of new competition and other business forces. Workplace design needs to cater for perpetual change of occupancy, organisation, work processes and messages about the business. Tangible assets should be dynamic, adaptable and even portable. Setting aside arguments in favour of ‘showpiece’ corporate headquarters, this paper advocates that what is needed to help business units to stay competitive is a ‘minimalist workspace’ - kept free of ‘stuff’ that clutters and impedes quick and inexpensive adaptation to local needs, every few months rather than every few years. The minimalist workplace does not need to be bland or impersonal. Imaginative design and minute attention to detail of the physical environment and the tools, technology and support services can produce attractive and ‘liveable’ environments which can successfully accommodate personal preference and promote a sense of belonging as well as mobility. This paper outlines four ‘golden rules’ for best practice in the minimalist workplace, demanding more proactive space management and more intelligent real estate design and specification to cater for greater utilisation of facilities.

A well-researched and documented business case provides decision makers with data and information to improve decision quality. Business cases may be needed for approving the project or budget, obtaining finances from public or private sources, deciding on facility location or setting direction from a range of strategic facility alternatives. There are proven methods and techniques for researching and documenting an effective business case that will reduce time and costs, as well as produce a more comprehensive, convincing deliverable. Accurate time and cost estimating, scope definition and effective organisation of the team is critical for a successful launch. Knowing where to research information, and identification and evaluation of alternatives are critical in developing a first draft. Leveraging the capabilities of modern technology, and preparing strategies and tactics to address inevitable problems are key to completing a project to the customer’s satisfaction, on schedule and within budget.

Many businesses recognise project management as a core competence and seek to deliver benefits to the business through effective management of projects. But how can an organisation know whether its project management processes are adequate? Can a business compare itself with best practice or its competitors? Is there an accepted benchmark for organisational project management capability? The Project Management Maturity Model (ProMMM) has been developed to meet these needs. It describes four levels of increasing project management capability (Naive, Novice, Normalised and Natural), with each ProMMM level further defined in terms of four attributes, namely culture, process, experience and application. It presents a generic benchmarking framework applicable to project-based organisations in any type of industry, including those responsible for facilities management projects, and does not presume any prior level of project management capability. ProMMM allows organisations to assess their project management capability against agreed criteria, set realistic targets for improvement, and measure progress towards enhanced capability. This paper outlines the structure of the ProMMM framework, and presents a case study where ProMMM has been used to support development of effective project management.

With the purpose of creating a forum for discussion on the scope and nature of building performance evaluation. This paper provides a definition of performance measurement from an organisational perspective, and a review of three leading industry tools for post-occupancy evaluation that examines the gap between evaluation and measurement. The paper concludes by asking what role facilities managers might play in building performance appraisal, what barriers cost imposes on measurement of the built infrastructure, and what are the limitations regarding the methods included in the review.

Purpose – This paper aims to present an objective overview of the factual discourse around the wasting nature of real estate for an appreciation of the resultant exacting management responsibility. The durability feature of real estate has had consequential implications on the appreciation of the asset class. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses literature survey and key informant interview to identify the peculiar features of real estate to understand the exacting responsibility of its ownership and management. Findings – The study reveals that real estate is a specialised investment asset that requires extra management care, costs and specialised expertise to retain its investment value. Thus, the asset is not inherently perpetual but wasting and requires conscious physical and functional management, which are dependent on sound financial management. Practical implications – Real estate investment decisions must be made with the exacting management responsibility in mind. Both individual and corporate investors must use a sinking fund policy to meet the financial liability involved in managing both income and non-income properties. The Government of Ghana must create a National Infrastructure Maintenance Fund and adopt a National Infrastructure Management Strategy for managing the existing stock of public real estate. Originality/value – It is the first literature appraisal and facts collation on the wasting nature of real estate and its attendant exacting management responsibility with a call for paradigm shift in our understanding of this investment asset.

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relevance of the relationally integrated value networks (RIVANS) concept for integrating project management (PM) and asset management (AM) for total asset management (TAM). The specific objectives are to test the RIVANS for TAM concept postulated by Kumaraswamy (2011) and Kumaraswamy et al. (2012); discover ways to enable PM and AM teams to work in an integrated manner; and recommend strategies and operational measures to promote greater team integration in the industry. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based in Hong Kong with parallel studies in the UK, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Through a comprehensive questionnaire, a case study on an organization engaged in both design and construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) works, interviews and hosting a workshop (all conducted with experienced industry practitioners and experts), a set of recommendations are derived to guide the industry toward greater team integration. Findings – Early involvement of O&M staff is important for better anticipating obstacles and learning from past experiences, but PM and AM teams generally work independently with limited interaction. Priorities of the stakeholders are often different. Knowledge management is increasingly important, but knowledge sharing is not always a priority. The three focus areas in the set of recommendations developed from Hong Kong are: organizational/management structure, procurement strategies and operational mechanisms; fostering culture of team building and providing additional means of communication; and informal communication tools. Originality/value – There has been little research into the communication, interaction and integration between PM and AM priorities and teams. However, increasing industry emphasis on sustainable buildings, end-user satisfaction and designing for maintainability dictates that PM and AM teams must work closer together, hence the imperative for mapping useful directions to be pursued.

The application of strategic asset management in the municipal sector is of growing concern and importance. Increasingly, municipalities are faced with shrinking facility budgets while, at the same time, having to provide the most suitable properties in support of core service delivery requirements. The focus of municipal asset management is to support local decision making related to the acquisition, remediation or disposal of property. In light of the fact that local government is the closest level of government to the public, the framework for strategic asset management must be transparent and beyond reproach. This paper legitimises the application of strategic asset management in the municipal sector and proffers a unique, empirical approach to the rationalisation of property in support of service delivery.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the asset management policies and practices of six Australian states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – to improve understanding of the policy context to best shape policy focus and guidelines. Australian state-wide asset management policies and guidelines are an emergent policy domain, generating a substantial body of knowledge. However, these documents are spread across the layers of government and are therefore largely fragmented and lack coherency. Design/methodology/approach – The comparative study is based on the thematic mapping technique using the Leximancer software. Findings – Asset management policies and guidelines of New South Wales and Victoria have more interconnected themes as compared to other states in Australia. Moreover, based on the findings, New South Wales has covered most of the key concepts in relation to asset management; the remaining five states are yet to develop a comprehensive and integrated approach to asset management policies and guidelines. Research limitations/implications – This review and its findings have provided a number of directions on which government policies can now be better constructed and assessed. In doing so, the paper contributes to a coherent way forward to satisfy national emergent and ongoing asset management challenges. This paper outlines a rigorous analytical methodology to inform specific policy changes. Originality/value – This paper provides a basis for further research focused on analyzing the context and processes of asset management guidelines and policies.

On-site power has many potential benefits, from temporary relief to congested transmission and distribution systems, to alleviating problems created by incorrect load forecasts, all the way to meeting the load requirements of a facility. Many of these assets are being installed to take advantage of one or more of the above opportunities. This paper shows how effective utilisation of these assets not only increases the reliability of a facility, but also helps generate revenue from assets that would otherwise sit idle. It goes on to demonstrate to facility managers how they can successfully implement such a model through better understanding of their facilities’ needs combined with financial details of various programmes offered by local suppliers of electricity.

Today, organisations around the globe are operating in an unprecedented, highly competitive seller’s market. The global workforce is now more mobile than ever before, meaning that companies are no longer simply competing for talent nationally, but rather on an international level. The Canadian Federal Government, like most Government organisations, simply cannot compete with private industry in the area of salaries, stock options or perks. In addition, the impending wave of retirements that threatens to devastate the Federal employment ranks has caused us to look to the work environment as a means of attracting and retaining the top talent we need. This paper examines the characteristics of the different generations that currently make up our workforce and discusses what they, as well as new recruits, expect from their employers and from their work environments. It also delves into the role the workplace plays in recruitment and retention and the way in which it can be used to improve an organisation’s corporate identity. It then looks at what types of perks are actually valued most by employees, and explores how the physical environment can be aligned to help shape a company’s organisational culture and facilitate the communication, teamwork and creativity that are necessary to sustain a culture of continual innovation.

A life-cycle audit is a multifaceted tool which helps facilities managers achieve a variety of goals. A life-cycle audit produces a comprehensive, detailed summary of immediate facilities needs. It also helps facilities managers forecast their needs 20 years into the future, and it helps them make a much more persuasive case for facilities reinvestment. As such, it is a compelling, cost-effective alternative to traditional facilities inspections.

Purpose Initial briefs (programs) were examined in order to obtain an overview of current practice in documenting the briefing process for new health care buildings in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach An audit instrument was developed and used to examine briefs for the content and quality of information and to determine whether and to what extent the information was comprehensive and patient‐oriented. Findings The results indicate that few strategic briefs make use of evidence to support their statements. Moreover, few briefs had an explicitly patient‐focused goal for the project or measurable outcomes. Originality/value This new audit approach can be applied in various organisations and over time to improve the briefing process and create clearer goals and guidelines.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR Buildings Program was established in the early 1990s as a means for building owners and managers to improve the energy performance of their facilities, while simultaneously reducing the amount of pollution emitted into the atmosphere from power plants. The programme outlines a five-stage approach to improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings to help control rising energy costs. The five stages include lighting upgrades, building tune-up, load reductions, air distribution system upgrades and HVAC plant upgrades. Each stage is designed to build on the success of the previous stages. Today, the EPA recognises buildings that perform in the top 25 per cent in terms of energy efficiency through the ENERGY STAR Label for Buildings. This paper describes the five-stage ENERGY STAR Buildings strategy as well as how a building achieves the status of being ENERGY STAR labelled. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the potential of the ENERGY STAR Buildings Program through a case study of four office buildings, owned and operated by the Ohio Building Authority. These buildings have each been upgraded, following the EPA’s five-stage strategy, and each has received the ENERGY STAR Label for Buildings.

The UK has in recent years seen considerable growth of facilities management (FM) outsourcing across a range of industries. This paper considers the legal problems and risks inherent in FM outsourcing. It also suggests ways to facilitate the transactional negotiating process and discusses the methods by which business and legal risks can be fairly apportioned (between the user and the provider), how to ensure good contract management and, importantly, managing risks on contract termination and exit. The paper is relevant to both users and providers in terms of best negotiating practice and risk management. From a legal perspective, both the UK (and the European Union) are more highly regulated jurisdictions for FM deals than are the US and Canadian markets, and this paper focuses on UK (and European) issues. Cross-border legal issues are also considered.

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to highlight the key issues that need to be taken into consideration when establishing an office, facility or project in a conflict situation, with particular reference to the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a descriptive approach, setting out the main aspects of setting up and running an office facility or project in Baghdad and highlighting the various options available, with particular reference to the security implications. The analysis is based on the author's personal experience in Baghdad and information on the experience of other organisations working there. Findings Working in Baghdad, and by implication other conflict zones, is difficult but not impossible. Security permeates every aspect of existence and as a result any task will cost a lot more and take a lot longer to complete than it would elsewhere. If this can be factored into the preparations for any project there is no reason why the opportunities here, whether to rebuild the country, make a profit or simply to survive unscathed, cannot bear fruit. Practical implications The paper provides a practical guide to establishing a project, facility or office in a conflict zone and provides useful information to anyone considering doing so. Originality/value The paper describes practical situations and options that are currently being experienced or used today, rather than proposing anything new or untested. It will, therefore, be of great value to any person or organisation considering establishing an office or facility in a conflict one and particularly in Iraq.

Continuing budget pressure is forcing facilities groups to re-think their current service delivery models and develop initiatives that reduce cost and increase efficiency. Making this task more difficult is the fact that many costs incurred by the facilities department are the result of behaviour patterns of non-facilities employees. To assist in this task one facilities organisation turned to activity-based costing (ABC) as a solution. ABC has allowed the facilities group to identify internal and external behaviour changes that affect the cost of delivering services. Once identified, plans of actions are developed in conjunction with the various departments to address equipment and facilities usage, service level requirements and operational process improvements. The execution of these plans allows the facilities group specifically to identify cost drivers that can be eliminated, thus avoiding the traditional arbitrary budget reduction process. Readers will be introduced to the application of the ABC model and how behaviour modification initiatives, using ABC, provide supporting data for the development of the annual budget. In addition, readers will learn how the development of behaviour change initiatives can place the responsibility for corrective maintenance cost control on the end user.

Traditionally, facilities professionals are responsible for maintaining business operations after a disaster by safeguarding people and the physical infrastructure. While most organisations equate disaster preparedness to business continuity, the aftermath of 9/11 brought forth some startling realisations about business survival and business crisis. Boeing, a global company that was affected in a number of unexpected ways, embarked on an approach that separated, yet integrated the Disaster Preparedness Community with the Business Community. The result was a Business Continuity Model that fostered further development of robust Business Continuity Plans to serve employees, customers, stakeholders and community. Facilities professionals, equipped with an understanding of today’s business crisis and the Business Continuity Model, can serve as a partner to their Business Continuity Representative to educate, develop and execute a Business Continuity Plan that ensures business continuance through any unforeseen event.

In 1999, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) began the reinvention of the entire company to provide an infrastructure which would respond to the demands of an ever-changing industry. This paper presents an indepth case study of the successful partnership between HP’s US Field Sales Office Facility Maintenance support team and Trammell Crow Corporate Services. The initial goal was to achieve a more efficient method of managing facility operations and maintenance. HP created the programme focus, touch points, processes and strategies. What happened was a complete reinvention of the methods that HP uses to accomplish facility support. While traditional maintenance models will always have their place in industry, this case study provides evidence that there are incredible benefits available for those industries that have the courage to change in radical ways.

Most larger companies and corporations who own or lease multiple locations face challenges in designing, tracking and managing property. The following case study examines the work of the Facilities Design and Planning Group at Dow Jones & Co. The study follows the group’s efforts to improve the strategic efficacy of its operations by expanding its implementation of its computer-aided facility management (CAFM) system and by developing some novel CAFM tools. These technologies are intended to reduce management costs by creating a central and comprehensive resource of facilities information. Both facilities professionals and those seeking facilities-related information can then use this resource. These tools support day to day facilities operations, from master planning to project design and budgeting, from construction to lease management. Such technology increases accuracy through data validation, but remains flexible in reporting and inquiry. This paper documents both the evolution of these tools, and the decisions that guided their development. It aims to describe in detail the particular business circumstances that influenced Dow Jones’ efforts as well as expose the setbacks in using and expanding various aspects of the technology.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is report to on the exploratory research into the application of usability concepts to the built environment conducted by a task group of the International Council for Building Research and Documentation (CIB TG51). Design/methodology/approach – The objectives of the research were achieved through a series of case studies and associated workshops designed to identify and evaluate the ways in which stakeholders in projects were involved in decision making about building use and the methods and tools they used. Findings – The research enabled a number of broad conclusions about the nature of usability as a concept and its application to the built environment and challenged the basis of conventional approaches to briefing and post-occupancy evaluation. Research limitations/implications – The exploratory nature of the work clarified the research questions that need to be addressed in future work and raised a number of key conceptual, theoretical and methodological questions which will be explored in a further round of case studies. Practical implications – The industrial partners, who were directly involved in the project, shared knowledge of user experience in the workplace and benefited from an independent review of the cases as a vehicle for discussing best practice. This enabled participants to receive feedback from leading-edge organisations and provided new knowledge for action. Originality/value – The paper sets out a novel approach to understanding user experience in the built environment and introduces examples from organisations that responding to the challenge of designing and managing buildings from a user perspective.

Best practice facility management operations share several common traits, and two in particular stand out above the rest: outstanding leadership and clarity of purpose. Achieving the balance between minimum levels of service and minimum cost requires quality information, great planning and, above all, a well-led, talented and focused team of motivated facilities managers (specialists and generalists) operating from a clear purpose of intent. This paper examines the benefits of taking a ‘high performance business unit’ approach to facility department management using a smarter mixture and application of skill sets and process management which ensures the best value service delivery outcomes are achieved and that clarity of purpose becomes the norm.

With the continuous changing nature of work and increasing demands on business organisations to remain competitive and to continually innovate, while controlling ever increasing real estate costs, the role of the workplace remains the battle ground between an organisation's cost savings strategy, its efforts to retain the status quo, serve as a facilitator of change and stand as a visual statement of the brand. While organisations continue to build facilities that range from newer adaptations of their previous model to what some may deem radical departures with the goal of creating new ways of working, the selection of what course of planning direction to take is still often left to a methodology that is removed from the long-term strategic objectives of the organisation. Even organisations wishing to use the workplace as an enabler of transformation rely on the imagery of more open and collaborative work areas as the basis for change. Rarely is a connection made to the business strategy and business model of the organisation. Recognising that no matter what the organisational model, work processes are becoming more and more collaborative in nature, businesses appear to be confusing the design of collaborative workspaces with connections to a business strategy. This has created a vacuum in the perception of the role of the workplace within the business organisation and on the way in which workplace-planning concepts are developed by design consultants. This paper attempts to identify the underlying issues that differentiate workplace design from workplace design strategies and to present a new way of developing these strategies that will change the perceived role of the workplace within the organisation.

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is the federal department responsible for housing over 190,000 Canadian federal public servants. During Y2K preparations, it became apparent that a single source or form of integrated, emergency response information at the infrastructure level did not exist. A process had to be created and developed that would serve as a single vehicle and source for building-based emergency response. These preparations for Y2K saw the creation of the Infrastructure Continuity Unit (ICU) and a system for the creation, validation, and maintenance of Infrastructure Continuity Plans (ICPs). An ICP is an event-management document that contains a series of procedures and protocols to be used during a building-based incident or disruption of services. The ICU is supported nationally by a network of Regional Coordinators who oversee the gathering of information needed to create ICPs for their own parts of the country. This paper demonstrates how this system, along with the ICU’s recent certification by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) to the ISO 9000 standard, have contributed to the ICU’s success. This paper takes the reader through an in-depth exploration of the ICU’s processes, methodologies and procedures and demonstrates why, in a post-September 11th world, the ICU has begun to attract international attention.

This paper reports on a year-long research project undertaken by the authors and a group of sponsoring corporations to explore the future of work and thereby the workplace. Experiences, ideas and data were shared to address questions about the changing nature of the workforce itself, new workplace designs, new technology capabilities and the economics of supporting and leveraging knowledge workers. But this paper does more than report on specific findings, it interprets, predicts and offers the authors’ personal perspectives in order to share with readers their own views of the issues and challenges facing facility managers today as they prepare their organisations for a changing and very different world of work in the near future.

This paper has its roots in a presentation made at CoreNet Global Summit in November 2002 in San Diego, California. In that talk, the authors briefly explained the field of human dynamics and change, and explored, through some actual experiences, the application of change management practices that Wachovia used to lead and nurture organisational change. This paper seeks to make more explicit these hidden forces by giving a more detailed overview of the theory of human dynamics as they relate to change, and some strategies for applying this theory for more effective change management. The venue for this exploration will be Wachovia Corporate Real Estate (CRE) Division’s experience, with significant organisational change required to respond to external and market conditions which threatened its continued success as an organisation. The reader will learn how to understand the human dynamics relating to change; obtain tools for communicating change concepts; find resources to help lead change; ensure that people deal more successfully with organisational change; and measure the significance of human dynamics to business performance.

The Higher Education Funding Councils in the UK are working with higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop a reliable, accurate and relevant set of Key Estate Ratios (KERs). A successful pilot study was carried out in 1998/99, with a national project - including full data collection from all HEIs - currently under way. The project has developed 14 ‘critical’ estate ratios for senior managers, which have been endorsed by the sector. The current national project has collected data from all HEIs for the last two years to enable the 14 KERs to be produced for each institution. In addition, the project has refined certain of the definitions which have been subject to consultation with the sector. The KERs - and supporting data - have been welcomed by senior managers and are being used actively across the sector. The structure of the underlying system, and the results that emerge, have considerable potential benefits to other property sectors.

For facility professionals, it is critical to sell a vision of facilities stewardship at every opportunity. This paper is intended to help professionals assess their current internal marketing activities and provide direction on the development and execution of an effective marketing plan. For those who already have a plan, this paper may help inject new life into it. The marketing cycle and tools will be reviewed, examples of marketing objectives will be provided, and then ways of creating and managing a successful programme will be reviewed. The objective here is to help facility managers learn how to: (1) evaluate the current business environment and create a strategic plan; (2) create a marketing plan to support the business strategic plan; and (3) execute the implementation plan for the marketing strategy.

Strategic management of facilities is now generally accepted best practice. Appraisal of facility performance has developed correspondingly and financial measures are no longer seen as the prime indicator of success. Holistic models that include the processes supporting fulfilment of an organisation’s strategic aims are now considered to provide more appropriate measures. Recent focus in the service-oriented context of local government authority (LGA) facility management has particularly turned toward such models. This paper discusses the issues and inherent tensions arising from the strategic measurement of local government facilities in a service delivery context. It is argued that outwardly the strategic objective of service delivery is common to the private and public sectors, but fundamental differences in the desired outcomes and responsibilities of the two sectors require different solutions. Even if one accepts the current trend in ‘balanced’ performance measurement, differing parameters in the private and public sectors impact on the design and evaluation of performance measures, especially in relation to process, efficiency, strategy formulation and responsiveness of the organisation to customer needs. If a facility is considered to be an enabler of processes that lead to desired outcomes, these differences must necessarily affect the design of facility performance measurement tools. The research with eight LGAs, reported here, supports the need for a new model for the evaluation of community facilities applicable in the local government context. Using stakeholder-based focus groups, the need was identified for a service-oriented model, where the facility is understood as the intersection of aspects of service provision, physical building substance and the community utilising the facility.

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is the 12th largest school district in the US with an operating budget of approximately $1.04bn and a diverse enrolment of more than 158,000 students. The district encompasses roughly 351 square miles, primarily within the boundaries of the City of Dallas, Texas. In November 2001, the Board of Trustees requested a bond election be held to address overcrowding with additions and new construction, and to improve existing buildings. Voters showed strong confidence and trust in the district when, in January 2002, they approved a $1.37bn bond programme to build 21 new facilities and add to or renovate all existing schools. The DISD Board of Trustees has selected competitive sealed proposal as the primary contracting method for construction under the 2002 Bond Programme. This method allows selection of qualified and competent general contractors who can meet the rigorous schedule and complex demands of multiple urban construction and renovation–construction projects. The intent of this paper is to give the reader a brief overview of the competitive sealed proposal process as it relates to school construction in the state of Texas, and how DISD has implemented this procurement method for its recent bond programme.

By adopting a condition-dependent approach to maintenance, facility managers can exercise control over the desired maintenance performance levels and costs. The practice of condition assessment by building inspectors yielded variable results due to subjective perceptions of inspectors. Nowadays well-trained building inspectors are able to manage condition surveys and provide property managers with objective, reliable information about performance loss and defects in building components. The implementation of various performance levels in planned maintenance requires not only the standardisation of the condition assessment method, but also the related planning methodology. This paper describes the findings from research in the Netherlands which examined the methodology of condition assessment of building components using a six-point condition scale. Different categories of performance loss in maintenance are distinguished and linked to different kinds of maintenance activities.

Companies today face many conflicting priorities in remaining competitive. Some of the challenges include leading company staff in thinking bigger, operating in direct relationship to customers and stockholders’ needs, while staying flexible and adaptable to economic and market shifts. How does a facilities manager stay connected to the business strategy, manage more projects with less staff, and still provide responsive service, while the business environment the manager supports is changing rapidly? The manager may be faced with consolidating facilities owing to a merger or company restructuring. Consolidation presents several challenges that must be met. The manager must work with executives to align equipment deployment and facility use to merger goals and objectives. He/she must consolidate facilities management infrastructure into a cohesive unit from the different approaches of the original companies. This requires the ability simultaneously to coordinate the strategic, tactical and technical aspects of consolidation, while maintaining the seamless operation of the company. If it is a large operation, with facilities spread across a region, facilities management may have been distributed, with each location responsible for their own projects and maintenance. A major change effort such as consolidation requires a centralised facilities management structure that is tied directly into the strategy of the company. The answer for many companies in meeting these challenges is enterprise programme management (EPM). Enterprise programme management is a way of thinking, communicating and working, supported by an information system, that organises an enterprise’s resources in direct relationship to leadership’s vision, and the mission, strategy, goals and objectives that move the organisation forward. Simply put, EPM provides a 360-degree view of an organisation’s collective efforts.

The question of the merits of outsourcing facilities management remains relevant. This paper attempts to determine a clear distinction between out tasking and outsourcing, and then to provide a model to explain the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of this strategy by analysing the wants of both the client and supplier. Finally, it offers some guidance to assist with remedying the divergence identified.

One of the major objectives of facility owners is to get the ‘best value’ in construction, renovation or maintenance of facilities. Owners are reluctant to pay more for best value if they do not understand what the value is. Research now proposes that the use of best value procurement can actually reduce the first costs of delivering the construction. The research looks at the transaction costs or the first costs of construction. The research uses the procurement of roofing in the State of Hawaii because of the availability of data on both the low-bid and best value procurements. The State of Hawaii used transaction cost analysis to identify the cost of best value construction. The costs considered were planning and programming, design, procurement, construction management and inspection costs. Owing to the number of projects and the access to budget figures, construction cost figures, design costs and construction times, the State was able to identify the relative transaction costs and performance for both processes. The first costs or transaction costs of the best value procurements were lower than the transaction costs of the traditional design-bid-build costs. The actual performances of the roofing systems procured, which included warranty period, performance of the contractor and performance of the roofing systems, were far superior. The result was an increase in value for a lower cost.

Purpose The paper aims to present a succinct review of guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and target cost contracting (TCC) concepts and features in general, and to identify the critical success factors for procuring GMP/TCC contracts from the Hong Kong perspective in particular. Design/methodology/approach By means of an empirical questionnaire survey geared towards industrial practitioners with direct hands‐on GMP/TCC experience, the opinions of various contracting parties including clients, consultants and contractors were solicited, analysed and compared in relation to GMP/TCC success factors. Findings Experienced practitioners shared the unanimous perception that: reasonable share of cost saving and fair risk allocation; partnering spirit from all contracting parties; right selection of project team; well‐defined scope of work in client's project brief and early involvement of contractor in design development, are the most essential ingredients for the successful implementation of GMP/TCC scheme. Research limitations/implications Although the research study is based in Hong Kong with a limited sample size, the survey findings and hands‐on experience of the relevant industrial practitioners may be cross‐referenced to other similar investigations in other parts of the world for international comparisons. Originality/value The research study has provided some useful insights into assisting key project stakeholders in determining important successful ingredients when launching GMP/TCC scheme. Such an identification of critical success factors would be valuable in formulating effective practical strategies to improve overall project performance, create win‐win opportunities for contracting parties and mitigate the occurrence of construction disputes/claims. It also attempts to seek more research evidence to capture the levels of success and lessons learned from previous GMP/TCC construction projects for generating best practice recommendations for future implementation.

Rapid changes in the facilities management environment combined with the rising expectations of users has made effective customer service one of the most important factors contributing to success in today’s efficient facilities management operations. To create an effective customer service programme, it is necessary to analyse needs and set appropriate standards that consider the total requirements and unique resource structure of the service providers in the facility environment. By taking advantage of the latest industry research and proven methods for establishing service standards, the facility manager can design and implement customer service programmes that contribute dramatically to customer satisfaction and the overall performance of the facilities management operation.

Keeping energy costs contained during a time of rising rates takes ingenuity, coordination, perseverance and educated staff. Facility managers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory did not invent something new, they simply took advantage of resources that were already available to lower energy and water consumption. This case study shows how their efforts over the past few years have provided cost savings to the company and national recognition of their efforts. Overall, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has reduced energy consumption per square foot by 33 per cent in office buildings and by 42 per cent in laboratory buildings.

This paper offers tips for performing facilities and infrastructure management tasks quickly and efficiently via the Internet or an organisational intranet. When properly deployed, such Web-centric technologies can hone an organisation’s competitive edge with best-of-class business processes not constrained by time zones, distance or technological platforms. Facilities management professionals will learn how to serve their clients more efficiently, while commanding greater compensation packages and securing their roles as highly valued members of the organisation.

In the course of constructing, maintaining, operating or upgrading facilities, Facility Managers generate and collect many documents. Their offices become repositories for plans, manuals, contracts, etc. These documents then begin to take on a life of their own. Stories about documents locked in drawers or cabinets for years flourish and are now legendary. Many documents accumulate on desktops, collecting dust, and others reside on local computers with no global access to their data. Software licensing, obsolescence, and incompatibility and lack of organisation are major problems. Crucial information is lost, misplaced or just hard to find. Organisational effectiveness suffers, and documents begin to lose their value as institutional assets. What are the best ways to collate and share existing information? How can a facility truly manage its documents? Which entity within an organisation has the expertise to undertake such a project? This case study reveals that existing resources within an organisation can help resolve the problem. At The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the library personnel have the required expertise in organising, cataloguing, indexing and managing both existing and future documents and are currently in the process of creating an electronic infrastructure for sharing institutional facilities data.

Pharmacia’s Corporate Services organisation (which consists of Global Real Estate, Facilities Management, and various other internal service functions) recently commenced an initiative aimed at driving operational excellence throughout all functional areas and geographic sites. Apart from greatly improving both financial and operational results, this initiative also led to the collapse of existing functional and geographic ‘silos’. By breaking down these ‘silos’ (which developed partially as a result of Pharmacia’s recent merger activity), Corporate Services has begun to achieve breakthrough results. These results are largely attributable to the application of a comprehensive, management-sponsored undertaking, referred to as the Continuous Improvement (CI) Initiative. The CI Initiative has helped to minimise disparity, drive process optimisation and ensure enterprise-wide alignment with organisational objectives. This paper outlines the various tools, processes and resources that Corporate Services’ management used in design and execution of the CI Initiative. Most notably, the paper describes the use of ‘scorecards’ to communicate and drive performance in a balanced context. Further, the paper provides numerous real-life examples of how these scorecards are leveraged in the identification and prioritisation of process improvement opportunities.

It is hard to find good news stories about disasters. Disasters seriously damage an organisation’s health. Of businesses that experience a disaster, 40 per cent never reopen and 30 per cent close within 2 years. Perhaps because of this, over 80 per cent of UK facility managers in a recent survey now report that they maintain a Business Continuity Plan which most of them review at least once a year. An increasing number, however, now find themselves responsible for a portfolio of international facilities spanning continents and time zones. This paper looks at some real life implications of global business recovery planning. In the wake of September 11th, one can hardly do less. This paper provides strategies and justifications for international emergency planning procedures and processes. Practitioners will gain valuable information from actual events and case studies to validate the concepts offered as a model. It may seem that some of the information and processes which are outlined in this paper are obvious; but that is the point. The obvious can be overlooked, and excuses can be made for the lack of implementation of emergency plans. But those excuses will not stand in the light of real disasters and cataclysmic events.

Rising energy costs, mould remediation and ‘greening up’ the workplace are among the many new challenges facing today’s organisation. Where does management turn for solutions? In most organisations, it is the facilities management (FM) department and, for many, this the best place to look, because a skilled engineering group can be the organisation’s greatest asset for addressing energy consumption, peak load management, indoor air quality and greening of the building. How can organisations get on the path to accessing their FM engineering group more effectively? It begins with workforce skill assessment, followed by an organisational commitment to effective, lasting training. This paper is for middle and upperlevel managers seeking to prepare their FM departments for the sustainable workplace. Topics include a review of operation and maintenance (O&M) best practices for energy efficiency, an assessment of the O&M workforce within the facilities department, and a summary of the competency areas for improved O&M practices. Readers will become familiar with the critical elements of an O&M programme aimed at reducing utility costs as well as the workforce competencies necessary to implement such a programme. The results promise good return on the organisation’s investment as well as enhanced stature for the FM department.