Facility Management (FM), as a discipline, is about much more than managing buildings and services. It is critical to how every organisation or property occupier functions successfully as a real estate
investment.
This is the crux of new guidance developed by RICS
and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) through their global
collaboration.
The “Strategic Facility Management Framework”
was launched in Dubai today during the annual IFMA-RICS World Workplace Forum –
Middle East. The framework, authored by Dave Wilson, FRICS, IFMA Fellow for the
IFMA-RICS collaboration, sets out a more holistic approach to FM by providing
strategic best practice for facility managers and practitioners around the
world.
“As
organisations seek to innovate, adapt and refresh how they work, the demand for
Facility Management services is growing globally and rapidly,” says RICS
Chief Executive, Sean Tompkins. “FM services are driven not only by the
changing nature of the economic environment or organisational imperatives but
also by the rapid progress in technology, social aspirations, the environment
and the political landscape. The new IFMA/RICS framework puts facility
management at the heart of organisational objectives and creates a strategic
approach that will enable facilities professionals to deliver their expertise
globally to a consistent standard.”
Because FM is about more than managing
property assets, it is crucial to achieving maximum value from workplace and
environmental benefits that improve productivity and protect employees and
consumers.
The framework was jointly developed by RICS
and IFMA with extensive global consultation among FM practitioners and industry
leaders. It is also crucially aligned to existing standards set by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), ensuring that the framework conforms to
ISO consistent definitions and well as global best practice.
“The ability to achieve a competitive
advantage through strategic FM has driven the industry’s rapid evolution in
recent decades,” says IFMA President and CEO Tony Keane. “The global FM
community has coalesced as a result of unprecedented access to information,
benchmarks and global standards, such as the new FM Management Systems Standard
launched by ISO this week. As the engine of this community, the IFMA-RICS
collaboration exists to provide the tools that allow FM professionals to lead
strategic decision making.”
FM cannot be ring-fenced or limited to reflect
operational activities. There are strong connections between FM and corporate
real estate as well as asset management especially as it relates to property
acquisition and disposal in both a strategic and operational sense. This
framework sets out some of the key aspects of how and where facility managers
can play a bigger, more valuable role in the corporate real estate
decision-making process.
The landmark
collaboration between IFMA and RICS is working to advance the global FM
community by offering the most comprehensive catalogue of professional development
and credentialing, available at www.fm.training.
For more on the IFMA-RICS collaboration, please
see: www.define.fm.
About IFMA
IFMA is the world’s largest and
most widely recognized international association for facility management
professionals, supporting 24,000 members in more than 100 countries. This
diverse membership participates in focused component groups equipped to address
their unique situations by region (136 chapters), industry (16 councils) and
areas of interest (six communities). Together they manage more than 78 billion
square feet of property and annually purchase more than US$526 billion in
products and services. Formed in 1980, IFMA certifies professionals in facility
management; conducts research; provides educational programs, content and resources; and produces World Workplace, the world’s largest
series of facility management conferences and expositions. To join and follow
IFMA’s social media outlets online, visit the association’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr
pages. For more information, visit the IFMA
press room or www.ifma.org.
About RICS
Confidence through professional standards
RICS promotes and enforces the highest professional
qualifications and standards in the development and management of land, real
estate, construction and infrastructure. Our name promises the consistent
delivery of standards — bringing confidence to the markets we serve.
We accredit 125,000
professionals and any individual or firm registered with RICS is subject to our
quality assurance. Their expertise covers property, asset valuation, real
estate management; the development of infrastructure; and the management of
natural resources, such as mining, farms and woodland. From environmental
assessments and building controls to negotiating land rights in an emerging
economy; if our members are involved the same professional standards and ethics
apply.
We believe that standards
underpin effective markets. With up to seventy per cent of the world’s wealth
bound up in land and real estate, our sector is vital to economic development,
helping to support stable, sustainable investment and growth around the globe.
With offices covering the
major political and financial centres of the world, our market presence means we
are ideally placed to influence policy and embed professional standards. We
work at a cross-governmental level, delivering international standards that
will support a safe and vibrant marketplace in land, real estate, construction
and infrastructure, for the benefit of all.
We are proud of our
reputation and work hard to protect it, so clients who work with an RICS
professional can have confidence in the quality and ethics of the services they
receive.
For media enquiries,
please contact:
RICS East Asia Public Relations
Representatives
Ms Penn Leung / Ms Peggy Mak
T: +852 3159 2986 / +852 3159 2982
E: [email protected] / [email protected]
