Dalkia Workplace Services (formerly Symonds FM) seeking widespread user involvement in developing industry standard management manual for new facilities

Citation

(2000), "Dalkia Workplace Services (formerly Symonds FM) seeking widespread user involvement in developing industry standard management manual for new facilities", Facilities, Vol. 18 No. 13/14. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2000.06918mab.025

Dalkia Workplace Services (formerly Symonds FM) seeking widespread user involvement in developing industry standard management manual for new facilities

Keywords Buildings, Facilities management, Standards

The growing complexity of modern buildings demands good operational management to achieve optimum performance levels. This is often hampered by inadequate communication from designers and constructors to the facilities manager.

Dalkia Workplace Services (formerly known as Symonds FM) has been appointed by CIRIA and the DETR to define an industry standard for an end-user facilities management manual. Dalkia are asking individuals involved in all aspects of designing, constructing and operating buildings to give their input to this manual via a facilities management portal launched by ErgoSystems and FM media company at www.fmexplorer.com

Buildings are becoming increasingly complex in design, construction, environmental and operational terms. Although some information is produced for the owner as operating and maintenance manuals for building services, working drawings, health and safety manuals, etc., this is not usually provided in an integrated or coherent form, nor continually updated for building owners and end-users who will occupy and manage the facility during its life.

To date, no industry-standard manual has been developed to provide the structured integration of all the available information from the design and construction process. End-users and facilities managers require a comprehensive audit trail of many different types of information in the operation, maintenance and refurbishment of facilities. These include information such as construction components, design function and use, space planning, environmental considerations, people considerations, health and safety, etc.

Keith Montague, development director at CIRIA, said: "There has always been a chasm between the designer and operator. The industry needs a manual, adaptable to different circumstances, which integrates the information in a format and structure that is easily understood by end-users for the operation, maintenance, repair and improvement of the facility."

David Sterry, leading the Dalkia team, said: "We need a manual designed by the industry for the industry. That's why we have set up a Web site for all those involved in designing, building or running a facility in industry, health, education, government or any other sector to give us their input. We expect to publish the manual by November, but we need people to give us their views now. We also want some volunteers to be involved at different stages of the manual to provide feedback on the design as it emerges."

Emil Reisser-Weston, director of ErgoSystems, said: "The Web is an ideal tool for handling the collation of data for such projects – the medium allows the research to reach as many people as possible instantaneously. Whereas before, such research relied on one-to-one interviews and paper-based questionnaires, we can now encode and analyse data as it comes in. The Web portal at www.fmexplorer.com will become the first stopping point for facilities managers browsing the Web, with specific news, discussion groups, jobs and tools for the facilities manager. This added value will get researchers returning to the site time and again, to contribute to the research and examine the final results."

For further information contact: David Sterry. Tel: +44 (0)207 421 2000; E-mail: david.sterry@dalkia.co.uk. Or contact Caroline Lillywhite, Tel: +44 (0) 171 654 9008; E-mail: caroline.lillywhite@ciria.org.uk