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facility
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2, 2008 JUNE–AUGUST integrating people – process – place

ideaction’08
Conference Report
Proudly supported by
ISS Facility Services

Focus on Western Australia

• Not so quiet on this Western Front
• FM in Icons: Perth’s Swan Brewery
P i on B
Preiser Building
ildi
Performance Evaluation
ISS FACILITY SERVICES:
A GLOBAL COMPANY WITH A LOCAL ETHOS
ISS Facility Services is one of the world’s largest facility services
companies. It has a global workforce of over 435,000 personnel in
50 countries and annual revenue in excess of AU$15 billion.
The rapid growth of the company over the past 20 years largely
stems from its ability to draw upon its global experience to deliver
high quality services in the many countries where it operates.
More recently, its success has been driven by its ability to provide
integrated facility services that provides its clients with service
solutions that are even more efficient through process and labour
optimisation.
ISS Facility Services entered the Australian market in 2002 through
the acquisition of Flick Pest Control, an Australian-renowned brand
name. Since then, ISS has purchased a broad range of companies
and has extended its capacity to provide a full scope of Facility
Services. In Australia, ISS is a multi-service organisation employing
over 22,000 people in the provision of facility management,
maintenance, cleaning, security, non-clinical support services for the
health industry, grounds maintenance and washroom services. It has
a customer base of more than 100,000 clients and annual revenue
of more than AU$700 million.
3%26)#%3¬/&&%2%$
s )NTEGRATED¬&ACILITY¬3ERVICES
ISS is one of a handful of companies globally that offers a wide
range of service solutions that can be combined to meet all
of a customer’s service and support functions into one single
solution.
s ¬
#LEANING¬3ERVICES
ISS is the largest provider of cleaning services globally and in
Australia. For more than 70 years, ISS has continually raised the
standard for cleaning services throughout the world.
s 3ECURITY¬3ERVICES
ISS Security is the second largest provider of security services
in Australia. Core Services for the Security division include
general security guarding, emergency response, consulting
services, operational risk management, development and
implementation of safety plans and a focus on service supply to
the Australian Aviation and Maritime Security Sector.
s &ACILITIES¬-ANAGEMENT¬3ERVICES
ISS Facilities Management Services is a division which provides
a management structure and operational solutions with a
management team to cater for any facility service requirement
a client might have.
s 'ROUNDS¬-AINTENANCE¬3ERVICES
ISS Grounds and Maintenance Services is a growing division
within the company and currently has 160 staff operating in
NSW and Victoria.
s 0EST¬#ONTROL¬3ERVICES
As part of Route Based Services, ISS Pest Control enjoys
national coverage and provides preventative and reactionary
services for a large commercial and domestic base.
s 7ASHROOM¬3ERVICES
ISS Washroom Services is one of only two national providers for
this service in Australia. With a business-to-business customer
base of 28,000, ISS is continually looking for a more advanced
product range and now proudly introduces ISS Pure Water.
EDITORS COMMENTS
MAX WINTER
ideaction’08 –
facility management’s
day in the sun.
F
MA Australia’s 19th national
conference, ideaction’08: Enabling
Sustainable Communities certainly
provided a comprehensive investigation into
most of the issues to do with the
sustainability agenda as it relates to the built
environment.
From thought provoking and interactive
panel sessions to practical case studies on
implementing sustainable FM practice, there
was plenty on the table that pointed to a
growing focus on FM sustainability skillsets,
and more than a gentle hint that facility
managers would soon be employed or at
least graded on these sustainability
credentials.
I rather suspect however, that while the
FM industry (quite rightly) see themselves at
the forefront of sustainability cultural change,
the reality is many facility managers still
struggle to make the business case for any
sustainability initiatives that “cost money”,
while smart maintenance outsourcers have
already addressed this issue with business
cases that show a return (or revenue neutral)
on investment of two to three years.
Facility managers need these business
case tools to present their case if they are
ever going to get the Board’s ear on
investment in energy-saving smarts. When
you combine this with the skills shortage in
the maintenance industry itself, the issues
2 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
compound even further.
HVAC systems can run abysmally, and
still deliver the required temperature range
for occupants.
There is no doubt that the industry has
its challenges ahead to meet the expected
skillsets required and the qualifications
needed, so it is just as well that related
industry bodies such as the Australian
Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning
and Heating (AIRAH) have geared
themselves to providing the training and
industry qualifications needed to meet the
challenges that lie ahead.
FMA Australia is also actively involved in
meeting these needs through identifying the
skillsets required and formulating the
appropriate training solutions for facility
managers.
The key word here is “appropriate”,
since the solutions provided have to dove-
tail in with several industry and education
sector levels and streams in order to address
the many entry points of would-be facility
managers into this diverse industry.
Not easily done and there are many
stakeholders involved, but if the FM industry
is going to make it to the next level of
professionalism, it is a step we must take.
Max Winter
Editor
Level 6, 313 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 8641 6666 Fax: (03) 9640 0374
Email: info@fma.com.au Web: www.fma.com.au
Front Cover: FMA Australia CEO, David Duncan at
ideaction’08, Gold Coast Convention Centre.
Photography: Larry Pitt Photography 0408 727 006
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 IN THIS ISSUE

facility FRONT COVER

FMA Australia CEO David Duncan reflects on a successful
ideaction’08, and ponders on the challenges that lie ahead for the
integrating people – process – place
facilities management industry.

FOCUS 26 ideaction’08 Conference Report

FMA Australia’s ideaction’08 Conference, entitled Enabling Sustainable
Communities placed the blow torch squarely on the many issues that
comprise the sustainability challenge, and as managers of the built
environment, there is no doubt that facility managers are firmly at the
forefront of implementing systemic change.

REGULARS
2 Editors Comment 4 FMA Chairman’s Message 5 FMA CEO’s Address 6 Fast Facts & News

53 ESSENTIAL SAFETY MEASURES – Building Update

63 FM ACTION AGENDA – Innovating the Future
71 FM AROUND THE GLOBE – Bradley Robbins at The Palm Jumeirah, UAE
79 SOFTWARE CASE STUDY – A Welcome fmXpert at Catholic Homes

FEATURES
14 FOCUS ON WA
Not so quiet on this Western Front
Bianca Frost examines the issues that are impacting FM in Australia’s
booming golden state.
21 MANAGING AN AUSTRALIAN ICON
Perth’s Swan Brewery
Melanie Drummond spoke to Building Services Manager and
Concierge Karl Wright about the daily challenges faced at the multi-
purpose Swan Brewery.
26 FM EVENTS
FMA Australia ideaction Report
FMA Australia’s premier event ideaction’08 – Enabling Sustainable
Communities was a resounding success with the focus firmly on facility
management’s role in achieving a sustainable future, highlighted by
some spectacular social events that included the industry’s homage to
excellence in facilities management.
48 EDUCATION + TRAINING
A Facility Management student working in your organisation
Floor Schepens would like to inform Australian companies about the
benefits of having an FM student working in their organisation.
50 FM LEGAL
The New IR System
Tim Capelin from Australian Business Lawyers explains the transitional
arrangements which came into effect on 28 March 2008.
54 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
How better management systems equate to better business
For GJK Facility Services, developing an Integrated Management
System as a basis for its operations has proved vital in the provision of
customer service.
56 ENERGY + THE ENVIRONMENT
Building a career brick by brick
Melanie Drummond spoke to Wolfgang Preiser about his love affair
with the study of the built environment and his achievements
throughout his 40 year career.
59 CLIENT FEATURE
An innovative approach to services provision.
Facility Perspectives spoke to founding member company GJK Facility
Services CEO, Shane Williams, and Lou La Delfa, National Relationship
Manager for Service Alliance Group about their innovative services
provision model.
67 SECURITY + RISK MANAGEMENT
No quick fix in disaster recovery
When a serious incident threatens a facility it is vital to act quickly.
Mark Phillips reports.
75 FM LEAD
Is a revolution about to take place in FM Procurement?
According to Dr Paul Luciani, a holder of a Doctorate in FM at UTS
and researcher on the topic, the answer is it’s already started!
78 ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT
Saving electricity when it really counts
Energy Response Consultant, Jose Diacono explains how the
implementation of Demand Side measures can make the national
electricity market more efficient.
80 BOOK REVIEW
Building a framework for Assessing Building Performance
by Wolfgang FE Preiser, Jacqueline C Visher. Review by Melanie
Drummond.
SEPTEMBER ISSUE
3 Focus on South Australia
3 FM at the coalface: operational matters
3 Feature: Facilities Information Management/Filing & Storage
SPONSORED INDUSTRY PROFILES
20 Simple Solutions to Business Success for PLM Group Services
28 Invincible service contract for Melbourne Airport’s Automatic Doors
34 Forbo Step – R10 - R11 - R12 in one complete safety vinyl collection
38 Reaching your energy efficient goals
45 IFM is an Australian company with offices in Sydney and Perth
46 Caroma Dorf’s Eco Logical Solutions Retrofit programs Helping
Companies Save More Water
52 Urinals – The water waster
62 Muller Industries Pty Ltd
74 Valorem Kevah

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 3
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Chairman’s Message
2008 is shaping up to be an extremely big year for the facility management
industry. Almost six months into the Rudd government’s first term, we have
already seen an unprecedented focus on climate change and sustainability
especially on energy efficiency in the built environment. The 2020 Summit
in particular has a strong focus on transforming the ecological footprint of
ANDREW MCEWAN
the built environment. It’s an exciting time for facility managers as our
industry must be a crucial part of these national initiatives.

I
n that light, it was an especially pertinent time for the industry to
gather to discuss our role in sustainability, and thus a very productive
conference for the participants at ideaction’08.
The range of excellent speakers discussed all aspects of sustainable
buildings from design to operation, culture change, the regulatory
environment, technology and measuring productivity impacts. The
presentations provoked vigorous discussion among participants, and I
overheard many enthusiastic conversations outside the conference
sessions.
A strong focus from government, media and community both here
and internationally has really started to turn the tide of opinion on
sustainability, with most of us now agreeing that something must be
done as soon as possible. The questions remain: What do we do? And
how do we do it?
Improving the sustainability of existing buildings will clearly be
crucial, with many savings able to be achieved with net financial benefits
and others with very low return on investment. Some of these savings will
come exclusively from facility managers through the tighter management
of energy and water consuming systems. However, as was seen at our
conference, true sustainability must not just be environmentally and
economically focused but socially and institutionally sustainable.
Whilst the design and construction of a building may set the
parameters of possibility regarding emissions production and water use
within a building, effective management is absolutely vital for achieving
actual emissions savings.
Much work has been done (and continues), to improve the potential
for buildings to operate sustainably. What has also been demonstrated,
as pilot green buildings have been operating for a number of years, is
that even green buildings have significant variation in operating
efficiencies and rely heavily on effective, knowledgeable facilities
management to achieve their lauded potential.
Since our last edition, we have also seen the staging of the 2020
Summit and the release of the Summit initial report. The Summit certainly
highlighted again the need to tackle climate change, with the opening
statement highlighting the importance of acting now.
“Australia faces an unprecedented challenge from climate change.
We risk losing our natural heritage, our rivers, landscapes and
biodiversity. We have a brief opportunity to act now to safeguard and
shape our future prosperity.”
The initial report states several ideas that could have direct relevance
for facility managers, including requiring all new buildings to be carbon
neutral by 2020, having smart meters for energy and water consumption
available to all individuals, a National Sustainable Cities program and
national environmental accounts to encompass carbon and water.
FMA Australia will continue to build on our relationships with
government to ensure that the views of our important industry are
considered in government processes. It is vital that we work with
government and other stakeholders to ensure that the right solutions are
in place to move the climate change agenda forward.
I hope you enjoy this edition of Facility Perspectives and I look
forward to bringing you further news on the progress of our work on
behalf of the facilities management industry.
Andrew McEwan
Chairman
FMA Australia

4 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 CEO’S ADDRESS

CEO’s Address
I’d like to begin this edition of my address by thanking all those of you who
attended the recent ideaction’08 conference on the Gold Coast. I am
delighted with the success of our annual conference, and am sure that all
those who attended will agree that the calibre of speakers and the content of
the presentations was first class. I’m sure that everyone will be able to say that
DAVID DUNCAN
they took away at least one new idea that will help them to make a difference
to the manner in which they conduct their role as a facility manager.

O
f course, with the theme of the conference being ‘Enabling
Sustainable Communities’, our aim was to ensure that all
attendees received practical and relevant advice that assists
them in attaining sustainability in their roles. As we all know, creating
sustainable facilities is one of the most important ways in which we can
reduce our overall carbon emissions as a nation. Facility managers have a
huge role to play in this, not only in ensuring their own built environment
is operating as efficiently and as ‘greenly’ as possible, but also in
advocating the importance of this to other stakeholders such as building
owners and tenants.
The facility management industry is a thriving one as we speak, but
moreover it has the very real potential to become one of the most
influential industries over the next few years and beyond. Hence, we
need to ensure that we are advocating the importance of facility
managers in the overall scheme of things to the people that matter, and
the ideaction’08 conference helps to do just that. It’s encouraging for me
as CEO of FMA Australia, to witness the passion and drive that so many
of you have for facilities management and the sheer attendance at so
many of the site visits and sessions was testament to this.
It wasn’t all work, work, work, however, and we certainly proved that
facility managers know how to let their hair down! On the first night we
hosted delegates at the Chairman’s Welcome Reception, at the Kurrawa
Surf Club. Daiquiris and beach barbeque style fare were enjoyed by all to
the sounds of the Beach Brothers, and the night provided an excellent
opportunity to network and meet up with friends and colleagues in the
industry.
The Gala Dinner at the Conrad Jupiters ballroom was also a great
success with more than 420 guests in attendance. We were treated to an
entertaining speech by Phil Ruthven, founder and chairman of IBISWorld
and chairman of Open Family Australia, our chosen charity for
ideaction’08. Phil provided some amusing insights into the likelihood (or
not) of a recession next year! We were pleased to be able to raise over
$15,000 for Open Family Australia in our charity auction, so thanks go to
all those who took part.
We were also thrilled to be entertained by the fabulous Danielle
Everett, certainly a big crowd pleaser, and seventies group Lush ensured
that many of you danced the night away afterwards. The most important
event of the evening was, of course, the presentation of the Awards for
Excellence as well as the branch awards. As always we received
nominations of a high standard, and my congratulations to all the
winners, who you can read more about in this edition.
The conference started as it was destined to continue, with a rousing
and inspiring opening presentation given by the respected and highly
qualified futurist and strategist, Dr Peter Ellyard. I was encouraged to
note following Peter’s speech that some of his ideas and observations
were the topic of conversation for quite some time afterwards, and can
clearly form a solid basis for some innovative improvements to processes
that can be adopted by the facility management industry.
FMA Australia has solid and long standing partners in excellence
agreements with both IFMA and BIFM and this commitment was
reinforced by the attendance at this year’s ideaction’08 conference by
IFMA’s CEO and President Dave Brady, Chairman Gary Broersma and
Director of International Development Codrutza Timariu. BIFM was
represented by CEO Ian Fielder and Chairman Peter Cordy who also
participated in a panel session at the conference. It was also a pleasure
during the conference to hold an operations meeting for Global FM with
Lionel Cotton who joined us from ARSEG, as well as Dani Kolb from the
secretariat in Brussels. During these few days Global FM worked on
many initiatives set out in the presentation by Ian Fielder on the last day
of our conference and I encourage you to visit the Global FM website at
www.globalfm.org and please contact me or any of the directors with
your comments.
Thank you again to all who participated in ideaction’08, and of
course to our generous sponsors without whom this event would not
have been possible. You can find details of all sponsors further on in this
edition. I look forward to seeing you in Melbourne at ideaction’09. Until
then we will continue to move forward with the many issues that affect
our industry and day to day operations. Sustainability is a major focus
currently and will be in the future, but many other projects and initiatives
are underway, so until our next edition, enjoy this our ideaction’08 wrap
up and don’t forget to visit our website for further photographic
evidence of a very memorable conference.
David Duncan
Chief Executive Officer

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 5
FAST FACTS + NEWS

KUTh Energy offered Federal Government REDI grant to

develop innovative geothermal energy source in Tasmania
Tasmanian-based geothermal energy
explorer KUTh Energy (ASX:KEN) has been
offered a Federal Government Renewable
Energy Development Initiative (REDI) grant to
test a new model for developing a geothermal
energy source.
Classical hot-rocks or Engineered
Geothermal Power (EGP) projects require the
hot basement rocks to be stimulated after
initial deep drilling to enhance the fracturing of
the basement thus allowing adequate water
flow to capture the heat. This is known as
“fraccing” and although a well established
technique, embodies geological and
hydrological risks.
A section of the KUTh tenement in north-
eastern Tasmania is known as the Tamar
Conductivity Zone. The Company’s
interpretation is that this is a large, deep,
natural fracture zone filled with brine (salty
water), which reaches into the buried extension
of a known hot granite (see Figure 1).
The $1.8 million REDI grant has been
offered to allow KUTh to test whether the
granite has been naturally fractured and is
saturated with hot water at depth. If it is, and
is large enough to sustain electrical generation,
KUTh will have proved a significant new
geothermal energy type that is amendable to
cheaper and more rapid development than
other hot-rocks projects in Australia.
“The Tamar Conductivity Zone has the
potential to be the first of a new class of hot-
rocks geothermal projects enabling a more
rapid development to generation, with fewer
risks, than the classical EGP type of project,”
said Dr Roger Lewis, KUTh Energy’s Principal
Consultant and Chairman of its Technical
Advisory Board.
KUTh Energy has over 14,000 km2 of
geothermal tenements in Tasmania, which it is
actively exploring for geothermal energy
generation and for direct use heating and
drying applications. This new opportunity will
be explored in parallel with KUTh’s existing
programme. Both are commercially attractive
due to the presence of existing high and low-
voltage electricity infrastructure in the areas of
interest.
“KUTh is deeply appreciative of the
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science
and Research and AusIndustry for their support
of KUTh’s innovative approach. Geothermal
energy has a major role to play in securing
Australia’s future energy supply and this
project, with Government backing, will
enhance our progress towards renewable
energy targets nationwide,” KUTh’s Chief
Operations Officer Malcolm Ward said.

ACCC provides guidance for ‘green’ marketers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has recently
issued updated guidance for businesses and industry on the use of
environmental claims in marketing.
“The ACCC has produced Green marketing and the Trade Practices
Act in response to the increasing use of green claims in advertising by
businesses seeking to differentiate themselves and their products from
their competition by means of environmental claims,” ACCC Chairman,
Mr Graeme Samuel, said.
“Businesses are aware that consumers are concerned about the
environmental impact of the goods they purchase, and therefore look to
promote the environmental benefits of their products. However, ‘green’
and other environmental claims are often based on complex scientific
principles, making it difficult for consumers to assess their accuracy or to
compare one claim against another.”
Green claims are now made about a larger product range than ever
before, from small household items to major whitegoods and appliances.
Environmental concerns, such as water or energy efficiency, are a major
factor many consumers consider when evaluating products to purchase.
It is essential that consumers have accurate information on which to base
their decisions.
Mr Samuel said the publication aims to educate businesses about
their obligations under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and to assist
manufacturers, suppliers, advertisers and others to assess the strength of
any green claims they make. This will help to improve the accuracy and
usefulness to consumers of their labelling, packaging and advertising.
The release of Green marketing and the Trade Practices Act follows
recent ACCC action over potentially misleading environmental marketing
claims in the energy industry. The ACCC continues to scrutinise the
green claims made in a variety of markets and will take appropriate
action against any business making misleading or unsupportable
environmental claims.
Green marketing and the Trade Practices Act are available on the ACCC
website at www.accc.gov.au/greenmarketing. Hard copies can also be
ordered through the ACCC Infocentre on 1300 302 502.

Google and Accenture lease Workplace6

Office Building in Sydney
Australia’s largest diversified listed property groups, the GPT Group, We also believe the
recently announced the full leasing of NSW’s first 6 star Green Star new facility will be a
building, Workplace 6. Internet company Google and global fantastic collaborative
management consulting company, Accenture have agreed to lease the environment for our
18,000 sqm waterfront office complex which has been developed by the employees and will
GPT Group in conjunction with Citta Property Group. help us in continuing to
For a 12-year term, Google will lease levels four to six and attract the best talent
Accenture, levels two to three, when the building opens in late 2008. on the market,” said
GPT’s Head of Office, Tony Cope said the development has attracted Mr. Hohnen.
quality tenants such as Google and Accenture because of the world class
sustainability measures, location, innovation and certified ratings.
Accenture senior-executive Robert Hohnen said being tenants in the
state-of-the-art building will help the company attract and retain the best
talent in Sydney.
“We are very aware of the impact our operation has on the
environment. We have always strived to reduce our environmental Information taken from GPT company announcement
footprint and relocating to workplace6 is an exciting step in this journey. http://www.gpt.com.au/news.aspx?urlkey=nm_news&newsid=49

6 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 FAST FACTS + NEWS
Rinse it smart for the food industry sector
ARTICLE PUBLISHED COURTESY OF SYDNEY WATER (WWW.SYDNEYWATER.COM.AU)

As reported in the Sydney Water conserver magazine, Sydney Water

is offering Smart Rinse valves free to eligible customers for the next three
years.
Pre-rinse spray valves are simple devices used to remove food scraps
and grease from dishes before they go into the dishwasher. This
improves the cleanliness of dishes and reduces water and chemical
consumption by enabling heated and treated water to be used for more
cycles.
Traditional pre-rinse spray valves are surprisingly water intensive. A
Sydney Water study indicated that more than 5.9 billion litres of water is
used in pre-rinse spray valves in restaurants and takeaway food shops
every year.
Flow rates in traditional pre-rinse spray valves are typically between
10 and 15 litres a minute. They are usually fitted with a shower-type spray
nozzle that relies on water volume for its cleaning action.
New 6-star rated pre-rinse spray valves use about half the water of
old models and have better cleaning efficiency.
They have a single orifice nozzle that produces a powerful fan- assembly and recycle your old one.
pattern jet that uses water velocity, rather than volume, to increase Overall, Sydney Water’s study showed that water use in pre-rinse
cleaning efficiency. spray valves can be cut by an average of 42 per cent. Each low flow pre-
But can a simple device really make a big difference? rinse spray valve can save businesses an average of $456 in water and
Aparosa LuLu Tawake, a steward at the Citigate Central Hotel energy cost savings every year. The more often your business uses a pre-
witnessed the difference in performance between the hotel kitchen’s old rinse spray valve, the greater the energy and cost savings.
valve and the new low flow pre-rinse spray valve. To help keep water and energy costs low, maintenance is vital. All
“The new valve is faster to use and cleans off the food quicker,” pre-rinse spray valves need to be inspected monthly, cleaned at least
Aparosa said. once a year, and replaced if the fittings are worn.
To encourage customers to install the new low flow pre-rinse spray If the nozzles are worn, water pressure will fall and the spray angle
valves, Sydney Water will supply and install a 6 litre a minute low-flow will change, leading to slower cleaning times, a less efficient spray valve
pre-rinse spray valve free for eligible customers, to replace existing pre and higher energy and water costs.
rinse valves. The valve is WELS 6-star rated, and can’t be locked on to
automatically run at full pressure. Sydney Water will send a plumber to For more information about Smart Rinse, contact the call centre on
replace up to 3 existing pre rinse valves, repair minor leaks on the valve 1800 622 695. The program will run till 2010.

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f a c i l i t y perspectives • 7
FAST FACTS + NEWS

BIFM meets the sustainable challenge

Over 450 delegates attended the British Institute of Facility

Management’s (BIFM) 2008 Annual Conference, Sustainable FM:
Meeting the challenge, at Keble College in Oxford over March 18-19.
Preceding the event, the Global Facility Management Association
(Global FM) hosted an international workshop on education and training,
bringing representatives together from Global FM founder members
BIFM, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the
Facility Management Association of Australia Ltd (FMA Australia) and the
Association des Directeurs et Responsables de Services Généraux
(ARSEG) from France, as well as the Hungarian FM Society and, newest
member, Associacao Brasileira de Facilities (Abrafac) from Brazil.
That evening, BIFM’s new Think FM “thought leadership” dinner
provided an opportunity for around 40 key players to take part in a
strategic discussion about the future of the FM industry.
The two-day conference at Keble College which followed, tested,
challenged and informed delegates with a varied conference program
including 10 plenary presentations, 20 parallel and five fringe sessions.
Key topics ranged from economic and environmental sustainability
to climate change, carbon footprint and environmental performance, to
flexible working and Women in FM.
Stephen Sackur from the BBC’s Hard Talk, acted as chairman and
facilitator on the main stage, and provided a professional journalist’s
perspective to the program.
The conference opened with strong presentations from Barbara
Stocking, Director of Oxfam, and James Woudhuysen, Professor of
Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University.
Glen Fraser, a director with Management Solutions, spoke on the
theme, Achieving economic and environmental sustainability through
professional FM. Fraser, who has recently worked with the Australian
Conservation Foundation (ACF), suggested that climate change is a
major business risk and there is a need to act now. He stressed that
professional FM practice needs to create a positive environmental
impact.
In another session, Martin Bell, Associate Director and Marie Cecille
Puybaraud, Innovation Director, from Johnson Controls Consulting
Employees asked the question, Is flexible working sustainable?
Discussion then followed about the need to improve the work/life
balance as the demand for flexible working hours continues to rise.
A panel (which included three professors) discussed the relevance of
action by individuals and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint. In one of the parallel sessions, Research Associate, Daniel Shockley,
Views ranged from an appeal to invest in science and technology, to the provided an update on the project and the work underway on a
belief that changing behaviours will make the crucial difference. “sustainable facilities management knowledge portal”. BIFM is a lead
partner in this transfer project, supported by TSB in association with the
University of Reading and sponsored by Kinnarps.
Later, delegates were treated to dinner in the splendid Keble Dining
Hall, while being entertained by the “world’s first genetically modified
string quartet”, Stringfever. Together with Monday’s Think FM dinner,
over £1,700 was raised for the BIFM Chairman’s chosen charity, the Marie
Curie Cancer Care.
The conference’s fringe program continued to deliver participation,
humour and a little controversy. BIFM CEO, Ian Fielder, had a packed
house for his session on how to network, while Ismena Clout from Harper
Collins led the Rising FM’s session.
Lynda Tilbury, Lucy Jeynes, Alison Halfpenny and Carol Bell, Chair of
the South East Branch of Women in Property, examined the success of
women in facilities management and the challenges that they face.
The Carbon Neutral Company argued the case for carbon offsetting,
which remains extremely controversial while Neil McLocklin, Director at
green consultancy, Corpra, presented the case which argued that carbon
offsetting should only be a last resort after all efforts to reduce carbon
emissions had been exhausted. Cathy Hayward, Editor of FM World,
chaired a debate with a final vote on the topic.
Tim Smit, driving force behind Cornwall’s Eden Project, delivered a
full-tilt summary of his approach to fund-raising, motivation and
networking, ending the conference on a high with much amusement and
inspiration.

The next BIFM annual conference at Keble College, Oxford, takes place
from Tuesday 31st March to Wednesday 1st April 2009. For more
information visit www.bifm.org.uk

8 • f a c i l i t y perspectives



  



 
 

 






 


  

 
FAST FACTS + NEWS
Global FM Elects new Chairman and
nominates new Directors of the Board
BRUSSELS, Belgium — (April 18, 2008) — The Global Facility
Management Association (Global FM) has held its first ever Annual
General Meeting in Oxford, UK, having made significant progress since
its inauguration in May 2006.
Global FM has also expanded its membership from four founding
members to three additional full members (ABRAFAC, HFMS, SAFMA)
and also associate members. During the Annual General Meeting the
Global FM board also formally welcomed ABRAFAC Vice President
Francisco Abrantes on behalf of the Brazilian Association and Jozsef
Czerny, Chairman of the Hungarian Facility Management Society, who
joined as full members early March 2008. Apologies were received from
the South African Facility Management Association.
The Annual General Meeting provided an opportunity to review the
Association’s progress and strategy, and to endorse its Action Plan
regarding the future, the potential that Global FM offered each Member
Association and the development of the profession at large. In addition,
the Annual General Meeting made a number of new appointments to
the Board of Global FM, including the election of Steve Gladwin as the
new Chairman.
Steve Gladwin is Managing Director of HOCHTIEF Facility
Management UK and Ireland. Prior to this role Steve spent almost 20
years living and working in Australia where he was actively involved in the
development of the FM industry and is a previous past chair of FMA
Australia.
During his career in Australia and prior to relocating to the UK, Steve
held Senior Management positions with Haden Facilities Management &
10 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
Tyco International prior to being a major shareholder in Tungsten Group,
the largest independent privately owned FM company in Australia.
Steve congratulated the achievements of the Board and previous
Chairman Stan Mitchell, who will continue his work as Immediate Past
Chairman. In handing over to Steve, Stan also thanked Jean Marc-Robic
and Matt Dawson who, along with Stan have stepped down as Directors
from the Board.
In addition the Directors of the board have been nominated for a
two-year term:
3 Pascale Mangot-Lagarde, (ARSEG) Europe
3 Fred Child, (BIFM) Europe
3 Andrew McEwan, (FMA Australia) Oceana
3 Teena G. Shouse, CFM, (IFMA) Americas
Global FM is an international not-for-profit organization based in
Brussels, Belgium. It represents a worldwide community of organizations
that provide leadership in facility management. Global FM’s mission is,
using one voice, to collaborate on the development and promotion of
the strategic value of facility management.
For more information, visit www.globalfm.org.
Global FM Registered Office:
Global Facility Management Association
Avenue Marcel Thiry 204, 1200 Brussels, Belgium
Tel + 32 2 774 91 48 Fax: + 32 2 774 96 90
Email: globalfm@kelleneurope.com
 FAST FACTS + NEWS

Building and construction businesses

may be entitled to more fuel tax credits
From 1 July this year many building and construction businesses will be
able to claim fuel tax credits for the first time, and many others will be able
to claim additional fuel tax credits. The Tax Office is encouraging businesses
in the building and construction industry to find out if they can save money
on their business fuel costs.
In the past, businesses have only been able to claim a fuel tax credit for
fuel used in heavy vehicles, such as trucks and specific activities, such as
primary production, and under the expansion, fuel tax credits can be
claimed for the majority of fuel used in business – whether it’s used in
bobcats, cement mixers, cranes and wacker-packers.
The exceptions are:
• alternative fuels such as:
• liquefied petroleum gas
• compressed natural gas
• liquefied natural gas
• ethanol and biodiesel, and
• fuel used in light weight vehicles travelling on public roads, such
as cars or small vans.
How much a business claims depends on how the fuel is used.
If you’re registered for goods and services tax but not fuel tax credits,
it’s easy to get on board – just phone 13 72 26 anytime (24 hours a day,
seven days a week). Make sure you have your Australian business number
and your tax file number handy when you call. Once registered, an
additional label will be added to your business activity statement (BAS) and
the Tax Office will send you information on how to claim. Simply keep any
records that prove you bought fuel and how it was used for your business.
You can calculate your claim by visiting www.ato.gov.au/businesses and
selecting ‘Rates, calculators and tools’ on the left hand side.

To find out if your business is eligible or for further information go to

www.ato.gov.au/fuelschemes or phone 13 28 66 between 8.00am and
6.00pm Monday to Friday.

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f a c i l i t y perspectives • 11
FAST FACTS + NEWS

Techs4Biz releases Pervidi Facility Maintenance

Management software Version 4.70
Techs4Biz, a provider of software products and professional services
for mobile handheld devices, desktop computers, and web servers, has
launched Pervidi Facility Maintenance Management 4.70, the next
generation of the company’s Facility Maintenance Management software.
Pervidi Facility Maintenance Management automates facility
maintenance and compliance activities by combining desktop software,
personal handheld devices (PDA), trigger engines, and web portals.
“Pervidi allows facility managers and service providers to connect
and access Pervidi Facility Maintenance management software by using
their PDA or any Web browser – without having to go back to their
desk,” explains Naaman Shibi, Techs4Biz’ Vice President Asia Pacific.
Companies can configure facility Maintenance based on Australian
Standards, Essential Services Measures, OH&S, and their own internal
company policies and procedures, enabling them to deliver the exact
solution they require.
Another recent important enhancement includes an automated
interface that seamlessly connects Pervidi with ERP systems and other
downstream applications. “Linking Pervidi with existing systems enables
organisations to maintain their legacy or corporate systems while utilising
Pervidi’s powerful wireless handheld application and web portal,” says
Naaman.
Pervidi version 4.70 is available immediately and will come as the
standard platform for all future customers. Call Techs4biz on 03 8862
6485 for further details.

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Unlike chemical systems, the release of Inergen®’s natural gases
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Furthermore, Inergen® does not require an expensive exhaust
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SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Not so quiet on this
western front
BY BIANCA FROST
Western Australia is experiencing one of the largest population and economic
growth rates in the country, placing unprecedented pressure on the state’s property,
labour and infrastructure. Facility Perspective’s Bianca Frost, takes a look at the
issues that are impacting FM in Australia’s booming golden state.
W
ith its friendly people, sandy beaches, clear skies and endless
spaces, Western Australia seems like the perfect place to step-
back, wind down and relax. However, the explosive success of
the state’s mining, mineral and resource boom has set the once sleepy
city of Perth and its regional outposts into a frenzy of boom-time
prosperity.
The result has been a spectacular surge in economic and population
growth that has seen demand outstrip supply across a number of sectors,
particularly in the residential, commercial and industrial property markets,
and causing an acute shortage of skilled, trade-qualified labour. The
challenges this poses to this naturally blessed, resource laden state are
significant, but the people of Western Australia are determined to show
that these are not their only gifts and are already living up to their state
motto, proving that they are indeed The Real Thing.
Western Australia now has one of the fastest population growth rates
in Australia. In June 2007, the estimated resident population of Western
Australia was over 2.1 million, up from 1.9 million in December 2001.
The population in the Peel region and south west of the State has
increased by 43 per cent in the past decade alone. The state’s quarterly
population growth is equal highest with the Northern Territory and well
above the national rate. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
the largest driver of Western Australia’s population growth was overseas
migration, followed by local births and interstate migration.
There were 29,700 job vacancies in Western Australia in the August
quarter of 2007, 31.8% more than in the same quarter of 2006. The vast
majority of vacancies were created in the private sector (31.8%), with
public sector vacancies also higher (up 32.2%).
The number of employed persons in Western Australia also rose by
3.1% in the three months to November 2007, although this was a much
lower rise than in the three months to August 2007. The deceleration in
employment growth was driven solely by lower part-time employment,
which declined slightly over the same period.
The major industries driving Western Australia’s employment growth
are health and community services, transport/storage and construction,
14 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
which is up by nearly 10%. While a number of industries recorded falls in
employed persons through the year, including retail trade and
government administration and defence, the most notable movement
among the occupations was a 15.8% rise in employed professionals
through the year to November 2007.
It is largely this rise in white collar employment that has put huge
pressure on Perth’s famously tight commercial property market. Indeed,
according to Colliers International’s Global Office Real Estate Review
2008, Perth has taken out the top spot for the lowest global market
vacancy rate for the second report in a row.
Colliers International Commercial Research Director, Felice Spark,
reported that Perth had recorded the lowest vacancy rate in the world,
now at 0.5%, while Brisbane has moved up the list to the record the
second-lowest vacancy at 0.7%.
The biannual report on 122 office markets across the globe tracks
stock levels, new supply under construction, vacancy rates, occupancy
costs, capital values and yields.
Ms Spark said the decreasing vacancy rates had clearly delivered a
flow-on effect to rental rates for available space in the incredibly tight A-
grade market.
“Rents for available A-grade office space in Brisbane are now not
only the most expensive in Australia, but they are among the most
expensive in the world,” Ms Spark said.
Brisbane soared into 14th position globally for A-grade rents at
$1074 per square metre. Perth, in 19th position, has seen rents top
$800sqm, with some arguing that they may well reach $1000sqm by the
end of 2008 as a combined result of the extremely low supply and
enormous upward pressure being exerted on rent by demand from
expanding businesses.
Lino Iacomella, Policy and Communications Manager at the Property
Council of Western Australia, says that demand in the West Australian
property market has been climbing upward over the last two to three
years, as a result of the peak in the residential property sector. Driving
that demand is a combination of factors including property shortages,

the mining and service industry boom and a steep increase in population
figures.
“This, of course, is driving up rents. Rents have grown very steadily in
WA and they continue to grow from the CBD right through to suburban
offices, and through to most other sectors of commercial/industrial
property,” he said.
“To put this in context, some five years ago, you were looking at
around $250sqm. Currently, that figure has more than trebled.”
Richard Kilbane, Development Manager at Hawaiian, describes the
current condition of the West Australian commercial property market as a
boon for developers and landlords, but warns that the imminent
completion of a number of new CBD office projects over the next three
to five years should see vacancy rates return closer to historical averages.
“We’ve recently completed construction on the The Mezz, a
neighbourhood shopping centre, The Colonade, a mixed used
development, and Telstra Kewdale, an industrial warehouse,” said Mr
Kilbane.
“Currently under construction we have Bishops See Stage 1 ($160m
end value) and Claremont Quarter shopping centre and apartments (end
value $450m). We are also actively seeking a tenant pre-commitment for
Bishops See Stage 2, a 40,000sqm office building with an end value of
$450m plus,” he added.
While the completion of new CBD office spaces are expected to
ease pressure on commercial tenants, there remains pressure on the
State government to incentivise building investment by winding back
land and stamp duty tax on new property developments. There is also
growing sentiment that the Government needs to accelerate its
processing of building applications to ensure that large developments
can proceed quickly.
The Property Council of Western Australia, representing members
who are primarily property owners, managers and developers, believes
that the Government has inadvertently been caught out by a shortage of
staff across both its own agencies and a shortage of skilled labour across
the economy generally. While this has affected their ability to process
development applications, the Property Council has bigger concerns
with what it describes as old planning systems that have been caught out
by the state’s spectacular economic boom. They are calling for more
extensive reform in this area, particularly in relation to the role of local
government.
Lino Iacomella says that the Property Council supports the
introduction of a planning model similar to that used in South Australia
where applications are considered by expert panels within local
authorities, rather than by elected officials.
“The existing system operates on government elected officials
dealing with applications for developments. This system is outdated and
has been proven to be inadequate in the current boom,” said Mr
Iacomella.
“It’s all part of the very big issue that has been
affecting WA over the last ten years, namely, that our
population growth has doubled. The extent of private
business investment in WA was totally unanticipated
and continues to operate at a very high level.”
“It’s an issue that both industry and government
need to deal with. There are significant reforms
required in the processing of applications for
developments, and unless there are significant new
property supplies made available, the state economy
is at risk of not growing to its full potential,” he said.
It’s not only CBD office space that is in short
supply in Western Australia. Vacancies are at record
lows right across the commercial sector including retail
and industrial. This is attracting significant new interest
in commercial property development in Western
Australia, particularly within the industrial sector which
is now described as the hottest part of the market,
although investment is still being held back by a
backlog of pending building approvals.
While there several large CBD office
developments currently under construction, Colliers
research found that the scarcity of CBD space and
skyrocketing rents in Perth was driving tenants into a
strong suburban office market where an estimated
150,000sqm of space is expected to come online in
the medium to long term.
SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Ian Campbell, Director of Office Leasing at Colliers in Perth, says that
with new office supply not due to come to market until 2009, the
combination of soaring rents and a lack of space in the CBD, together
with the challenge of attracting and retaining employees, made Perth’s
emerging suburban office market a real option.
“Government and consultancy tenants will not be prepared to stay in
poor B-grade office space at rents over $550sqm when they can relocate
to a quality new office building in the suburbs,” he said.
Mr Campbell said that the flow-on effects of the squeeze on Perth
office space could become a real problem for fast-growing WA
businesses in the short term.
“If, as a big firm in Perth, you’re only offering your employees office
space that’s very tight or of poor quality you may very well find you
become a less-preferred employer in this market.
“The dilemma these businesses are faced with is; do they stay in
good quality office accommodation in an attempt to keep quality
people, but then risk losing them because they are squeezed for space?
It’s a very real issue that Perth-based companies will be facing for at least
the next 18 months or so,’’ Mr Campbell said.
Ryan Taylor, Senior Consultant for the Property and Facilities
Management division of Hays in Perth agrees.
“All the big mining companies have offices all over the CBD, so
there is a growing push to bring them all together, but with virtually no
space available, there is a growing demand for people to look at space
and say, well, you’ve got such and such square metres, how can you fit
more people in?
“All the feedback that we’re getting from the Property Council – and
it’s regularly front page news here – is just how little commercial space
that there is available. It takes years to build these buildings and
meanwhile, market demand is simply outstripping supply. As a state, we
probably didn’t appreciate how quickly the boom would occur, or how
long it would last either,” said Mr Taylor.
The chronic supply shortages being experienced in Western
Australia don’t just stop at building supplies. Mr Taylor points out that in
the area of facility and property management, the employment market is
being crippled by the opposing expectations of employers and
employees.
“Requests from our clients for facility managers still require that they
have a trade background in order to manage those accounts, buildings
and contracts. However, if you look at what trade-qualified individuals
can make on the tools, it’s actually a lot more than what FM is able to
offer them. In terms of salaries then, those two expectations don’t really
meet eye to eye.
Mr Taylor explains that most FM contracts are still negotiated for
three or four year periods at a time and employer margins and costs are
usually built into the beginning of those contracts. However,
unprecedented wage growth over the last few years has meant these
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 15
SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA

contract salaries for trade-based work negotiated a few years back are
now out of touch with what tradespeople can earn elsewhere in the
market.
“This probably defines the challenges facing the FM recruitment
market in WA at the moment,” Mr Taylor said.
With new employment figures showing an unemployment rate in
Perth of only 2.8%, Mr Taylor believes that employers will need to
expand their expectations and be more flexible in terms of their
expectations from a candidate in terms of background experience. He
also advocates a greater engagement of contract and temporary labour.
“Maybe the ideal candidate isn’t there today, but there are all these
other candidates who could most likely do the role and help employers
through,” he said.
“Temporary and contract labour is a great way of dealing with
periods of high demand. Most other sectors – design, engineering,
construction – are very highly developed in that way and are using this to
deal with the boom, but FM is not.”
Above all, says Mr Taylor, the FM industry needs to look at what it is
offering in terms of salaries.
“They are very quickly becoming not competitive and the market is
not responding as quickly as other areas of the market have responded.
There are reasons for that, but as anyone in FM will tell you, FM is often
the last thing to be considered and the first thing to be cut. So, in terms
of attracting the right talent, employers are eventually going to have to
look at money,” Mr Taylor said.
“Last year in our annual wage survey, Hays found that the average
wages for FM’s in Perth was $60-80K and we are not expecting much of
an increase in this year’s survey. When you compare this to mining, which
has an average per annum income of $100K-135K, you can see why the
WA FM industry is struggling to attract the kind of talent it is looking for.”
While property and skilled labour supply shortages are a recurrent
theme in any discussion of the Western Australian economy at the
moment, there are numerous plans afoot to support future growth with a
significant expansion of the state’s vital infrastructure. tenants, particularly larger corporate tenants like the big mining
In its 2006-2007 Annual Report, the West Australian Department of companies, of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) announced a slew of new initiatives to “These tenants are recognizing that the best way of demonstrating
address WA’s burgeoning land and transport requirements. With the this CSR is through the promotion and adoption of more sustainable
volume of freight in Western Australia expected to increase at about 3.5 work practices, including the occupation of green buildings,” said Mr
per cent per annum, it is predicted that there will be a doubling of freight Iacomella.
within the next 20 years. Recent state-wide infrastructure challenges Mr Iacomella says that government departments, in particular, are
include AusLink road and rail corridors, inclusion of urban congestion as primary drivers of tenant demand for green buildings.
a significant national transport reform and upgrades to regional and “In terms of leading by example, they are strong advocates of green
metropolitan rail systems. buildings, but in the private sector, tenants are quickly catching up,” he
Other infrastructure developments include the identification of a said.
preferred site for the new Pilbara Port at Ronsard Island, about 85 Richard Kilbane says that besides meeting ABGR Commitment
kilometres west of Port Hedland. New bulk minerals export facilities are Agreements, property developers are actively responding to the demand
also slated for the mid-west region around Geraldton. A project director for Green Star rated buildings from tenants.
and project team were appointed to develop a State Agreement that will “There is a strong desire for green elements to be included,
enable the private sector to develop a deep water port facility at elements which, for example, result in lower energy and water usage
Oakajee and a heavy haulage railway from the Yilgarn minerals area for within the building. This is increasingly been seen as a key attraction
the export of iron ore. factor for staff as well, particularly those of Generation Y,” said Mr
A number of permits were also granted to enable Fortescue Metals Kilbane.
and Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd to construct access roads, “In addition, tenants are requiring additional facilities such as bicycle
telecommunications facilities and a railway line in the general Pilbara and storage and associated showers/change rooms and so on, which all point
Port Hedland area for the establishment of the FMG Iron Ore export to a higher emphasis on sustainability,” he added.
project. Existing buildings are also benefiting from the demand for increased
The ongoing expansion to local industry in the Pilbara region and energy efficiency and the incorporation of sustainable design features
associated population growth, driven by the demand for iron ore and with many now undergoing retro-fits to meet Green Star criteria.
gas, has in turn necessitated the preparation and sale of new land for However, for property owners, this poses a number of new challenges.
residential development within the towns of Port Hedland, Karratha and “It is a lot easier to apply green design principles in new buildings
Newman. but much more difficult and expensive in existing buildings,” said Mr
Three other corridors, Perth-Albany, Albany-Bunbury and Midwest- Iacomella.
Goldfields which service over 90% of Western Australia’s population, “In Perth, particularly, there are a lot of commercial buildings of
have also been earmarked for strategic infrastructure development. about the 20-30 year age bracket where they are due for some major
In terms of the built environment, there is growing interest in renovation or restoration. Obviously, those owners will be looking at
sustainable developments and in green buildings. Mr Iacomella says that including more green principles. What the Property Council is advocating
at the moment, most of that interest is rooted in the development sector is for more policies from government that encourage Green Star retro-
among property owners who have a long term view with regard to return fitting by including tax incentives for compliant property owners,” he
on investment. said.
“They want to ensure that the buildings that they construct today It will be interesting to watch how the people of Western Australia
and those that they own today, will continue to be in strong demand manage the many supply challenges that they face in the midst of a
over the longer term. Tenants, in the current climate, are more resource-led, economic boom that, by all accounts, doesn’t look like
preoccupied with rents and availability of offices or commercial property ending anytime soon. One thing is for sure, all is no longer quiet on this
space. However, there is definitely a growing appreciation among western front.

16 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
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emergency coverage across
HVAC; refrigeration; mechanical
engineering and all aspects of
plumbing as well as comprehensive
preventative maintenance, minor
works and inspections. Immediate
on-demand response and reliable
proactive/predictive and routine
maintenance service scheduling
ensure your assets are always
running at their optimum.
The fastest growing specialist
division, PLM Property Services
covers all the key requirements of
maintenance and refurbishment:
carpentry, concreting, cabinetry
and furniture repairs, painting,
plastering, tiling, glazing, and
asbestos removal are some of
the skills we provide as well as
general and grounds maintenance,
building compliance audits and
the peace of mind of an efficient
incident response service.

National Helpdesk: 1800 815 440

CLIENT FEATURE

Simple Solutions to Business

Success for PLM Group Services
Paul Cox, CEO of PLM Property Services recently completed a re-structure and re-branding
to ensure a continued focus on customers. The decision to divide the
the newly branded business into three specialist operating divisions provides a clear direction
PLM Group Services going forward whilst allowing each to continue to grow under their own
leadership team.
says the key to their
The three new divisions of PLM Group Services (PLM Electrical Services, PLM
success is simple: Mechanical Services and PLM Property Services) now provide every aspect of
being everywhere, asset management and property services. Why? Because customers respond
with loyalty. If you can absolutely rely on your property services provider and
doing whatever it any problem means just a single call, fax or email, why would you want to
takes to get the job go anywhere else?

done and maintaining “When we submitted a successful tender for replacing fluorescent lamps
in the Victorian branch network of the Commonwealth Bank nearly forty
a genuine focus on years ago we never imagined how our small electrical contracting business
customer service. based at Kyneton (85 km north-west of Melbourne) would evolve into a fully
comprehensive national property services business” said Paul Cox.

“Through a genuine interest in customer service, we found it hard to

resist client requests to provide a one-stop solution for asset management
and property services, so we decided to expand our service offering
based on their individual business needs and before we knew it we were
providing a comprehensive range of property services” Paul added.

PLM Group Services has continued to grow with a large number of loyal
blue chip clients including major commercial and retail clients such as
7 Eleven, GE Money, BUPA Health and ADRT, and government and
industry clients such as Australian Building & Construction Commission,
and State Transit Authority.

“As we grew we needed to review our quality, environmental and safety

systems, and by working closely with a number of industry professionals
we’ve now developed a comprehensive management system to meet
strict international standards.

“As part of our internal business review, we also identified the need to
develop our own comprehensive asset management software and what has
evolved is a state-of-the-art web-based maintenance management system
which underpins the successful operation of our shared service centre. It
enables us to meet our commitment to provide the right solution first time,
as quickly as possible and with comprehensive reporting.”

Clients can log into the PLM website and via a secure web portal, access
full reports on every activity for their entire property portfolio.

“At a glance, our clients can review on-demand, programmed and

preventative maintenance activities. More importantly, we can assist
clients to develop an asset management plan to extend the life of their
assets and assist with budgeting” said Paul Cox.

Getting it Wright – Facility
Managing Perth’s oldest brewery
BY MELANIE DRUMMOND
The Old Swan Brewery cuts a striking figure on the banks of the
Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. The only building in the
immediate area, the stunning mix of old brickwork and steel set
against the picturesque backdrop makes for a popular destination
frequented by locals and out-of-towners. Now headquarters to
former owners Multiplex Construction, the iconic facility also serves
as home to 8 other companies, 28 apartments and two large
commercial restaurants. When The Old Swan Brewery was bought
by OSB Investments Pty Ltd in 2006, Karl Wright stepped into the
role of Building Services Manager and Concierge for the multi-purpose facility. Facility
Perspectives’ Melanie Drummond spoke to Karl about the daily challenge of keeping
all his tenants, and the visiting public, happy.
T
he Old Swan Brewery today is a far cry from the building
established in 1877. Originally built as a small venture between
Scottish sea trader John Maxwell Ferguson, and German brewer
William Mumme, the site was chosen for its freshwater spring reserves,
capacity for expansion and ready access to shipped supplies. It proved a
formidable formula for success and by 1897 the brewery had expanded
into one of the most successful operations of the colony.
Good fortune for the Mounts Bay Road operation did not remain
indefinitely and when Swan management made plans in the 1930s to
establish a state-of-the-art brewery on Spring Street, the Swan of Swan
River was relegated to second place. With no plans to renew the existing
buildings, the brewery was eventually used as a storage facility and site
for sample testing, finally closing its doors in 1966.
After remaining vacant for several decades, the brewery fell under
intense public and media scrutiny in the 80s and 90s when developers
attempted to turn the area into a commercial district. Some local
Noongar claimed the site to have sacred significance attributed to
dreamtime ancestor Waugal, and despite three Supreme Court rulings
which found the site to be of significance under the Aboriginal Heritage
Act, the protests were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1992 the land was
leased, restored and redeveloped by a private company in accordance
with a Heritage Agreement produced by the Heritage Council of
Australia.
It would be another 8 years before Karl Wright would begin working
at The Old Swan Brewery, which by then, with its notorious and
fascinating past, had become a well-loved icon among WA residents.
When the building was sold in 2006 to OSB Investments, Karl gladly
stayed on to take up the position of Building Services Manager for CB
Richard Ellis – the group who had taken on the responsibility of
SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA
managing the building. He was keen to immerse himself further in the
diverse challenges of operating a multi-purpose facility.
“The Old Swan Brewery is a unique building to manage. There are
eight companies operating from the complex, 28 apartments each
owned by high profile people in the Western Australian business
community plus two large commercial restaurants. We also have a large
influx of the general public on a daily basis coming through to see the
building,” he said.
As both Building Services Manager for the complex and concierge
to the tenants, Karl serves as the main contact person for all people in
the complex should any issues arise. Often the first to hear of tenant’s
concerns or complaints, Karl is quick to point out that being an active
listener helps him maintain the delicate balance required to keep
everybody happy.
“It is a unique balancing act actually, especially as we have some
apartments that are directly over the commercial restaurants, and some
of the tenancy offices are located next to apartments. All of the residents
at the Old Swan Brewery complex are high profile people in the business
community and they all have their own individual needs and wants.”
Luckily for Karl, his former background as Minister of a Pentecostal
Church has given him the skills needed to deal with diverse people from
various backgrounds on a daily basis.
“You need a lot of patience and a good understanding of people’s
perceptions and moods, it doesn’t sound much but it makes a big
difference if you can see what mood that person is in and you can see
how you can overcome things. With good communication most things
are diffused beforehand. You need to listen to people in a calm and
business-like manner, let them see you take down their concerns and
afterwards manage the area that you see can be fixed. You also need to
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 21
SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA

follow up with them again and whether it’s a yes or no, you have gone
through that procedure for them and they understand that.”
In the seven-year period since the complex has opened, Karl has
developed a close working relationship with residents and the
commercial tenants. A definite breakthrough in relationships between
tenants occurred after a memorandum of understanding was drawn up
between the restaurants and the residents.
“The commercial residents have agreed to comply with certain rules
the residents have requested of them, and this has helped greatly to
have a mutual understanding between both groups The standing MOU
has made both parties come to the fore and compromise to achieve a
workable solution.”
Communicating with tenants regularly about any works or changes
that may impact on their daily life is also essential to attaining a happy
medium
“I send out quite a few memos to resident, tenants and the
commercial restaurants to keep them informed of anything that could
impact on them when I schedule works around the complex. This week,
for instance, we have remedial works scheduled in the car park and
residents have to come through that area to access their garages. As
long as we have kept the residents informed they will work with us -
communication is a key tool.”
Karl not only spends time troubleshooting with his on-site residents,
each week up to 2000 visitors pass through the building to dine at one
of the restaurants or take in the Swan Brewery artefacts which adorn the
main foyer.
“The two restaurants also have function areas, so there are often
functions on with anywhere from between 100-250 people present. To
give you an idea of how many functions we have scheduled in the next
four days the restaurants have informed us they are having 10 functions
with approximately 1000 people expected to attend.”
The varied tenancy and regular influx of visiting public means Karl
often has to place OH & S at the top of his priority list. He regularly
ensures all OH & S requirements are met for the building which includes
site inductions for contractors and cleaning staff, making sure all permit
requirements are adhered to, keeping all essential services and checks
up to date and maintaining all equipment to its highest working
standard. It’s also crucial for Karl to ensure fail proof emergency
management systems are in place.
“I have general fire drills and exercises which combine residents and
tenants every 6 months. We have an emergency control organisation
existing of about 25 floor wardens and fire wardens throughout the
complex. I have our Emergency Procedures Consultant come on-site and
give lectures on helping people in a fire situation and how to deal with
bomb threats and other emergencies. Wardens are trained in all aspects
of an emergency fire situation and are aware of where all the exits are in
the building. We also have a first aid register listing all people with first
aid certificates in the complex and emergency phones on every floor and
at both ends of the common areas and residential areas. When we had
our last fire drill with residents and tenants combined, we evacuated all
residents and tenants including all staff and patrons in the restaurants in
three and a half minutes.”
Other aspects of Karl’s role include training and managing the
concierge staff, looking after the cleaning team, purchasing items for the
daily running of the complex and sending out purchase orders and
supply order numbers to contractors for works required. A Building
Manager who works off site deals with the legal issues of the complex for
residents and tenants and meets with Karl weekly to discuss any other
areas of concern. There is also a Director of Asset Services at CB Richard
Ellis that Karl can call on for advice at any time.
Without a facilities team to call on, Karl, like many other facility
managers, relies heavily on enlisting experienced and dependable
contractors to help him get the job done. Employed contractors must
also have experience working in heritage buildings before taking on a
work order at The Old Swan Brewery. To find the right contractors for the
job, CB Richard Ellis have regular Building Services Managers meetings
where they discuss a range of issues, including the best contractors to
use for a particular work order and the credentials required.
“The majority of contractors we use here have had that heritage
background and know what the W.A. Heritage Council and National
Trust require. This building has a large foot print and in places; it’s over
20 metres tall with two major towers on either side of the complex. The
contractors we use for external window cleaning and roof remedial works
have to access there respective areas by utilising harness access

22 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

equipment from anchor points situated at different
points along the roof structure. We also have to use
Cherry pickers and EWP’S (Elevated Work Platforms)
from time to time to complete the maintenance of
Electrical and Plumbing works around the complex.”
For Karl, undertaking standard maintenance
practises takes time in planning, communication and
implementation. Before making any physical
changes to the building Karl must also submit digital
photographs, plans, paint type and colour and a list
of materials to be used for approval by the Heritage
Council.
“Most of the external area of the complex is 118
years old. There are areas that have steel columns
and wood frames and original wooden gates that
have high maintenance requirements, and all of
these need to be repainted and repaired to the
original colour and look of the original items. Before
any of this can happen we have to approach the
Heritage Council with our plans and how we intend
to proceed with the remedial works from the start to
the completion of works. Also we have a jetty at the
brewery which is part of the original wooden jetty
the ships used to load the beer onto before storing
them away. If we need to repair any part of this jetty
SPECIAL REPORT:
FOCUS ON WESTERN AUSTRALIA
we have to use the same type, and aged wood for the repair. This makes
it a challenging issue.”
With plans afoot to paint the exterior of the building, upgrade the
air-conditioning
systems and modernise the outdoor garden area, there’s no doubt
Karl Wright will barely have time to stop and take in the scenery before
ticking off his to-do list each day.
“To be honest I handle it on a day to day basis. You can keep ahead
with general matters but you will be hit on the head one day with
something completely out of the blue and you’ve got to deal with it - it’s
always a matter of prioritising. People often ask about the fantastic views
and the iconic building I work in, but after a few months it does just
become a workplace. Basically it’s just your job that you focus on and
you don’t notice anything else.”
“I love all aspects of my job, the interaction between the different
people - I like being under a certain amount of pressure and funnily
enough it helps me work better. When everything works right it is
incredibly rewarding.”
RESOURCES
The Old Swan Brewery – An Historic Guide
http://www.creativespirits.info/ozwest/perth/aboriginalhistoryperth.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Brewery
http://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/76/2225
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noongar
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 23
ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

A stellar even
For the 400 delegates who
made the trip to this year’s
ideaction, the following
images will bring back
memories of a fantastic three
days spent networking and
engaging with industry
leaders on the future of our
thriving industry. Held in the
stunning surrounds of the
Gold Coast, ideaction’08 –
Enabling Sustainable
Communities, provided
delegates with an impressive
selection of keynote
speakers, panel discussions
and presentations which
delved into the real issues
surrounding the impact of
sustainability on the future of
FM. As well as an opportunity
to canvass the industry’s
topical issues, FMA Australia’s
19th national conference
served as an opportunity to
network with colleagues and
share knowledge, a crucial
component to the continued
growth and development of
the FM industry. Highlights of
ideaction’08 included the
resplendent Gala Awards
Dinner held at the Jupiters
Ballroom in the Casino, which
served as the perfect
occasion to celebrate and
honour those who are so
committed to advancing the
industry. The annual ideaction
conference remains Australia’s
leading Facility Management
event, a reputation it is sure
to maintain for ideaction’09 –
to be held in Melbourne in
May of next year.

26 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

nt for FM stars

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 27
ADVERTORIAL
CLIENT FEATURE

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As Australia’s second largest and busiest airport, Melbourne
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operation of this vast complex is ensuring the 100+ automatic
doors are maintained in mint condition in order to cope with
the extreme levels of foot traffic.
It’s hardly surprising that this important travel gateway for over
22 million airline passengers per annum, is home to possibly
one of the largest installations of automatic doors in Australia.
Providing a meticulously co-ordinated service and
maintenance programme for all 109 automatic doors is the
duty of DORMA.
For the past five years, DORMA has been responsible for the
airport’s preventative service agreement on its doors; in that
time, the number of emergency callouts have dropped
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Craig Gilmour, Business Development Manager at DORMA
Automatic Doors, says: “In a demanding and constantly
evolving environment such as Melbourne Airport, long-term
reliability and performance are what really matters.”
While DORMA products have featured throughout Melbourne
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a preventative service agreement as opposed to reactive
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All of DORMA’s automatic sliding and swing doors are now
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which Craig Gilmour explains: “Mechanical problems are
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PERFORMING OUT-OF-HOURS MAINTENANCE AVOIDS DISRUPTION

While reducing the number of breakdowns and emergency callouts was the key factor behind developing a planned
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staff, security procedures and most importantly know the location and history of every door. It is these reasons that
have made DORMA, Melbourne Airport’s preferred service provider for more than 35 years.”
Craig Gilmour says that an increasing number of clients are opting for this type of ‘peace-of-mind’ service agreement
as they see it as an investment in their facility’s safety. “We offer flexible service options, from priority emergency
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 In relationships,
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fa• cil• i• ties [fe sil et ies] n. pl.
man• age •ment [man ij ment] n.
An establishment made up of people collectively charged
to run an organisation’s infrastructure and assets.

We know where Facilities Management starts,

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: HVAC, Security & Fire Controls Technicians : Electrical/Mechanical Engineer

: Engineering Manager : Compliance Manager
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: Project Manager : Building Automation Technician
: Contract Manager/Team Leader

: EXECUTIVE

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B R I S B A N E : S Y D N E Y : M E L B O U R N E : P E R T H
 ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

The Impact and Measurement of

Change on People and Place

The major changes expected in construction over the next 10-20 years will unquestionably
have a significant impact on how buildings are designed and materials are used in the
future. Addressing those impacts, Beverley Honig, holding several board directorships , as
well as being a business advisor/developer, offered ideaction delegates a fascinating look
into the anticipated impacts of construction transformations on the people and places that
make up our built environment.
An internationally qualified lawyer, Beverley heads up Honeylight Enterprises providing
integrated business solutions in the areas of change management, business development
and management consulting. Beverley’s change management expertise revolves around
people centric models, where she helps businesses take steps to maximise commitment
and minimise resistance to change, through effective change management programs.

O
ne example of the future changes anticipated in construction
can be explored by looking into the predicted shortage of
affordable and sustainable housing across the globe. The
shortage, already driving developments in modular building, will result in
the modernisation of the building sector which will undoubtedly affect all
parts of the supply chain, requiring innovation in new products,
processes and methods of construction.
At the same time as the impending changes provide opportunities
for the regional economy, it also threatens existing supply industries and
is therefore a key area for action that needs to be addressed by the
whole industry.
The key drivers for change can be drilled down to six key areas:
environmental, client/market requirements, changing markets, economic
factors, image and changing regulations.
Drivers for Change:
Environmental:
The real risk that climate change poses to the future survival of our
communities and cities means the need to reduce CO2 emissions and
conserve primary resources is of utmost importance. Widespread focus
on the built environment’s significant contribution to the planet’s
alarmingly high level of carbon emissions has meant a dramatic shift in
the need for designers, developers, construction teams and building
operators to meet client requirements to reduce use of water and energy
and convey commitment to creating greener workplaces.
Client/market requirements:
Clients are seeking lifetime solutions provided by stable supply
chains with an increasing emphasis placed on the ‘polluter pays’
principle. A greater variation in the make-up of today’s households has
also bought about the demand for new homes and structures that offer
novel solutions to issues of space, affordability and sustainability. An
ageing population has also increased the demand for more affordable
housing.
Changing Markets:
A number of factors are at play when addressing the effect of
changing markets on our built environment. Increased employment
opportunities in knowledge and technology-based fields may be just one
cause of the escalating concern related to a widespread skills and labour
shortage. The cultural changes which have impacted on suburbanisation
and the increasing pressure on people to meet escalating fuel prices has
also increased demand for different types of buildings, such as the
requirements for city centre residential apartments.
Economic factors:
The likelihood of future costs surrounding carbon emissions and the
depletion of environmental resources has increased a ‘whole of life’
thinking’ across the property industry. There is also increasing need for
companies to diversify, innovate and engage in proactive
facilities/property/ and asset management in order to meet the increased
competition due to globalisation and vertical/horizontal integration.
Image:
The trend towards public private partnerships has forced a change in
investment culture with a high-tech image needed to compete for
investors’ money.
Changing Regulations:
Societal demand for reductions in risks to health & safety, and for
better care of the environment is leading to tighter regulatory controls
surrounding areas such as climate change levy, building regulations and
other environmental issues.
Assessing the changes in today’s built environment
Another area of significant influence on the changes affecting our
industry today has been the rapid development of technology in recent
decades. The introduction of the internet and highly effective
communication systems has forced humans to participate in a new, more
mobile age. The labour market has also changed and the shift to longer
working hours has meant employers now need to be more flexible about

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 31
ideaction’08 PRESENTATION
working environments, allowing employees to work
from home, trains, and wireless internet cafes.
Advances in GPS and wireless networking
technologies have enabled a new class of location-
aware applications, including location tracking and
location-enhance messaging.
As organisations change, companies can expect
to rapidly increase their level of flexibility, both in the
nature and terms of the space they occupy. The
changing nature of work eliminates the division
between effectiveness and efficiency in workplace
design. Flexibility has now translated into new
working practices with increased project-based
delivery of work.
The greater freedom to work away from the
owned, individual work point has bought with it
additional problems for FM. As well as delivering a
workplace which enables easy mobility of staff into
team-based work environments, the environment
also needs to support staff working from other
locations than the office. In keeping in-line with
financial objectives it’s also important there is not an
over-provision of workstations, hot-desking and
other related practices to increase the efficiency of
the office design.
The new technological changes and working practices will rapidly
affect the pace of workplace strategic change, requiring executives to
continue to adapt the work environment and workplace design to
support business objectives of the organisation. Increased integration of
workplace enabling functions, including information technology and
human resource management, is a likely outcome of these changes.
Facilities Management has been undergoing a number of other
challenges in facing the natural, developmental changes that have been
occurring in the industry. The quantifying of service activities that do not
normally have a numeric outcome has meant measures have tended
towards the administrative and other easily quantifiable activities.
Intangibles prove continually difficult to measure and a lack of leading
key performance indicators being used in facilities management has de-
emphasised proactivity in FM and has instead encouraged perceptions
of reactiveness. Until recently, the industry has been locked in to
counting costs rather than measuring performance and demonstrating
that value to business.
In some cases workplace performance is considered in terms of cost
efficiency alone. In other cases facilitating more meaningful
communication may be the dominant driving innovation. For those
companies focusing on visual impact, the branding or ‘wow’ factor may
be the only critical objective. Usually however, the performance we seek
is a complex and delicately balanced mixture of these dimensions,
leaving us with a difficult measurement challenge.
The future Workplace
The new business models of today’s workplace includes the vertical
integration model, which is the knocking down of walls inside
companies, and the future integration model of knocking down the walls
between companies.
An organisation’s physical environment is a powerful expression of
that organisation’s beliefs. In the best cases, the design process and
physical outcome translate organisational culture into an environment
which sends clear messages to staff and visitors. Not always overt, these
messages are the means by which successful workplaces achieve that
‘buzz’ or a ‘feeling’, making them enjoyable and energising places in
which to work.
Organisations exhibiting high levels of employee engagement often
also display correlation between the organisation’s value system and
individual employee values. People often choose their employer on this
basis, with alignment overriding other factors such as industry preference
and remuneration. This expression of identity goes beyond a limited
concept of ‘branding’ to become a manifestation of the organisation’s
values, implicitly and powerfully reinforcing ‘who we are and what we do’
as an organisation.
When asking people to make the radical changes that are required
of them by these new business models you must enlist their hearts as
well as their minds as the workplace of the future must be systemised,
symbolic and liberating.
32 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
Measuring change
Measuring Environment Quality, Staff Satisfaction and Productivity:
Most approaches to measuring workplace performance are too
narrow in scope. The majority of measurement undertaken relates to
scientific measurement of environmental conditions related to
temperature, lighting levels and air quality.
Other approaches look to the perceptions of building users to
understand the effects of the environment upon them and their
performance. Measures of increased productivity or ‘staff engagement’
are often sought as the definitive proof of workplace performance,
although both are business performance measures not workplace
performance measures. The question is whether workplace performance
(in combination with other factors) leads to business performance. And if
so, how can we know that the workplace is making its maximum possible
contribution?
The link between performance and the concept of staff engagement
is the basis of Honeylight Enterprises’ ‘Staff Engagement’ survey tools.
‘Human resources’ become ‘people capital’, and the critical measure
becomes the degree to which people are motivated by their work. Staff
engagement also establishes employee loyalty in the increasingly
competitive employment market.
Workplace Performance Measurement: Alignment with Values:
The critical measure of workplace success is the degree to which pre-
defined workplace objectives are being met. Various types of
measurements need to be combined to reflect alignment with an
organisation’s values.
A survey can measure relative staff perceptions (perhaps before and
after a project) of particular aspects of their workplace which if grouped
according to the project objective or organisational value they support,
then the cumulative results will show the degree to which people
perceive their physical workplace to align with the organisation’s
objectives.
Linking Workplace Performance Measures to Business Performance
Measures:
Once the broad nature of the relationship between workplace
alignment and workplace performance is accepted, a similar relationship
might be drawn between workplace performance and overall business
performance.
To demonstrate the link, Honeylight plots staff perceptions of
workplace alignment with values over time and then plots traditional
measures of business performance over the same period. The complex
nature of both workplaces and organisational performance requires us to
look for coinciding patterns, rather than direct and absolute triggers
Finally, it is essential to benchmark the changes your company has
made and the impacts of those changes on worker performance. Use
best practice comparisons to benchmark how you can identify successes
& vital signs of adapt ion to the future, improve processes and deliver
quality service, increase employee performance and innovation, enhance
customer satisfaction, reduce cost and lastly, effect a positive change in
organisational culture, systems and processes.
 CLIENT FEATURE
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 ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

CITY CENTRAL
CASE STUDY:
Post Occupancy Evaluation
of a sustainable, high-
performance workplace
On Day 1 of the ideaction Conference,
Woods Bagot representatives Megan
Antcliff and Sean Coward gave an in-depth
presentation on the company’s most recent
achievement in the field of sustainable built
environments – the City Central
development in South Australia. From the
outset of the design process, Woods Bagot
was guided by the Green Star rating tool in
setting sustainability targets for the complex
and their efforts were rewarded when Tower
1 was awarded a 5 star Green Star rating
upon its completion in 2007. By examining
how the sustainability initiatives integral to
the design of a 5 Star Green Star building
have impacted on the tenants of Tower 1,
Woods Bagot ‘closed the loop’ on the City
Central sustainability story and provided
delegates with a valuable case study on
post occupancy evaluation in action.

T
he 16,800m2 site which makes up Woods Bagot’s City Central site
in South Australia comprises of two towers and a plaza area that
bring together new buildings with refurbished heritage works.
Tower 1, predominantly home to commercial office spaces, was
completed in 2007 and it is anticipated that Tower 2 will be scheduled
for completion in 2008. The broader site Master plan includes a five star
hotel and multi-storey apartment complex.
Woods Bagot followed Green Star guidelines when designing City
Central, addressing such parameters as indoor environment quality,
energy, transport, water, materials, land use and ecology, emissions and
innovation. The company’s commitment to sustainable designs that last
the distance was recognised when Tower 1 of the complex was awarded
a 5 star Green Star ‘as built’ rating by the Green Building Council of
Australia.
While Woods Bagot has found the public’s focus on climate change
has certainly increased tenant demand for environmentally sustainable
workplaces on par with City Central’s design standards, the company has
also found that clients today want evidence to show just how much
green buildings impact on staff performance. By examining how the
sustainability initiatives integral to the design of City Central have
impacted residents of Tower 1, Woods Bagot aimed to measure
occupant job performance and general well-being.
As part of the post occupancy evaluation (POE) of Tower1, Woods
Bagot employed a proprietary assessment tool, the Workplace
Evaluation Survey (WES), and extended it to capture information directly
relevant to the sustainability initiatives. The study involved three analyses.
First, a current City Central tenant completed an online survey
designed to measure the extent to which various workplace features
impacted on job performance. Those scores were then compared to a
baseline derived from a database of previous results. Second, a different
organisation completed the same measure both before and after their
move into City Central, allowing Woods Bagot to track the performance
of a single company. Finally, an additional set of questions completed by
both tenants sought to reveal employees’ attitudes and knowledge
regarding the sustainable features of Tower 1. During the ideaction
presentation, Megan Antcliff and Sean Coward went on to explain the
processes required to achieve a credible POE of City Central’s Tower 1.
The role of post occupancy evaluation
For most designers their involvement with a building ends with the
opening festivities, yet in many ways this is just the beginning. With the
building constructed and the doors open for business, the sustainability
performance of the facility depends on two very influential elements:
occupant behaviour and building operations. Research shows that the
average tenant can reduce energy costs by 20% simply by operating the
building as intended by the designers, and as such, designers are aware
of the need to support occupants in understanding how their building
works. While building user guides are a start, it is also important that

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 35
ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

occupants understand why sustainability is a key objective, how the
design solution meets this objective, and how new technologies have
been used to support the design vision.
Ideally, this communication should be a two-way street with
occupants given the opportunity to provide feedback concerning the
building. POE is a key element of this dialogue and a valuable learning
tool, both for building managers seeking to ensure the successful
realisation of design and sustainability objectives, and for the design
team in understanding the needs and responses of occupants (as well as
determining their team’s capacity for future projects). Furthermore, post
occupancy evaluation is useful for client groups looking to review and
validate strategic decisions about their workplace, as well as for building
owners seeking to manage their portfolios and procure future office
accommodation. As part of the post occupancy evaluation of Tower 1,
Woods employed the proprietary assessment tool: the Workplace
Evaluation Survey.
3 Indoor temperature
3 Indoor air quality
3 Daylight
3 Artificial lighting
3 Noise from external sources
3 Environment controls (blinds, doors, windows etc)
Results showed that the workplace in Tower 1 offered significant
improvements over baseline in the majority of features linked to
environmental sustainability, and that these features both assisted
employees’ ability and enhanced their motivation to perform work.

The Workplace Evaluation Survey

A wide variety of methods have been employed in an attempt to
gauge the impact of the physical environment on work output. An
accurate indicator of workplace effectiveness offers managers a means of
evaluating the sustainability of their office for supporting profitable
business practices. In perhaps the most cited formula in organisational
phycology, Vroom (1864) claimed that performance is a function of two
independent individual attributes: ability and motivation. In contrast to
the traditional view that performance is primarily determined by ability, * small effect; ** medium effect; *** large effect
Vroom’s formula reflects the environmental influences attributed to work Figure 1: Average ability and motivation ratings concerning the impact of
motivation in more recent studies. In short, an employee needs to Green Star relevant variables on work performance. Whiskers signify the
possess both the skills required to complete a task and be motivated to probable error present in these scores
execute these skills effectively, and the environment they work in is
capable of influencing both of these attributes. Analysis 2: Before and after: One company’s relocation to City
Using this theoretical position as a methodological foundation, Central
Woods Bagot’s Workplace Evaluation Survey (WES) assessed a wide Aim
range of workplace features in terms of how they impacted an Analysis 2 demonstrates how the WES is used to contrast pre and
employees’ ability and motivation to perform their work. These post-relocation data from a single company. This method offers more
complementary indices of performance are rated by the employee using reliable findings than those obtained using the previous method, as the
two 7-point Likert scales, ranging from – 3 (indicating an extremely company under review provides its own baseline prior to the move, thus
negative impact) to +3 (indicating an extremely positive impact). eliminating a range of confounding variables. Analysis 2 tests whether
Additional questions or topics can be included for investigation, thus the benefits identified in Analysis 1 are maintained when pre and post-
tailoring the survey to the specific needs of the client. The results of the relocation scores are obtained for a single organisation.
survey provide a diagnostic assessment of the impact that an Method
organisation’s current workplace has on staff performance, and can be Company B completed the WES while still in the previous tenancy,
contrasted with pre-move results from the same organisation or with and repeated the procedure following their relocation to City Central.
baseline values extracted from a database of previous studies. This The analysis for Company B consisted of a simple comparison of these
information enables the consultant to identify features of the current two samples of scores. The WES was sent to thirty-eight staff pre-move,
workplace that facilitate work performance, as well as those that are attracting fourteen responses and was made available to forty-two staff
inhibiting the effectiveness of staff. seven months after moving into Tower 1, with thirty responses received.
Results
Analysis 1: Comparing City Central with the average workplace Post-relocation averages for ability (1.15) and motivation (1.03) were
Aim both superior to those acquired prior to the move (0.61 and 0.38
In a situation which serves to demonstrate how the WES is typically respectively). While Company B appeared to have received smaller
employed in terms of single measurement, a corporate tenant of Tower 1 benefits overall than did Company A, it must be remembered that
was approached to participate in the study. This tenant completed the Analysis 2 provides a more reliable indication of how a given organisation
WES five months after moving in, with the results compared against is likely to improve in relation to its own prior performance.
average scores taken from a database of non-Green Star rated offices.
Thus, analysis tested whether a 5 Star Green Star rated office building
exerts a more positive influence than do non-accredited facilities.
Method
The analysis involved a simple contrast of scores from Company A
with baselines extracted from the WES database. The survey was made
available to thirty-two employees of Company A from 8 – 17 October
2007, with sixteen respondents completing the survey. Baseline scores
were provided by averaging the results of 1048 previous WES
respondents (all of whom were occupants of non-Green Star rated
buildings).
Results
The overall average ability (1.24) and motivation (1.14) scores for
Company A were both larger than the baseline averages (0.36 and 0.31
respectively). This finding can be interpreted to mean that Tower 1
facilitates staff perform better than non-Green Star rated facilities, and * small effect; ** medium effect; *** large effect
that the advantage is moderate in magnitude. The WES assessed only Figure 2: Average ability and motivation ratings concerning the impact of
those workplace features relevant to Green Star rating categories: Green Star relevant variables on work performance. Whiskers signify the
3 Acoustic access to others (as related to probable error present in these scores
communication/distraction/privacy)

36 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 ideaction’08 PRESENTATION

Analysis 3: Staff attitudes and knowledge concerning City

Central
Supplementing the standard WES format, the survey administered to
both Company A and B also contained an additional set of questions
addressing specific aspects of Tower 1. These questions were grouped
under the headings: building operations, indoor environment quality,
energy and water, recycling and transport, and health and well-being. In
the interest of brevity, all responses for these additional questions have
been collapsed across the two companies. While the majority of
statements attracted responses that reflect positively on City Central, a
small number of items indicated areas for improvement. Content analysis
of these statements suggests that staff do not believe that they have
received sufficient information regarding the operation or performance
of the building. Results indicate that each company would benefit by
Urban Maintenance Systems is a
providing staff with more information concerning their workplace. specialist provider of Facilities and
Infrastructure Maintenance Services
to Private and Government sectors
throughout Australia.
UMS Facilities Services specialises
in the following:
• Essential service compliance management
• Programmed & reactive building maintenance
• Building condition auditing & life cycle costing
• Trade services – carpentry, plumbing, electrical,
painting, gutter cleaning, mechanical plant
maintenance
• Capital improvement works planning & delivery
* small effect; ** medium effect; *** large effect • 24 /7 emergency response contact centre
Figure 3: Average agreement ratings for each statement pertaining to City
Central. Whiskers signify the probable error present in these scores • Modern/functional information management
system
Summary and conclusions of City Central’s POE
The results of Analyses 1 and 2 provided persuasive support for the Urban Maintenance Systems
notion that the sustainability features of Tower 1 have a positive effect on 352 Ferntree Gully Road Notting Hill VIC 3168
the job performance of occupants. Analysis 1 found that City Central Phone: (03) 9265 5811 Fax: (03) 9265 5899
performed well above baseline levels extracted from a database of all Email: info@ums.com.au Web: www.ums.com.au
previous WES results, both overall and when Green Star relevant features PROVIDING SERVICES NATIONALLY
were analysed separately; and Analysis 2 revealed that similar
advantages can be seen with a single sample tested before and during Enduring Partnerships Driven by Service Excellence
occupation in City Central. Outdoor views, daylight, temperature and air
quality were related to have the most positive impact on job
performance, with responses to office acoustics and artificial lighting
generally indicating smaller benefits. In both studies environmental
controls were generally indistinguishable from the comparison groups,
suggesting either that the controls are not seen as particularly effective or
that occupants do not fully understand how to operate them.
Considering that Woods Bagot did not submit for credit allocation in
IEQ – 10 (individual comfort control), of the Green Star accreditation
system, it might be argued that the building is characterised by a distinct
lack of environmental controls. However, data collected using the
additional set of questions designed for Analysis 3 provides support for a
lack of adequate instruction and shows the possibility that staff
performance could be even further improved with greater training in the
use of Tower 1’s facilities. With respect to well-being, staff reported that
both their health and job satisfaction had increased significantly following
their move to City Central. The most popular of the building amenities
surveyed is clearly the café, and the location and facilities have generally
resulted in more environmentally responsible commuting practices.
In obtaining a 5 Star Green Star rating, the designers and developers
of Tower 1 demonstrated a clear commitment to environmental
sustainability. It is, however, important to remember that a primary
purpose of the City Central development is the provision of high quality
commercial office space. With this goal in mind, the present study offers
compelling advice that Tower 1 is capable of enhancing the work
performance of staff. It also shows that occupant work satisfaction and
well-being appear to benefit from the superior environmental quality on
offer. Based on these findings, one might suggest that Green-Star
certification – particularly when achieved via a high proportion of indoor
environmental quality (IEQ) credits – should serve as the new benchmark
for organisations seeking optimal triple bottom line results.
1 Effect size was calculated in this instance by contrasting the average agreement score
with zero (i.e. a neutral response indicating neither agreement nor disagreement).

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 37
CLIENT FEATURE

Reaching your energy

efficiency goals
BY DEBORAH LEAROYD, STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGER, HONEYWELL AUTOMATION & CONTROL SOLUTIONS

Today’s business environment is making the lives of builders This is only possible through the sophisticated application of
and facilities managers increasingly complicated. Business a range of engineering solutions and a proven methodology
leaders are expected to cut costs and improve performance for analysing and improving utilities management to obtain
while increased profits are demanded without increased the maximum possible savings. The positive cash-flow
operational funding. When applied to energy management, generated from the resulting energy efficiencies (for
this has resulted in further pressure on existing example, reduced power consumption) is used to fund
infrastructure, on operations and on the people that manage required capital improvements required to deliver the
ongoing energy savings, such as the replacement of old or
them.
inefficient central plant equipment.
The complication comes from the multifaceted mix of
This approach has gained an increasing foothold with
schemes, codes and legislation surrounding energy use and
government bodies and commercial operations alike as it
environmental impact of buildings including the Australian
provides a risk-free opportunity to improve infrastructure and
Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) scheme, recently
save cost. With providers like Honeywell contractually
incorporated into the National Australian Built Environment
guaranteeing the savings and owning the risk of delivering
Rating System (NABERS) and the Green Star rating system
the savings over an extended period of time, it is now
championed by the Green Building Council of Australia. affordable for any organisation to achieve greenhouse
Increased environmental and compliance costs coupled with emission reductions and long-term sustainability.
pressure on capital budgets to fund infrastructure
improvements have forced the industry to look to a range of There are a number of strategies that can be incorporated
innovative approaches to addressing improved energy into building management to ensure a focus on energy
efficiency. efficiencies. These include:

• Meter management – allocate, track and understand

While some organisations will react to the new regimes with
a minimum compliance approach, a growing number of
organisations want to do more. They realise that they can
generate significant benefits to their organisation by
implementing a holistic scheme of energy efficiency
measures which will bring the benefits of reduced operating
costs and improved environmental credentials.
baseline energy usage on a real-time basis across the
enterprise and respond to real time anomalies.
• Alarm management – establish rules for more efficient
energy usage and generate alarms based on present
demand limit thresholds, forecast loads and variable
price factors.

Managers are on the lookout for a way to implement new
technologies that will improve energy efficiencies but without
the daunting capital costs normally associated with a major
equipment upgrade. This has led to the increasing popularity
of performance-based contracts for energy efficiency
improvements.
• Trending – identify the effects of operational changes on
energy use and modify operations accordingly
• Optimal energy management – using energy
management software to drop loads or bring on-line
local generation capacity during peak usage or peak
pricing

Through a performance-based contract, energy service Whether applying energy performance contracting or
providers such as Honeywell, will guarantee the financial and undertaking a specific energy reduction project, major
technical delivery of energy and operational efficiencies and savings, improved capital equipment asset portfolios and
use the cost savings generated to fund the upgrade of reduced greenhouse emissions can be achieved with little
existing infrastructure. long-term capital outlay and minimal risk.
ideaction’08 REPORT

FMA Australia ideaction’08

Enabling Sustainable Communities
7-9 May 2008
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Queensland

Site Visits
Heading off in the buses from the Gold Coast Convention and The final, and much anticipated, destination for the day was the
Exhibition Centre on the Wednesday in perfect GC weather, we were Fosters Yatala Brewery for lunch and a tour of the impressive facilities.
soon presented with an overview of the Gold Coast Desalination Plant, While enjoying some of Australia’s finest brews and a delicious barbecue
an awesome undertaking with a deadline (November 2008) they were lunch sponsored by Valorem Systems, guests were given a presentation
working 24/7 to meet. Using reverse osmosis to force-filter out the salt, of the plant’s remarkable water-saving initiatives.
the facility is located at Tugun on a six hectare former landfill site, and
when fully operational the facility will supply 125 mega litres a day of
pure drinking water to South East Queensland, one of Australia’s worst
drought affected regions. The facility will be a vital element in the State

L-R: At the Gold Coast Desalination Plant, Gold Coast Marine Centre and finally Fosters Yatala Brewery for lunch

Government’s new $9 billion SEQ Water Grid, Gold Coast City Council’s The Chairman’s Welcome Reception, sponsored by Hays Facilities
Waterfutures Strategy and the State Government’s South East Management, later that evening was a good excuse to relax and enjoy
Queensland Regional Drought Strategy Contingency Supply Plan. the night at the Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club. With a band playing
This was quickly followed by a visit to the Gold Coast Marine Centre, classics from The Beach Boys and colourful daiquiris adorning the hands
an extensive privately Australian owned and operated marine facility of delegates, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled across a
located 40 minutes from Brisbane on the Coomera River. beach party on a tropical island. For those who didn’t find the band
Working on a “supermarket” concept that provides boat owners entertainment enough, there was always the spectacle of watching the
with all the services on hand that they could need, the Gold Coast more adventurous of guests attempting to stay vertical on the
Marine Centre is a modern marine facility providing enclosed re-fit units, mechanical surfboard.
along with factory facilities for boat builders, boat repairers, and marine
fabricators.
Serviced by a 70 tonne boat lift, the Centre provides a clean, paved
and fully serviced hardstand maintenance area, complete with dual
power services, water and overhead lighting provision with
accommodation for up to 60 vessels.
The Gold Coast Marine Centre specialises in the haul out of multi-
hull Catamarans and houseboats with their custom built trailers.

Silver Supporters Gala Dinner Supporter Welcome Reception Site Visit Lunch Closing Keynote
Supporter Supporter Supporter
Platinum Supporter

Keynote Supporter Concurrent Room Supporters Awards Supporters

www.curriebrown.com.au

40 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 ideaction’08 REPORT

Gala Dinner and

FMA Australia Awards
for Excellence
Heading off for the short walk toward
Conrad Jupiter Casino on the Thursday
night of the FMA Australia ideaction’08
Conference, it was easy to see why the Gold
Coast serves as such a perfect backdrop to
the year’s premiere facility management
event. The ease of access between
accommodation, eateries, the Convention
Centre and the Casino meant anything you Managing Director of Rider Levett Bucknall, Stephen Ballesty, announced the
IFMA Foundation for FMpedia, and presented Dave Brady IFMA
needed was readily at hand. One can’t CEO/President and member of the IFMA Foundation Board with the Award.
overlook the weather and the beauty of the FMpedia is a Wikipedia-type internet based on-line facility
area. We soon discovered that the Casino management glossary that is designed, implemented and managed by
the IFMA Foundation’s Knowledge Management Committee. It has been
was in fact an island, resplendent with lush on-line to the international FM community since October 2007 and now
tropical vegetation and complemented with has users and contributors from over 20 countries. FMpedia recognises
that words are important and their meanings are often dynamic. In an
elegant opulence in the building’s increasingly global market FMpedia provides a much needed
architecture and interior fittings. communication tool for the FM industry in the 21st Century. FMpedia
brings international recognition to FM and empowers practitioners to

M
aking our way to the Conrad Jupiters Grand Ballroom, we were define themselves via a common language in the built environment.
greeted with our choice of refreshments and were soon
ushered into the capacious venue that was nonetheless FMA Australia & Transfield Services Environmental
surprisingly intimate when seated at our table with peers and colleagues. Achievement Award
Kindly hosted by Brookfield Multiplex Services as the major sponsor of The Environmental Achievement Award recognises the efforts of
the Gala Dinner, the Master of Ceremonies introduced FMA Australia either an individual or team who have made a positive contribution to
Chairman Andrew McEwen who welcomed all. We were soon treated to the improvement of the environmental performance of their facilities. The
entertainment from the exceptional talent of Danielle Everett, who Environmental Achievement Award recognises companies who have
performed a selection of songs including those from her role in Phantom identified, developed and implemented an environmental innovation or
of the Opera. This was followed by guest speaker IBISWorld Chairman, improvement program with clearly specified costs and benefits and with
and respected social and economic forecaster, Phil Ruthven, who gave application to the broader FM community.
an entertaining and insightful discourse on the economy and our
industry, finishing with some words on Open Family Australia, FMA
Australia’s chosen charity for ideaction’08. The much anticipated FMA
Australia Awards for Excellence in then commenced with the Award
presentations and associated comments provided as follows:

FMA Australia & Rider Levett Bucknall FM Industry Award.

Supported by Rider Levett Bucknell since it was first awarded in
2002, the FMA Australia & Rider Levett Bucknall FM Industry Award is
Australia’s premier award for facility management strategy and practice,
recognising excellence in a facility management program or idea that
demonstrates an outstanding level of innovation and success. In judging
this award, the judging panel look to see that the successful applicants
showcase a visionary facility management project which has positively
contributed to organisational success, achieved strategic business Phillip Warren, Executive Manager – Development Facilities Management
objectives and contributed to improved financial outcomes across the Business Unit, Transfield Services, handed the Award to Roger Walker from
lifecycle of the organisation’s facility portfolio. Singtel Optus.

Supporters

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 41
ideaction’08 REPORT
The award recognises Roger’s financial and community benefit
achievements in developing a unique Interactive Waste Outcomes
Model as part of a landfill diversion initiative implemented by Singtel
Optus. Roger has achieved a 95% landfill diversion rate at Optus’ new
headquarters which represents 495 tonnes of waste from going to landfill
each year with an associated 5% reduction in waste management costs.
Optus’ new head office comprises six buildings with 84,000m2 of
lettable area which provided an ideal opportunity to rethink Optus’
facility management practices, which in turn delivered significant
environmental benefits for Optus and the approach that facilities
management now takes to sustainability.
FMA Australia & Tungsten Young FM Practitioner Award
This Award recognises the efforts of young, up-and-coming
individuals working in the FM industry, whose role in their FM team
contributes to their organisation’s overall outcomes. This is done through
organisational understanding of managing facilities and FM projects,
delivery of services, risk management and facility performance, while
continuing to promote the value of FM practice to senior management.
Stephen Taylor, CEO, Tungsten Group presented the Award and a cheque for
$1,000 to Emma Dudley, Knight Frank.
During her time at Knight Frank, Emma has progressed rapidly from
a project management to a full facility management role. Emma quickly
achieved a 100% compliance client audit result and she takes a primary
role in developing and implementing financial management and safety
compliance systems for the managed Macquarie property portfolio
where her initiatives have been applied to other client property
portfolios. Emma is viewed within Knight Frank as a new breed of
facilities manager who will progressively bring a totally different approach
to the management and the delivery of service to the occupiers of space.
FMA Australia & Culligan Water Facility Manager of the Year
Award
Culligan Water was this year’s new corporate supporter for the
Facility Manager of the Year Award, which recognises the leadership role
Facility Managers have undertaken, and the contribution to their
organisation’s overall outcomes through developing staff, continuous
improvement programs and how they have added value to the business
operations of their organisation.
Tim Gordon, Managing Director of Culligan Water, presented the Award and a
cheque for $2,000 to Dimitrios (Jim) Tatsis, Stockland.
Jim is recognised for his delivery of risk management, sustainability
initiatives, financial achievement and stakeholder management across a
40 site, 1 million square metre Stockland office and industrial portfolio in
42 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
NSW and ACT. Jim was nominated for his dynamic approach to
exceeding target goals and for driving continuous improvement
initiatives. As a Stockland senior manager within a strategic business
model, Jim is seen as a dynamic business leader who empowers the
team and creates an environment which encourages people to excel.
Andrew McEwan, Chairman FMA Australia, then took the podium to
present the FMA Australia Recognition Awards, mentioning that the
South Australia Branch were not included in the judging process as it has
only relatively recently reformed and it was decided to defer including
their branch until 2009.
FMA Australia Recognition Awards
FMA Australia Branch Member of the Year
Branch members put in an enormous effort to contribute to the
success of FMA Australia and each branch has nominated a member
who stood out for their particular contribution during the past year.
Western Australia – Philip Gale
Western Australia had been relatively inactive until in 2007 a new
invigorated committee formed and it set about delivering a range of
value-added services to WA members. The WA Branch member of the
year Philip Gale, has contributed greatly to re-focussing the branch,
encouraging sponsors on a state and national level and above all has
assumed a major leadership role for the association.
Australian Capital Territory ACT – Philip Cooper
Philip Cooper is an energetic member of the ACT branch, and a
consistent attendee at branch events and an enthusiastic contributor to
branch committee deliberations. Philip is ACT branch’s representative on
the National Membership Committee and highly regarded as a
professional FM practitioner, who has been very supportive of other
branch members. Phil is a strong leader who has been a major
contributor to the success of ACT branch activities during the year. In
addition he is also a staunch and persuasive advocate for FMA Australia.
Peter Mollison, ACT chairman collects the award on Philip’s behalf.
Victoria – Kristiana Greenwood
Kristiana has contributed an outstanding effort to the Victorian
Branch, continually demonstrating excellent leadership and guidance to
fellow committee members as well as networking continuously with
industry personnel to raise the profile and awareness of FMA Australia
within the industry. Kristiana encourages industry involvement and
support to gain substantial sponsorship and involvement for the Victorian
branch’s chosen charity.
Kristiana Greenwood accepting her Award.

New South Wales – Kirsten Smith
Kirsten Smith, the NSW winner of the branch member of the year
consistently organises WiFM events that provide an open and
encouraging forum for women in facility orientated careers, to maintain,
update, exchange views and ideas, and expand on their current facilities
knowledge. Kirsten is the founder and facilitator of WIFM, one of FMA
Australia’s hard working Accreditation program mentors and assessors,
and a member whose enthusiasm and dedication to the FM industry
shines through in all activities under taken.
Kirsten Smith accepting her Award
Queensland – Greg Tenbrick
Queensland branch member of the year Greg Tenbrick has been a
long standing member for more than 15 years, has served continuously
on the State and National Committees in various capacities and has
been a representative on the FMA Australia Board. At a state level Greg
has arranged the annual corporate golf day for the last ten years and is a
strong supporter of local events, by both attending and/or nominating
staff to attend and regularly booking corporate tables.
Greg Tenbrick accepting his Award.
2008 FMA Australia Branch of the Year – Victorian Branch
The criteria for this award includes the number of events held,
sponsorship secured, attendances at events, membership increases and
co-operation with national office. While all branches have made
significant contributions to FMA Australia throughout the year, the
Victorian Branch has experienced an increase in membership of 14.6 %
and had all of its events for the year sponsored. It has also enjoyed an
increase in attendances at its functions of some 44%. Overall its
contribution to FMA Australia has been exemplary.
Victorian Branch accepting their Award
ideaction’08 REPORT
2008 FMA Australia Corporate Supporter of the Year – GJK Facility
Services.
Again this year, we have had many companies that have supported
branch and national activities. Each branch has cultivated sponsors for
luncheons and site visits and many now support ideaction and our
publications FMA Online and Facility Perspectives. This year GJK Facility
Services has given generously not just through corporate support but
also its executive’s involvement on state and national committees.
GJK Facility Services’ George Stamas accepting the Award
2008 FMA Australia National Member of the Year – Richard Mayes
Richard Mayes has been involved with the organisation for many
years prior to him becoming a director of FMA Australia in 1998. Now a
former Chairman of FMA Australia, Richard has dedicated much of his
time to the FM Action Agenda where he was involved in its
establishment and implementation and subsequently worked tirelessly as
the chairman of its Education and Training working group.
Much of the work of the Education and Training working group is
reaching fruition and thanks to Richard’s dedication he has ensured the
directions and outcomes are something of which he can be justifiably
proud.
Richard Mayes accepting his Award.
The FMA Australia Awards for Excellence were followed by the
Open Family Australia auction, with Steve Taylor as auctioneer. Open
Family Australia provides outreach support and services to young people
at risk. It has been working since 1978 with some of Australia’s most
marginalised youth, linking them to the services they require and helping
them to reconnect to their family and community.
Open Family’s policy is non-judgmental and non-discriminatory in
their work with young people and most importantly they never give up
on someone. The auction raised around $15,000 from the auctioning of
such diverse items as an AC/DC signed lyric sheet and photo collage, a
V8 Supercar experience with a Mark Skaife signed two photo collage, a
flight in a Jet Fighter L39 Albatross Fighter, a Harry Kewell signed and
Framed Liverpool Jersey plus two tickets to Australia v Iraq Suncorp
Stadium QLD, 10 days in a two bedroom apartment at Hua Hin, Thailand
situated beachside, and a 2005 Australia vs West Indies signed cricket
bat.
Much fun was had by all, and the band ensured that any excess
energy was ably deployed in the dancing that ensued.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 43
ideaction’08 REPORT

Facility Managers
at large

44 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
CLIENT FEATURE

IFM is an Australian company

with offices in Sydney and Perth
IFM is a specialist provider of facilities management
and spatial solutions and services. With our highly
experienced team and 25 staff based in NSW and
WA we are able to supply and support software
solutions matched to specific customers needs. In
particular, we specialise in the supply,
implementation and development of fully integrated
systems in building asset and facility management,
linked to core business systems. Through the use
of graphical plans, intelligent databases and
specialist software systems, corporate data can be
maintained and distributed throughout the
corporate to those who need it.

Our client base from Corporate, Local and State

Government sectors include: BHP Billiton, RAC,
Perth Zoo, Aged Care Providers, Private and Public
Hospitals, Schools and Universities.

IFM is the Prime distributor for GIS vendor

Computer Aided Development Corporation
(Cadcorp) in Australia and New Zealand and a
Reseller for ARCHIBUS and Autodesk products.

• We have been involved in FM, GIS and CAD

software since 1979
• Australian company with International
credentials
• Strong Development team which have
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• Strong customer focus where the users
needs come first
WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT
At IFM, we offer more than the best service and
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Our comprehensive approach makes life easier for

you and gives you real user benefits like
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with world leading Interoperable solutions.

Whether you need enterprise corporate systems

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solution that will drive your business by maintaining
your investment in systems and data, adding
intelligence to your existing information and
enabling corporate wide access to your business
systems.
CLIENT FEATURE

Caroma Dorf’s Eco Logical Solutions

Retrofit programs Helping
Companies Save More Water

A
ustralia’s leading supplier of
bathroom fixtures and
fittings, Caroma Dorf is
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The customised programs are a cost-
effective option for companies keen
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delivering excellent cost savings.
Caroma Dorf launched the initiative
in anticipation of Federal and State
Governments imposing greater
regulations on the private sector for
the reduction of water usage, as well
as greenhouse gases.
For example, Brisbane companies
using more than 10 million litres of
water each year now need to deliver
a 25 per cent annual reduction, while
a “5 Star Building Code” with very
tough environmental regulations has
just been introduced in Western
Australia.
Organisations like Sofitel Brisbane,
ISPT in Sydney and Wesley Hospital
Professional Suites in Brisbane are
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friendly products not only improves the aesthetics of
Chief Engineer of the Sofitel Brisbane. Mr Mohammed bathrooms but can improve asset value. Caroma Dorf can
Sharif says, “The advice provided through an open also partner with specialist plumbing companies to
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targets.” workplace as possible.
Caroma Dorf also recently partnered with the owners of Caroma Dorf has pioneered the development of the
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Ellis Asset Services, to retrofit the building’s entire responsible for Australia’s first WELS 6 star rated urinals
bathroom fixtures and fittings, delivering water savings and Caroma’s H2Zero waterless urinals. The latest range
of up to 2.1 million litres per month in the first six of Dorf and Hansa Tapware complements the other
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team consulting on all aspects of the program, including visit www.ecologicalsolutions.com
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
A Facilities Management Student
working at your organisation
Floor Schepens is an overseas facilities management student
undertaking a graduate internship in Western Australia. Floor
would like to inform Australian companies about the benefits of
having a FM student working in their organisation. Following is her
article and notes on her work at Edith Cowan University:
M
y name is Floor Schepens and I am a Facilities Management
student from the Netherlands. I am a fourth year student and I
hope to graduate in June 2008. As part of the Facility
Management Bachelor Degree I follow at the NHTV Breda University of
Applied Science in the Netherlands, I chose to undertake a graduation
internship in Australia to get more work experience. I worked for six
months, from December 2007 until May 2008, at the Facilities and
Services Centre of Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, WA.
I am writing this article because I want to inform organisations in
Australia about the possibilities and benefits of having a Facilities
Management student working at their organisation. I want to inform
people about my experiences of Facilities Management in Australia
compared to my experience of Facilities Management in the
Netherlands. I chose to come to Australia because I wanted to improve
my English language skills and I thought it would be interesting to see
how Facilities Management is practiced in another country. I thought it
would be an experience to live and work in another country for a few
months, speak another language, get to know the culture, habits and to
meet new people.
OPPORTUNITIES
It can be very rewarding for an organisation to have a Facilities
Management student working for their organisation. I am a student from
the Netherlands, but that is not the only country with Facilities
Management Bachelor Degrees. Australia has a Facilities Management
Bachelor Degree as well. I see that Deakin University offers this course at
the Geelong Waterfront Campus. The Bachelor Degree takes three
years, with one or two optional honour years. In these honour years
students write a thesis and they work off campus as interns in the
Facilities Management Industry. This is a great opportunity for students
to get more hands-on work experience!
It can offer a lot of benefits to have a Facilities Management student
working at your organisation. It is useful to let a student take a look at
your organisation with ‘fresh’ eyes, it can be interesting to hear what a
Facilities Management student thinks of the way things are planned in
your organisation.
A Facilities Management student can offer your organisation a lot of
theories and practical methods to work with. A Facilities Management
Bachelor Degree offers a range of literature to students; the student can
‘transfer’ the information to your organisation. Your ‘method’ of working
can be reviewed and if there is any applicable and informative literature,
a new process can be implemented giving your organisation a business
improvement.
A Facilities Management student working at your organisation is an
easy way to pick up current trends in the Facilities Management Industry,
because students work with current best practice all the time, for
example when they work on assignments.
It is great if organisations are able to offer a student a place to work
and to obtain work experience in the Facilities Management Industry. It is
an excellent opportunity for both parties; the student works to get
knowledge and has the possibility to show what he/she has got. The
organisation gets an additional resource with minimal impact on costs.
48 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
EXPERIENCE
My experience with Facilities Management in Australia has been
better than I imagined. I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t
know much about how Facilities Management is organised in Australia. I
always had the impression that the Netherlands was one of the most
developed countries relating to Facilities Management. Since working in
the Facilities Management Industry in Australia I see that Australia is well
advanced in this discipline. I have been here for a few months now but
there are a few remarkable things I have experienced. There are a lot of
similarities between Australia and the Netherlands in the Facilities
Management area.
Outsourcing in both counties is very popular and often used. There
is a lot of outsourcing occurring, big contracts for example in the
maintenance or cleaning industry. My experience is that Facilities
Management theories and methods are becoming more popular. For
example, organisations implement Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) or
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to define the levels of service for
clients or organisations implement the Balanced Score Card as a
strategic planning and management tool.
Both countries do a lot of benchmarking. Australia as well as the
Netherlands has national facilities benchmarks in different areas. Each
country has a Facilities Management Association. In Australia this is FMA
Australia (Facility Management Association of Australia), in the
Netherlands it is FMN (Facility Management Nederland). Both
associations are connected to the IFMA (International Facility
Management Association).
The difference between both countries is that education in Facilities
Management is far more developed in the Netherlands. The Netherlands
has nine Bachelor Facilities Management Degrees and approximately
1000 ‘new’ facilities managers graduate each year. In other countries, for
example Australia, what we know as ‘Facilities Management’, is often
part of a building programme or hospitality education. The quality of
facilities managers in the Netherlands continues to improve, and more
and more is being published about the subject and students are trained
differently. Australia is working on the education in Facilities
Management, to start with the Facilities Management Bachelor Degree
at Deakin University.
CONCLUSION
In summary I have had a positive experience during my time in
Australia. This applies to both my work and social experience. My English
language skills have improved, which will be very useful in the future. I
have enjoyed my work experience at Edith Cowan University and I have
learnt a considerable amount. lt has been a great opportunity to finally
put in practice what I have learned at University over the last few years. It
is all very interesting and useful for my graduation and for my further
career.
All I have to say about Australia is that it's a very positive
environment. The people are very friendly, helpful and genuine. The
landscape is gorgeous and the weather is even better! I would definitely
advise any student to undertake an internship in Australia because it is a
great experience!
 EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Floor Schepens work experience at Edith Cowan University

(ECU)
Worked at the Facilities and Services Centre at Edith Cowan
University on the Joondalup Campus in Joondalup, Perth, WA. The
Facilities and Services Centre looks after four campuses, a regional
campus in Bunbury and three metropolitan campuses in Mount Lawley,
Joondalup and Churchlands. The Churchlands campus will close in June
2008, with courses transferred to new facilities at the Joondalup and
Mount Lawley campuses. I mainly work in the Buildings and Services
branch, which is responsible for Maintenance, Cleaning and Grounds
Maintenance. In these areas I worked on different projects and I
attended meetings.
During my internship at Edith Cowan University I worked on the
following four main projects:
1. Cleaning audit

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ECU wants to review the current cleaning contract and the current
cleaning services. An external consultant will undertake cleaning audits
and will review the contractor’s performance on Occupational Health and
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started this project I reviewed the current cleaning contract to familiarise
myself with the contract requirements. I have done research to find out
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expertise to undertake the cleaning review for ECU. I then wrote a letter the full potential of your maintenance operation.
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form and contract terms & conditions. I have had contact with different on the move. Whether doing service work, inspections
consultants and the documents are ready to be sent out. or breakdown maintenance MEX Mobile is the conduit
2. SLA (Service Level Agreement)
between your office and the personnel in the field.
To manage service delivery the Facilities and Services Centre
established Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) with their customer (i.e. Allowing for maintenance and service centres to
Faculty/Centre). The agreement will revolve around services that each automatically update MEX Mobile in the field. Utilising
Service Centre will and will not provide for each other and who has the Windows Mobile platform and written in .NET, MEX
responsibility. Mobile is a state of the art solution for your workforce.
I have worked with SLA’s at University, so I know a bit about the
subject. ECU had a draft version of a SLA written. I reviewed this and Assets General
compared this SLA to the methods and theories I learned at University. I • Add / edit assets • Can synchronise via
made some changes and I made my own version of the SLA. While I was in the field cradle, WAN, GPRS
writing the SLA I conducted meetings and liaised directly with the • Move assets or Active Sync
customer. I updated the ‘items to maintain’ in the schedule and I • View history for any asset • User level security
discussed my version of the SLA with the Maintenance Manager and my
supervisor. I then had follow up appointments with the customer to • Access work orders for • Windows Mobile
discuss the SLA. any asset operating system
When I finished my first SLA I developed a SLA format (template), Work orders Stores
which can be used over and over again for writing a SLA. It is useful for • View all work orders
the Facilities and Services Centre because it can be used after I return to • Issue parts
• Filter by user • Add / edit
The Netherlands. On completion of this SLA I commenced work on a
new SLA for a different customer. I am still working on this SLA. • Invoice directly from catalogue items
3. Maintenance work order
• Add parts in the
One of the key functions of the Buildings and Services Department is • Parts and labour field to work done
Maintenance. Together with the Maintenance Manager I work on the management
management and administration of a comprehensive maintenance • Return parts.
• Allocate from central office
contract for mechanical fixed plant and equipment. The contract is to a particular person • Stocktakes
valued at over $1M per annum. I attend weekly operation meetings and Readings
• Inspection work orders
monthly contract performance meetings, I attend site inspections and I
raised jobs in FMMS, ECU’s computerised maintenance management • Add customers • Add readings
system. Besides that I have commenced reviewing the contract in To obtain a FREE demonstration CD of MEX Mobile
readiness for contract re-tender. phone: +61 7 3392 4777, or email: sales@mex.com.au
4. Signage
Signage is one of the projects the University’s Planning and
Development area works on. A review and upgrade of ECU’s external
campus corporate signage needs to be undertaken. I was involved in this
project which entails review of existing signage, identify and document
changes, take pictures of all the signs, develop new signs with AutoCAD.
Additionally I work on a number of different smaller projects.
Together with the Buildings and Services staff I review the existing
procedures and flow charts and consolidate these into ‘work instructions’,
including sections addressing environment and risk. I facilitated this 320 – 326 Ipswich Road,
process. I undertook elements associated with the implementation of the
Balanced Score Card, for example a check of the KPI’s. During my
Annerley QLD, Australia, 4103.
studies I worked with the Balanced Score Card so I had prior knowledge PO Box 6118, Buranda QLD, Australia, 4102.
of this. I put the information together for the TEFMA Benchmark for Tel: +61 7 3392 4777 Fax: +61 7 3392 4888
2007. I liaised with all managers to obtain relevant information. I have email: sales@mex.com.au
also had contact with IT Services to solve IT problems in our area.
www.mex.com.au
We wish Floor all the best in her endeavours.
Your M aintenance – Our Exper tise

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 49
FM LEGAL

The New IR System

BY TIM CAPELIN

The Federal Labor Government has commenced implementation of

its plans for a new industrial relations system to be in place by
2010. Transitional arrangements have now been legislated, they
came into effect on 28 March 2008.

B
y 1 January 2010, the federal government aims to have in place a 2010. To achieve this, a two-year award simplification and modernisation
new national system. The national system anticipated by the process is to commence mid 2008. No current award will be left
federal government, is a system for all non-government untouched in this process.
employers. This would include non-corporation employers (sole traders, There is no doubt that this process will prove interesting in terms of
partnerships etc) currently captured within each individual state system. how the terms and conditions of the modern awards will be determined
In order to achieve this, the federal government will need to receive co- from the various different award provisions currently existing. This is
operation from each state. particularly so given that it is more likely that the more generous
If state co-operation is not achieved, the current systems will remain - provisions of current awards and NAPSAs would be adopted rather than
one national system for constitutional corporations and separate state
systems for government employers and non-corporation employers.
This article summarises the current transitional arrangements that will
be in place until 1 January 2010 and elements of the proposed new
system, which are intended to be in place in 2010.

TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
The Workplace Relations Act 1996 has recently been amended to
provide for transitional laws up to 2010. The key elements of the
amendments include the abolition of AWAs, the introduction of a new
individual statutory agreement and facilitating the commencement of the
award modernisation process.
AWAs abolished and the new ITEAs
The amendments prevent new AWAs being made after 27 March
2008.
As an alternative to AWAs, the laws provide for a new statutory
individual agreement known as Individual Transitional Employment
Agreements (ITEAs). ITEAs are available to be made for some employers
up until 31 December 2009. Employers who at 1 December 2007
employed at least one worker on an AWA will be able to use ITEAs.
However it is significant to note that AWAs made before 28 March
2008 and ITEAs made before 31 December 2009 will continue to
operate indefinitely until they are terminated or replaced.
The no-disadvantage test
The amendments have also replaced the ‘fairness test’ with a new
test known as the ‘no-disadvantage test’ for all agreements lodged with
the Workplace Authority until 31 December 2009. This means that the
no-disadvantage test will apply to ITEAs and also to collective
agreements made with unions or made directly with employees lodged
before 1 January 2010.
To meet the no-disadvantage test, the Workplace Authority must be
satisfied that the agreement would not result, on balance, in a reduction
in overall terms and conditions of employment. This is a comprehensive
test and it is not limited only to those conditions currently known as
‘protected award conditions’. When applied to a collective agreement,
the test will be different from the way it will be applied to an ITEA. For a
collective agreement, the Workplace Authority will take into account any
relevant award such as a preserved State award or a federal award, and
relevant legislation. For an ITEA, in addition to the awards and relevant
legislation considered for collective agreements, the Authority will be
able to take into account a collective agreement or a preserved State
agreement.
Awards
The government plans to introduce new modern awards by mid

50 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

the less generous provisions or a compromise.
The modern awards are to operate in conjunction with the National
Employment Standards (discussed below).
NEW NATIONAL IR SYSTEM
After the transitional period, a new national IR system is intended to
operate from January 2010. Draft legislation to replace the Workplace
Relations Act 1996 is expected to be released in the second half of 2008.
Elements of the new national IR system include a government body
named Fair Work Australia (FWA) and ten national employment
standards.
Fair Work Australia
From 1 January 2010, FWA will be the relevant industrial relations
body to provide employers and employees with information, advice and
assistance. FWA will take responsibility for the functions currently held by
the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, Australian Fair Pay
Commission, Workplace Authority, Workplace Ombudsman, and the
Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court.
In effect, the FWA will – amongst other things – have responsibility
to hear and determine unfair and unlawful dismissal claims, to set
minimum wages and award conditions, to assist in resolution of industrial
disputes, to investigate employer breaches of relevant legislation and to
register new workplace agreements. Divisions within FWA will be set up
to deal with each responsibility separately.
National Employment Standards
The federal government has released a Discussion Paper outlining its
draft minimum employment conditions – the National Employment
Standards – which are set to commence on 1 January 2010. At this
stage, the government has sought submissions in response to its paper.
The current law provides five minimum conditions of employment –
FM LEGAL
wages, hours of work, annual leave, personal leave (including
compassionate leave) and parental leave. Under the proposed new laws,
the minimum conditions will increase to ten – with the current minimum
condition for wages to return into the awards arena.
The proposed National Employment Standards are subject to
change before implementation, but generally can be summarised as
follows:
3 Hours of work – 38 hours a week plus reasonable additional hours.
3 Annual leave – 4 weeks for each year of service and an additional
week for shift workers (as defined by a relevant award).
3 Personal leave – ten days for each year of service, two days unpaid
carers leave on each occasion and two days paid compassionate
leave per occasion. Casual employees in addition to their current
entitlement to two days unpaid carers leave per occasion will be
entitled to two days unpaid compassionate leave per occasion.
3 Parental leave – up to 24 months after 12 months of continuous
service. The 24 month entitlement may be shared between each
parent or taken by one parent upon request to the employer.
3 Flexible work arrangements – employees who are a parent or who
have responsibility of a child under school age are entitled to request
flexible work arrangements. The employer may only refuse on
reasonable business grounds.
3 Community service leave – includes paid jury service leave and
unpaid voluntary emergency activities leave.
3 Long service leave – the current long service leave entitlements
under state laws or industrial instruments will apply until the
government develops national long service leave laws.
3 Public Holidays – an employee is entitled to be absent from work on
a public holiday. An employee may reasonably refuse an employer’s
request to work.
3 Notice of Termination and Redundancy – the current notice of
termination periods remain unchanged. Employees employed in
businesses with 15 or more employees will become entitled to
severance pay when their employment is terminated by reason of
redundancy. The amount of severance pay reflects the scale in
current federal awards (i.e. up to 16 weeks where an employee has
at least 9 years but less than 10 years of service).
3 Information statement – new employees must be provided a Fair
Work Information Statement upon commencement of employment.
The statement will contain – amongst other things – information
regarding employee entitlements, agreement making and the role of
the FWA.
Unfair Dismissals
There will be new thresholds for determining who can make an
unfair dismissal claim. The current laws prevent unfair dismissal claims
against employers with fewer than 101 employees. However, under the
new system, a person will be able to bring a claim against a business
with 15 or more employees if the person has served at least six months
with the employer. If the person bringing the claim has been dismissed
from a business with fewer than 15 employees, the relevant period of
service will be 12 months.
There will be a limit upon access to the system by non-award
employees. To bring a claim, the annual remuneration of the non-award
employee must fall under a specified amount (likely to be an amount
around $105,000) which will be indexed each year. Unfair dismissal claims
will need to be lodged within seven days of the dismissal. This is a
substantial reduction on the current 21-day requirement.
So far the new government is proceeding in accordance with the
statements made in its pre-election policy documents and if anything,
implementing its policy cautiously. However, watch this space for news of
future changes.
About the author and Australian Business Lawyers:
Tim Capelin is the Managing Partner of Australian Business Lawyers,
Australia’s leading boutique workplace law firm. Tim’s firm advises
major Australian and International corporations in most industry sectors,
and also smaller innovative organisations. Australian Business Lawyers is
the law firm behind HR Advance, the on-line toolkit distributed by FMA
that supplies all the HR documentation your organisation is likely to
need. Tim spoke at this year’s ideaction’08 Conference on the topic
covered in this article. His presentation will go behind the factual
information contained in this article and include commentary on the
risks and opportunities posed by the new laws.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 51
CLIENT FEATURE
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Building Update
About the Hendry Group
Derek Hendry is the Managing Director of the Hendry Group of consultancy
companies, including Essential Property Services. Derek pioneered the ‘private
certification’ system of building approvals in Australia , and his nationally based
consultancy offices assist clients in all facets of building control and essential
safety measure audits. The Hendry Group publish an e-newsletter entitled
‘essential matters’, available online at www.emau.com.au, and their new service,
BCA Illustrated (at www.bcai.com.au), offers 3000 illustrations explaining and
interpreting the BCA as it applies to your building.
QLD: Mandatory Reporting – Fire Safety Installations
Facility managers must be aware that the occupier/owner/manager
of a commercial building must ensure each fire safety installation is
tested in accordance with relevant Australian Standards per Section 15 &
16 of the Building Fire Safety Regulation 1991 (BFSR). There are
mandatory requirements to report on the performance of maintenance in
a Certificate and Record of Maintenance to the Queensland Fire &
Rescue Service.
Penalties apply for not complying with the reporting requirements of
the BFSR. The responsible occupier/owner/manager must record in a
Certificate of Maintenance (where ‘special fire services’ exist) and Record
of Maintenance (where ‘prescribed fire safety installations’ exist) the
following details:
3 Details of Building
3 Periods of Maintenance for Preceding 12 months
3 Type of Fire Safety Installation/ Special Fire Service
3 Maintenance Standard Applicable
3 Date of Test
3 Details of any Repairs
3 Name, Address of Specialist Maintenance Contractor
The responsible occupier/owner/manager must keep a copy of the
Certificate of Maintenance and Record of Maintenance onsite and always
make them available for inspection by a duly authorised officer of the
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. In the case of budget
accommodation buildings the certificates must also be kept with the Fire
Safety Management Plan.
Annual Lodgement of the Certificate of Maintenance
It is mandatory to lodge a duly completed Certificate of
Maintenance with the Chief Commissioner of the Queensland Fire and
Rescue Service annually and initially 12 months from the day of the
earliest test date or system commissioning date.
AUST: Building Alterations Costing Owners
Facility managers should ensure that their consultants, contractors or
tenants’ contractors know when ‘fire-rated wiring’ is required. This
problem seems to arise when a tenant instigates a new fit out and finds
out the existing cabling doesn’t comply. A request for the owner to
upgrade the non-compliant cabling is then made, causing all
stakeholders to study the lease conditions.
A number of tenants can experience significant inconvenience
through contractors installing incorrect cabling for safety measure items,
when rewiring has had to occur in adjoining tenancy areas that are not
associated with the tenant undertaking the works.
Fire rated cables are designed to continue functioning during a fire
for a specified period of time that allows for safe evacuation of a
building. Fire rated cables will burn in a manner that ensures continuity of
essential power during a fire to support essential building services such
as smoke handling systems, emergency lighting, and occupant warning
systems/EWIS systems.
ESSENTIAL SAFETY MEASURES
AUST: BCA – Poor Fit Outs
Some facility managers entering into building contracts are finding
themselves financially embarrassed after completion of a fit out in their
building. Problems can be traced back to the specification provided to
the designer/builder because the criteria mainly concentrated on the
building fabric and not the potential internal tenancy layouts. A partition
layout (plant or storage layout) can cause the building to no longer
comply with the issued building approval for items such as exit travel,
excessive fire loads, inadequate emergency lights and exit signs,
insufficient hose reel and hydrant coverage as well as an inadequate
sprinkler system originally installed. Facility managers should insist that
design and construction contracts (new buildings or alterations to
existing) take into account the future use and include in the tender
documentation of all internal plan details.
AUST: Emergency Preparedness in the Lease
Facility Managers should ensure that leases not only cover the safety
of occupants in an emergency, but include obligations for tenants/
occupants to participate in emergency planning and evacuation
exercises. Emergency situations in a workplace can develop from a
number of causes. The emergency preparedness of building occupants
will directly affect their ability to minimise loss and suffering.
Careful planning through the development of an emergency
management plan can reduce the impact of emergencies that may pose
a threat to life, health or property. Problems arise when a tenant will not
participate in an evacuation drill or training because their lease is silent
on the subject.
AUST: Planning for a Planning Permit
Facility managers should check with their local council before giving
permission for a tenant (or their client) to paint the outside of a building,
a planning permit/DA may be required for painting.
A number of councils have planning controls that deal with specific
sites and areas with special heritage significance. If a property is affected
it will be listed in the planning scheme and identified on the planning
scheme maps.
A planning permit/DA will be required for building works including
external painting and the erection of signs. Repainting is very expensive.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 53
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

How better management systems

equate to better business

Everyday facility managers struggle to keep on top of job tracking, changing legislation
requirements, reporting back to clients and making effective decisions based on what is
often historic information relating to a site. As a facility’s requirements can change as
often as its tenants or its contractors, obtaining up-to-date information is also crucial in
ensuring maintenance and customer relationships are managed efficiently while keeping
in line with business and tenancy objectives. For GJK Facility Services, developing an
Integrated Management System which served as a basis for its operations has proved
vital in keeping on top of a business that relies on customer service at the heart of its
core business. With over twenty years of continuos operation, GJK Facility Services is now
one of the largest privately owned providers of cleaning and related property services in
Australia – with over 500 employees and an annual turnover of $20 million dollars.

I
n 2004, GJK Facility Services implemented its Integrated Management
System and was one of the first service organisations in Australia to have
an externally audited IMS. GJK’s IMS system is the foundation of their
site operations and delivers a documented and integrated process that
manages quality control, customer service, risk management and
environmental compliance.
IMS was created to address a number of issues and shortcomings that
were becoming increasingly evident in the cleaning and support services
sector. The areas of quality assurance, occupational health and safety, risk
management and environmental systems as a way of doing business were
now paramount to a holistic approach for the service industry to move
forward.
To meet this challenge and keep in line with current legislation, GJK’s
ensured its IMS system was made up of the following three Standards:
3 ISO9001:2000 – Formalised systems and procedures in Quality
Assurance for all aspects of the business;
3 AS/NZS 4801 – Occupational, Health & Safety and Risk Management;
3 ISO 14001:2004 – Environmental Impact Minimisation Management
System.
Talking to GJK Facility Services IMS Manager and Internal Auditor
Maria Panayi about the impact of GJK’s leading IMS, it’s evident the
paybacks have been far-reaching and a definite protagonist in GJK’s recent
success at the 2006/7 Golden Service Awards.
“We developed IMS on how we do business at GJK, it’s based on the
accreditations and standards that are out there. For example we have two
external auditors which are SAI Global and SGS so our systems define what
we do procedurally but also meet legislation requirements.”
The benefits customers have embraced since the introduction of the
IMS systems, Maria says, has been influential in GJK’s continued success
across the industry:
3 Providing the customer a documented integrated formal management
service delivery process based on a Quality, Customer Service, Risk
Management and Environmental Impact.
3 A system process for Risk Minimisation in Public Liability for all
stakeholders.
3 Improved service outcomes with a qualified, informed and empowered
workforce at all levels of service delivery.
3 National and International recognised accredited ‘best practice’
standards, policies and procedures that deliver consistency of services
in line with agreed service outcomes.
3 Regular Internal and External Auditing and reporting of formalised
business delivery systems.
3 Incorporating “due care” in all aspects of our business in service
delivery to our customers based on continuance improvement.
3 Occupational Health and Safety Policy and Procedure formalisation in
legislative compliance.
3 Formalised work practices that minimise the impact on the
environment in the use of chemicals, waste management and use of
machinery.
3 Promoting good Corporate Governance as a way of doing business at
GJK Facility Services.
GJK recently went one better. Developing the ultimate enhancement
for its already successful IMS system, the company introduced its
Synergistic Management System (SMS) – a state of the art technology
development that significantly improves the reporting processes available
through IMS.
The SMS technology incorporates a GPRS equipped Wireless PDA that
enables GJK’s operational Customer Service Managers to perform a variety
of quality assurance audit reports on-site and at the time of inspection.
By addressing key performance reporting areas in a timely manner, that
was not previously possible under a manual-driven process, the SMS
system provides GJK clients with a groundbreaking utility that offers real-
time information – a driver in a far more rapid response and reporting
mechanism.

54 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Some of these key benefits are:

3 a cost effective technology based reporting system versus the
traditional labor intensive historical reporting process.
3 A work smart process that enables GJK to offer more to the client
within the existing or lesser resource base – this directly represents a
greater return on investment for our clients
3 A User Friendly design resulting from consultation with key
stakeholders providing easy access to a password protected web
portal which is accessible anytime, anywhere
3 An entirely paperless system that considerably contributes towards an
environmentally sustainable workplace.
Maria Panayi says GJK developed the SMS system in response to
customer needs.
“Basically our clients wanted to receive data in real time. What was
happening was that we’d have an inspection on a given day but, because it
was paper based and all the reporting would be done at the end of the
month, clients might not get a copy of that report until 2 or 3 weeks down
the track. It was about having current information not historical responses,
having information on hand then and there which we can now input directly
into our customer web portal. Our old process was proving quite costly and
unsustainable with the amount of labour and resources that we were
putting in.
Before implementing the SMS system, GJK conducted a 6-month trial
program and client feedback quickly showed that SMS would have an
extremely high level of industry acceptance in its application. One of the
most innovative functions of SMS is the capability to record essential site
details while enabling the client to use their password protected access to
retrieve all the most recent reports or any other reports that have occurred
over time, placing life management reporting in the hands of the client.
All GJK customer service managers carry a PDA which is linked to the
synergistic management system running at GJK’s head office. Connections
can be made on site using the GPRS cellular network, Wi-fi hot spots and
3G networks which ensure managers have access to up-to-the-minute site
audit information wherever an internet connection is available. Via their
PDA, CSMs can lodge a variety of different quality assurance and audit
reports, which are instantly visible to staff at head office.
These documents include:
3 IMS inspection reports
3 Customer liaison reports
3 Environmental and Oh & S reports
3 Incident reports
3 Induction and training updates
3 Value added service reports
3 Innovation reports
3 Maintenance item reports

GJK has found the SMS system also provides greater accountability
with the GJK Facility Services Site Operational Delivery Team, creating
improved awareness of opportunities in all aspects of service outcomes
with a key focus on sustainable, continued improvement. Once information
is submitted from the site, reports are available for GJK’s customer services
team to access, enabling them to track issues as soon as they arise.
To ensure the rollout of SMS was a success, GJK conducted
presentations and training sessions for each of its clients – who all
responded favourably to the introduction of the innovative, easy-to-use
technology.
“We’ve had a fantastic response and the feedback we’ve had with all
of our clients has been positive,” said Maria Panayi, GJK’s IMS manager
and Internal Auditor.
“Our customer service managers all conduct their site inspections and
as soon as it is completed the client will automatically receive an email with
a link to that special report. It means that if for some reason they were
unable to attend the inspection, they can log-on and add and additional
comments as they see fit. Another aspect of the service is their customer
web portal, where they have a whole overview of their service delivery so
they can see all of their inspection reports, monthly client reports and any
incident reports. The feedback has been more tangible, efficient and it also
adds makes our IMS system more credible and effective.”

For more information on GJK’s Integrated Management System and

Synergistic Management System visit the GJK Facility Services Website at
http://www.gjkfacilityservices.com.au

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 55
ENERGY + THE ENVIRONMENT

Building a career
brick by brick
BY MELANIE DRUMMOND
Few people find a career they stay with their entire working lives and even fewer find
one that brings with it a lifelong passion. For Wolfgang Preiser, his love affair with the
study of the built environment has made him one of the lucky ones. His 40-year career is
peppered with extraordinary achievements, not least of which is receiving the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Environmental Design Research Association in 2007.

W
ith a PhD in Man-
Environment Relations
and a Masters of
Architecture in Environmental
Systems, Preiser has remained a
sought after specialist and guest
speaker at forums and conferences
around the world. Co-editor of this
month’s reviewed book, Assessing
Building Performance, Preiser has
written countless publications,
articles and chapters related to
issues that have only recently
begun to get deserved widespread
media attention - Future Visions of
Urban Public Housing, Building
Pathology, Intelligent Office
Building Evaluation, Quality
Improvement through Post-
Occupancy Evaluation, and
Research on Architecture and
Human Behaviour are just an
indication of the authored topics
which give credence to the scope
and depth of Preiser’s expertise. on the latest developments in post-occupancy evaluation and assessing
Following his recent retirement from the position as Emeritus building performance, and quickly discovered the passion which
Professor of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, Facility underlies this impressive career - undoubtedly Preiser’s desire to explore
Perspectives’ Melanie Drummond caught up with this prolific academic man’s relationship with his greatest achievement, the built environment.

FP: What first sparked your interest in the effect of buildings on
occupants and the environment?
WP: Here’s the real story: I was programmed to study electrical
engineering, when on my last high school vacation in Austria we ran into
my father’s best friend, the chief architect of the German railroad system.
At the end of the hike, I was convinced that architecture was for me.
After degrees from the Technical Universities in Vienna, Austria, and
Karlsruhe, Germany, I applied for 2 fellowships within 1 week, and I got
them both. One was for a year at the Helsinki University of Technology
in Finland, where I met architect Alvar Aalto, who represents a very
humanistic approach to design. This was followed by a Fulbright
Fellowship to the US at Virginia Tech, where I did my second Masters
degree on assessing user needs in college dormitories, and I pursued
that evaluative stance for the next 40 years.
I also need to mention the major mentors in my career. My Ph.D.
from Penn State was in “Man-Environment Relations” - that says it all.
My mentor was Dr. Hans Esser, a psychiatrist, and the other faculty
members were all social and systems scientists.
Then, when I worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers Research
Laboratory in Illinois in the Habitability Research Unit, my mentor was
world famous cyberneticist Dr. Heinz von Foerster, whose thinking
underlies my building performance assessment process model.
FP: You won the lifetime achievement award from the Environmental
Design Research Association (EDRA) last year; can you tell us what
that was in recognition of?
WP: It relates to my co-edited (with Elaine Ostroff) reference work
entitled Universal Design Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2001). It was the first
comprehensive handbook on universal design, with 69 chapter
contributions from around the world, dealing with policy, regulatory,
research, educational and other issues in addition to many case studies.
FP: Even as far back as 1969, you were involved in the Association
for the Study of Man-Environment Relations, ASMER, what were the
issues being discussed back then?
WP: ASMER was founded by psychiatrist Hans Esser, who also sat
on my dissertation committee. The major issues had to do with man-
environment relations, namely, the impact of the designed and built
environment on the well-being of people.
FP: When talking about the effect of buildings on the wellbeing of
people, what potential do buildings today have to enable a better
life for inhabitants?
WP: In the Habitability Framework I devised in 1983, 3 levels of
building performance are envisioned as far as people needs are
concerned:
Health, safety and security performance - these issues are addressed
by codes, zoning and other regulatory mechanisms in order to protect
people from serious injuries and death in buildings.
Functionality, efficiency and appropriate workflow performance -
these issues are addressed by programming and design criteria typically
found in manuals and guideline literature focusing on specific building
types.Social, psychological and cultural performance - These issues are
addressed by findings and recommendations from research studies
which are translated into planning and design guidance.

56 • f a c i l i t y perspectives

FP: At the other extreme, what are the detrimental effects of a
poorly-performing building on its inhabitants, and more widely, the
environment?
WP: The above levels in reverse imply: people killed by buildings
(like collapses), people getting sick (such as from gases like
formaldehyde); poorly sized and related spaces lead to inefficiencies
and lower productivity, etc.
Legionnaires disease is an example of infected air handling systems
making people sick, or even killing them. Building collapses are typically
caused by faulty structural systems. Radiation, though not perceptible by
humans, can have serious health effects. Proven lung cancer causing
agents like asbestos have to be removed at great cost. Full-spectrum
day lighting fixtures, though more expensive than traditional fluorescent
lighting, has been shown to have many health benefits.
FP: A large part of your work has involved improving the Post
Occupancy Evaluation of buildings in order to achieve better
performance of a building throughout its life cycle. What are the key
issues surrounding Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) today?
WP: Architects don’t want to hear about it and be accountable for
their misdeeds. The very fractured building industry is not structured for
systematic feedback and learning from one’s mistakes.
So-called ‘signature’ architects are the worst offenders. Architects
should adopt the precedent-based processes of diagnosing problems
similarly to the fields of medicine and law. Beyond a tradition of
outstanding craftsmanship, major Japanese corporations like Takenaka,
Shimizu, Kajima and Obayashi are offering complete packages from
strategic planning to programming, design, engineering to construction
and financing. That makes them extremely competitive in the world
market. Not only is the building industry in the US very disjointed, but
architects have continually lost turf by confining themselves to being
façade decorators. This trend is dangerous, and is reflected in the ever
poorer curricula and output of architecture schools.
FP: Is the development of smarter, greener buildings making it more
difficult to operate buildings and thus assess to achieve a successful
POE?
WP: No, metered buildings allow the performance assessment over
the long run, and thus, more can be learned about the operation and
maintenance cost and issues. I have seen some outstanding examples of
this in Japan. I was shown the high-tech headquarters buildings of some
major corporations, with sophisticated control rooms and computerised
monitoring systems in their basements. Everything from HVAC, security
to fire detection and protection, as well as energy consumption was
monitored centrally. Kajima even had a pre-programmed scent dispersal
system in order to stimulate workers’ brains and productivity. These
systems were run by facility managers.
FP: In ‘Assessing Building Performance’ you cover the Building
Performance Evaluation Framework, can you tell us a bit more about
that?
WP: The “framework” was developed by myself and Dr. Ulrich
Schramm in Germany, and it was first published by us in Time-Saver
Standards (McGraw-Hill, 1997). It is widely accepted among researchers
and consultants around the world.
FP: How can practises in POE be improved?
WP: They need to be standardised and widely accepted, see our
attempt in the appendix of the book ‘Assessing Building Performance’
(Preiser & Vischer, 2005). Then they need to be codified or made a
requirement for architects and builders alike. Section M in the Royal
Institute of British Architects (RIBA) contract attempted to do that, but
unfortunately, that was later eliminated.
FP: Has there been any recent breakthroughs in POE?
WP: There are now web based surveys of building users and other
stakeholders. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods of data
gathering using weighted performance indicator scores, is a promising
approach.
FP: Is POE an area that is being neglected? If so, why?
WP: The culture of continuous improvement through diagnosis of
successful and unsuccessful precedents, and thus knowledge building
(like in the law and medical fields) does not yet exist in the building
industry. Few are willing to pay for this service, with the exception of a
number of government agencies.
FP: What are the first steps which need to be taken to improve a
building’s performance?
WP: A clear definition of the vision (values), mission and ultimate
purpose of a building needs to be documented in the program (brief),
ENERGY + THE ENVIRONMENT
which should precede any design phases.
FP: Is it important for facility managers to be involved in the design
process?
WP: They should have a role in the programming phase, and then
again in the feedback or performance assessment phase. Programming
in UK English is “briefing”, that is, establishing what is needed in a
facility before designing it.
FP: How important is the role of facilities manager in assessing the
performance of a building, and ultimately improving it?
WP: The facility manager has a crucial role to play, as far as the
functioning of building systems and components are concerned. Office
or factory floor managers are more conversant about spatial layout,
adjacencies, and workflow.
FP: In Assessing Building Performance the author of the Facility
Management Chapter states that FMs need to keep KPIs simple to
accurately represent the ‘vital signs’ of a corporation’s operational
health, what are the KPIs they suggest?
WP: Economic metrics: Measures that reflect the economic
alignment of building assets with business requirements.
Functional metrics: Measures and indicators that reflect the ‘fitness
for purpose’ of the building assets.
Physical metrics: Measures that reflect the physical integrity,
condition and appearance of the building.
Service metrics: Measures and indicators that reflect the satisfaction
of users.
Environmental metrics: Measures and indicators that reflect the
wider role of building assets on the environment.
FP: Does improving a building’s performances always necessitate
large capital expenditure?
WP: Careful and thorough preparation and accountability reduces
wrong assumptions and mistakes, and thus, wasted resources.
FP: What difficulties are faced in the POE of existing building stock?
WP: There are multiple problems, including: historic preservation
issues; sustainability and energy consumption issues; structural,
electrical, plumbing and other code related issues; IT adaptability issues;
and last but not least, issues with aesthetic compatibility and material
choices.
FP: What do you see changing in POE in the next 5 to ten years?
WP: Just like Toyota and their insistence on quality control (although
they, too, have experienced a few problems lately), one can hope for
the adoption of values and developments that emphasise continuous
quality improvements in the building industry in the future. Consumers
are king, and today they are much more discriminating and
sophisticated than in the past, for example, by Googling product
reviews. That trend will invade the building industry, too.
FP: Who should ultimately be accountable for the performance of a
building?
WP: All stakeholders in the building delivery and life cycle processes
should be held accountable, and somebody has to lead the pack.
FP: You have spent the majority of your working life in the United
States, what issues relating to the built environment do you see
specifically affecting America today?
WP: Solar technology is making inroads, because of the increasing
cost of energy. Right now, the US has an economic slowdown which
severely affects the building industry, especially housing. One way to
gauge this is to count the number of construction cranes on the horizon.
By that standard, the Phoenix area is still growing and booming, while
others in the ‘rustbelt’ of the mid-west are suffering. Overall and on the
global level, the cost of construction materials is on the rise, contributing
to inflationary trends.
FP: What are your plans for the future, now that you have retired?
WP: I retired from the University of Cincinnati on July 1, the day my
wife was hired out of retirement to head the Gastrointestinal Diagnosis
Division of a national lab corporation here in Phoenix. My plans for the
future include visiting lectureships at the College of Design at Arizona
State University and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, as
well as consulting. Forty two years ago, I was a founding member of
Architectural Research Consultants, Inc. of Albuquerque, New Mexico
(you can Google them in order to understand the unique market niche
they have successfully carved out). There will be more global lecturing
and travel, in addition to publishing more articles and books.
Facility Perspectives looks forward to hearing more from Wolfgang
Preiser in the coming years and we wish him well in his retirement.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 57
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 CLIENT FEATURE

An innovative
approach to services
provision
BY FACILITY PERSPECTIVES’ EDITOR, MAX WINTER

For most facility managers, services procurement involves dealing with numerous providers
who each have their own systems, processes, procedures and standards. When these
services are required across state borders or nationally, the issue of finding a services
provider capable of delivering those services to the standard required take on an added
degree of difficulty – or do they?

Facility Perspectives’ Max Winter investigates the innovative services provision model
offered by the Service Alliance Group, and spoke to founding member company GJK
Facility Services CEO, Shane Williams, and Lou La Delfa, National Relationship Manager for
Service Alliance Group.

FP (to Shane Williams): When did the Service Alliance Group begin and what prompted the Group’s development?

SW: The Service Alliance Group commenced operation as an Association in 2002 and became an incorporated
company limited by guarantee in 2005. The development of a multi-services provider able to provide local service
specialists regionally, across states or nationally, was borne out of clients feed-back suggesting that while their building
portfolio responsibilities and geographic coverage had grown, they still had a preference in continuing to engage local
specialist companies within a state or a national multi service contract.
What these clients wanted was a cost-competitive single management and system approach to a select range of
alternative providers, that gave them agreed service level outcomes, and provided flexibility of movement over a non-
performing single service provider, without compromising the whole project.
It soon became apparent that individually, these local specialist companies had limited capability and capacity to
compete in response to a multi-services contract tendered across states or on a national level, and so the Service Alliance
Group was formed with the catchcry Local Specialists – National Solutions.

FP: What are some of the benefits to customers of taking this innovative approach to service delivery?

SW: Well firstly, the Service Alliance Group acts as a central facilitator for responding to single and multi service
Request for Tenders. The Group provides an integrated service response, successfully competing at a national and local
level, and provides a common approach in service culture, processes and procedures, combined with cost effectiveness
and an outstanding service focus. This delivery model has also been ‘Patented for the method and systems of providing
the co-ordination of the facility support services specialists’, and is aimed at complementing the work of FM organisations.
This approach provides an avenue of superior service and relationship to clients that surpass the usual sub-contracting
arrangements, and it is supported through utilising the appropriate information technology to ensure communication and
reporting systems meet and exceed client customer expectations.
It really is about providing outstanding service solutions through the collective pooling of knowledge, expertise and
resources across the network, and achieving predictable and consistent client standards in all service delivery.

FP (to Lou La Delfa, National Relationship Manager for Service Alliance Group): How is this achieved in practice?

LLD: We have found very quickly that two of the benefits of the service model provided are the centralised
management of the contract through a central administration unit, and secondly having the one point of contact provided
by the dedicated National Relationship Manager.
The National Relationship Manager oversees the Project Members from the tendering process to contract award
stage, and manages the initial contact prior to transition and hand over to the Prime Project Member, who is signatory to
the contract project. The National Relationship Manager oversees the enactment of the Scope of Works Agreement with
all the project members, and monthly, quarterly and annual project member meetings are held to reinforce contractual
service requirements.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 61

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 59
CLIENT FEATURE

About the Service Alliance Group – BOARD OF DIRECTORS

George Stamas
George is an equal major shareholder and Director of GJK Facility Services, a founding member and
active Board Member of the Service Alliance Group. George has been in the service industry for over thirty
years, and retains his key focus on providing superior customer service delivery. GJK Facility Services is one of
the largest privately owned facility support service providers in Australia and has developed into an
organisation with over 500 EFT employees. GJK Facility Services has more than 200 contracts across a range
of facilities including educational institutions, local and state government facilities and industrial, retail and
commercial establishments and is proud of the excellent and long standing relationships it has developed
with its major clients. George actively participates in industry associations through his current roles as a
Director and Licensor of the Service Alliance Group (SAG), Vice Chair of the Facilities Management
Association of Australia (FMA Australia) and as Victorian President of Building Services Contractors Association
of Australia (BSCAA) with responsibility for Governance and Legal portfolio. George has been integral to GJK
Facility Services’ continuing successful growth.

Shaun D’Cruz
Shaun D’Cruz is a major shareholder and the Managing Director of Phoenix Cleaning & Maintenance
Services in South Australia and joined the Board of Directors of Service Alliance Group in 2002
Phoenix Cleaning & Maintenance Services, now in its fifteenth year of continuous operation has
developed from an organisation with 10 employees into an organisation in excess of 800 permanent staff
throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory.
With almost 20 years of senior management experience, predominantly in Managing Director roles
within the industry, Shaun’s wealth of experience and industry knowledge has fostered the growth of Phoenix
Cleaning & Maintenance Services.

George Manoussakis
George Manoussakis is the General Manager of SKG Cleaning Services and has been in the cleaning
industry for nearly 30 years. He has been a board member of the Service Alliance Group Board of Directors
since 2004 and his vision for SKG is to continue to deliver an outstanding service to the client,
incorporating cutting edge technology, environmental and OH&S practices.
SKG Cleaning Services was established in 1974 and operates throughout the State of New South Wales
with regional offices in Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and Orange as well as the Sydney metropolitan
area.
With a staff of over 700 employees, SKG have over 300 regular contracts servicing Local, State and
Commonwealth Government Departments and Authorities, educational facilities, and commercial and retail
buildings.

Kaye Jowett
Kaye is the Chief Financial Officer of GJK Facility Services and joined the Service Alliance Group Board
of Directors as the Company Secretary in 2005.
Kaye has worked within the service industry for over 30 years and has extensive experience in all aspects
of the industry. Her knowledge of the company’s requirements for reporting of the financial, administrative,
managerial and operational structures of businesses provides the Service Alliance Group with the required
expertise in company reporting of all financial matters.
Kaye is a former member of the Building Service Contractors Association of Australia (BSCAA) Victorian
Executive Committee and was the first female to be elected.

Ron Doughty
As Managing Director of the Delron Group, Ron Doughty is one of the founding members of the Service
Alliance Group and an active board member. Ron has played an integral role in bringing the Service Alliance
Group to where it is today, as one of the most highly recognised facility service providers nationally.
The Delron Group is a Western Australian organisation and is owned and managed by the Doughty
family. The business, which began in 1947, has grown to become one of Western Australia’s largest facility
support service providers within the state. With over 1200 employees in Perth and surrounding country areas,
Ron’s experience in the industry spans over 35 years.
Ron actively participates in industry associations and has previously been President of the Master
Cleaners Guild of W.A. on three occasions and is now a life member. Ron was also formerly the WA Vice
President of the Property Council of Australia and has served on several property management committees.

60 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 CLIENT FEATURE
FROM PAGE 59

The Service Alliance Group has many well-known

national corporations and government departments, and
they have found that the Group’s ISO 9001:2000 accredited
quality occupational health & safety, sustainability, and risk
management processes and procedures have been a
significant factor in their decision regarding service delivery
requirements.
Coupled with a formalised commitment to delivering all
aspects of facility services, a structured national operation,
and highly developed reporting IT base systems, the Service
Alliance Group manages to deliver these added benefits at
no additional cost or project mark-ups.

FP: What are some of the services are provided to your clients?

LLD: The Service Alliance Group provides access to a national network of cleaning contractors, catering services,
manned security services, and courier services. The Group provides the supply of specialist chemicals and consumables,
cleaning equipment and maintenance, front desk customer services, grounds maintenance and landscaping, hygiene
services and pest control.
Some of the Group’s secondary services include hard services such as electrical maintenance, some essential safety
services, air conditioning maintenance and commissioning, and CCTV and monitoring security services.

FP: That’s quite an impressive list of services. How does the Service Alliance Group differ from Facility Management
providers?

LLD: The Service Alliance Group is not a Facility Management organisation or a margin-on-margin cost consortium.
The Service Alliance group is a member-based organisation that provides flexibility in customising a service response that
meets client specified needs. The Group engages local specialists in conjunction with national service organisations in
providing the optimum service delivery, and in a lot of respects complements existing FM organisations through value
adding to their core business.
For Service Alliance Group’s many customers, this means quality of service to uniform national standards, and
effectively provides to peace of mind.

We wish the Service Alliance Group all success.

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FM Action Agenda:
innovating the future
Stephen Ballesty of Rider Levett Bucknall as the FM Action Agenda’s
Deputy Chairman and FMA Australia’s Immediate Past Chairman
reports on the progress of the Recognition Working Group for
Innovation acknowledging the leadership of FM Action Agenda
Implementation Board members; Karen Lyon Reid, Queensland
Department of Public Works; George Spink, Transfield Services; and
Emlyn Keane, AMP Capital. The Facilities Management (FM) Action
Agenda was established in 2004 in conjunction with the Department
of Industry, Tourism & Resources and produced its strategic plan
entitled ‘Managing the Built Environment’ in 2005. The plan set out a 20 point Action
plan to improve the recognition of FM as a contributor to a more productive and
sustainable Built Environment through improved innovation, education and regulatory
reform. This is being championed across four Recognition Working Groups covering
Innovation, Education & Training, Regulatory Reform and Sustainability. Now officially
in the third and concluding year of its implementation phase the FM Action Agenda
has made significant progress across a wide range of initiatives. The FM Action Agenda
charts the course for a continuing journey towards best practice which FMA Australia
and others are committed to. This article provides an insight into the activities of the
Recognition Working Group for Innovation.

Innovating the future
Achieving growth in the facilities management industry will depend on
promoting a culture of innovation and bringing innovations rapidly into the
market place. To date, much of the innovation within the industry has been
ad-hoc and iterative, building upon and adapting systems and services
from other industry sectors. Some has occurred as a result of technology
transfers through overseas linkages.
The FM Action Agenda set out a range of actions to promote the
benefits of innovation through greater industry collaboration, research and
development, highlighting the contribution that FM makes to workplace
productivity. The strategic plan included for the establishment of an FM
Innovation Forum to facilitate the exchange of ideas, and a web portal to
disseminate information.
The Innovation Working Group is responsible for implementation of
Actions 3 – 6 namely:
3 Action 3 – Establish a Facilities Management Innovation Forum for the
facilities management industry.
3 Action 4 – Establish a web portal for the facilities management
industry to disseminate information and provide feedback on
innovation, education and training, regulatory issues, and
sustainability.
3 Action 5 – Promote the benefits of innovation and encourage greater
industry collaboration and investment in research and development.
3 Action 6 – Highlight the contribution that facilities management
makes to productivity by establishing performance measures and ‘best
practice’ benchmarks, incorporating client input, with a specific focus
on improving workplace productivity.
Delivering innovation
The FM Action Agenda’s website www.fmactionagenda.org was
launched in June 2006 at the FMA Australia’s ideaction conference in
Canberra. This website has operated successfully since, due to the
generous support of key organisations allowing for the information about
the progress of the FM Action Agenda can be regularly updated and
shared.
Following on from the web-based FM Innovation survey in February
2007, the Working Group identified focus topics for the development of
an FM Innovation Forum. FMA Australia hosted an Innovation Round Table
breakfast at ideaction 2007 in Sydney on 10 May, allowing industry leaders
to exchange ideas on potential research projects. The survey findings and
outcome of these collaborations was clearly defined need for FM
Innovation focused on services procurement processes, workplace
productivity and sustainable environments. These themes have been
progressed as follows:
3 Services Procurement in the facilities management market place is
substantial in financial terms and has a huge multiplier in terms of
environmental and social impact. Traditional short term contracts using
lump sum pricing structures may not provide the best model to
encourage contractors to innovative with regard to materials selection,
life cycle costs and long term operational performance. Therefore, it is
vital that the FM industry moves towards implementing sustainable
procurement principles that establish relationships and commercial
models where contractors are encouraged to focus on long term
productivity and sustainability objectives.
A procurement project focusing on such relationships and models
rather than the procurement process, leading to published guidelines
is envisaged. Research in this area would involve looking at the various
commercial models from lump sum, schedule or rates, through to cost
reimbursable and target cost models and the various advantages and
disadvantages in terms of delivering innovation for end users. The risk-
reward mechanisms that can be used to underpin the various
commercial models are also within the scope of the project, including
the style of commercial model from penalty based to risk and reward,
with associated key performance indicators (KPIs), and how these can
be structured to encourage improved behaviours and stimulate
innovation.
3 Workplace Productivity research undertaken by the Innovation
Working Group has identified that there is increasing corporate, local
government and industry association interest in undertaking research
into productivity benefits associated with indoor ecology.
A project has now been established which assesses the productivity
measurement methodology obtained from the Healthy Buildings
Forum in Lisbon, Portugal against recent productivity case studies
undertaken in projects across Australia. The result of this project will

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 63
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 be published as performance measures and best practice benchmarks
based on existing and new Australian and International data.
Working with FMA Australia’s Indoor Ecology Special Interest Group
this project could lead to the publishing of ‘Facility Ecology Guidelines
for Quantitative Productivity, Performance and Wellbeing Gains’ and
industry training to raise awareness of productivity issues.
3 Sustainability is now a mainstream FM issue. This is being
acknowledged by individuals realising that their actions have
consequences, governments in their policy platforms and
organisations recognising the environmental, social and financial
benefits of creating and maintaining Green Buildings. The
Sustainability team’s effort has focused on the improved utilisation of
existing knowledge and the development of tools and opportunities
to improve the environmental performance of facilities.
The Sustainability project will concentrate on web based sustainability
information exchange, ideally focusing on performance standards and
benchmarks. This project will compliment FMA Australia’s soon to be
published ‘Sustainable Operations Guidelines for Facilities Managers’.
The FM Action Agenda’s concluding 2008 annual report will include
recommendations for the publishing of various guidelines and the
development of a web based FM Innovation Forum, providing a “one
stop shop” for industry to access the latest FM innovation. It is envisaged
that the creation of a FM Innovation Forum will foster the exchange of
innovative ideas, and should enable various industry groups to share
information and pool the latest innovations drawn from case studies and
applied research. The forum could even include directories, links and chat
rooms to expedite knowledge exchange and enable the industry move
forward faster.
Promoting innovation
The property-construction-facilities industry is faced with numerous
challenges in terms of contractual initiatives, regulatory compliance and
technologies, as we confront the role the Built Environment must play in a
sustainable future. Increased promotion and education regarding the value
of innovation and FM’s contribution to operational efficiency and corporate
success is a vital activity.
YOUR VISION. OUR TECHNOLOGY.
THE CONVENIENT, SAFE
AND EFFECTIVE WAY UP.
In Sydney in May 2007 the FM Innovation Forum held to workshop
ideas and identify potential Innovation Project themes, there is an FM
Industry Productivity Workshop planned for June 13, 2008 at the Optus
venue at Macquarie Park. Thereafter the Innovation Working Group will be
proposing a series of one day industry training sessions in capital cities
focusing on ’what is innovation’, encouraging FM industry participants to
think creatively.
Innovation is key to success, no matter what your role.
Recently the findings of the award winning FM Exemplar Project:
Sydney Opera House and the resulting publication ‘FM as a business
enabler’ were presented at the CRC for Construction Innovation’s Clients
Driving Innovation conference (March 12-13) on the Gold Coast.
More recently this important message and profile of the Australian FM
Action Agenda’s contribution have been presented at FMA Australia’s
ideaction’08 conference (May 7-9) on the Gold Coast, and IFMA’s
California Sustainability Mayday (May 14) in Sacramento USA, with future
opportunities at events such as EFMC’08 (European Facility Management
Conference, June 10-11) in Manchester England, the World Sustainable
Building (SB08) tri-annual Conference (September 21-25) in Melbourne
and IFMA’s World Workplace Conference (October 15-17) in Dallas USA.
Moving Forward
The FM Action Agenda’s Innovation initiatives, together with the work
of other Recognition Working Groups on Education and Training,
Regulatory Reform and Sustainability, will facilitate industry wide awareness
and collaboration, ultimately enhancing the quality and quantity of future
FM resources. This recognition will add focus to issues impacting on the
‘Managing the Built Environment’ for the benefit of industry stakeholders,
the national economy and ultimately the community.
The Australian FM Action Agenda has made a real difference,
demonstrating FM’s contribution to a more ‘productive and sustainable
Built Environment’.
You’ll find out more about the FM Action Agenda at
www.fmactionagenda.org or contact Stephen Ballesty on
(02) 9922 2277 or stephen.ballesty@au.rlb.com
1300 655 525
www.roofaccesssolutions.com.au
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 65
 SECURITY + RISK MANAGEMENT

No quick fix in disaster recovery

When a serious incident threatens a facility it is vital to act quickly, with preparedness very
likely to mean the difference between annihilation and survival. Mark Phillips reports.

ISO publishes crisis

benchmark
The International Organisation for
Standardisation (IS0) has just
published what it says is the first
internationally ratified benchmark
document addressing incident
preparedness and continuity for
organisations in both public and
private sectors.
The publicly available specification
ISO/PAS 22399:2007, ‘Societal
security – Guideline for incident
preparedness and operational
continuity management’, is based
on best practice from five national
standards from Australia, Israel,
Japan, UK and US. It includes
guidelines for responding to natural
disasters, acts of terror, technology-
related accidents, and
environmental incidents.
ISO/PAS 22399 establishes the
process, principles and terminology
of incident preparedness and
operational (business) continuity
management (IPOCM) within the
context of societal security. The
standard describes a holistic
management process that identifies
potential impacts that threaten an
organisation, and provides a
framework for minimising their
effect.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 67
SECURITY + RISK MANAGEMENT
T
wo years ago infection control specialist, Alan McLean, warned that
Australia was closer to a pandemic than at any other time in the
last 35 years.
Since then, the threat posed by a H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu,
outbreak has not gone away. Because the influenza virus is so easily
spread in work environments, absenteeism in the event of a pandemic
could be up to 10 times greater than the four percent of the workplace
Health Services Australia says is absent from the office on a typical
workday. What’s more, these absences could last for up to three months,
devastating Australian industry as workers struggle to cope with illness,
loss of family members and general infrastructure failures such as
transport, shopping and communications.
But the spectre of a pandemic is not the only potential disaster
facing business. There are many kinds of emergency events that can
affect a facility – everything from building system failures to fire, natural
disasters and terrorism.
Although it has been reported that post 9/11 the amount of time
spent on risk management has increased 400 percent, according to a
Gartner Inc. survey of 359 risk management professionals from the US,
UK and Canada, nearly 60 percent of organisations only plan for their
longest outage to be seven days.
“This indicates a huge hole in those organisations’ ability to sustain
business operations if a regional disaster strikes,” says Gartner research
vice president, Roberta Witty.
“The impact of a disaster that lasts more than one week can have
enormous negative impact on revenue, reputation and brand. Regional
incidents, terrorism, service provider outages and pandemics can easily
last longer than seven days. Therefore, enterprises must be prepared.
More mature business continuity management (BCM) and disaster
recovery (DR) programs plan for outages of at least 30 days.”
Significantly, most BCM/DR plans are also for a single facility outage,
with planning for regional disasters having dropped in priority during the
past couple of years.
According to Witty, conducting a business impact analysis (BIA) is the
most critical process in the development of a DR strategy and associated
plans because it provides the business requirement used to develop the
plan.
Exercising (formerly called testing) on a regular basis is the second
most critical component of a BCM program. That said, having a plan is
only a fraction of the maturity of the BCM/DR process. Knowing that the
plan works during an actual emergency is key to a business’s survival.
Most facilities managers, however, would object to crashing a TNT-
laden truck into the building, setting fire to a few offices or inviting a Uzi-
armed psychopath into the workplace so as to test their organisation’s
emergency response capabilities. Instead, full-scale incident simulations
can be conducted, and by assembling a group of people from key
departments for discussion, a broad picture of the facility and its
vulnerabilities is likely to come to light.
In these types of drills a facilitator would describe an emergency
scenario and each department head would talk through their team’s
actions, noting input that might be required from other departments,
local authorities or external suppliers. In this way the scenario is
developed in real time until a detailed response plan emerges, ideally
incorporating flexibility to deal with building occupants who might, for
example, have a disability.
The merits of alarms with flashing or strobe lights as well as voice
enunciators might be considered, along with lessons learned in real-life
disasters. For example, in the case of the World Trade Centre in New
York, emergency lighting in the stairwells and corridors was set up on a
backup battery power source (the failure of the emergency lighting in the
1993 crisis was a major problem in evacuation). The lights in the stairwells
were also redesigned in modular sections, so that if one section failed,
the other sections stayed on (like Christmas trees). The lights were
functioning on the lower levels of the Towers, even as the top floors were
collapsing.
In the Gartner survey, a total of 28 per cent of organisations reported
that their last DR exercise went well and met all their service targets.
However, 61 per cent said they had serious problems, which should not
give any organisation a good sense of security that their DR program will
meet business recovery needs when a crisis strikes.
More alarming still are the findings of a survey commissioned by the
US-based National Emergency Response & Rescue Training Centre
(NERRTC), which aimed to uncover trends in disaster preparedness
efforts across six key industries – commercial real estate, chemical,
energy, entertainment, healthcare and transportation.
While a majority of respondents across the sectors had updated
68 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
disaster response and recovery plans in the year prior to the study (83
percent), a considerable number reported that they do not train
employees on the plans or conduct exercises regularly to assess their
effectiveness.
“The survey results suggest that private sector preparedness has
improved in recent years, but critical gaps still exist,” says NERRTC
director, Harrison Lobdell. “Having a plan is important, but it’s only part
of the equation.
Employees need to be trained to implement plans under extreme
pressure in an invariably chaotic environment, and those plans need to
be tested to make sure they work. According to our survey, those critical
preparations are being overlooked at many companies today.”
The study reveals that the commercial real estate sector is the least
prepared of the six industries surveyed. Indeed, a majority of commercial
real estate respondents (53 percent) said their companies had not
conducted exercises on their disaster plans in the past year. Of those that
had, 32 percent rated the exercises as ‘poor’ or ‘fair’.
When disaster strikes, effective communication with crucial
stakeholders such as key personnel, customers, suppliers and insurance
agents is vital to how well an organisation weathers the crisis. Although
phone trees have been a major form of emergency notification, more
advanced technology such as automated notification systems can now
activate communications to a pre-selected list of contacts. Messages
regarding the nature of the situation can be sent by phone, email or
page to first responders, off-site personnel, and other contacts.
According to the Gartner study, a total of 37 per cent of
organisations use a physical crisis command centre to coordinate
emergencies, such as a local hotel room or conference room. However,
understanding that many disasters happen when employees are not in
one place, 31 percent of companies have established a virtual command
centre so that travelling or off-site personnel can be included in the
management of an incident.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that the long-term damage a crisis inflicts on
the reputation of a business can be just as devastating as the immediate
interruption to operations. Smallgoods manufacturer Garibaldi and Pan
Pharmaceuticals are just two examples of companies that were
decimated not just by contamination crises, but inappropriate and ill-
considered communication strategies.
Much has been written about the dos and don’ts when dealing with
the media during a crisis, but rarely have they been more forcefully
conveyed than in two not dissimilar mine incidents. One occurred in
Beaconsfield, Tasmania in April 2006, the other in Sago, West Virginia in
January 2006.
The two-week rescue of miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb at the
Beaconsfield gold mine is widely regarded as textbook not only in its
execution under the auspices of mine manager Matthew Gill, but in the
media liaison conducted by Australian Workers’ Union National Secretary,
Bill Shorten.
Under intense scrutiny from both local and international media, a
worst-case scenario was seamlessly managed by well-versed crisis teams
that interfaced with surface management, government, operations and
rescue personnel, victim support counsellors and, of course, one of the
largest media contingents in Australian history. Shorten was without
exception objective and matter-of-fact in updating what was going on,
clearly articulating to the viewing public that the rescue team was well-
trained and the effort itself strategically well-planned.
The situation at the Sago coal mine, where 13 miners were trapped
underground, stands in stark contrast. Almost unbelievably, a breakdown
in communications resulted in next-of-kin being notified that 12 of the
miners were, thankfully, safe. Tragically, relief and euphoria turned to
unimaginable grief when the terrible mistake was discovered – 12 of the
miners were actually dead. Just one had survived. All of this occurred
under around-the-clock media coverage by the likes of CNN, Fox,
MSNBC and all major American news broadcasts.
While facility managers cannot predict an emergency situation, they
are in the unique position to prepare for one. A plan that addresses
preparedness, response and recovery operations, as well as media
communication, might never have to be used in real life. On the other
hand, who wants to be a manager at a mine in a town called Sago?
Mark Phillips is a freelance journalist who has written for and edited
business publications such as Company Director, Australasian Risk
Management, Franchising and Marketing. He also has a long-standing
involvement in covering FM-related issues. He can be reached on 0407
437289 or writestuffink@bigpond.com.
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Bradley Robbins at
The Palm Jumeirah, UAE.
One of the genuine pleasures of reporting on the Facility
Management industry is to see the career progress made by those
who are passionately involved. Facility Perspectives caught up with
FMA Australia accredited AFM2 and 2005 Young Facility Manager
of the Year, Bradley Robbins, and asked him about his new role at
Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
FP: Can you tell the readers about your career to date, and how you
came to work at The Palm Jumeirah?
I commenced my career in the construction industry approximately
15 years ago and soon moved into the field of Facilities Management. I
held the role of Head of Facilities Management for Investa Property
Group, Australia’s largest listed owner of commercial buildings, with more
than 65 properties across 6 States. Investa is a world leader in
sustainability and when the opportunity came 18 months ago to work for
in Dubai for Nakheel, with the chance to build a team and manage the
Palm Jumeirah, one of world’s most exciting and challenging projects,
from a FM and environmental perspective, it was an opportunity that
couldn’t be refused.
FP: What does your role entail?
In Dubai there are many large-scale developments and developers
who not only construct the buildings, but also construct the infrastructure
for the development such as roads, bridges, sewerage treatment plants,
district cooling plants and all of the networks to support the utilities, so
essentially you are both a council and a facilities management company
all at once.
My role is Infrastructure and Facilities Manager for The Palm
Jumeirah, which is a 5km by 5km man-made island in the shape of a
Palm tree. The island is now home to more than 2,000 families and will
ultimately house 8,000 homes, and 30 world-class hotels that represent
most of the world’s top hotel brands including Atlantis and Trump. In
addition the island will host the first permanent Cirque du Soleil theatre
outside of the US and the Far East. Our team is involved all the way
FM AROUND THE GLOBE
through the development process from design reviews of developments
planned or under construction on the Palm, day-to-day operation,
security, infrastructure, through to capital replacement. The team is
currently made up of more than 55 Facilities Management staff from
around the world, and this is forecast to reach more than 85 by the end
of the year with the continued handover of the developments upon the
Palm.
FP: Can you outline some of the daily/weekly/monthly challenges you
face?
The challenges are enormous and can vary daily. They can range
from challenges such as ensuring that our residents have safe access to
their villa or apartment while construction continues, right through to
providing simple services such as mail delivery and ensuring delivery of a
newspaper in the mornings. All of this sounds easy enough, but in a
development like the Palm, the logistics and scale make it a lot more
difficult.
Weekly challenges come with the handover of the project from a
construction phase to an operational phase; it is relatively easy when you
are talking about a standard residential building, but when you talk about
the handover of 20 buildings at a time, with more than 2,500
apartments, the scope and scale of the task provides additional
challenges such as ensuring our staff are in place and trained on the
system, ready to operate, and in a position to manage the defects
liability period, while at all times ensuring our residents needs are met.
The timeframes are very aggressive and we need to build a relationship
with the Project Managers to be able to smoothly transition from
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 71
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construction to operations.
Similarly we have been working with the project management team
to take over the main sub-sea traffic tunnel on the Palm which has six
lanes, is 1.4 km in length and an engineering feat in its own right. This
has been a challenge in ensuring we have the right team to take over the
tunnel on time and to operate the sophisticated SCADA* system around
the clock – let alone arranging insurance to cover a tunnel that has cost
more than AED 500 million (approximately $147.5million AUD) to
construct!
* SCADA is an acronym that stands for Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition. SCADA refers to a system that collects data from various
sensors at a factory, plant or in other remote locations and then sends
this data to a central computer which then manages and controls the
data for processing or for real-time decision making.
The monthly challenges we face are those on a sustainability and
OHS front. We view these as opportunities rather than challenges though
and we are putting in place the systems and processes to ensure
sustainability is part of the day-to-day culture, and we are already seeing
the results. At present, only residents can access the Palm and our
challenge this year is to open the island to tourists and the public.
FP: And your observations of the industry there?
The industry is still relatively young and with so much construction
taking place, on such a grand scale over the past 4 of 5 years, Facilities
Management strategies have had to evolve. It’s vitally important that FM
teams are engaged at the concept and design stage for input and
direction.
With the developments being built and marketed on a grand scale
along with the harsh weather conditions and fever-pitch timelines, this is
a very demanding industry that requires not only the best Facilities
Managers to meet these needs, but also the best service providers
whom are also having to grow to keep pace with the growth of the
industry.
With the industry so young and with the developments within their
defect liability periods or partially handed over, we are yet to see how
the lifecycles match the forecast in terms of timing and costs; this will
surely test the industry and the people within the industry to come up
with innovative solutions.
FP: What differences or highlights might there be between here and
UAE?
The climate, the diversity of the people, and the lifestyle. In Summer
you are looking at up to 50 degrees, with near on 100 percent humidity,
though in this day and age your home, car and office are all air
conditioned so its manageable even on the hottest days. The diversity of
the people is tremendous within our team; we have more than 10
different nationalities and our residents living upon the Palm come from
more than 110 different nationalities; I have learnt about so many
different cultures and met so many diverse people. From a family
perspective, Dubai is a great place to live and work.
FM AROUND THE GLOBE
I have worked with some of the best, most ambitious and visionary
professionals in the world, and this constantly challenges you to deliver a
bigger and better product or service. At Nakheel we are delivering more
than 3 million homes spread across 2 billion square feet (about
185,806,080 square metres) of land over the next couple of decades; the
scale of our projects, such as The Palm and The World, are truly awe-
inspiring and it is fantastic to be involved in the creation of a city. My job
isn’t simply managing a building, it is about building and managing a
city. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where you would get the
chance to do so on such a scale.
FP: What are your longer term hopes and aspirations?
My longer term aspirations are to ensure that we provide best
practice facilities management to our residents. In saying that, we also
need to be in a position where we can benchmark our services against
others in the region or the world, and to be able to demonstrate that we
do provide our residents the best possible services. The Palm Jumeirah is
the first in a trilogy of Palm island developments and if we can get things
right for Palm Jumeirah, then things are less challenging for the following
islands. The Palm Jebel Ali is 1.5 times larger than Palm Jumeirah and
the Palm Deira is about half the size of Paris and will have a population of
more than 1 million people! As you can imagine, this is a challenging
prospect and that’s why we are putting in place and refining a model to
manage cities, not just the facilities.
FP: Where do you see opportunities for facilities management in
general and for you in particular?
There are opportunities for Facilities Management within the Middle
East region to become a leader in the industry. With so many large-scale
and competing developments, the opportunities will be offered to the
best candidates, and in turn the value of facilities management as a
profession will increase. Facilities Management will not remain facilities
management; it will incorporate other value-added deliverables such as
infrastructure, strata management, and community management. At
Nakheel, we are moving from the development stage to delivery on
many of our projects and so there are great opportunities. We still have
many incredible projects to complete such as The World, 300 man-made
islands in the shape of the world’s map, and Waterfront, a city built from
scratch that is twice the size of Hong Kong! The opportunity to lead and
manage these world-class developments and leave your mark upon
them really is a fantastic opportunity and something I can’t wait to get
stuck into.
FP: How valuable has your FMA Australia AFM1 and AFM 2
accreditation been in furthering your career?
The accreditation exercise has made me more aware of my
capabilities and also aware of the areas I needed to advance and build
on. Coming to Dubai has bridged the gap for me in achieving AFM3,
which I am now working towards completing.
We wish Bradley every success.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 73
CLIENT FEATURE

Managing contractors and tracking their

activities is a hot issue across the Tasman. The

Whangarei Hospital north of Auckland is one the

largest district hospitals in NZ, and deals with a

large variety of maintenance contractors,

cleaners and service providers. In March they

chose the award winning Praxeo solution from

Valorem Systems to automate their contractor

and visitor management. Antonia Cobb, the

Property Compliance Officer, said, “our reception

area is unmanned, and we were looking for

something that the contractors could do

themselves … we need to track contractor

insurances, inductions – and site specific info, so

if the contractor puts in that they are working on

the roof, it would bring up a list of rules for

working on the roof etc.” The Praxeo solution

delivers these features, as well as tracking

contractor activities, reporting on service level

agreement activities, and providing for the

induction of visitors. Whangarei staff can up-load

video and audio messages specific to their site,

and these are displayed in an interactive manner

on the Praxeo touch-screen to visitors and

contractors. As a web-based system, information

and reports can be gathered at any time, via the

secure web-based Praxeo Manager. “The

installation at Whangarei Hospital is our first

export sale, and also our first sale into the health

care / government area. Valorem is very pleased

to be working with the Whangarei team as they

lead the way in NZ in management of their

contractors and visitors,” stated Jon Tinberg,

Managing Director of Valorem.

 FM LEAD STORY

Is a revolution about to take place in

Facility Management Procurement?

According to Dr Paul Luciani, a holder of a Doctorate in Facility

Management at UTS and researcher on the topic, the answer is it’s
already started! Dr Luciani came to this conclusion after years of
research in the way Facility Management procurement cycles alter,
in particular, the interaction of cost and value with in-sourcing and
outsourcing of facility management in Australia.

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 75
FM LEAD STORY

A
fter five years of research undertaken at the University of
Technology Sydney in the faculty of Design Architecture and
Building, he came to the conclusion that medium to large size
organisation’s core business actually undertake micro shifts in their
operating environments, which has the effect of changing the optimal
environment in which facility services should be delivered to achieve
maximum value and minimum costs.
“Outsourcing thrives best under different operating environments
than in-sourcing and vice versa,” claims Dr Luciani.
Dr Luciani had a feeling that this was the case. After spending the last
13 years in various large organisations as an operations manager, he
observed that there were times when external resources would definitely
benefit the overall delivery of the Facility Management function over
internal resources. However there were times when it seemed that these
external resources were adding unwanted costs.
“I remember signing off an FM IT consultant’s invoice thinking, wow,
this much money for not much return, we could do this better and
cheaper ourselves! I had to remind myself that about 18 months prior to
this he was credited with revolutionary management of the organisation’s
communications infrastructure. What had changed? It was then that I
started to think that maybe it was the organisation that shifted away from
the service provider, and not the other way around. Should the blame
then for increased cost in service delivery be shifted from the suppliers to
something else, say the organisation itself!”
That is when Dr Luciani decided that he would seek to answer the
question of how to get the balance right between insourcing and
outsourcing of FM delivery. His search for a suitable avenue to research
this question, lead him to the University of Technology Sydney. “After
scanning the globe, UTS was the only institution willing to offer a
Doctorate in Facility Management” said Dr Luciani.
This is a first for Australia, and in fact, Dr Luciani is the first graduate
of the degree; and one of only a handful in the world who hold such a
qualification.
Associate Professor at the time, Craig Langston, a noted Facility
Management academic who currently is the Professor of Construction and
Facilities Management - School of Sustainable Development at Bond
University, was instrumental in the course design of Doctor of Facilities
Management at UTS, and the course provided the perfect environment to
study Facility Management Procurement Cycles.
“I remember sitting in Craig’s office explaining my hypothesis on
degradation curves in cost and value over time. His initial reaction was
that a simpler problem should be chosen! But I was adamant that I
wanted to research this. To his credit, he supported the notion and he
supervised the development of the hypothesis which was eventually
accepted by the University,” said Dr Luciani
What transpired after this was an intense study on 148 organisations,
with data collected going back 50 years in some instances.
“I remember running regression analysis on the final data set and not
getting the expected results! I started worrying that my hypothesis may
not be exactly correct. So I rang Dr David Leifer, Senior Lecturer and
Coordinator of the Facilities Management Program at the University of
Sydney, Faculty of Architecture for his advice. I sent him the graphed
results hoping he could shed some light on why the results were not
returning the expected trends.”
“Dr Leifer almost instantly recognised that I was using the wrong type
of regression analysis and suggested that I use Polynomial regression to
the 5th or 6th order. He was right. Once plugged in, the data set returned
almost perfect trend lines supporting the hypothesis!” said Dr Luciani.
Dr Luciani was looking for slow and gradual decline in value and
increase in cost, and so all his statistical methods were around a straight
line trend. What was happening however, was a slightly erratic up and
down curve trend that culminated at its peak about every five years. This,
he learned, was best discovered using polynomial regression analysis, as
the up and down cycles fitted the model better than a straight line
method.
What this was indicating was that something was causing realised
value and cost from FM delivery to change over time in fairly regular 5
year intervals. Fortunately, the response rate from the data set was very
good, and as such it was easy to identify the causes of these changes. It
was in fact, the organisation’s operating environment itself changing in
almost precisely the same pattern as the value and costs. “This was the
driver I had been searching for!” said Dr Luciani
“I am most grateful to Dr Leifer for his suggestion and more
importantly, I am grateful that this sparked a long lasting relationship,
where he has allowed me to progressively lecture on the findings of my
thesis to his master’s students. The feedback from the students has been
very receptive. Many of the students claim to have known for some time
that cycles existed and that micro management of external and internal
resources delivers optimal results in their working lives.” said Dr Luciani
This news was also not surprising to Dr Luciani. In fact many
organisations unknowingly are putting into practice the findings of Dr
Luciani’s research as they strive for survival as an entity in an increasingly
competitive global economy.
Dr Luciani believes that this corporate devolution, in part, can be

Diagram 1

Diagram text: In summary

1. The blue line represents the optimum outsourcing level as dictated by the core business operating environment (which is mapped by the system)
2. The green line is the actual amount of outsourcing currently taking place (you will note that there is misalignment. The green line should follow the blue line to ensure maximum efficiency)
3. The red line is the predicted optimum amount of outsourcing for the future (in this case it is coming down)
4. The yellow line is the change in current outsourcing levels required to align to the predicted optimum outsourcing levels required in the future.
NOTE: You will note that there is a curve here roughly taking place over a five year period. That is, from minimum outsourcing to maximum outsourcing over a five year period required to follow the core business
operating environment.
NOTE: Once realignment has taken place, the system will report in real time so micro shifts in outsourcing levels can take place to maintain alignment without the need for large scale changes. This will significantly
reduce costs such as re-engineering, redundancies, contract termination penalties, low quality of support services, etc. The five year cycle will still take place, but without the need for large case re-organisation.

76 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
 FM LEAD STORY

blamed on the ignorance of firms to their own changes in core business model for direct application at his workplace, Ernst & Young. “We are
operating environment. These micro shifts alter the way that support currently focusing on below Gross Margin costs and are confident that our
services actually enhance or detract from the bottom line. Dr Luciani system will identify large gaps in our support services delivery methods
believes that attempts for corporate survival through “massive cost which will allow us to make the necessary changes to reduce costs”.
cutting” or “major restructuring” of the back office is now avoidable. One problem they faced was ensuring the data “feeds” were
The solution is to address these changes in the firm’s core business consistent and did not require human intervention that would bias results.
operating environment by adapting support services delivery to suit. This “We quickly realised that it was the organisation’s finance system which
means that the business is pulling the support services, and not being held both consistency and statistical integrity. So we translated the
pushed by them. This way a balance is achieved, and Dr Luciani’s research original variables to ’talk‘ with the native language of the firm’s finance
shows that this equates to decrease costs and increased value for the system. This gave us huge benefits. Firstly, reports could be run monthly,
firm. weekly, or even daily in real time! Secondly, there was no requirement to
An interesting parallel that can be drawn is the way in which firms ’consult‘ with either support services or core business staff. With
now structure their property services functions. There is clearly an everything being derived from the finance system, it has given us a
increasing tendency toward a merging of procurement, property, facility, natural platform from which to produce results. One which is familiar to
and operational management in the one function. Dr Luciani believes this senior executives!
to be the result of firms recognising the importance of support services Dubbed the ’Program Office‘ the system will also be used as an
and the “way” they are delivered and interact with core business for the executive dashboard that will report on changes in the firms operating
very survival of the organisation itself. environment that affect support services the most. “We are tapping into
The resurgence of the Chief Operating Officer within corporate the ’heart beat‘ of our firm to ensure we stay in-line with it,” stated Dr
management is another indicator that organisations are recognising that Luciani.
healthy below gross margin results is largely a result of efficient support Stated in Balanced Scorecard terms, this means that all the decisions
services delivery. made from the system would be based on lead indicators; namely, those
So the ramifications of these findings could be considered both indicators that impact (in real time) on business performance right now,
timely and relevant. Firstly, the “one size fits all” theory has been rather than having to rely on historical information such as the monthly
comprehensively disproved. No longer can it be assumed that report. Dr Luciani sees an FM procurement future revolutionised through
outsourcing alone will deliver sustainable facility management past a five the application of this modelling – a revolution that has well and truly
year period. already started.
Secondly, great efficiency gains, never before realised in a sustainable
way, could be realised by firms if they turn their attention to “how” facility ABOUT DR PAUL LUCIANI
management procurement is delivered, rather than solely concentrating Dr Paul Luciani Graduated from the University of Technology Sydney on
on what services were to be delivered or how much these services were the 6th May 2008 with a Doctor of Facility Management. He holds a
to cost. Masters Degree from the University of New South Wales in Business &
Dr Luciani maintains however, that putting this research to practical Technology, accompanied by two associate Diplomas in Building
use is not as straight forward as one may think. Firstly, there are ten major Sciences. He has been instrumental in restructuring support services
variables of the organisations core business operating environment that delivery for W.D & H.O Wills, Westpac Bank, Allianz Insurance, David
must be “mapped”. Once mapped, each support service commodity Jones, and is currently the Oceania Area Property & Procurement
must be assessed to identify the extent of external or internal control that Director of Ernst & Young Australia.
is currently utilised to deliver this support to the core business. Then, this
data is plotted on graphs to determine optimum alignment to the core
business requirements. Depending on the results, it’s almost certain that
re-alignment of service delivery will be required.
Dr Luciani believes that it is only at this point, once realignment has
been achieved, that the benefits of predictive modelling come into play.
“Once we know the optimum amount of external resources required to
achieve maximum value for support services, then we can predict with a
certain degree of confidence what changes in these external resource We’re always looking at better
levels will be required to ‘follow’ changes in the firms core business ways to service our clients and
operations”. we’re also looking at better ways
This will allow practitioners and managers to “arrange” circumstances
to help the environment. To see
in advance to accommodate these inevitable changes in core business.
Examples of this prearrangement would be in the development of flexible the whole picture, have a look at:
contracts, allowing firms to reduce or increase the scope of external theglassisgreener.com.au
management as required and in advance. It is this “closing the gap” of
service delivery and core business needs that saves money, claims Dr
Luciani.
Furthermore, he maintains that due to the complex nature of the
formulas necessary to predict these shifts, the use of technology seems
like the logical solution to effectively deliver these benefits to large
organisations.
It’s interesting to observe the evolution of strategic procurement and
procure to pay solutions. These systems have evolved from basic
purchase order creation, to end to end commodity management lifecycle
systems.
One interesting development, however, is the move towards “life
long” vendor partnerships enveloped within the systems. Increasingly
these systems are moving towards partnerships with vendors that allow
scope increases and reductions to suit the client organisation without the
need to change vendors.
This could be further evidence that not only are firms realising the
importance of micro shifts in the way services are delivered, but that these
shifts could be best managed via intuitive and holistic “systems”. It won’t
1300 666 234
RPBROWN 1184

be too long, claims Dr Luciani, where these systems will evolve into the
type of predictive modelling discussed in this article.
Understanding this, Dr Luciani is currently developing a system-based ALL DAY ALL NIGHT ALL OVER AUSTRALIA

f a c i l i t y perspectives • 77
ESD + THE ENVIRONMENT
Saving electricity when
it really counts
BY ENERGY RESPONSE CONSULTANT, JOSE DIACONO
T
he delivery of electricity to consumers, like many other products
and services, is influenced by demand and supply factors. Energy
Response is an Australian company providing innovative and
effective Demand Side initiatives for participants in the Australian and
New Zealand electricity markets. Focused on the implementation of
Demand Side measures to make the national electricity market more
efficient, Energy Response provides businesses with the knowledge and
programs to save electricity when it really counts.
Founded in 2004, Energy Response operates Electricity Load
Reduction programs to reduce load on the network at times of peak
demand or price. Working in with electricity suppliers who identify
geographic areas where peak load reduction is required because the grid
may become stressed, Energy Response then approaches commercial
electricity users to develop practical plans for load reduction – finding
businesses that can “switch off” or “switch over” to local generation to
reduce peak load. Companies who participate not only have the
advantage of reducing their impact on the environment, but can also
receive sizeable financial rebates for turning off their switches during
peak electricity load periods. Energy Response Consultant Jose Diacono
elaborates on the process involved in a voluntary peak load reduction
program by exploring a case study with one of Australia’s most modern
scrap collection, processing and recycling facilities – Sell and Parker.
Sell and Parker runs some of Australia’s most modern scrap
collection, processing and recycling facilities in Sydney and Coffs
Harbour. It is a family owned business that has been operating since
1966.
The scrap steel comes principally from building demolitions and
industrial operations. After processing, the shredded and compressed
material is sold to the large NSW steelworks with special grades of scrap
steel going to Sydney foundries.
In 1997, the company opened Australia’s most modern greenfield
recycling facility on seven acres of land at Kings Park in Blacktown. At the
heart of the site is a huge scrap fragmentiser or shredder, capable of
handling 100 tonnes of scrap steel each hour. The machine can shred
and sort whole cars, white goods, and other scrap from landfills. It grinds
the material into fragments and then compresses it, operating
continuously during daylight hours, five and a half days a week.
The shredder draws about 75% of the total electricity load of the
site, making it an ideal candidate for Energy Response’s voluntary peak
load reduction program. This particular program has been running in the
Blacktown area for three years to smooth out the extreme peaks in
electricity demand that put stress on the distribution network. Similar
ones run throughout other areas in Australia and New Zealand.
Extreme peaks are increasing faster than overall electricity
demand as we turn on more air conditioners on hotter summer
afternoons – or heaters on cold winter evenings.
Peaks may only happen for a few hours each year but they impact
the entire community. They can increase the risk of blackouts and drive
up the cost of electricity when new infrastructure costing millions of
dollars has to be built just to handle them.
The logical and practical alternative is to pay businesses to
voluntarily reduce peak demand on a handful of days each year by
switching off or delaying certain processes by a few hours.
This is exactly what Sell & Parker are doing. “We have been
participating for about three years,” explains Sell & Parker Group
Managing Director, Luke Parker. “We get called four to five times a year
and are always able to respond”. Each request is for a minimum of one
hour and maximum of four.
When the shredder is turned off, it saves two Megawatts of
electricity per hour - a significant amount, bearing in mind that Earth
Hour in 2007 saved 23 Megawatts across the whole of the Sydney CBD.
As with Earth Hour or any environmental measure, it is combined effort -
in this case the reduction of a pool of companies - that makes the real
difference.
78 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
Providing short term load reduction is a practical way for
companies to make a difference now.
“Energy Response gives us a heads-up the day before that we may
be called but we are also getting smarter at predicting when we might
be asked to switch off. Ideally we like a day’s notice but in practice we
can respond within two hours,” explains Luke Parker. “They call our
Operations Manager, and he checks with me. Operators are assigned to
other tasks such as checking equipment so it is not particularly disruptive
to our operations. It’s a simple process and works fine.”
The financial benefits are very clear. “The Energy Response program
has provided a significant rebate and enabled us to offset some of the
higher electricity prices we have been paying of late. We would certainly
look at expanding our participation if we installed an extra shredder at
another site.”
The Energy Response programs function as an insurance policy for
the utilities who know that if there is a fault on the network or it is
running close to capacity, they can call for voluntary load reduction to
ensure a reliable supply to the wider community. Participants receive an
availability fee and additional payment each time they curtail. Depending
on the program and how often the utilities make the call, a business can
earn up to $100,000 over a year for each Megawatt.
Electricity is not what it used to be
Anyone who has negotiated a supply contract recently will know that
electricity is not the predictable commodity it once was. An electricity
spot market balances demand and supply, just as it does for oil or gold,
but the electricity market is proving far more volatile. Wild fluctuations in
price from the usual $40 per Megawatt/hour up to the maximum
permitted price of $10,000 can be caused by heat waves, cold snaps,
industrial disputes, bush fires, and generator and substation
malfunctions. Pressure on energy prices could continue with persisting
drought conditions in parts of the country, increased use of
environmentally friendly but more expensive fuel sources and the
likelihood of a carbon tax or carbon trading scheme.
Participating in voluntary peak load reduction gives a business more
control over energy bills, but has other benefits. There is significant
goodwill towards companies that can save emissions, secure the
electricity supply and avoid the impact on community and the
environment of building new infrastructure.
For some participants, getting pre-warning of issues on the
electricity grid can be more valuable than the payment they receive.
Make money from a standby generator
But what if you can’t switch off? There is another way to participate.
Many commercial buildings, farms, television broadcasters, clubs and
large enterprises have a standby generator which has been installed to
cover some or all the load in case of a blackout. Voluntary peak load
reduction programs transform an asset that is normally an overhead into
a revenue earner. An emergency generator needs to be run regularly
under load so that it burns fuel efficiently – simply idling it every few
weeks can cause fuel injectors to become clogged. Build-up of carbon in
cylinders leads to plumes of black smoke when the engine is started.
Proper testing and maintenance of these costly assets requires many
hours of run time so by participating in an Energy Response program a
company’s confidence in its standby generation is increased and the
maintenance costs significantly reduced.
Who is doing it?
Commercial buildings and clubs, manufacturers, federal, state and
local government facilities, hospitals, mines, cold store operators, farms
and telecommunications companies are participating.
For more information contact Energy Response on 1300 792 377 or visit
www.energyresponse.com

A welcome fmXpert at
Catholic Homes
Like most Aged Care providers, Catholic Homes has had their focus
squarely on two objectives: meeting the increased regulatory
compliance obligations and onerous reporting requirements in order to
achieve and maintain certification, and caring for the aged. An effective
maintenance regime however, was a lesser priority initially.
C
atholic Homes an agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of
Melbourne, is a not for profit Aged Care provider with their Head
office located in Hawthorn. The organisation has 24 independent
living sites (365 units), 7 residential facilities and 3 resident funded sites
situated across the broader Melbourne Metropolitan Area. Like most
Aged Care organisations Catholic Homes has had to meet the challenge
of dealing with a substantial increase in regulatory and essential safety
services compliance obligations, and increasingly onerous reporting
requirements in order to achieve building certification. and maintain
accreditation of each of the Residential Services.
Faced with the prospect of an increasing workload and finite
resources, Catholic Homes made the decision to invest in software
required to enable them to focus on their core objective, caring for the
aged.
Facility Perspectives caught up with Catholic Homes Property
Manager, Robert Harris to find out how fmXpert Facility Management
software provided the solutions to the problem of providing an effective
and efficient maintenance regime.
FP: What was Catholic Homes like when you first arrived?
RH: The organisation was very focused on maintaining certification
and accreditation and had realised that the maintenance requirements
were looming as a risk. Prior to my appointment most of the work was
done on an ad hoc basis, there was very little facility planning and even
less systems.
FP: What were some of the main issues you identified?
RH: Although the essential services (now essential safety measures)
were being maintained, there was no way of monitoring the program We
had some on site logbooks but there were not monitored either, we just
relied on the contractor giving us feedback on what needed to be fixed.
There was no other preventative maintenance carried out on other
equipment at all.
FP: How did you manage work requests?
RH: We had an access database that had been developed by a ‘one
man band’ in conjunction with Catholic Homes in the past. It was very
basic and only managed the Independent Living units. As the data had
grown over the few years it had been in service, the search capabilities
were a real problem. It would take us ages to find a job in the system.
The problem was that as with any home built systems, there was little
support or ability to extend the system.
FP: So what did you do about the problem?
RH: I put a proposal to the management that outlined how I wanted
to operate the property department. I set out the guiding principles that
we needed to follow and how this would benefit the organisation
Management could see that the organisation was at risk of failing to
maintain its assets and that it could impact on the accreditation of the
Aged Care Facilities, and ultimately the funding from government. They
could see we needed to be able to monitor and manage all of the
maintenance on behalf of the sites as we did not have the resources or
the skills to manage these issues locally on site, and that they would
need the support.
FP: What sort of systems functions were you looking for?
RH: Well I needed to have all of the property details on hand, such
SOFTWARE CASE STUDY
as address, site size, title details, every building, level, room, all the
details of the buildings. I needed to be able to connect it to our financial
system to avoid the double entry of data. It needed to have a web
capability, so that the sites had access to manage their own work. I
wanted to be able to view all sites so that I could immediately see where
we had problems in completing the maintenance work. I needed to have
full job costing information so that we could get our budgets set to
something real. And of course it had to be an off the shelf package as
we did not want a repeat of the last system’s failings, and it needed to be
adjustable to our way of doing things.
FP: Were there any other features you were looking for?
RH: I had a number of maintenance officers doing some of the day
to day minor repairs and I wanted them to be able to interface with the
system, I need to know what time they spent doing what, so I was
looking for some mobile technology that they could easily use.
FP: What attracted you to fmXpert?
RH: Here was a system that had everything we listed as a must have
and even a bit more, but you could see that the system had been
designed from an FM point of view and that we could alter the work flow
to match our existing work flow process. This meant we were going to
be able to implement this with a minimum of disruption. The user
interface was easy to use and intuitive, quite similar to a Microsoft
system. The other benefit was the consulting support that would be
provided with the software.
FP: What were your evaluation criteria?
RH: We looked at issues such as features, implementation process,
minimizing data duplication, data uploading, latest technology, ability to
grow with the business, robustness and value for money.
FP: How long have you been using fmXpert?
RH: We installed the system in July 2006 and have been using it ever
since.
FP: What benefits have you achieved?
RH: We have been able to take full control of the work flow process
for all sites. We can track our maintenance tasks and we have been able
to get our contractors to manage their jobs on line. This has saved us
almost half a person in resources. We now have full financial control over
all work that gets done, although I still think our maintenance officers still
do the odd job without a work docket, but it is usually to help our
residents so I don’t complain too much. The invoicing process is much
more streamlined now and we don’t pay incorrect amounts or twice for
the same job.
FP: How long would you say the payback has been?
RH: I believe the payback for this system has been about 12 months,
but it’s hard to calculate all the hidden costs that we have reduced, like
misplacing paperwork for invoices, and quotes.
FP: What would you say about fmXpert?
RH: Bruce Chapman and his crew were very good, they knew what
our business needed and delivered the system in stages to ensure we
got up and running with the minimum of disruption. Their training
program was excellent and the feedback from our staff was great I was
very happy with the outcome and I’m still getting great support and help
a year and a half later.
f a c i l i t y perspectives • 79
BOOK REVIEW
Building a framework for
Assessing Building Performance
BY MELANIE DRUMMOND
Book for Review: Assessing Building Performance
Edited by: Wolfgang FE Preiser, Jacqueline C Visher
Published: Elsevier Books 2005
A
relative newbie to matters concerning the Facility Management
industry, I was not entirely confident when given the task of
reviewing Assessing Building Performance for this edition of
Facility Perspectives.
The saving grace to my lack of technical knowledge however would
be the expertise of the book’s 30 plus contributors from throughout the
world and its two renowned co-editors – Wolfgang FE Preiser and
Jacqueline C Vischer.
To produce a decent review, I was relying on the assortment of
experts to collate the many contributing factors to building performance,
put them through a concise but rigorous framework and finally, deliver a
comprehensive, digestible 200 pages or so. It may have been a lot to ask
but thankfully, I was in luck.
In essence, our book in the spotlight introduces readers to
achievable methods of assessing a building’s performance by offering the
series of steps as outlined in the Building Performance Evaluation (BPE)
framework.
BPE, developed by the book’s co-editor Wolfgang Preiser and Dr
Ulrich Scramm, was first published in 1997, and is now widely accepted
by researchers and consultants around the world as a legitimate and
credible framework for assessing building performance.
BPE is summarised succinctly early in the book’s introduction:
Building performance evaluation is the process of systematically
comparing the actual performance of buildings, places and systems to
explicitly documented criteria for their expected performance. P7
BPE suggests that performance assessments need to be undertaken
in the six phases of building delivery and life cycle. Each phase is given
an entire chapter in Assessing Building Performance:
Phase 1: Strategic Planning
Phase 2: Programming/briefing – programme review
Phase 3: Design – design review
Phase 4: Construction – commissioning
Phase 5: Occupancy – post-occupancy evaluation
Phase 6: Adaptive reuse/recycling – market needs assessment
The underlying and recurring theme that runs through all phases and
likewise, all aspects of BPE, is the critical necessity of establishing a
thorough and evaluative feedback loop at every phase in a building’s
delivery and life cycle. It’s also evident that each phase needs to have its
own indicators of success that keep in line with the overall business
objectives.
By undertaking careful planning and engaging the necessary
participants of each phase, every step of the way, BPE promises the
likelihood of creating effective key feedback systems that will better
assess, and ultimately improve, the performance of a building.
The importance of engaging Facility Managers throughout the six
phases of BPE is stressed as early as the Strategic Planning phase.
Facility Management, recognised by corporate managers as an
important management tool, includes the coordination of interrelated
people, process and place issues within the organisation. Therefore,
almost every strategy that is chosen to satisfy the organisation’s stated
needs ultimately has some impact on business (process), buildings
(place) and the buildings users (people). P31
80 • f a c i l i t y perspectives
Facility
Managers take
centre stage again
in the Phase 6
chapter on
Adaptive
reuse/recycling –
market needs
assessment. The
editor quickly points
out that business
performance is
fundamentally
dependent upon
the effective use and management of all resources.
The chapter goes on to highlight that while efficiency, and more
primarily cost, have always been the key drivers in facility management,
the successful management of space and assets to support the people
and processes necessary in achieving business objectives has become
more important in recent years.
Following on from the comprehensive overview of the six phases is
Part Three of Assessing Building Performance. The section is divided into
a number of in-depth case studies from around the world, including
several evaluations of workplace design and performance in Japan, the
Netherlands, Brazil and Israel.
Of particular interest is the chapter on assessing Brazilian workplace.
The editor identifies how many of Brazil’s city office buildings mirror
international architecture trends towards elaborate glass exteriors and
enormous foyers – yet points out the ‘intelligence’ of these structures is
frequently limited to the building’s exterior. Behind the ornate facades
are often inhabitants suffering from lack of comfort and poor efficiency in
terms of layout and infrastructure.
Attributed to the poor quality of internal environments is a lack of
foresight and long-term vision by decision-makers more focused on
corporate identity then efficient buildings. By presenting Post-Occupancy
Evaluation studies carried out on Brazilian workplaces in that last decade,
the chapter highlights how improving workplace environments, which in
due course improves the performance of employees, brings companies
one step closer to achieving long-term business goals.
Assessing Building Performance is an informative and revealing read
right to the end. As well as addressing other topical issues such as
benchmarking and universal design, the final chapters offer template
questionnaires and checklists that can be given to building users for
evaluation of the workplace. A useful handbook for anyone involved at
any stage of the delivery or life-cycle of a building, Assessing Building
Performance is a fantastic starting point for those looking to better
assess, and consequently improve, a building’s performance.
Assessing Building Performance is available direct from Elsevier
Australia Customer Service, Tel: 1800 263 951, Fax: (02) 9422 8501 or
by e-mail: customerserviceau@elsevier.com.
Life is a journey

Enjoy the ride

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