Legislation has catapulted the race to achieve net zero carbon emissions to the top of the sustainability agenda. Martin Read reports on a refreshingly collaborative environment with investors, developers, agents, operators and tenants all focused on the same goal – that is, before the pandemic struck.
Social value has dominated the agenda over the past few years with Covid-19 further highlighting sustainability’s human dimension. Yet in the months immediately pre-Covid, attention was turning towards the UK’s 2050 deadline for net zero carbon emissions as the new kid on the sustainability block. Ahead of its 2020 sustainability survey report, Martin Read attended an IWFM sustainability SIG workshop to consider the topic’s shifting priorities.
Empathy, emotional intelligence and other soft skills have become vital in how workplace and facilities managers deal with the needs of their teams and their end-users during the Covid-19 crisis, with uncertainty bringing these skills into sharp focus. Bradford Keen reports
An understanding and appreciation of others’ perspectives, be they peers or subordinates, makes for the broadening gamut of skills required to be an effective workplace and facilities manager. Bradford Keen talks to sector specialists about the personal professional development and training necessary to ensure truly empathetic facilities service management.
In just three tumultuous months, the homes we live in and the ways we get to and from them have become much more significant components in what many now see as a considerably nuanced workplace equation. Simon Wicks assesses how the built environment beyond the office doors may affect the future health and wellbeing of workers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased demand for contactless solutions and social distancing applications, making intelligent space management a priority. Falling costs and an evolving workplace offering add to an intensified focus on the true value of responsive, data-driven building management tech. Bradford Keen reports
Aerospace and automotive organisations using trailblazing advanced manufacturing processes need flexibility to scale up and down production as required – and a facilities management function that can similarly flex with them. Bradford Keen explores the vital role FM plays in this high-tech market.
As we move further towards more flexible working and diffused team management, gamification has the potential to boost team cohesion and workplace engagement. Bradford Keen reports
Pauliina Tuomi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Tampere University, Pori Unit in Finland, shares findings from her research into the gamification of facilities management jobs – specifically cleaning and maintenance.
From happy/unhappy buttons in washrooms to apps rating service quality and tracking performance, employees and end users are more empowered than ever before to influence FM’s response to their input. Bradford Keen finds out how this feedback is being used to gamify monitoring and reporting of facilities services.
The introduction of gamification techniques into training for workplace and facilities managers is triggered by students’ changing relationship with the internet; the utility of their smartphones; and their desire for personalised, on-demand learning to an ever more granular degree. Martin Read reports
Singapore's Yale-NUS College has cut maintenance times, boosted energy performance and improved working relationships, which led to its victory in the FM category at the 2020 Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Building Performance Awards.
