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The inaugural Facilities & Estates Management Live marked an important new addition to the industry calendar, uniting professionals from across the sector for two days of knowledge sharing, debate and innovation. Madeleine Ford picks out the key moments from the show
KEYNOTE HIGHLIGHTS
Across the two days, the keynote theatre offered a combination of presentations and panel discussions from thought leaders in FM. We’ll be covering some of the panel sessions in FMJ over the coming months but just some of the highlights of the keynote presentations were:
Laura Toumazi, Vice President of Sales at CBRE, opened the event with a keynote speech that focused on the use of technology and in particular the use of data to help deliver workplace environments which encourage productivity and meet recruitment and retention criteria. She stressed the need for FMs “to shift the narrative, it isn’t about throwing technology at clients for technology’s sake, it’s about using it to help them reach the right outcome”.
Kate Gardner, Lead Tutor for International Workplace presented a guide to the latest changes to H&S regulations. This included updates on the Building Safety Act, Martyn’s Law and how the standard ISO 45001 is not only designed to reduce risks and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses but should also address mental health.
She said: “We must think about how we can integrate health and wellbeing into our management systems. For most of us we’ve got the standard ISO 45001 as our health and safety standard, but wellbeing must be a part of that process. If it’s going to work, it’s about understanding your people’s needs and that’s not just about having enough mental health first aiders in the workplace it’s more fundamental than that.”
In the opening session of the second day Dan Andrews, Executive Director for CBRE Global Workplace Solutions focused on the unique challenges and strategies in managing high-rise buildings in London. His talk highlighted the importance of early investment, flexible team structures and effective defect management. He also stressed the need for collaboration, data utilisation and education to help drive ESG initiatives and the importance of blending project and maintenance teams for long-term success.
“When a building moves from construction to operation, the whole cultural building changes. It’s no longer a construction site. It’s an operational building with tenants starting to do fit outs. What that then means is that the culture changes in the building, and it’s then that the ownership becomes ours.”
Mark Whittaker, CIWFM of Thomson FM, Past Chair of the Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management (IWFM) and Director of the Association of Professional Standards in Asset Surveying (APSAS) shared his insights on managing FM contracts. His session covered the common pitfalls and consequences of failure within contract management. This included the importance of involving the estates and FM teams pre and during the tender process and the need to scrutinise the mobilisation process and methodology at an early stage to help ensure the contract starts off on the right foot.
Phil Davitt, SVP Global Professional Services of Eptura delved into research from Eptura’s annual Workplace Index. He revealed that 75 per cent of companies acknowledge the need to have someone who is responsible specifically for the digital workplace to ensure digital connectivity for both people in the physical workplace and those that might be dialing in remotely.
He explained: “For those that might not be able to come in, we want to make sure they have a similar experience to those in the office.”
James Massey Managing Director – FM, Energy & Retail Intelligence at MRI presented a thought-leadership session around the practical use cases of AI in FM.
He argued that there was no point in trying to make information led decisions based on AI if the data it’s based on is inaccurate. You cannot start using predictive AI to help people to move services online unless you are clear confident and happy your data is accurate.
