Table of contents for August - September 2018 in Facility Management

Well, they say that change is as good as a holiday – but, quite frankly, I’m sure we’d all much rather a trip to Italy or Finland or Fiji (or somewhere equally distant and exotic) than mere routine changes. Alas, we at FM magazine can’t offer an overseas adventure, but change – now that we can do. It’s with heavy hearts that we bid farewell to the magazine’s inimitable editor Michelle Dunner, who has contributed so much to the magazine and taken it in new directions. I’m the online editor for FM and, as of this issue, will be stepping up to fill Michelle’s formidable shoes as editor of the print magazine. It’s a tough act to follow, but I hope to do her, and you the readers, a service…

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and leading alternative asset manager Morrison & Co have announced plans to spearhead clean energy standards across Australian social and economic infrastructure assets as part of a specialist $1 billion ‘green’ infrastructure fund. The Morrison & Co Growth Infrastructure Fund will acquire and develop a diverse range of essential assets, from hospitals, retirement and aged care accommodation and student housing to data centres and renewable energy. The CEFC is investing $150 million into the fund, which will acquire and manage a range of assets where there is potential for significant improvements in their energy efficiency profile. CEFC chief executive officer Ian Learmonth says, “This investment is about showing how we can readily improve the way we build and operate our essential economic and social…

Ceilings play a significant role in our lives and the lives of our buildings, yet how often do we give thought to what’s above our heads? How often do we give scope to maintaining a ceiling and the impact this commonplace (yet vital) thing can have? Dulux, the internationally available brand of architectural paint, and EnviroScope Maintenance, a company delivering commercial painting and maintenance services to Australian businesses, are two companies making headway in the ceiling sphere. Specifically, they are looking at developing ways to restore, rather than replace, ceilings when they’re in need of a little TLC. Traditionally, replacing a past-its-prime ceiling has been both costly and time consuming. According to EnviroScope, the ceiling restoration market is relatively uncharted territory in Australia, with replacement generally being the first course…

It’s been well-documented that the population in Australia is projected to grow. Currently sitting around 24.13 million, that figure is expected to rise to 36 million by 2046. And it’s the cities that will experience the greatest change. Melbourne alone is projected to nearly double its population to eight million. These new Australians will not all be born here; many will be immigrants, perhaps including people whose home countries have been made unliveable due to the effects of climate change. But there is no doubt that there will be more young people and school age Australians that will need to be accommodated. And this is already happening. Between the 2011 and 2016 censuses the number of school-aged children (from five to 17 years) in Australia grew by 174,600 – that’s…

Trust is a foundational element of all high-performance cultures. According to 20 years of research by Great Places to Work, workplaces that score high on trust also finish first in profitability, revenue growth and stock performance. But not all high trust companies are equal. The more consistent and inclusive an organisation is on key factors related to trust, and the more diverse its demographics, the more likely it is to outperform peers in revenue growth. Organisations that rate in the top quartile for trust enjoy three times the growth of companies in the bottom quartile. Creating a high trust culture boils down to every employee knowing they can rely on every person around them. It means everyone is committed to performing at a high level and helping their peers achieve…

Marcus sat in Scoma’s Restaurant with his mentor and friend, Raoul. Nearby, Fisherman’s Wharf hummed with activity and the lights around the San Francisco Bay glittered as Raoul listened to Marcus talk about his trip to Houston. They hadn’t spoken in a couple of months. “A good idea of yours Raoul, for me to stop over. Houston to Sydney is a long flight! The food here is great, as usual.” “That place in Sydney was good too.” “Yeah, but we don’t have a Bay like this.” Raoul agreed. “It’s cool.” “The Bay’s beautiful, and the Space Centre is cool, Raoul – the real deal.” “Oh yes, your Houston trip,” Raoul remembered. “You should see the Neutral Buoyancy Lab – I watched astronauts training underwater. Riveting.” “That was called the Weightless…

Mental health and well-being in the workplace is becoming a hot topic for business leaders with promises of increased productivity and profitability, lower sickness levels and compensation costs. So, what does a mentally healthy workplace look like and what can employers do to create a workplace within which their employees can thrive? The latest research conducted by SuperFriend, a national workplace mental well-being organisation, asked over 5000 workers across Australia about the current state of mental health and well-being at their workplace. The ‘Indicators of a Thriving Workplace Survey’ measures workplace mental health and well-being against 38 desired state indicators. These indicators are grouped into four key domains: Leadership, Connectedness, Policies and Practices, and Capabilities and Culture. SuperFriend’s insights strategist Dr Nerida Joss says awareness is increasing, with three in…

Honeywell and Monash University recently signed a collaboration agreement to deliver one of the world’s first ‘cognitive office buildings’, bringing together next-generation technology and research to significantly change the way buildings are managed. They’re using big data to “intelligently and automatically alter the internal environment” to develop cognitive buildings and redefine the term ‘smart buildings’. A cognitive building is a smart building that collects data from various sensors – and then takes that data to learn from it and find meaning from it, to improve the functionality and management of the building. Honeywell will deploy its Honeywell Vector Occupant app across the Monash Clayton campus to collect data on how staff and students rate spaces, navigate buildings, report faults, and how often and when particular buildings are accessed, through the…

Outsourcing your catering can seem as tricky as getting the perfect rise on your soufflé. To help simplify the process STEPHANIE CLIFFORD-SMITH breaks down the two pricing models. Picture this: your company has decided to tender out catering and the project has landed on your desk. There’s a lot riding on it too; the culture of your entire company is reflected in the hospitality you provide to clients and staff, an impression that’s set the moment they step out of the lift. Faced with this assignment, Carly Cumming, general manager of Sydney catering company, Gastronomy, says a facilities manager will be choosing between two pricing models – ‘per plate’ and ‘cost plus’. It can be confusing and your decision will depend less on the bottom line and more on your…

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 JOHAN GANTIN Johan Gantin is product manager – Electronic Keying, ASSA ABLOY. BILLI’S ADRIAN CUGNETTO Adrian Cugnetto is the marketing manager for Billi Pty Ltd. HUMANSCALE’S ALAN HEDGE Alan Hedge is a Professor in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, Cornell University.…

Welcome to the age of the new Millennial, where – in the workplace at least – flexible working rules, salary isn’t everything and agile spaces are key. And here, a positive workspace that promotes a healthy mindset and employee well-being is a high priority for many of those with their nose to the grindstone. Even for those not actively seeking new employment, workplace culture plays an important role in employee satisfaction, wellness and, ultimately, whether or not they remain with their current company. A business is built on its workers – they are the legs on which it stands, the drivers of profit and success, and the cogs within the corporate machine that keep it turning. Their importance should not be underestimated, and neither should the effect of their mental…

The working environment has changed radically over the last few years. Workplaces in 2018 are spaces where activity-based working (ABW), hot desking and remote access are buzzwords and commonplace, but what do these terms all actually mean? When it comes to ABW the answer is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a practice that sees a variety of work environments, each suited to the particular type of work being carried out – breakout spaces, individual workstations, larger desks for co-working and brainstorming. Hot desking, on the other hand, is the provision of desks that are set up to be used by multiple users – so that remote workers or those who only come into the office sporadically have a desk they can use when they do. They can…

In April this year I had the pleasure of facilitating a discussion around the new international facilities management standards at Total Facilities in Melbourne. Two key conclusions resulted from the discussion around various aspects of the new Standards. The first of these was that the Standards are likely to represent a game-changer for the industry by establishing industry-wide benchmarks of quality and performance. For service providers this means that they will be able to establish systems and procedures that are measurable against defined targets and for demand organisations there is now a framework against which they can specify and measure service provision. The second conclusion that the panel arrived at was that engagement with the Standards is likely to increase exponentially to the number of organisations adopting the Standards that…

Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as ‘learning through reflection on doing’. One of the most common experiential learning processes that a design team and change manager will embark upon is the staff engagement surveys or workshops where discovery, culture or brand, mind mapping and co-creation will be discovered. This may include all employee engagement or vertical sampling throughout your organisation. The staff engagement workshops can uncover design imperatives such as what shared facilities and learning spaces may be required, how people use established zones and mixed-use spaces, and what higher proportion of shared and bookable facilities may be required. The gold to be found in the staff engagement workshops can be used for both design and change, as the findings are…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field constantly changing and expanding; it’s an area many of us watch with bated breath as we await the newest ground-breaking technologies and advances. The concept itself and the innovations within it can, at times, seem like something straight out of a science fiction story. Some of the innovations within this sphere will be seen at the upcoming IFA International Keynote in Berlin in early September. Media and trade visitors from around the world will once again flock to the tradeshow for exclusive, personal insights into leading global player strategies. IFA director Jens Heithecker says, “Following the commitment of global leaders such as LG and Huawei, we are pleased to welcome Microsoft vice president Nick Parker as a next top speaker to our IFA Keynote…

Boon Edam Tourlock Boon Edam’s Tourlock 180+90 security revolving door is a 24/7 solution offering high volume capabilities (20 people each way per door per minute) proven by some of the world’s largest companies and government agencies. A Tourlock can be placed on individual floors to ensure only employees can enter, and is ideally suited to multi-tenanted buildings where a speed gate is placed in the general entrance. www.boonedam.com.au CCP Technologies CCP Smart Tag CCP sells the most sophisticated and cost-effective wireless solution for monitoring temperature, humidity and other critical control points. It can automate compliance records (e.g. refrigeration temperature for HACCP) and optimise equipment performance with business intelligence dashboards. Appliance-level energy monitoring is due in 2018. CCP is ideal for healthcare, education, hospitality, retail and food service venues. ccp-network.com…

Two of the biggest corporate buzzwords of the last five years have been well-being and resilience, with the importance of looking after employees’ mental health at long last acknowledged as not only sensible but vital for a thriving workplace. But all too often, resilience and wellness programs fail to include workplace ergonomics considerations, which can produce much greater returns on investment. The concept of resilience is fairly straightforward. It means that people are able to bounce back from stressful situations. In the workplace today, with economic uncertainty and unemployment issues, we know that many people are experiencing significant stress at work. Companies are great indicators of the economy. When it’s buoyant, life is good, but when it’s bad, life is not so good and employees need to be able to…

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Or so said 20th century American-Lebanese writer and poet Khalil Gibran, and his words undisputedly ring true for Shepherd Filters founder and director Jeremy Kronk. Kronk is no stranger to suffering, for in 2015 he experienced a horrific explosion and house fire that left him fighting for life. He suffered severe full-thickness burns to 52 percent of his body that forced him into an induced coma for six weeks and required more than three months in hospital. Full-thickness burns, or third-degree burns, destroy both layers of skin (epidermis and dermis) and may penetrate even more deeply into the subcutaneous tissue, muscle and bone, often causing scarring. Miraculously, Kronk survived his ordeal, although his injuries…

Since the first business park opened its doors in 1955, as a precinct in Alabama where employees could park their cars and walk straight to their desks, the concept has replicated itself across the globe. Business parks are currently booming in Australian cities, largely due to population growth and the prohibitive cost and availability of land. In the last few years, investors and tenants have been rushing to snap up lucrative positions in ever-expanding outer suburban growth areas, where floor plates can be larger, major arterial networks offer easy access and jobs can be filled by local residents. Meanwhile, as governments look to create more employment zones, business and industrial parks are reducing the need to segregate traditional industrial activities. EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS PARKS Most people would still associate business…

Why do we often take for granted the very things that deserve our gratitude the most, assuming they will be there whenever we need them? This applies to our sense of entitlement to water. Having wholesome water on demand is one such luxury we take for granted; however, we should never forget that water is a precious commodity. Price determination depends equally on demand and supply, which will further rise, as water scarcity and population numbers increases. COUNTING DOWN TO ZERO You’ve probably never given it a second thought, but how often do you brush your teeth and leave the water running from the tap? Perhaps you shower for a longer period than you actually really need? Do you regularly check your water bill to see how much you are…

Many businesses, particularly in the industrial sector as well as other enterprises such as church groups, sporting groups and community clubs, have owned property assets that are underutilised and rapidly becoming functionally obsolete and in a poor state of physical repair. Often these organisations do not realise the underlying value of the site based on alternative and improved uses. This happens as urban populations grow, and urban residential sprawl starts moving into peripheral zones that were typically focused on employment uses, semi-agricultural and light manufacturing activities. But these underutilised assets may also be near or central to residential and business areas, particularly in the church, sporting and social clubs, when there has been a drop-off in membership, and fees and use charges do not cover the most basic maintenance. The…

There are an estimated 16 billion injections administered globally each year, and not all of the used syringes and needles end up properly disposed of, creating risks of injury and infection, as well as opportunities for reuse, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A person who experiences a needlestick injury from a needle used on an infected patient has a 30 percent risk of becoming infected with Hepatitis B, a 1.8 percent risk of Hepatitis C and a 0.3 percent risk of HIV. You can avoid costly citations and prevent harmful exposure by practising proper use of waste containers and biohazard safety labelling. IMPORTANCE OF WASTE SEGREGATION Incorrect waste segregation and labelling are among the most common violations for healthcare facilities. Medical waste introduces an added risk of exposing…