How does award winning innovative FM fit with changing government vision?

Citation

Price, S. (2012), "How does award winning innovative FM fit with changing government vision?", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfm.2012.30810aaa.001

How does award winning innovative FM fit with changing government vision?

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Facilities Management, Volume 10, Issue 1

October welcomed the beginning of the industry event season with a plethora of award dinners, conferences and road shows showcasing the best of FM and the related subject matters. October the 10th saw the winners for the British Institute of Facilities Managers 2011 awards announced, showcasing the best of FM innovation delivered in the past year. This is alongside other industry events such as Total Workplace Management and Ecobuild showcasing the present and future best practice available for FM and the built environment. Environmental management and sustainable FM remains a strong running theme throughout such events, especially in a time of rising energy costs, increasing insecurity of the UK energy supply and increasing reliance on imports. This is alongside the impending 17th Conference of the parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP17), which seeks to progress to commitment to binding emission reduction targets coupled with the continuing progress of the UK Government to entrench the Green Deal into UK Law. However, alongside this has been another wave of cuts to the feed in tariffs (FiT) for solar technology, the introduction, and subsequent, watering down of the Carbon Reduction Commitment and the go ahead by MPs for shale gas drilling. Such conflict from policy makers not only gives mixed signals but also deters investment in the green agenda as business and industry are left wondering what next. This is bound to impact the FM professional who will be involved in reducing energy use and maintaining the security of supply.

However, where the change in FiT for solar renewables may remove some investor confidence, the developments in the Green Deal may replace some of the lost confidence. FM will be able to access funding through the Green Deal to develop efficiency improvements or install renewables as part of retrofitting projects. Initiatives installed as part of the Green Deal remain with the building and not the tenant, occupier or FM company which opens up the options for longer term projects, with funding available for projects up to 25 years. The Green Deal should also allow projects with a greater payback period to appear more appealing, allowing a true consideration of many renewable projects that previously may have been seen as to greater financial risk. With the energy costs generally expected to continue to rise for the foreseeable future, the Green Deal creates many opportunities to develop larger scale long-term energy efficiency projects which will continue to deliver benefits to the facility long after the loan is repaid. However, the Green Deal is not the only option available to FM, in London for example there is the already established alternative of the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF). LEEF was established with funding from the Mayor of London’s Green Fund – which is part funded through the European Regional Development Fund – and provides loans to public-sector organisations wishing to reduce energy consumption.

Still, the BIFM Awards 2011 demonstrate the latest achievements in forward thinking and high achieving FM. The awards are intending to celebrate the strategic role of FM and highlighting the evolution of the industry. With over 43 finalists announced over the 13 award categories there were many high achieving companies. The achievement awards ranged from, Innovation in; Customer Service, Technology Systems, Products; Impact on Organisation and Workplace; Sustainability and Environmental Impact; Communications and Marketing; and FM Excellence. Amongst the winners announced on the night were SGP Property and Facilities Management and Altius Vendor Assessment who were award winners for Innovation in Technology Systems; designing an automatic supplier accrediting system. Plastic Surgeon was awarded the Innovation in Product award for their development of a system of cosmetic repairs and finishes for products in the built environment; noted for the benefits delivered in cost, reduced disruption to client and organisations, and environmental benefits. Modus Services Limited were awarded the Sustainability and Environmental Impact Award for their delivery of a full scale change in culture to deliver sustainable FM and significant reductions in CO₂ emissions. The project was heralded for its work to disseminate the message of sustainable FM through to the next generation of FM managers in the university community.

Much of the current environmental policy for the built environment is on focused on the housing stock, and the Sustainable Blacon Convention held on the 1 November 2011 highlighted an excellent example of how housing authorities and facilities managers can deliver sustainable communities using a holistic approach. Blacon is one of the 22 UK communities chosen by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in a high profile programme to lead the way to a low carbon future. Its achievements have been recognised and the scheme has been awarded the Prime Ministers Big Society Award. The Sustainable Blacon aim for a sustainable community covers four key areas: energy, transport, enterprise and open spaces with the aim of delivering each in a sustainable manor. The team delivering the community facilities and housing are working towards reducing domestic energy consumption by 20 per cent. This has involved a mix of initiatives across the buildings including the introduction of low carbon technologies, the introduction of alternative appliances and alternatively the practice of energy saving behaviour alongside support and training in their use. Different buildings have been subjected to varying implementations of the three initiatives enabling a comparison of the resultant energy reduction of the three techniques.

Sustainable transport has been an important part of the sustainability agenda at Blacon. Targeting sustainable transport has seen the introduction of cycle training within the local schools and the delivery of a refurbished former railway route into a Greenway, a vehicle free path for the use of bikes and pedestrians. This project has been found to be a great success. Could this model innovated in a residential community be extended to a business community? Within the commercial built environment this could involve bringing the facilities providers together from a “community” of offices and commercial buildings to utilise shared resources to progress the green agenda. This could involve local energy generation, area wide sustainable transport initiatives, localised recycling initiatives for example. After all no building is an island; surely collective thought and pooled resources would be more powerful than each building developing their individual interpretations of sustainability strategies.

FM is developing according to market demands, and even though they are seemingly missed by current environmental policy, the industry is striving ahead with innovation and sustainable solutions. There is a recognition that FM will be critical in delivering environmental initiatives going forwards, especially with the funding possibilities that the Green Deal and the Green Investment Bank open up for longer term, more capital intensive projects. Although the first funding is not expected through the Green Deal until Autumn 2012 FM managers across the UK would be wise to generate project proposals in advance to hit the ground running.

Samantha Price