Facility Management April - May 2018

As with the general workforce, the average age of facility managers is increasing. The seminal ‘Raising the Bar’ report showed that for facility management professional members of the Royal Institute of Chartered surveyors, more are over 70 than under 30. There’s no doubt the industry needs to attract new blood, as well as continue to upskill the people working in FM. In this issue, consultant Donald Macdonald looks at what can be done to win the battle for talent and address the skills gap. Macdonald acknowledges the average school student isn’t likely to identify facility management alongside fire-fighter or astronaut when dreaming about their future careers, but notes FM needs to be embedded into the curriculum. To that end, there’s an amazing pilot program in the UK that is taking…

A Facility Management content partner is an organisation with which we’ve entered into a partnership to collaborate on content for the magazine. In this issue, thought leaders from their respective organisations are: ASSA ABLOY’S SCOTT SIEGA Scott Siega is the national sales manager – EAC for ASSA ABLOY Australia. BILLI’S ADRIAN CUGNETTO Adrian Cugnetto is the marketing manager for Billi Pty Ltd. HUMANSCALE’S JAIME SINCLAIR Jaime Sinclair is ACT manager – Humanscale.…

Internet provider Spirit has launched a new Redundancy as a Service (RaaS) program that it says will safeguard thousands of businesses against internet outages. The company says over 7800 businesses in the last financial year were impacted by faults across telecoms platforms, including internet, lodging complains with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman – a 41 percent increase on the previous year. A statement said 3232 complaints were specifically regarding connections. It said RaaS acts as a back-up internet for businesses that lies completely redundant until it is needed. “Redundancy as a Service safeguards against a number of potential disasters”, says Spirit managing director, Geoff Neate. “A lost connection can halt online sales, customer and supplier communication, destroy productivity and endanger the brand’s reputation, so it’s paramount that businesses have a ‘plan…

A new study by ‘Quality of Life’ service provider Sodexo has found that teams managed by a balanced mix of men and women are more successful across a range of measurements. The five-year, one-of-a-kind study of 70 entities across different functions represents 50,000 managers worldwide. The study found operating margins, client satisfaction and employee retention, among other key performance indicators, were all higher among gender-balanced teams, meaning a ratio between 40 and 60 percent women to men. Sue Black, Sodexo Global HR director, Energy and Resources, said: “These results add a new, compelling dimension to a growing body of research that demonstrates the business benefits of gender equity. “The distinctive nature of the study, with its examination of both financial and non-financial performance indicators across so many levels of management…

The Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform (ANZRP) has announced the appointment of Warren Overton as its new chief executive officer. In a statement, ANZRP said Overton is a highly regarded advocate and spokesperson with more than 20 years’ experience in sustainability, including executive roles in business, industry associations and government. Most recently, he served as director, Business and Built Environment at Sustainability Victoria. Before then he was co-founder and managing director of Viridis, a national sustainability consulting business operating in four states. Overton will lead ANZRP through the final stages and aftermath of the current regulatory review of the Product Stewardship Act, and drive further expansion of its mission to be a leading product stewardship partner. Please see page 30 of this issue of FM for an article by…

Diversified engineering and infrastructure company RCR Tomlinson has been awarded a contract, valued at around $93 million, by BAE Systems Australia to deliver facility management services for the Australian Defence Force Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) Phase 6 Project. RCR’s scope of work, across all multiple remote Australian radar locations, includes accommodation and cleaning services, fire systems, electrical and power generation maintenance, grounds maintenance, water treatment and waste management, and HVAC and bulk fuel maintenance. The company announced the contract is for five years with a further five year option. It said the billion-dollar JORN Phase 6 project is an essential works program to support the operational life of JORN beyond 2042, and involves the replacement of most of the radar and frequency management system hardware, information and communication technology…