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The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of a life cycle approach in facilities management practices to reduce the carbon footprint of built facilities. A model to holistic life cycle energy and carbon reduction is also proposed.

A literature-based discovery approach was applied to collect, analyze and synthesize the results of published case studies from around the globe. The energy use results of 95 published case studies were analyzed to derive conclusions.

A comparison of energy-efficient and conventional facilities revealed that decreasing operating energy may increase the embodied energy components. Additionally, the analysis of 95 commercial buildings indicated that nearly 10 per cent of the total US carbon emissions was influenced by facilities management practices.

The results were derived from case studies that belonged to various locations across the globe and included facilities constructed with a variety of materials.

The proposed approach to holistic carbon footprint reduction can guide facility management research and practice to make meaningful contributions to the efforts for creating a sustainable built environment.

This paper quantifies the extent to which a facilities management professional can contribute to the global efforts of reducing carbon emission.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyze and discuss floor finishes used in health-care facilities and their selection criteria in the form of advantages and disadvantages. The authors also identify the top three health-care floor finishes and selection criteria based on the literature review results. Although flooring materials have a considerable impact on the life-cycle cost and indoor environment of health-care facilities, what criteria may be used for such flooring choices is not thoroughly studied.

The authors performed a systematic review of the literature on certain flooring systems currently used in health-care facilities and the criteria applied for their selection. Peer-reviewed studies and articles published after Year 2000 consistent with the research design were included.

Sixteen different selection criteria that influence the choice of floor finishes in health-care facilities were determined and discussed. The results show that the top three-floor finish materials preferred in health-care facilities are sheet vinyl, rubber and carpet, and the top three selection criteria for floor finishes are indoor air quality, patient safety and infection control.

The results of this study will assist building owners, architects and interior designers with implementing an informed design decision-making process, particularly in relation to floor finish selection. The findings will also provide guidance to floor finish manufacturers to improve their products based on facility managers’ preferences.

The purpose of this study is to create a knowledge base for decision-making in healthcare design by seeking, analyzing and discussing the preferences of facility managers of healthcare facilities regarding floor finishes and their selection criteria. The goal is to enable a simplified and holistic selection of floor finishes based on multiple criteria. The authors studied floor finish selection in three healthcare units: emergency, surgery and in-patient units.

The authors completed a literature review to identify types of floor finishes currently used in healthcare facilities and the criteria applied for their selection. Using the literature survey results, a questionnaire was designed and administered to healthcare facility managers. The descriptive statistical analysis and the Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests were used for reporting and analyzing the survey data.

The top five floor finishes used in the healthcare sector were identified as vinyl flooring, vinyl composite tile (VCT), rubber, linoleum and ceramic flooring. The top five selection criteria for floor finishes were durability, infection control, ease of maintenance, maintenance cost and user safety. The non-parametric test results show that the floor finish rankings and selection criteria were similar in the three healthcare units under study.

The most significant contribution of this research is to the design decision-making process of healthcare facilities. These results offer an understanding of what floor finishes are preferred by healthcare facility managers and why. This knowledge is crucial for designers and facility managers to make informed choices and floor finish manufacturers to keep their product line relevant to the industry.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that impede the integration of facilities management (FM) into building information modeling (BIM) technology. The use of BIM technology in the commercial construction industry has grown enormously in recent years. Its application to FM, however, is still limited. The literature highlights issues that hinder BIM–FM integration, which are studied and discussed in detail in this paper.

A review of literature is conducted to identify and categorize key issues hampering the application of BIM to FM. This paper has also designed a questionnaire based on a literature review and surveyed FM professionals at two industry events. Using the collected responses, these issues are analyzed and discussed using non-parametric statistical analyses.

A total of 16 issues are identified through the literature review of 54 studies under the four categories of BIM-execution and information-management, technological, cost-based and legal and contractual issues. The results of the survey of FM professionals (with 57 complete responses) reveal that the single most important issue is the lack of FM involvement in project phases when BIM is evolving.

The findings of this study could assist the construction industry (e.g. building-material and equipment manufacturers, design professionals, general contractors, construction managers, owners and facility managers) with creating guidelines that would help in BIM–FM integration. BIM is a virtual database that contains important design and construction information, which can be used for effective and efficient life cycle management if building data are captured completely and accurately with a facility manager’s involvement.

The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance, replacement and retrofit processes of a facility. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the relationship of REE with the service life and life cycle embodied energy. The amount of variation in the reported REE values is also determined and discussed.

A qualitative approach that is known as the literature based discovery (LBD) was adopted. Existing literature was surveyed to gather case studies and to analyze the reported values of REE.

The reported values of REE showed considerable variation across referred studies. It was also found that the reported REE values demonstrated a moderate positive correlation with the service life but a very strong positive correlation with the life cycle embodied energy of both the residential and commercial facilities.

This review paper pointed out the importance of the maintenance and replacement processes in reducing the life cycle energy use in a facility. Future research could focus on performing case studies to evaluate this relationship.

The findings highlight the significance of REE in reducing the life cycle energy impacts of a facility. As facility managers routinely deal with maintenance and replacement processes, they hold an important responsibility of reducing the life cycle energy.

The findings of the paper would motivate the facilities management professionals to prefer long service life materials and components during the postconstruction phases of a built facility.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key variables that affect the quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) and to derive equations to measure these indicators. Qualitative KPIs are also discussed in terms of the aspects that need to be covered while carrying out qualitative performance assessment.

A combination of literature and an industry opinion-based qualitative approach is applied to develop equations to calculate the quantifiable KPIs. A facility asset management consulting firm is included in the process of deriving the equations. Key aspects of a facility's qualitative performance assessment are categorized and discussed by performing a literature review.

Mathematical expressions for core performance indicators are presented and discussed along with key variables. In addition, the information needed to quantify these core indicators is also discussed.

This paper represents the second step towards establishment of a relevant list of quantifiable and measurable core KPIs, which were identified and categorized in Part I of this paper. In Part II, the authors derive equations to quantify the core KPIs. Future research is needed to use relevant information from industry for validating these equations.

A need for a concise and relevant list of KPIs was identified in Part I of this paper. Part II provides an approach to quantify the core KPIs based on information that is available in the industry. This research will help facility management professionals in not only selecting the indicators of choice, but also quantifying them based on available information yielding enhanced facility management decisions with measurable facility performance outcomes.

This paper provides equations and variables to measure a facility's physical, functional and financial performance using both quantitative and qualitative performance assessments.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the previously established list of key performance indicators (KPIs), to identify and categorize the core performance indicators that are measurable and quantifiable.

A literature-based qualitative approach is adopted for accumulating desired information on identifying and categorizing the core indicators. The list of KPIs established in an earlier paper is narrowed down considering the future research needs suggested by the literature.

The quantifiable and measurable core indicators are identified and categorized in the form of a list. The core indicators are defined and the variables required to quantify them are described by citing peer-reviewed literature.

This paper represents the first step toward establishing a relevant list of quantifiable and measurable core KPIs. Future research papers could emphasize derivation of mathematical expressions for determining the identified core KPIs and validating these KPIs using simulation of real building data.

The need to establish a concise and relevant list of quantifiable and measurable KPIs that could express more than one type of information about a facility's performance is identified in this paper. This paper presents and describes a narrowed down list of core KPIs, which could be utilized by facility management industry professionals while performing a holistic performance assessment.

This paper provides a list of core KPIs that could express more than one aspect of a facility's performance and that is measurable and quantifiable.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and categorize them based on specific aspects of facility performance measurement in order to facilitate a holistic performance assessment.

A qualitative approach, based on the literature, is adopted. This approach relies on an extensive literature search of extant research papers, assessment reports, surveys and presentations to identify KPIs. The KPIs are arranged in appropriate categories based on their purpose and content.

The paper identifies indicators for performance measurement and classifies them into four major categories: financial, physical, functional, and survey‐based. Indicators are arranged from general to the most specific indicators. The list presents indicators with their description, units of measurement, and literature sources.

Future research could focus on further analysis of the list of KPIs in order to generate a more concise list of easily measurable indicators that exhibit wide applicability and valid categorization.

The lack of proper categorization hampers frequent and widespread use of performance metrics by the industry. This study proposes a list of KPIs and presents it in appropriate categories so it can be used more practically by facility management practitioners.

The list of KPIs generated covers aspects of facility performance assessment and shows wider applicability; thus, it could be utilized by practitioners for a holistic assessment of a wide range of facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key risks that are posed to the security of a site and building perimeters in the first and second lines of defense against terrorism, and are relevant to facility managers.

A qualitative approach to the literature review was applied. This involved an extensive literature search of existing peer‐reviewed research papers, as well as state and federal reports to mark crucial issues relating to the security of a facility. Strategies to deal with the critical issues pertaining to the security of a facility were reviewed, based on the literature.

The paper identifies major security risks suggested by the literature and lists strategies to address those risks. The paper also proposes recommendations made by the literature; their implementation may provide a higher level of security to key areas located in the first and second lines of building defense.

The site and building perimeter areas that offer great potential for avoiding and deterring terror attacks are often neglected in terms of security planning, which seriously hampers efforts to provide an enhanced level of security to the facility. The paper points out these areas and major security issues related to them, so they can be taken care of by design professionals as well as facility managers.

The paper provides a comprehensive and detailed review of various aspects tied to the security level of critical areas of the building and site perimeters that could be useful to facility managers of critical facilities.