Facility Management August - September 2016

While the facility management industry has not been a major victim of Australia’s sluggish economic performance in recent years, neither has it been exempt from the change in conditions. As other industries around the country, such as mining, oil and gas, and manufacturing, have been severely impacted by a downturn in their markets, this has caused a flow-on effect for some facility management disciplines. Workers who prospered in mining or oil and gas over the past decade are now turning to areas of facility management for employment opportunities as prospects in their former industries have dried up. In this issue’s lead feature Hays Recruitment outlines that this has resulted in FM employers seizing control. Recruiters are now being more selective when sourcing employees and when offering salaries, which have shown…

When planning its new Richmond office in Melbourne, accounting software provider, MYOB, asked its employees how they would like to work and what features they would like. With these insights, interior design and architecture agency, Futurespace, designed a visionary workspace that first and foremost caters to the needs of employees. Converted from a dilapidated warehouse, the new tech hub incorporates futuristic workplace design based on the principles of agile working, including inception rooms to foster innovation, plug-and-play technology and informal meeting spaces. The new office space reinforces MYOB’s investment into local technology talent, according to the company. The office houses over 200 of the company’s engineering and development employees, in a centrally located space among other creative technology hubs. This has enabled MYOB to attract talent from all areas of…

The University of Sydney’s IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) lab, in partnership with several major corporations, is rolling out new technology that will track indoor climates in a survey of Australian workplaces. Today, we spend more than 90 percent of our lives indoors, so monitoring our indoor climate is possibly more important than monitoring the outdoor climate, says researcher Professor Richard de Dear, who is director of the IEQ Lab, part of the University’s Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. According to de Dear, no one has been able to capture holistic IEQ data with one piece of technology and make sense of the science, until now. The prototype for the technology, called SAMBA (Sentient Ambient Monitoring of Buildings in Australia), was developed by University of Sydney PhD student Tom Parkinson…

Lumens camera improves picture quality Lumens has added its first 4k ultra high definition pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) camera – the VC-A70H – to its range of optical solutions. Designed to be one of the most intuitive solutions from Lumens, the VC-A70H has up to 128 user-defined pre-set modes, ensuring it is compatible in virtually any environment. The versatile PTZ camera delivers a level of picture quality suitable for a wide range of applications, including boardroom videoconferencing, lecture hall presentations and live event broadcasting. The VC-A70H has the ability to pan from 170 degrees to 170 degrees, as well as a tilting angle up to 90 degrees and down to -30 degrees. www.lumens.com.tw Save time, money and space with NHP’s switched neutral RCBO NHP’s range of earth leakage solutions has…

A skills shortage continues to intensify in Australia’s facility management industry despite an increase in job vacancies in the first half of 2016, according to recruitment company, Hays. In its 2016 facilities management salary guide, Hays reports that business activity and headcounts in the industry are rising. Despite this recruitment trend, however, Hays states that it is not translating into a wide-ranging salary increases for Australia’s FM professionals. That is unless the FM professional has the niche, technical skills that are currently in high demand throughout the industry. Austin Blackburne, Hays Facilities Management regional director, says demand for ‘highly-skilled FM professionals’ continues to grow, and it is these people who are also securing high salaries or wage increases. “We are seeing demand mostly in the technical FM space. FM managers…

Australian company First Contact is turning front-of-house services into an integral part of how a facility is managed by taking principles from the hospitality industry into commercial building environments. Since 2009 the Melbourne-based company has challenged traditional models of corporate reception and concierge services in commercial buildings by introducing five-star hotel services into premium office facilities. First Contact now provides executive hospitality services to clients in a diverse range of industries, including banking, insurance, mining, and oil and gas, in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Chief executive officer Paul Schmeja says the company’s business model harnesses the secret to keeping corporate tenants happy by applying the well-established service principles of hospitality into these environments. “It’s a well-known fact in the world of luxury hotels that the most influential person for…