Automation of Facilities Management with Integrated Web-Based Computerized Applications
01/05/2009
As Facility management systems congregate with traditional IT infrastructures, budding standards are facilitating data sharing between building systems as well as with other business applications, recuperating efficiency and real-time control over building operating costs. Concerns on information security, juvenile standards, the disinclination of vendors to give up proprietary technologies and ignorance among IT professionals of the convergence trend are all slowing the pace of this transformation, but its gaining momentum.Facilities managers are driving the change by challenging more-open systems. They're pushing Facility management software vendors to transform today's closed technologies into Web-enabled applications running over industry-standard IP networks. And the management of facility is likely to increasingly fall to IT.
FT.com
Downturn takes toll on PFI deals
01/01/2009
The credit crunch contributed heavily to just 34 PFI deals being signed last year, after at least 60 deals were signed every year over the past decade, according to Public Private Finance magazine. Hospital deals fell to just seven last year, against 20 in 2007, while just three waste management deals were signed.
Reuters
Leading Facility Management Companies for Infrastructural and Technical Facility Management in Germany
01/08/2009
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e59104/leading_facility_m) has announced the addition of the "Leading Facility Management Companies for Infrastructural and Technical Facility Management in Germany" report to their offering. More than 85 facility management companies, including the top 25 players in Germany, participated in this reports study: Leading Facility ManagementCompanies for Infrastructural and Technical Building Management in Germany which has been published five years in a row.
FM Link
CAFM - Core Business Tool
01/12/2008
This shift in the perception of CAFM's rising status as a business tool has partly been due to the ongoing crossover in FM from hard to soft services. FM has long since stopped being just about service management. It now encompasses total property management, including everything that happens within the estate, as well as how external influences affect it.CAFM systems like Concept™ from FSI, for example, have become an important financial database for operational cost information, increasingly integrated with front office accounting applications. As FM and energy management service provider Dalkia discovered, the integration of Concept with the company's existing financial platform – in Dalkia's case Oracle - can play a vital role in delivering a consolidated systems infrastructure for the entire business.
FM Link
Contract measurement
01/12/2008
IT company, Indicater has developed a webbased add-on module called Snapshot, which assesses 133 different aspects of contract performance including: Hygiene, health and safety, and environment, Finance and administration etc.Three audits are completed annually – one by the site manager and two by external assessors and each audit also involves customer and client feedback. Snapshot also allows an FM manager to access the data for their site and both parties can agree KPI criteria and future strategic priorities. It has also now been extended to record all senior management visits to each client site and the actions requested as a result. This way, the company can centrally check to make sure that each operation is receiving an appropriate amount of senior management focus.
PFM
MOBILE ENHANCEMENTS FROM INTEGRATED FM
01/12/2008
Integrated fm has greatly enhanced its Mobile fm service, introducing a host of new features and extended functionality for use with the fm facts range of software. These include the ability to use the system on any mobile ‘phone network and any handheld device with a touch screen.
i-FM net
FMs grapple with the pressures of downturn
01/07/2009
We all know it's tough out there, but new figures are beginning to reveal how hard facilities managers are having to work to protect service standards on reduced budgets. For suppliers, 2010 is clearly going to be the year to prove your value.
Premises and Facilites Management
Links in the Chain
01/04/2009
FM is a supply chain. Supplier management is important. Hundreds of products and spare parts are required to maintain a building, and no company self delivers everything and every service, everywhere.SGP Property & Facilities Management utilises smart systems to minimise costs and maximise service. As part of its management service, the team assists with how to select partner suppliers and then manages them on behalf of the client. Based in Leicester, SGP provides property and FM services that cover almost every aspect of owning or occupying a building. Indeed the company manages and provides services to over 50,000 customer sites throughout the UK and Ireland, via on-site or mobile teams, co-ordinated though its 24/7/365 helpdesk.
i-FM net
BREEAM moves into Europe
01/08/2008
BREEAM, the growing family of building assessment tools, has established a presence on the continent following a meeting of the Central & Eastern European Developers' Sustainability Forum.
Open PR
Facility Management Is Concentrating Efforts
01/05/2009
The current economic situation is a big challenge for facility management," declares Dr. Ab G. Reitsma, Senior Lecturer at Hanze University Groningen (NL). "In that perspective, organisations need much more FM professionals who act as leaders instead of managers who try to control and only do cost cutting. Inspiration, trust, creativity, innovation and keep on learning from each other are critical factors. With regard to the latter, EFMC should stay the platform for knowledge creation and circulation, also and especially when FM business is under pressure." Ilfryn Price, Professor at the Facilities Management Graduate Centre of Sheffield Hallam University (UK), addresses both chances and demands: "For me the key challenge for FM remains that of evidencing its contribution to particular businesses in specific, business relevant language."
Caterer and Hotelkeeper
Contract caterers upbeat in the face of downturn
01/01/2009
With all the doom and gloom pervading the hospitality sector it is easy to forget that many operators are relishing the challenges of 2009. Contract caterers, perhaps more than any other part of the industry, believe they are well set to cope with the demands that the year is going to bring.
Firmenpresse
EXPO REAL survey: Property market in Germany expected to recover fastest
01/04/2009
An EXPO REAL survey on the outlook for the property market in 2009 showed that experts believe the bottom of the cycle is yet to come. It also revealed that the German property market is generally thought to have the best prospects for a fast recovery. The survey was conducted by EXPO REAL among industry experts and trade journalists from Germany and abroad who were accredited for the last event. This year´s EXPO REAL, taking place in Munich from 5 to 7 October 2009, is the 12th International Commercial Property Exposition.
PropertyWeek.com
Corporate real estate transactions up 15%
01/12/2008
Corporate real estate transactions in Europe reached €13.98 bn (£ 11. 8bn) in the first half of 2008, up 14.6% from €12.2 bn (£10.37bn) in the first half of 2007.
FM Link
The shape of things to come
01/02/2009
Over the last two decades we have embraced new technologies with gusto, and our ways of working have gone truly mobile. But the transformation is set to continue. Innovations expert Marie Puybaraud predicts how our working lives may take shape by the year 2030
Premises and Facilites Management
Financial Challenges
01/04/2009
With the financial crisis as daily headline news how is the FM sector faring in these challenging times for access to securing working capital and acquisition funding?
i-FM net
Public sector FM market remains strong
01/01/2009
Outsourcing of bundled facilities services has grown steadily over recent years within central and local government, adding up to a market currently valued at about £6.4bn - the single largest end-use sector for outsourced FM. This sector accounts for an estimated 44% of the overall market, according to a new report from AMA Research. AMA puts the 2007 value of the UK bundled services and TFM markets overall at £14bn.
Euro FM
Two new research reports
01/08/2008
At the 7th EuroFM Research Symposium during EFMC2009 in Manchester two new research publications were presented besides the symposium proceedings with 27 research papers, FM Processes and Usability of Workplaces
Trading Markets
European Integrated Facility Management Markets Report: IFM offers Promise of Cost Savings and Meets Demand for Single-contact Solutions
01/08/2009
The European market for integrated facility management (IFM) is in its growth phase. Driven by the proposition of cost savings, the demand for single-contact solutions for outsourced services has been constantly increasing across all regions and strong growth will continue over the coming years. "Companies with different offices in different countries, as well as companies with several sites in the same country such as banks, insurance, petrol stations and post offices have been the first to appoint a single IFM provider, which is able to supply all services required on their behalf quickly and with verified skills," states the analyst of this research. "This helps to reduce administration and supervising work, saves time in client organisations and creates economies of scale." The market is characterised by a high degree of fragmentation with the top three participants accounting for less than 30 per cent of the total market. However, despite its low maturity stage, merger and acquisition (M&A) activities are in full swing, reflecting the strategy of leading providers to increase their international footprint and become providers of truly integrated facility management services.
i-FM net
Redefining FM
01/01/2010
Steady change in organisations and how they use space means FM must move towards a more strategic role if it is to remain a key business discipline.
Business Wire
Research and Markets: "Market Tracking: Facility Management And Services In Germany 2009" Predicts That Until 2011 There Is No End Of The Outsourcing Boom In Sight But A Growth Of Over 6%
01/12/2009
In 2008 the German market for external Facility Services continues to grow. With a plus of almost 5% the development of external Facility Services in Germany is still undaunted. In its recently published study the author predicts that until 2011 there is no end of this outsourcing boom in sight but a growth of over 6%.
FM Link
OSCRE issues work request/work order fulfillment standard
01/08/2008
The leading standards development organization for the real estate industry, the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE), has issued the Work Request & Work Order Fulfillment Standard Version 1.0 (WRWOF) designed to automate service requests, work order management and report generation between stakeholders with shared business processes, including occupants, service providers, suppliers and owners. The standard is applicable for corporate, commercial, industrial and multi-family sectors of real estate.
FM Link
Driving Change: Delphi Case Study : Identifying costs while improving efficiency
01/10/2008
Property and FM has been the 'Cinderella' of the manufacturing sector, but those organisations that take control of their property costs can see benefits as Incentive FM has shown Delphi across its European estate.
Ernst & Young
Outsourcing: the rise of fragmentation. Ernst and Young 2008 European Outsourcing Survey
01/07/2008
Today, Outsourcing is favored as a business tool across European organizations, according to a new survey of more than 600 decision makers in European companies. The Ernst & Young "European Outsourcing Survey 2008" (pdf,3mb) highlights that 70% of respondents already outsource at least one function of their business, with 20% set to increase their level of outsourcing in the next two years, as they increasingly view it as a means to gaining a competitive edge.The report, which surveyed senior decision makers at companies with a turnover of at least 100 million euros across France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium, also found that cost savings (49%) and better quality through the hiring of specialists (33%) were cited as the biggest reasons for outsourcing. The functions most commonly outsourced were maintenance (76%), logistics (73%) and computing/telecommunications (68%).
Euro FM
The Italian health sector: Facility revolution has just started
01/10/2007
Great progress has been made in terms of changing the existing cultural climate, by introducing autonomy from central government and spreading the ideas of Facility Management. But it is an ongoing process, and the initial enthusiasm must be maintained".
Whilst many sectors of the economy are suffering in the ‘recession’ the FM sector is proving to be resilient and is expected to continue its growth trends in future. Barclays Commercial Bank’s Steve Francis answers questions on the how FM is weathering th
01/06/2009
FM hasn’t actually become part of the recessionary spiral. The sector remains reasonably buoyant and as one of the industries still predicting growth it will continue to remain strong – recent analysis by research firm MBD predicts that the UK FM market will experience 2 percent growth, on average, over the next five years. The current economic climate has meant that the rate of growth has slowed, and it is fair to say that we have seen a dominance at the larger end of the market with the major players gaining market share, sometimes at the expense of the smaller FM operators.
Euro FM
FM in Europe from Pre-Emerging to Pioneer Markets
01/03/2008
Even though the various FM markets within Europe differ in many respects, certain commonalities, indicating a general market development model can be found. Roland Berger has found that the content components of FM services provided and purchased in the European market can be separated into 4 hierarchical levels and sssigned to specific supplier types on the basis of thier scope and complexity.
Business Wire
Research and Markets: Market Tracking: Facility Management and Services in France 2009
01/12/2009
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/27f45a/market_tracking_f) has announced the addition of the "Market Tracking: Facility Management and Services in France 2009" report to their offering.
Facility Management magazine
FM is on its way to board level
01/08/2008
FM must become part of company strategy. That was the key finding of the the European Facility Management Conference in Manchester in June. Dr David Martinez of 3G Office, CEO of IFMA Spain called for the strategic value of FM to be promoted more heavily.
The FM business is becoming increasingly international and German companies have to start thinking more along international lines. Consulting firm cgmunich identified 32 Facility Service companies, that are active in Germany and in other European countries either by themselves or with partners (although they don't necessarily provide a full range of services). In addition, there are 3 cross border alliances: Service Management International (Klueh, Sin + Stes, Mitie), ECS (WISAG, GSF, Iris, Helder, Gosvenor) and Euroliance (Gegenbauer, ONET, OCE). Service providers who are omnipresent include JCI, M+W Zander, Axima and Compass Group.Hochtief FM, Strabag FM, MCE, Stangl, SKE, JCI and Axima are particularly strong in technical services. In the property management sector, the specialists are CBRE and JLL. A third of the 35 Facility Service companies surveyed did not offer PM services.In the infrastructure services sector, around 40% of the firms surveyed rely on subsidiaries or partners. Well known international players in this area are Sussmann, ISS, Sodexo as well as alliance companies WISAG, Gegenbauer and Klueh.
Ernst & Young's new Amsterdam HQ, the Vivaldi Tower, was designed by Foster and Partners. Two 12m-wide linked towers are staggered to exploit city views and to allow the max natural daylight. The building is fully glazed, so it does not overheat. Various other green features include: ground water storage system, a pond that retains up to 65% of the rainwater on site and a green roof on the restaurant in the social area.
Compass Group succeeds in expanding its Facility Services
01/08/2008
Eurest Services GmbH is the recently founded German subsidiary of Compass Group. The new company offers an expanded portfolio of 36 building management services. Compass Germany is focusing on offering integrated services and its selling points are process optimization and quality, rather than price.Eurest is aiming to be one of the top 10 German support service companies and the turnover is expected to be around 100 Million Euros.
Corporate real estate association CoreNet Global has set up a Central Europe arm, incorporating Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
EASI
Property X-Press
European Facility Management Alliance to Enter Russia
01/05/2009
The biggest European facility management alliance EASI, managing over 153 mln sq. m properties, will enter the Russian market.
EMCOR
i-FM net
EMCOR plans brand building campaign
01/07/2009
EMCOR says it wants to reinforce its position as 'one of the leading engineering and facilities management companies in the UK'.The initiative is to be complemented with other steps including a website re-design, PR, events and direct marketing, making it a 'fully integrated brand building campaign."This brand building campaign is the largest we've ever undertaken in the UK and will help maintain the momentum we've created in both our marketing programme and our operational business strategy. It_s a message to the market that we have no intention of standing still, even during these tough times."
FSI
PFM
FSI LAUNCH CONCEPT EVOLUTION
01/12/2008
Concept Evolution is a web-enabled, complete CAFM solution, and the next generation of FSI's multi award winning Concept CAFM range. It retains key features, functionality, and crucially compatibility from the current Concept generation range.Concept Evolution merges powerful functionality with sophisticated technology to extend facilities management across borders, and optimise process efficiency, accuracy and productivity throughout the lifecycle. Easily accessed through a standard web browser, Concept Evolution offers an extremely powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use software platform that leverages the web to provide a single, integrated view of facilities and maintenance activities across your portfolio.
ISS Group
i-FM net
Frost & Sullivan names ISS market leader
01/10/2009
International research firm Frost & Sullivan has presented its 2009 Market Strategy Leadership Award in the European market for integrated facilities management to ISS. Frost & Sullivan says ISS merits the award for its success in bringing together three key strategic elements: total commitment across all business lines, constant development of service capabilities and a high level of M&A activity.Throughout 2008 and into 2009, ISS has continued its transition towards becoming a global provider of integrated facilities management, the research firm noted. With the overall business growing, the service provider's revenues from integrated solutions have been experiencing stronger growth than revenues from single service offerings, demonstrating how well it caters for a market where increasing end-user demand for one–stop-shop service solutions and international contracts is the overriding trend.The company’s strategy, ‘The ISS Way’, focuses on continuing the development of single-service excellence concepts and integrated facilities services capabilities, promoting regional and global knowledge and best-practice sharing, as well as increased focus on cross-border sales.
JCI
PFM
Quick change at Johnson Controls
01/01/2010
Johnson Controls, Inc. today announced the appointment of Steven E Quick as vice president and general manager for Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions, EMEA. He moves from his current position as executive vice president, Global WorkPlace Solutions, leading the Media and Communications customer business group in the Americas.
Pirelli
PropertyWeek.com
Italian property company Pirelli Real Estate and bank Intesa Sanpaolo have sold their 50:50 facility management joint venture, Pirelli RE Integrated Facility Management
01/01/2009
The joint venture sold the business to compatriot facilities management company Manutencoop for €137.5m (£130m).
