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.
Distribution centres are colossal facilities - the seven largest in the UK exceed 20 million square feet and Amazon alone has a global footprint of 150 million square feet. To manage sites of this scale, FM teams need to be highly skilled and meticulous with service delivery so that they are equipped to deal with consumer peak periods, precise distribution schedules and myriad logistical considerations. Bradford Keen reports
Four years after the UK Government's BIM mandate took effect, many built environment professionals are yet to adopt building information modelling. But with the UK's BIM standards forming the basis of new international standards amid talk of further digital transformation and 'digital twins', is FM set to take its rightful place in the expanding digital construction lexicon? Paul Wilkinson reports
