Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • News
  • Comment
Sections

Should FMs influence design?

Open-access content Monday 11th September 2017 — updated 2.38pm, Tuesday 5th May 2020

11 September 2017 | Steve Maslin


Built environments are all too often set in stone, unable to facilitate activities despite FM's best intentions. Steve Maslin says this blinkered thinking needs to stop.


It wouldn't make sense if aeronautical engineers designed aircraft without pilots. So surely early involvement of FMs would make sense in building design? How much better might post-occupancy outcomes be if there was prior discussion? 


But built environments often become set in stone, unable to adequately facilitate the activities that go on inside despite the best efforts of FMs. No doubt FMs will be familiar with putting the case forward for investments in changes that bring about cost savings. 

There is always the risk that one could be making short-term cost savings that will have a detrimental impact on less easily quantified matters and erode value over the longer term, or that you overlook other changes that could yield value. 


Building a case that captures value is wise. What value-based insights could you bring these projects?

The first question to put to a project team is whether past projects that FMs have then had to manage were fit for purpose and whether their designers took account of not only costs and operational factors, but the opportunities that could have arisen from the application of foresight?


What so often hinders adequate brief development is narrow and blinkered thinking. The antidote, in part, is systems thinking. Bring people around the table to gather perspectives.


Many of the challenges that you are likely to encounter as an FM involve interactions between people (staff, customers, clients or service users) and your facilities. Many workplace designs are not working for those who use them. How might you seek to address this?


One of the biggest reasons, therefore, for facilities managers getting in at the pre-design stages of a project is to pay proper attention to how well facilities work for occupants. A clued-up FM can make sure that the right advice is sought, e.g. how will what is proposed make use of building information models to the best effect? FMs could bring a dynamic approach. 


Steve Maslin is an architect and director of Building User Design 


Also filed in
Comment
Content

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Interim Sustainability Manager (12 month fix-term contract)

London (Central)
c.£60,000 per annum plus excellent benefits
Reference
59413

Regional Facilities Manager

Borehamwood
Circa £47,000 + Decent Package & opportunities
Reference
59410

Facilities Manager

Hertfordshire
Up to £75,000 + Decent Package
Reference
59408
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ