Selected papers presented at the CIB World Building Congres Construction and Society, Brisbane 5-9 May 2013

Proceedings

Facilities Management and Maintenance

Publication 385

CIB Commission W070 – Facilities Management and Maintenance

Papers from the Designated Session Facilities Management and Maintenance that took place as part of the CIB World Building Congress, Brisbane, Australia, May 2013, under the responsibility of Working Commission W070 – Facilities Management and Maintenance Papers reviewed by: Dr. Danny Then, Coordinator CIB W070, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

Professor Keith Jones, University of Greenwich, England, United Kingdom

Professor Per Anker Jensen, Centre for Facilities Management, Technical University of Denmark

Dr. Joseph Lai, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China CIB Publication 385

W070 – Facilities Management and Maintenance

W070 aims: • to foster a deeper understanding of how our built environment influences human behavior, health and organizational productivity • to promote the strategic and operational value of facilities management and asset maintenance in meeting emerging business challenges • to forge closer links and collaboration between the financial, technical, sociological and operational aspects of facilities management and asset maintenance through an integrated resource management approach • to disseminate the findings of research work on facilities management and asset management to a wider audience • to provide a forum for the exchange of know-how and best practice in education, research and industry that addresses physical workplace and functional workspace demands • to communicate the work of CIB W070 by publication of its symposium proceedings.

CIB  World  Building  Congress,  Brisbane  May  2013  

Proceedings  –  Facilities  Management  and  Asset  Maintenance  

Foreword    

The  selection  of  papers  under  Working  Commission  W070  –  Facilities  Management  and  Asset  Maintenance,  is  representative  of  the  wide  spread  of  topics  within  its  remit.  Personally,  I  do  not  see  this  varied  spread  of  topics  as  a  weakness  but  rather,  as  testament  to  the  complex  nature  of  facilities  management  as  a  discipline.    The  practice  of  facilities  management  and  the  long-­‐term  care  of  durable  physical  assets  dictate  that  both  practitioners  and  researchers  alike  have  to  communicate  with  different  stakeholders  in  order  to  assess  facilities  requirements,  appropriately  service  and  monitor  the  performance  of  built  environment  for  a  range  of  users  within  increasingly  sophisticated  facilities.  

This  proceeding  comprised  learned  papers  covering  aspects  concerning  strategic  issues  in  facilities  and  asset  management  relating  to  adding  value  to  organization,  sustainability,  usability  and  educational  development;  as  well  as  operational  processes  and  tools  in  performance  evaluation,  post  –occupancy  evaluation,  maintenance  and  energy  management.  

Danny  Shiem-­‐shin  Then  Coordinator  CIBW070  –Facilities  Management  and  Asset  Maintenance  

 

 

CONTENTS

Papers Developing a Research Framework for Studying Performance Evaluation of 1 Engineering Facilities in Commercial Buildings in Hong Kong Chun Sing Man, Joseph Hung Kit Lai and Francis Wai Hung Yik Discussion of Facilities Management as lead user and innovation driver towards 13 improvement of energy efficiency and user comfort of buildings Antje Junghans Establishing the ‘DEA Energy Management System' for Individual 25 Departments within Universities - An Exploratory Study Kung-Jen Tu Factors affecting the Maintenance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) 37 in Nigeria Mohammed Olowoake and Song Wu Factors Threatening the Cultural Heritage- the Windows of Europe 49 Paul Dettwiler How Can Facilities Management Add Value To Organisations 61 As Well As To Society? Per Anker Jensen, Anna-Liisa Sarasoja, Theo van der Voordt and Christian Coenen Issues of breadth and depth in Facilities Management - Reflections of 74 30 years of educational development. Danny Shiem Shin Then Marketing, Programme and Project Management: 87 relationship building and maintenance over project lifecycles Hedley Smyth Post-occupancy evaluation of university student hostel facilities: 100 a case study in Hong Kong Joseph Lai Sustainability in FM: Trends in Policy and FM competence consequences 111 Abbas Elmualim The Characteristics of Public Real Estate Asset Management and Maintenance 124 Practice in New Zealand Council Community Buildings Zulkfli Sapeciay, Suzanne Wilkinson and Seosamh Costello Usability: managing facilities for social outcomes 136 Keith Alexander, Siri Blakstad, Geir Hansen, Per Anker Jensen, Goran Lindahl, Suvi Nenonen

Developing a Research Framework for Studying Performance Evaluation of Engineering Facilities in

Commercial Buildings in Hong Kong

C.S. Man1, Joseph H.K. Lai2 and Francis, W.H. Yik3

Abstract

The property value of commercial buildings in Hong Kong is in the top tier around the world. Underpinning the proper functioning of these buildings are various engineering facilities, which entail substantial resources for their operation, maintenance and management. In order to assess the effectiveness of such resources input, the performance of the facilities needs to be evaluated but a holistic scheme for evaluating the performance of engineering facilities in existing commercial buildings is yet to be established. This article reports on the initial phase of work of a research study that addresses this issue. Through a comprehensive literature review, a broad range of performance indicators were identified and the indicators have been systematically categorized under five aspects, namely physical; financial; task and equipment related; environmental; and health, safety and legal. On this basis, a research framework comprising four stages of work has been established. In addition to describing the tasks to be undertaken under this framework such as focus group discussion, questionnaire survey and case study, the future works needed are also identified.

Keywords: commercial buildings, engineering facilities, literature review, performance evaluation, research framework.

1 PhD student; Department of Building Services Engineering; Hong Kong Polytechnic University;

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; m.c.sing@connect.polyu.hk.

2 Associate Professor; Department of Building Services Engineering; Hong Kong Polytechnic

University; Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; joseph.lai@polyu.edu.hk.

3 Professor; Department of Building Services Engineering; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Hung

Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; francis.wai-hung.yik@polyu.edu.hk.

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1. Introduction

Commercial buildings in Hong Kong are well-known for their high sale and rental values but their values could be eroded by inadequate performance of their engineering facilities, such as air-conditioning, electrical and other installations. On the other hand, substantial amounts of resources need to be input for proper operation, maintenance and management of the facilities and, therefore, the output, viz. the performance of the facilities, needs to be evaluated such that whether the resources are utilized effectively can be measured.

Although there were studies that pinpointed at particular aspects of performance of engineering facilities in existing commercial buildings, e.g. their energy or environmental control performance, few have addressed holistically their performance, which covers a wide variety of operation and maintenance issues. With the objective of establishing a holistic scheme for evaluating the performance of engineering facilities in commercial buildings, a research study is being undertaken and this article reports on the outcomes of the initial phase of the study.

The findings of a literature review are summarized in the next section, which covers the typical range of engineering facilities in commercial buildings; the stakeholders of such buildings; the impetus for having a system that can enable evaluation of the facilities’ performance; and the major evaluation tools relevant to the objective of the present study. Also reported in Section 2 are the large number of performance indicators identified from the literature and the categories into which they were classified. Section 3 describes the essential stages of work to be carried out in the study, including the approach for developing a scheme for evaluation of the performance of the facilities. In the concluding section, the key findings of the initial stage of the study and the planned stages of further work are reported.

2. Literature review

2.1 Engineering facilities and stakeholders

The engineering services (facilities) that are essential to buildings include those that provide: energy supply (gas, electricity and renewable sources); fire detection and protection; cooling, heating and ventilation; water supply and drainage; lighting; vertical transportation; refrigeration; communication; security and alarm; etc. (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, 2012). They are means for delivering the services needed by users of buildings, which help maintain a safe, healthy, convenient and comfortable indoor environment suitable for the activities of the building users. Without them, buildings are but inhabitable cells that can hardly fulfil the purposes that they are intended to serve. In addition to the capital input for making available the facilities in the first place, further inputs of resources are needed in the delivery process of the services that the facilities provide, which include human resources, energy and spare parts and materials for their operation and maintenance (O&M) and for management of the O&M processes. The performance of the facilities may be gauged by the quantities of physical outputs that they turn out, such as the amount of ventilation air or cooling delivered or the number of persons transported, against

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the amount of resources input into the process; the precision and stability of the indoor environmental conditions that they are able to maintain; or the reliability of the facilities in providing the needed services. Nevertheless, the eventual performance of the services delivery process may also be judged by how well the needs of the end users are satisfied (Figure 1). The performance of engineering facilities in buildings, therefore, needs to be assessed from different perspectives. As engineering facilities may change with building function in response to new owner requirements or organisational revolutions (Then et al., 2004) and their performance may be affected by the effectiveness of the on-going management and a variety of endogenous and exogenous factors (e.g. wear and tear, end user demands), assessment of their performance should be a continual process.

Figure 1: Service delivery process of facilities

2.2 Need for a performance evaluation system

Managing the engineering facilities in buildings is a key application of facilities management (FM), which has emerged as a professional discipline that deals with facilities that support the core business of an organization. FM covers a wide spectrum of property and user related functions that may be brought together for the benefit of an organization, by optimizing the efficiency, cost and quality of the support services (Amaratunga et al., 2000).

FM also emphasizes putting in place a performance evaluation scheme to identify and measure the effectiveness of the FM functions. Performance measurement, which enables facility managers to monitor the output quality of the works they manage and to compare and identify any needs for improvement (Kincaid, 1994), is a key management activity that informs effective decision making (Webster and Hung, 1994), including decisions on allocation of resources (Thor, 1991). A multi-dimensional and balanced performance measurement system can provide impetus that drives a company forward (Najmi et al., 2005).

2.3 Performance evaluation tools

Fit-for-purpose measurement tools are a prerequisite to performance evaluations, and many such tools have been devised and widely used in various sectors. For example, the “Balanced Scorecard” (BSC) was developed for assessing financial and non-financial aspects of companies in the business sector (Kaplan and Norton, 1992), which measures performance in four perspectives, namely financial, customer, internal business process, and innovation and learning.

The SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al, 1985) is for measuring and managing quality of services, which can be an efficient tool for an organization to shape up their efforts in bridging the gap between perceived and expected services (Ingram and Daskalakis, 1999). This model, however, cannot be applied in a straightforward manner to measurement of the performance of engineering facilities in commercial buildings because the “customers” are

Provider (FM team) Facilities Receivers (End users)

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laypersons to engineering and they would not normally realise how the facilities are operated and maintained. Nevertheless, their perceived levels of satisfaction about the availability of services, degree of thermal comfort, quality of lighting output and water supply, etc., is indeed a reflection of the ultimate performance of the facilities. It follows from this argument that reference should be made to the dimensions covered by the SERVQUAL model in developing a scheme for performance evaluation of engineering facilities in buildings.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are meant to provide objective quantifications of the critical aspects of performance of a process. Appropriate KPIs are essential to measurement of the performance of maintenance processes, which will allow performance to be compared internally and, where applicable, against external benchmarks, through which to identify strengths and weakness and to control progress and changes over time (British Standards Institution, 2007). In the construction sector, some KPIs were established for reflecting the performance of construction projects (Chan and Chan, 2004). In the study of Ho et al. (2000), which attempted to develop a set of performance metrics for facilities management, corporations in the Asia Pacific region were asked to rate the importance of 97 metrics on a five-point scale and indicate if the metric was being used in their FM practice. They found that there was limited understanding and practice of FM benchmarking in the region and the awareness of the impact of FM on overall business was low.

For engineering facilities in existing commercial buildings, some initiatives have been taken to develop KPIs for evaluation of their performance. In the work of Lai and Yik (2006), it was found that the hurdles to the development of KPIs include the knowledge, financial, motivation and information barriers of the FM practitioners. Nevertheless, a hierarchy incorporating some common KPIs has been suggested for measuring the performance of different levels of O&M works (Table 1). With reference to this hierarchy, further work is needed to develop KPIs for applications on existing commercial buildings.

Table 1: A hierarchy of KPIs for engineering facilities (adapted from Lai and Yik (2006))

Hierarchical level Key Performance Indicator Input Process Output Strategic

area Building

cost M&O

-

area Building

income Building

Tactical

oninstallati ofCapacity

cost M&O

% compliance with required response time

% users dissatisfied

Operational

oninstallati ofCapacity

manhours of No.

No. of equipment faults per month

No. of completed work orders per staff

2.4 Performance indicators and performance categories

From the literature, 71 indicators have been identified as potentially suitable for performance evaluation of engineering facilities (as listed in the Appendix). For facilitating effective management and reporting of performance, these indicators should be systemically classified into different categories with reference to the aspects of performance (British Standards Institution, 2007; Lavy et al., 2010; Muchiri et al., 2011; Parida and

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Chattopadhyay, 2007; Shohet, 2006) or the stages of the process (e.g. Muchiri et al., 2011) to which they apply. A summary of the past classification efforts is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Past efforts in classifying performance indicators

Research Field/ application

Methods Number of indicators

Categories classified

Gilleard and Wong (2004)

FM Identified by a director of facility management services at a property development company

Not specified (1) Financial performance, (2) productivity, (3) project performance, (4) equipment availability, (5) compliance, (6) complaint and accident frequency, (7) customer satisfaction

Shohet (2006) Healthcare facilities management

KPIs were developed based on statistical and quantitative analysis

11 (1) Asset development, (2) organization and management, (3) performance management, (4) maintenance efficiency

British Standards Institution (2007)

Industrial and supporting facilities (buildings, infrastructure, transport, etc.)

Not specified 71 (1) Economic, (2) technical and (3) organizational

Parida and Chattopadhyay (2007)

Process and utility industries

Literature survey and interviews

28 (1) Equipment related indicators, (2) maintenance task related indicators, (3) cost related indicators, (4) impact on customer satisfaction, (5) learning and growth, (6) health, safety, security and the environment (HSSE) and (7) employee satisfaction

Lavy et al. (2010)

FM Literature review and a brief survey with eleven FM professionals who are involved in FM services and consultancy

35 (1) Financial, (2) functional, (3) physical, (4) survey-based

Muchiri et al. (2011)

Manufacturing industry

Literature review 31 (1) Leading (work identification, work planning, work scheduling and work execution), (2) lagging (measures of equipment performance and measures of cost performance)

The 71 performance indicators can be grouped into five categories - (1) physical (impact on customers’ satisfaction), (2) financial, (3) task and equipment related, (4) environmental, and (5) health, safety and legal. Physical indicators, e.g. thermal comfort, visual comfort, aural comfort, etc., include those representing the physical quality of services delivered by the engineering facilities. While reflecting the feelings or perceptions of end-users, the quality of the services impacts on the customers’ satisfaction. Financial indicators (e.g. percentage of contractor cost, O&M cost per building area) are those indicators related to costs and

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expenditures associated with O&M works for the facilities. Task and equipment related indicators (e.g. work request response rate, mean time to repair) are those indicators that can reflect how well the equipment are operated and maintained, and whether O&M tasks are effectively managed and implemented. Environmental indicators (e.g. energy use index (EUI), energy consumption per person) measure the impact of the facilities’ operations on the environment. Health, safety and legal indicators (e.g. number of accidents per year, number of legal cases per year) reflect how well the FM team has done in safeguarding the health and safety of the building occupants as well as its performance in avoiding legal costs arising from any malpractices of facilities operation and maintenance.

3. Development of a performance evaluation scheme

Grounded on the above, a study has commenced in order to develop a scheme for evaluation of the performance of engineering facilities in existing commercial buildings. The study comprises four stages of work (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Flow chart of the 4-stage study

In the first stage, as has been reported in the preceding section, performance indicators that are usable in the context of the present study were identified from the open literature. Then, experienced FM practitioners working on typical commercial buildings in Hong Kong will be invited to provide their opinions on the usability of the indicators. For this purpose, a focus group discussion will be arranged, through which direct interaction between the researcher and participants will provide rich data. While this method will allow certain flexibility in discussion in terms of format, types of questions and desired outcome, the findings may not

Literature review + formation of focus group

1st focus group meeting

Design of questionnaire

Pilot test of questionnaire

Distribution of the questionnaire survey in full-swing

Establishment of a performance evaluation framework

Case studies to validate the performance evaluation framework

First Stage

Second Stage

Third Stage 2nd focus group meeting

Forth Stage

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represent the views of the whole population. To minimize this limitation, careful selection of the group members who are experienced and representative in the field is necessary, and good facilitation skills are required to enhance the efficiency in obtaining the findings (Fern, 2001; Hesse-Biber and Leavy, 2004).

During the focus group meeting, the participants will be facilitated to discuss and identify the typical and major engineering facilities in their buildings and the criticalities of such facilities. Besides asking them to comment on the suitability of applying the listed performance indicators on existing commercial buildings, the participants will be guided to brainstorm and suggest any other essential indicators which are beyond those on the list. Furthermore, the identified indicators will be subdivided into four kinds: (a) important and feasible to find; (b) important but hard to find; (c) less important but feasible to find; and (d) less important and hard to find. Shortlisting of indicators will be made on a balance between their importance and the feasibility of finding out such indicators.

Based on the shortlisted indicators, a questionnaire will be designed in the second stage to investigate the levels of usefulness of the performance indicators. To ensure that the questionnaire will be effective in collecting useful responses, it will be pilot-tested before a full-scale survey is carried out. The questionnaire will be adjusted to address any problem discovered in the pilot test. Upon finalization of the questionnaire, it will be distributed in full swing to FM practitioners. Through a questionnaire survey, a large amount of data can be obtained from a large number of practitioners in the field (Thomas, 2003). By requesting the respondents to indicate their opinions in a written questionnaire, there is no guarantee of how many responses will be received and whether they can be received in a timely manner. Therefore, telephone invitations and explanations will be made to the target respondents to help raise the response rate, followed by allowing sufficient time for them to return the questionnaires.

In the third stage, the responses collected from the second stage will be analysed to screen out the less useful indicators. The useful indicators will be organized into a hierarchical structure and a second focus group meeting will be arranged. Based on the hierarchical structure (Figure 3), the focus group members will be asked to make a series of pairwise comparisons between the performance indicators using a 9-point scale. Each comparison, expressed as equal, moderate, strong, very strong or extreme, is assigned a number (i.e. how many times more): 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. The numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 are used for compromise between two adjacent judgements, and reciprocals are used to represent inverse comparisons. Each paired comparison made by the respondents requires the estimation of how many times more one indicator has over the other indicator. The ratings obtained in such comparisons will be computed by Saaty’s (1980) analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to generate importance weights for the indicators. With such weights determined, an assessment scheme will be established, which can be used to evaluate the performance of engineering facilities in commercial buildings when the performance levels of the engineering facilities are made available.

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Figure 3: Analytical hierarchy of the performance indicators

In the final stage, a group of commercial buildings of different grades and scales will be the targets of investigation. For each of these buildings, an in-depth case study will be carried out. Empirical data which are essential for computing the KPIs identified in the preceding stage will be retrieved from relevant records of the buildings. To enable collection of reliable data, interviews will be held with the responsible FM personnel. In particular, face-to-face interviews will be used, as they can allow more opportunity to: i) assess the respondent’s understanding and interpretation of the questions; and ii) clarify any confusion that arises about the meaning of the questions or the response. Furthermore, interviewing the practitioners face-to-face will help establish a relationship of trust between the interviewer and the interviewee, enhancing the opportunity to solicit answers to questions which the interviewees are reluctant to answer (Greenfield, 2002; Thomas, 2003).

Performance levels of the facilities, which may be figured out based on the buildings’ records or determined according to the perceptions of the interviewees, will be taken to validate the applicability of the performance evaluation scheme. Where necessary, fine tuning will be made to improve the scheme further and when this is done, the scheme will be ready for application for holistic performance evaluation of engineering facilities in existing commercial buildings.

4. Concluding remarks

Over the years, a number of performance evaluation methods have been developed but one that is tailored for monitoring and assessing specifically the performance of engineering facilities in commercial buildings is yet to be seen. A review of the relevant literature has identified a long list of performance indicators, which can be categorised by the hierarchical level of a FM organisation as well as the stages of a FM delivery process. Classification of the indicators by their nature and characteristics revealed that they fall into different groups,

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namely physical, financial, task and equipment related, environmental, and health, safety and legal.

Based on the five groups of indicators, a research framework comprising four stages of work has been established for developing an evaluation scheme for assessing the performance of engineering facilities. The initial findings obtained from the first stage of work have been reported in the above. Results of the subsequent stages will be published in future.

References

Amaratunga D, Baldry D and Sarshar M (2000) “Assessment of facilities management performance – what next?” Facilities 18(1/2): 66-75.

British Standard Institution (BSI) (2007) Maintenance: Maintenance key performance indicators (BS EN 15341), London, England, BSI.

Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) (2011) KPIs for M&E contractors – 2010 results, (available online http://www.bsria.co.uk/news/me-kpis-2010 [accessed on 25/11/2011])

Campbell J D (1995) Uptime: Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management, New York, Productivity Press.

Chan A P C and Chan A P L (2004) “Key performance indicators for measuring construction success” Benchmarking: An International Journal 11(2): 203-221.

Chan K T, Lee R H K and Burnett J (2001) “Maintenance performance: a case study of hospitality engineering systems” Facilities 19(13/14): 494-504.

Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) (2012) About building services, (available online http://www.cibse.org/index.cfm?go=page.view&item=67 [accessed on 15/9/2012])

Electrical & Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) (2007) Guidelines on Energy Audit, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, EMSD.

Electrical & Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and Environmental Protection Department (EPD) (2010) Guidelines to Account for and Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals for Buildings (Commercial, Residential or Institutional Purposes) in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, EMSD and EPD.

Fern E F (2001) Advanced focus group research, Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Publications.

Gilleard J D and Wong P Y L (2004) “Benchmarking facility management: applying analytic hierarchy process” Facilities 22(1/2): 19-25.

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Greenfield T (2002) Research methods for postgraduates, 2nd edition, London, Arnold.

Hesse-Biber S N and Leavy P (2004) Approaches to Qualitative Research – A Reader on Theory and Practice, New York, Oxford University Press.

Hinks J and McNay P (1999) “The creation of a management-by-variance tool for facilities management performance assessment” Facilities 17(1/2): 31-53.

Ho D C W, Chan E H W, Wong N Y and Chan M W (2000) “Significant metrics for facilities management benchmarking in the Asia Pacific region” Facilities 18(13): 545-556.

Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) (2012) HKQAA Sustainable Building Index Report Template and Metrics Handbook, Hong Kong, HKQAA.

Ingram H and Daskalakis G (1999) “Measuring quality gaps in hotels: the case of Crete” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 11(1): 24-30.

Kaplan R S and Norton D P (1992) “The balanced scorecard: measures that drive performance” Harvard Business Review January-February 1992:.71-79.

Kincaid D G (1994) “Measuring performance in facilities management” Facilities 12(6): 17-20.

Lai J H K and Yik F W H (2006) “Developing performance indicators for benchmarking building services operation and maintenance for commercial buildings”, Proceedings of CIBW70 Trondheim International Symposium: Changing User Demands on Buildings, 12-14 June, 283-294.

Lavy S, Garcia J A and Dixit M K (2010) “Establishment of KPIs for facilities performance measurement: review of literature” Facilities 18(9/10): 440-464.

Leung M Y, Lu X, Ip H Y (2005) “Investigating key components of the facility management of secondary schools in Hong Kong” Facilities 23(5): 226-238.

Lutzkendorf T and Lorenz D P (2006) “Using an integrated performance approach in building assessment tools” Building Research & Information 34(4): 334-356.

Muchiri P, Pintelon L, Gelders L and Martin H (2011) “Development of maintenance function performance measurement framework and indicators” International Journal of Production Economics 131(1): 295-302.

Najim M, Rigas J and Fan I S (2005) “A framework to review performance measurement systems” Business Process Management Journal 11(2): 109-122.

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml A V and Berry L L (1985) “A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research” Journal of Marketing 49: 41-50.

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Parida A and Chattopadhyay G (2007) “Methodology and Theory – Development of a multi-criteria hierarchical framework for maintenance measurement (MPM)” Journal of Quality in Maintenance 13(3): 241-258.

Saaty T L (1980) The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Planning, Priority Setting, Resource Allocation, McGraw-Hill.

Shohet I M (2006) “Key Performance Indicators for Strategic Healthcare Facilities Maintenance” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 132(4): 345-352.

Then D S S, Tan T H and Chau C K (2004) “An integrated asset performance framework for operational buildings – Preliminary results of focus group validations in Hong Kong and Australia” Proceedings of CIB W70 2004 Hong Kong International Symposium – Human Elements in Facilities Management, 7-8 December 2004, CIB Publication No. 297, 239-250.

Thomas R M (2003) Blending Qualitative & Quantitative Research Methods in Theses and Dissertations, Thousand Oaks, California, Corwin Press.

Thor C G (1991) “Performance measurement in a research organization” National Productivity Review 10(4): 499-507.

Tsang A H C, Jardine A K S and Kolodny H (1999) “Measuring maintenance performance: a holistic approach” International Journal of Operations & Production Management 19(7): 691-715.

Vesela V and Michael E (2001) “Indicators of sustainable production: framework and methodology” Journal of Cleaner Production 9: 519-549.

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Appendix: List of performance indicators/metrics

(Sources: British Standards Institution, 2007; Building Services Research and Information Association, 2011; Campbell, 1995;

Chan et al., 2001; Electrical & Mechanical Services Department, 2007; Electrical & Mechanical Services Department and

Environmental Protection Department, 2010; Hinks and McNay, 1999; Ho et al., 2000; Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency,

2012; Lai and Yik, 2006; Lavy et al., 2010; Leung et al., 2005; Lukzkendorf and Lorenz, 2006; Muchiri et al, 2011; Parida and

Chattopadhyay, 2007; Tsang et al., 1999; Vesela and Michael, 2001).

Physical (impact on customer satisfaction)

(1) Thermal comfort (e.g. temperature, mean

radiant temperature, humidity and air

speed)

(2) Visual comfort (e.g. illuminance and glare)

(3) Acoustic comfort (e.g. reverberation)

(4) Indoor air quality (e.g. total volatile organic

compound, CO2 level, concentration of

radon)

(5) Percentage users dissatisfied

(6) Number of users’ complaints per year

Financial

(7) Percentage cost of personnel

(8) Percentage cost of subcontractors

(9) Percentage of contractor cost

(10) Actual costs within budgeted costs

(11) Direct maintenance cost

(12) Breakdown severity

(13) Equipment replacement value (ERV)

(14) Maintenance stock turnover

(15) Percentage of maintenance material cost

(16) Percentage of corrective maintenance cost

(17) Percentage of preventive maintenance

cost

(18) Percentage of condition based

maintenance cost

(19) O&M cost per building area

(20) O&M cost per capacity of installation

(21) Cost of equipment added or replaced

(22) Energy expenditure per building area

(23) Energy expenditure per person

(24) Total safety and security expenditure

(25) Security expenditure per building area

(26) Security expenditure per person

(27) Building income per building area

(28) Total rentable value of the building

Task and equipment related

(29) Work request response rate

(30) Scheduling intensity

(31) Manpower utilization rate

(32) Manpower efficiency

(33) Manpower utilization index

(34) Preventive maintenance ratio (PMR)

(35) Percentage of reactive (corrective) work

(36) Percentage of proactive (preventive) work

(37) Percentage of condition based

maintenance work

(38) Percentage of improvement work

(39) Number of manhours per capacity of

installation

(40) Number completed work orders per staff

(41) Area maintained per maintenance staff

(42) Quality of scheduling

(43) Schedule realization rate

(44) Schedule compliance

(45) Work order turnover

(46) Backlog size

(47) Urgent repair request index (URI)

(48) Corrective maintenance time

(49) Preventive maintenance time

(50) Response time for maintenance

(51) Percentage compliance with required

response time

(52) Number of maintenance induced

interruptions

(53) Failure/breakdown frequency (number of

equipment faults per month or per year)

(54) Mean time between failures (MTBF)

(55) Mean time to repair (MTTR)

(56) Availability

(57) Efficiency of facilities

(58) Gross floor area under safety and security

patrol

Environmental

(59) Energy use index (EUI)

(60) Energy consumption per person

(61) Greenhouse gas emission per building

area

(62) Conduction of energy audit

(63) Conduction of carbon audit

(64) Conduction of environmental assessment

(e.g. LEED, BREEAM, BEAM Plus,

HKQAA SBI)

Health, safety and legal

(65) Number of accidents per year

(66) Number of legal cases per year

(67) Number of compensation cases per year

(68) Amount of compensation paid per year

(69) Number of health and safety complaints

per year

(70) Number of lost work hours per year (i.e.

convalescent leave given by doctor)

(71) Number of incidents of specific diseases in

building per year (e.g. legionnaire’s

disease)

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Discussion of Facilities Management as lead user and innovation driver towards improvement of energy efficiency and user comfort of buildings

Antje Junghans1

Abstract

The target of this paper is to discuss user-driven innovation as a new approach towards the improvement of energy efficiency and user comfort of buildings. This approach contributes to the general need for the improvement of building energy performance in buildings. Reducing energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy is not only a technical challenge, but also of high national and international importance. Facilities Management (FM) is addressed as having the lead user role referring to approaches of the social science and management discipline. Users can contribute to the advancement of knowledge on building energy performance. These approaches are based on the state of the art innovation theory. The focus is set on Eric von Hippel’s user innovation methodology. It was conceptually applied on FM as lead user in the building context. In addition, literature research revealed other examples of user driven innovation referring to research and practice in the field of energy efficiency improvement. These are presented as a contribution to the discussion and highlight different perspectives.

Facilities Management has so far not been considered as lead user of energy-efficient and comfortable buildings. Moreover, the complex interaction between the building itself and its’ management and usage overburden the existing lead user theory. Thus, further research is mandatory to transfer lead user theory from product innovation towards service innovation, especially for sectors with high levels of complexity.

Keywords: Facilities Management, user-driven innovation, energy efficiency, lead user, building energy performance.

1Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

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1 Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that “buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption” (DIRECTIVE 2002/91/EC, p13). As a consequence of this, the EU is targeting reduction of energy consumption as well as promoting the use of energy from renewable sources in the building sector. The European approach is to prioritise the improvement of the energy performance of buildings, with a focus on technical innovation, “taking into account outdoor climatic and local conditions, as well as indoor climate requirements and cost-effectiveness” (DIRECTIVE 2002/91/EC, p17). The objective of this paper is to discuss how far improvements of energy efficiency and user comfort can be considered as more than a technical challenge. The consideration of outdoor climatic factors, local conditions, and indoor climate requirements are essential for the design of a building’s construction and its’ technical services. The motivation for this paper is the assumption that an understanding of how a building is used might be more important for efficient energy management in a day-by-day and long-term perspective. Literature research on the state of the art on user-driven innovation towards energy efficiency improvement has been conducted. Referring to methodologies from social science and management theory the question comes up as to how far FM can be considered as an innovation driver towards the improvement of energy efficiency and user comfort. The purpose is to extend the scope of building energy performance. A better understanding of the behaviour of building users and FM decision-making on a strategic, tactical and operational level is needed.

Referring to common FM terminology a building can amongst other things be considered as a “Facility” and the person who is responsible for the management of the building therefore as a “Facility Manager”. However the FM discipline refers to a much broader field of work. FM includes all kinds of support facilities and services which develop and improve the organisation’s primary activities from a day-by-day and lifecycle perspective. Energy management is only one of the service processes which supports the user’s primary activities. FM services are referring to owned or rented space and infrastructure. FM interacts with the client organisation on a strategic, tactical and operational level (Atkin and Brooks 2009, Cotts et al. 2010, Barret & Baldry 2003, Junghans 2012a, EN 15221-1). Could FM therefore be considered as a lead user for energy-efficient building management and energy-efficient building design and construction?

Research from the social sciences has shown that the way a building is taken into use is important for the fulfilment of its’ technical possibilities (Aune & Bye 2005). Findings from real estate management related research similarly point out that, from an environmental perspective, the management and maintenance of buildings have an impact on building performance (Kyrö et al. 2010). Atkin and Brooks (2009) consider energy efficiency as long having been recognised and practiced from a FM perspective. They highlight recent changes towards a “wider environmental concern” and the adoption of a “whole-life perspective of buildings and other facilities” (p120). Borgers et al. conducted a systematic review of literature on user innovation (2010). They discussed state of the art user-driven innovation with a focus on the role that users play during innovation. Referring to the pioneers of innovation theory, they point out that users have been considered in the context of innovation since the 18th century. “The role that these users play during innovation of the

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products that they ordinarily buy from producers has been the subject of research since at least Adam Smith” (p857) Borgers et al. recognised that the literature on the role of users during innovation has significantly grown. They studied 106 references in total. Among those were 52 references with publication dates since the year 2000. A major focus was the work of Eric von Hippel. This was studied with 16 references published between 1976 and 2007. (Borgers et al. 2010, pp872-875) The diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers can be considered as theoretical basic knowledge and was first published in 1962. “He [Everett Rogers] argued that diffusion was a general process, not bound by the type of innovation studied, by who the adopters were, or by place or culture.” (Rogers et al. 2007, p2)

The following section gives a brief description of user-driven innovation theory, highlighting the management approach by Eric von Hippel (1988) in which user innovation projects have been primarily targeted to enhance the development of innovative products. User-driven innovation from the aforementioned social science perspective emphasises the needs of end-users and underlines the importance of developing an understanding for the social construct aside the technical innovation itself.

2 Methodology of user-driven innovation theory

Eric von Hippel (1988) introduced the term ‘lead user’. He defines a lead user of a new or enhanced product, process, or service according to two characteristics: 1) “Lead users face needs that will be general in a marketplace, but they face them months or years before the bulk of that marketplace encounters them, and 2) Lead users are positioned to benefit significantly by obtaining a solution to those needs.” (von Hippel 1988, p107)

Churchill, von Hippel and Sonnack (2009) developed the lead user approach further and applied it as a research method for the conducting of lead user projects with four main research phases:

“1. Selection of the Project Focus and Scope: This is the preparatory phase of a lead user project. A management group first decides the new product or service area that will be the focus of the innovation initiative and selects the core team that will implement the lead user study. This project team then does the practical work required before launching the actual lead user study in the next phase.

2. Identification of Trends and Needs: The core project team begins the lead user study by doing an in-depth investigation of trends and emerging market needs. By the conclusion of this phase, the team will have selected the specific need related trend(s) that will drive concept generation in the next phases.

3. Collection of Needs and Solution Information from Lead Users: This phase begins the concept generation phase of the project. The project team interviews lead users to gain deeper insight into emerging needs and to acquire new product and service ideas. By the end of phase three, the team will have generated preliminary concepts.

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4. Concept Development with Lead Users: A select group of lead users and technical experts join the project team and other company personnel for a workshop to do intensive product or service concept development work, usually over a 2 or 3 day period. The outcome of this workshop is typically a new product or service concept – or sometimes, several of them. The project team then refines these concepts and develops a business “case” which is presented to management for its review.” (Churchill et al. 2009, p10)

Targeting the discussion on FM driven innovation towards the improvement of a buildings energy performance, phase 3 “Collection of Needs and Solution Information from Lead Users” is considered as the most essential. Regarding this phase it is recommended to define and study three different types of lead users: 1) Lead users in the target application and market; 2) Lead users of similar applications in advanced /analogue markets; 3) Lead users in respect to important attributes of needs faced by users in the target market.

Churchill et al. (2009) demonstrate the application of the different types of lead users by using an example taken from the field of medical instrument development:

“Suppose that a manufacturer of medical X-ray systems decides to form a lead user project team to identify concepts for new products in that field. The team researches the target market and finds two important trends. One trend is towards images with higher resolution; another was towards better methods for recognizing subtle patterns in images that are medically important – for example, patterns that indicate possible early-stage tumours. In this example, the team might go on to identify and learn from the three types of lead users as follows: 1) Lead users in the target application and market – These might be medical radiologists working on applications in medical imaging that are very demanding with respect to images of high resolution and pattern recognition. 2) Lead users of similar applications in advanced ‘analogue’ markets – These could be users in more demanding but related markets such as engineers who create images of microscopic patterns developed on semiconductor chips. 3) Lead users with respect to important attribute of needs faced by users in the target application – These could include pattern recognition specialists in fields other than imaging such as pattern recognition in sound or mathematics.” (Churchill et al. 2009, p9)

The example relates to product innovation and represents a continuation of earlier research by von Hippel (1988), in which he examined the role of users in product development in the fields of scientific instrument innovation and semiconductor and electronic assembly manufacturing equipment. This systematic approach was used before to identify relevant case studies on user innovation towards improvement of building energy performance and to structure case studies referring to four market development phases: lead users, early adopters, routine users, and laggards (Junghans 2012b).

3 Conceptual application of user-innovation theory considering Facilities Managers as lead users

The following conceptual application of von Hippel’s lead user theory was developed to initiate a user-driven research project. It is a fictive consideration referring to the author’s

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experience from earlier studies on energy efficiency improvement of buildings (2009). However, the exemplary application aims to study FM as having the lead user role, intending the improvement of energy efficiency and user-comfort of buildings. Regarding von Hippel’s lead user approach, lead user projects are structured into four project phases. (Churchill et al. 2009, p10) The four project phases are applied as follows:

1) Preparing for the lead user project: The starting point is the preparation of the lead user project on behalf of the client and initiation of the project team (“client” in this example are owners of, or investors in public office buildings). FM can be regarded as both client and lead user. The driving need for innovation is to utilise FM’s experience within the operation and use-phase of buildings to improve energy efficiency by better integration of energy-efficient buildings and energy-efficient management. To initiate the project team the main stakeholders in the operation and use of a building have to be considered.

2) Identifying trends and key customers’ needs (“key customers” in this example are public departments): The main task of the project team is the identification of trends and key customer needs. The trends should have a strong connection both to the energy efficiency of a building as well as the way it is managed and used, and to needs for further improvement of energy efficiency. Regarding the state of the art in energy efficiency improvement of buildings and statistics about energy consumption, two preliminary trends were identified: 1) Reduce the steadily increasing demand for electricity for basic functions, such as heating, cooling and ventilation. 2) Increase the possibility to control energy consumption by changing user needs, for example user specific technical equipment.

3) Understanding the needs and solutions of lead users (“lead users” in this example is the FM supplier): The understanding of the needs and solutions of lead users supports the identification of appropriate innovation types.

3.1 Lead users in the target application and market – whose objective is to strengthen the demand perspective in the target application and market (e.g. reduce building demand for electricity and increase control of energy consumption). In-house FM of public office buildings are considered as lead users in the target application and market. The objective is to strengthen the demand perspective in the target application and market. The demand is determined by the need for energy-efficient improvements and the target application market is described by in-house FM services. In-house FM of a public office building is, therefore, considered as lead user in this category.

3.2 Lead users of similar applications in advanced analogue markets – who add higher demand perspectives similar to the target application, but in an advanced analogue market (e.g. reduce building demand for electricity and improve cost efficiency, increase control of energy consumption considering changing user demands). External FM service providers as lead users of similar applications (to target application and market) in advanced analogue markets. Advanced analogue markets add higher demand perspectives in similar applications and have higher standards for the measurement and control of costs and quality. External FM service providers consider FM a core activity and make it their business. This branch is referred to in the European standard definition (EN 15221). The definition

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describes the target of FM service integration, within an organisation as, to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve its core activities (EN 15221). In order to do this, FM should interact between end-users and clients on strategic, tactical, and operational levels. External FM service providers who might be involved or contracted in public-private-partnership (PPP) or private owned office buildings, are therefore considered as the focus group in this category.

3.3 By helping us understand specific areas of demand and need lead users can help us gain a deeper understanding of the problems faced by users in the target market. This knowledge can then be transferred into other areas of application. One aspect that could be examined is the energy management in hospitals which has high requirements for continuous availability and constant quality of power supplies. FM with high service intensity and supporting large and complex building and operational systems, for example hospitals, can be considered as lead users with respect to important attributes of problems. Studying FM in hospitals highlights important aspects of the demand perspective in respect to energy efficiency, with the highest requirements regarding energy supply of constant quality for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year. FM in hospitals is therefore considered as lead user in this category.

4) Improving approaches to problem solving by involving lead users and experts to maximise the likelihood of success

As a result approaches to problems solving will be improved with lead users from in-house and external FM and architects and engineers as well as client, key customer and end-user representatives.

4 Examples of user-driven innovation with focus on Facilities Management and energy efficiency improvement of buildings

4.1 Consideration of FM as lead users of buildings

FM can be considered as a building user amongst other users and has been discussed as having a kind of lead user role, without using the term ‘lead user’ specifically, by Olsson et al. (2010). The authors pointed out that, Facility managers are working in the building and that they are working with supporting facilities services. Facility managers use buildings and facilities and act on behalf of the users. They simultaneously link the ‘supply side’ and the ‘demand’. FM are the section of users who are characterised in the context of buildings as follows: “Owners; facilities management and service personnel (who operate buildings) [Facility Manager]; management of the organization(s) based in a building; service providers; service receivers and indirect service receivers.” (Olsson et al. 2010, p28)

The role of FM in general is defined by the European standard definition of facilities management (EN 15221-1). “Facility managers are responsible for the integration of processes within an organization. They act as a link between the demand and supply side on a strategic, tactical, and operational level.” (Junghans 2012a)

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4.2 Norwegian study on energy-efficiency potential and barriers of buildings

On behalf of a large Norwegian Real Estate Property and Asset Management organisation engineers and consultants conducted a study addressing energy-efficiency potential and examining barriers for improvement in commercial buildings in Norway (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi 2011). The aim of the study was to quantify the potential for energy savings towards the year 2020 targeting all commercial buildings in Norway. The results were structured into theoretical, technical, financial and real potential. Referring to the calculation method used, based on square meters and technical standards for the key input factors, the technical potential was calculated as the portion of the theoretical potential that is technically feasible. Economic potential was calculated as the share of the technical potential that is economically feasible to implement. The real potential for energy efficiency was described as the proportion of the economic potential that naturally occurs, but is limited by various barriers.

A qualitative, survey-based evaluation was conducted to find out more about the various barriers and how to deal with them. Respondents of the survey were particularly concerned with the economic barriers, and least concerned with the technical barriers. Attitudes and knowledge barriers were also considered as very important. Another result was the respondents’ lack of knowledge about the effects and benefits of energy efficiency. This was considered as a possible reason why negative attitudes persist, and myths about lack of profitability continue to exist. Many survey respondents believed this was due to lack of knowledge, which in turn can be the cause of other types of barriers, such as financial barriers.

Case studies, focus group interviews and workshops contributed to the analysis which demonstrates that part of the real potential is limited by these barriers, and the type of institutions in society that can reduce these barriers with the various measures. Main barriers for existing buildings were practical barriers, economic barriers and knowledge barriers. For new construction the barriers were financial and knowledge. The overall result of the study finds the greatest potential for improvements in energy efficiency in existing buildings, it is therefore important to concentrate measures here. (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi 2011, pp1-12)

The initiation of the focus groups led to discussion about who should be represented. The client preferred participants who showed why decision-makers choose particular measures. Decision-makers in the examined case study were building owners. The contractor was of the opinion that it would also be appropriate to include people with technical management responsibilities, because they were supported by more detailed information on barriers related to specific measures in the building, assuming that they had a more practical approach. (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi 2011)

The study also included an approach with reference to diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers. The authors considered it as important to refer to market development and to group decision-makers based on the theory of diffusion of innovation. Participants were therefore asked to answer a short questionnaire in which they categorised themselves by whether

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they perceived themselves as, respectively: 1. Innovators, 2. Early users, 3. Early majority, 4. Late majority, 5. Last few. The answers to this survey, as well as additional observation of the participants in the focus groups gave input to this part of the study. (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi 2011) However, the authors commented on the achieved results and mentioned potential weaknesses of the approach later in their report. “Participants perceive themselves as innovative and early users. Based on the discussions in the focus group, we (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi) believe, however, that participants may seem somewhat more conservative than they express themselves, because participants experience many economic barriers, which may indicate that they are not willing to take risks and thus are not innovative” (Multiconsult and Analyse&Strategi 2011)

4.3 Strength and weaknesses of interaction between energy users and energy efficiency practitioners

Heiskanen et al. (2012) explored the interaction between energy users and energy-efficiency improvement measures in the context of a European research project. They underlined the usefulness of the user-driven approach referring to user-driven projects.

User-driven projects (or pilot projects) are considered as “ideal in many ways” (p6). Strengths are that, “end-users know their needs and circumstances and can contribute to context tailored designs” and “end-users are motivated and engaged from the start and do part of the work.” (p5). Weaknesses were found in that, “End-users may not be fully aware of their behaviour and all the factors underlying it” and, “Up-scaling from small user-driven pilots to broader groups of end-users can be difficult.” (p5)

In addition, strength and weaknesses of three other approaches, i.e. surveys and interviews, prior research, and familiarity and informal interaction can be summarised as follows:

Surveys and interviews were regarded as, “obviously useful” and categorised as “formal, dedicated research” (p6). The strength of this method is, “the systematic approach to data collection” and “the possibility to poll representative samples” (p5). Weaknesses are that surveys and interviews, “do not always feed into program design” and, “Surveys may be designed to confirm existing preconceptions, may fail to bring up new insights” as well as, “Conducting good research is expensive and requires specialised skills” (p5).

Prior research, particular theoretical perspectives, were summarised as, “previous experience” and considered as, “obviously useful” and, “speeds up the learning phase” especially if previous experience with the same user-group was available (p6). The strength of using previous experience is that the, “theoretical base can guide observations and help to make sense of energy-related behaviour” (p5). Examples were explored referring to hands-on activities and experiments. Weaknesses of this method are the “commitment to prior findings or theories may lead to overlooking contextual particularities” (p5). In addition, an “overly theoretical background can lead to complex and confusing designs” (p5).

Familiarity and informal interaction with the target end-user group can be based on face-to-face contacts or membership in the user community (p6). “Informal interaction allows a rich

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exchange of information” and “Immersion in the user community helps to understand users’ every day routines” as well as, “Familiarity creates trust” (p5) were considered as strengths. Weaknesses are that, “much time and commitment is needed to build up the necessary level of familiarity” and, “Contacts can be biased: some end-users are more familiar than others” (p5).

5 Discussion of FM as having lead user role

How far can FM be regarded as lead user and innovation driver towards improvement of buildings energy performance?

Discussion of FM driven innovation as the topic of this paper seems to be in line with the suggestion of Borgers et al. (2010) to transfer user innovation theory into other management fields. “We believe it is useful to provide a comprehensive review of the role of users in the innovation process and to link the notion of users as innovators to other literatures in the field of management.” (Borgers et al. 2010, p858). As underlined by Borger et al. (2010), it was Eric von Hippel (1988) who introduced the notion of a user as a source of innovation in the 1980s. He described the user as one of the four sources of innovation, beside manufacturers, suppliers, and others. If the user is considered as a building’s user, the following key questions, by von Hippel (1988, p3), relate to the categorisation of the different functions of a building and address the potential benefit of innovation, ”Do they benefit from using it? They are users. Do they benefit from manufacturing it? They are manufacturers. Do they benefit from supplying components or materials necessary to build or use the innovation? They are suppliers.” Based on lead user theory by von Hippel (1988) the main research approach is how whether FM as lead user fulfils the following criteria.

1) Does FM face needs months or years before the bulk of that marketplace encounters them, and

2) Is FM positioned to benefit significantly by obtaining a solution to those needs?

From a FM perspective, needs regarding the improvement of a building’s energy performance are faced by integrating user demand and service delivery. FM gains benefit from achieving cost reduction and user satisfaction, as well as ensuring a healthy and safe environment. FM is involved in the whole life-cycle (Atkin and Brooks 2009) and interacts with the client organisation and service provision on strategic, tactical and operational levels (EN 15221-1). Thomzik et al. (2011) identified non-residential buildings in several categories as most relevant for the FM industry, such as: educational buildings, heath care buildings, light industry and workshops, retail and storage buildings, buildings for sports, culture, and recreation, housing for institutional owners, and other types of non-residential buildings. Building engineering services like heating, ventilation, air conditioning and cooling (HVAC), lighting, power, transportation, fire and security systems are consuming significant financial resources up to, “more than half of the capital cost” in the construction phase and require controlling during building operation and use. “Control over these installations is vital if the

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facility is to perform optimally and not exceed targets for energy consumption or reduce user comfort, amongst other concerns.” (Atkin and Brooks 2009, p146).

While the general perception is focused on the improvement of building energy performance and technical innovation for buildings and technical infrastructure as stated in the EU definition, “energy performance of a building” means the calculated or measured amount of energy needed to meet the energy demand associated with a typical use of the building, which includes, inter alia, “energy used for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water and lighting” (DIRECTIVE 2002/91/EC, p18). FM driven innovation can be considered as targeting improvement of building energy performance referring to the complexity of the building lifecycle and including the understanding of how a building is used and managed.

6. Conclusion

Lead-user theory was introduced in management discipline in the 1980s, however, examples of user innovation projects are still targeting the development of industrial or consumer products, like for example CAD software, pipe hanger hardware, outdoor consumer products, ‘Extreme’ sporting equipment. (von Hippel 2005, p36).

The social science perspective on user-driven innovation highlights the need to understand end-users and consider the social construct alongside technical innovation. Heiskanen et al. (2012) point out that “information about users' needs and manufacturers' capabilities is highly contextual, tacit and difficult to transfer from one site to another”(von Hippel 2005). They explain that this problem of common understanding hinders the uptake of innovative solutions. Referring to Rohracher (2001) they highlight “Energy efficient building solutions” as examples for innovative solutions that fail to address users' concerns and practices. Limited uptake and effectiveness are considered as consequence of this. (Heiskanen et al. 2012, p2)

Until now FM has not been considered as a lead user of energy efficient and comfortable buildings. However following the research on, “diffusion of innovation” (Rogers et al. 2007) and, “user-driven innovation”, referring to Borgers (2010), Churchill et al. (2009) Heiskanen et al. (2012), Rohracher (2001), the understanding of the innovation user and the consideration of the social context aside, the technical innovation is of high importance for a successful innovation implementation.

Von Hippels lead user approach does not yet meet all the requirements of service innovation within such complex systems like building-management-use settings. This shows a need for further research to transfer lead user theory from product innovation towards service innovation.

Future research might further develop the “user-driven innovation approach” into an “innovation-driven user approach”. This means implementing social science knowledge into management concepts to actively support the communication and diffusion of innovation. Future research questions could be: Is social context supporting the improvement of building

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energy efficiency and user comfort? Is the social perception of technical innovation measurable? And, if it is measurable, can it be managed by FM?

References

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2

Establishing the ‘DEA Energy Management System’ for Individual Departments within Universities -

An Exploratory Study

Kung-Jen Tu1

Abstract

The energy management of existing buildings has become a critical research topic worldwide. The mixed use of a single university facility by different departments is prevalent in Taiwan and has complicated the energy management task. Individual departments need a tool capable of assessing their energy efficiencies from 'management' perspective. This study explores the ‘space type’ and ‘internal benchmark’ research concepts as well as the ‘data envelopment analysis’ method to establish the ‘DEA Energy Management System (DEMS)’ to assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy efficiencies of their facilities from ‘management’ perspective. The DEMS proposed considers each ‘space’ in a given ‘time’ (such as a month) as a DMU. Then, regression analysis is performed on data of the independent variables related to the ‘existing environment’ and 'occupancy' factors, and data of the dependent variable (actual energy consumption EUI) of all DMUs. The regression equation derived is then used to calculate the ‘predicted EUI’ for all DMUs. The ‘actual EUI’ is considered as the input data, and the ‘predicted EUI’ as the output data of the DEMS, on which data envelopment analysis is conducted to produce three types of energy efficiency scores (overall efficiency, scale efficiency, and pure technical efficiency) to indicate the energy efficiencies of all DMUs. The ‘pure technical efficiency’ scores reveal the 'energy management effectiveness' of all DMUs. Those DMUs on the efficiency frontier are the most energy efficient ones and are given with the highest pure technical efficiency score of 100%; and those DMUs that are away from the frontier are less efficient ones and are given with efficiency scores less than 100%. Energy efficiency assessments can also be performed to compare the energy management effectiveness among different space types as well as those of individual space types over time. The DEMS will be implemented in the Department of Architecture of NTUST in Taiwan to illustrate how it can be used to assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy management effectiveness of their spaces and in improving the energy efficiencies of their facilities. The implementation research tasks to be conducted are planned and outlined.

Keywords: space type, internal benchmark, existing environment factors, occupant and management factors, energy management effectiveness

1 Assistant Professor; Department of Architecture; National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; 43 Keelung Rd., Section 4, Taipei, Taiwan, 106; kjtu@mail.ntust.edu.tw

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3

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

‘Energy management’ has become an important facility management issue for universities in Taiwan. Individual departments within universities are usually held responsible for managing the energy efficiency of their facilities. This becomes an even more challenging task when several departments occupy the same facility and that individual departments lack reasonable energy consumption benchmarks or indices. Although Taiwan government has issued average EUI indicators for different categories of universities as energy benchmarks, nonetheless, these single indicators are unable to assist facility managers in further assessing the energy efficiencies of their facilities, spotting the over-consumed areas and causes, and identifying the subject and directions of energy management (Tu and Lin, 2012). As a result, the average EUI indicators are not as practical and effective for 'energy management' purpose.

Similarly, several energy efficiency scales, such as the average energy use intensity (EUI) of various types of building, have been established to indicate the energy efficiency of existing buildings, or regarded as the external benchmarks or energy saving targets for existing buildings in different countries (US Green Building Council, 2009; Lee et al., 2007; Poel et al., 2007; Bohdanowicz and Martinac, 2007; Chung et al., 2006; Haji-Sapar and Lee, 2005). These energy efficiency scales might be able to indicate the energy performance at the ‘building’ level; yet they fail to inform a ‘department’ or 'institution', who occupies only certain floors of a building, much about the energy efficiency of its facility at the 'floor' level.

To be effective in building energy management, it's essential to first realize there are three groups of factors that may affect the energy consumptions of individual departments. The first group of factors are 'existing environment' factors, including existing climate factors (such as temperature and relative humidity) and existing building infrastructure factors (such as building enclosure, opening, types and performance of lighting, HVAC and various equipment). Since the 'existing environment' conditions of a facility most likely remain unchanged over the course of its building life cycle, their effects on annual energy consumptions can be considered stable and predictable. 'Occupancy' factors, such as use patterns, work and equipment needs, and environmental quality requirement, are the second group of factors and are the deciding factors that differentiate energy consumptions among various space types (different functional use), given the fixed 'existing environment' conditions. For each type of space, the effects of 'occupancy' factors on energy consumptions can also be regarded as predictable as well, since its occupancy use patterns are more or less stable over time. Finally, 'management' factors, such as department's operation strategy and occupant's energy consciousness, are the third group of factors that have critical and variable effects on building energy consumption. Individual departments with active energy management strategies are likely to further reduce their building energy consumptions, and vice versa.

Within the same building (same 'existing environment' conditions), two departments with different 'occupancy' needs are likely to consume different amount of energy, and it will be

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unreasonable to say that the department consuming less energy is more energy efficient than the other. This study thus argues that it is critical to take into account the 'management' factors while assessing the energy efficiencies of individual departments within universities. For effective energy management, individual departments are in great need of a tool capable of first assessing their energy efficiencies from 'management' perspective to identify problem areas and improvement plans exhibiting immediate energy saving effects, before any other expensive energy saving measures such as building renovations are taken.

1.2 Research objectives

To assist individual departments in their complex energy management tasks, this study adopts the research concepts of 'space type' and 'internal benchmark' proposed by Tu and Lin (2012). The concept of 'space type' allows us to explicitly observe and distinguish the effects of 'occupancy use patterns' on energy consumptions among different space types. When a standard energy consumption can be identified for each space type, then the standards energy consumptions of all space types can be aggregated as the 'internal benchmark', which becomes a reasonable energy references for individual departments.

The data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been generally used in the performance assessment of resource usage. In the field of building energy management, it has been adopted to assess the energy efficiencies of several building types, such as hotels (Önüt and Soner, 2006), commercial buildings (Chung et al., 2006) and school buildings (Filippin, 2000). This study believes that it is potentially applicable to energy efficiency assessment of various 'space types' within individual departments.

The objectives of this study are to adopt the ‘space type’ and ‘internal benchmark’ research concepts, and to explore the idea of applying the ‘Data Envelopment Analysis’ method in establishing the ‘DEA Energy Management System (DEMS)’ to assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy efficiencies of their facilities from the 'management' perspective. The underlying DEA theory as well as the methods of the DEMS in assessing the 'energy management effectiveness' of individual departments are described. The DEMS is to be implemented in the Department of Architecture of a national university (NTUST) in Taiwan. The future implementation research tasks are outlined in this study and assessment results will be reported later.

2. Theory of data envelopment analysis (DEA)

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method developed to empirically measure the relative productive efficiencies of multiple 'decision making units' (DMU), such as organizations, firms or institutions, when the production process presents a structure of multiple inputs and outputs (Charnes et al., 1978). DEA measures the efficiency of a DMU by evaluating its input level relative to its output level, and comparing them against those of other DMUs. Conceptually, a DMU is considered as 'efficient' if it can produce more outputs with less inputs. A numerical efficiency score is given to each DMU, defining its relative efficiency. DEA identifies the most efficient DMUs as the benchmarks which form a 'frontier' (line ABC in Figure 1) against which the relative performance of all other DMUs can be compared.

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Those DMUs on the frontier are the most efficient ones and thus are given with the highest efficiency scores 100%, and all other DMUs are considered less efficient (such as D in Figure 1) and are given with efficiency scores less than 100% . A DMU can be made efficient either by reducing the input levels and getting the same output (input orientation) or by increasing the output level with the same input level (output orientation). In addition to providing efficiency scores, DEA can inform the less efficient DMUs of their potential benchmarks and efficiency improvement targets. For example, it is suggested that D in Figure 1 consider S as its benchmark and improve its efficiency by reducing its input level from L4 to L3 while remaining at the same output level Q.

DEA has been applied to assessing the performance of organizations such as banks, hospitals and corporations. Besides, some researches have used DEA for 'project selection' purpose (Sohn & Moon，2004；Cook & Green, 2000；Sowlati et al., 2005). The main advantage to this method is its ability to accommodate a multiplicity of inputs and outputs. It is also useful because it takes into consideration returns to scale in calculating efficiency, allowing for the concept of increasing or decreasing efficiency based on size and output levels. A drawback of this technique is that model specification and inclusion/ exclusion of variables can affect the results (Berg 2010). This study argues that DEA can be potentially applied to assessing the energy management effectiveness of various space types within individual departments.

Figure 1: DEA identifies A, B, C as the most efficient DMUs which form the 'frontier', and suggests that DMU D move towards S by reducing its input level from L4 to L3.

3. Establishing the DEA Energy Management System (DEMS)

3.1 Approaches of DEA application in energy efficiency assessment

3.1.1 The 'space-time' DMU definition

This study considers each 'space' in a given period of 'time' (a given month, week, or day) as a DMU and assess the 'energy management effectiveness' of all DMUs (Figure 2). To be more specific, a DMU is defined as 'a space in a month' in this study. In other words, the monthly input and output of a space (type) will be used to assess its energy management

Input

Output

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effectiveness; and each space in different months are considered as different DMUs. The 'space-time' DMU definition allows us to assess and compare the energy management effectiveness among different space types or that of a particular space over time. In other words, this approach allows us to identify 'the best practice or worst case' among different space (types) or those of a particular space (type) over time.

Space type A

Space A-3 …

Space A-2

Space A-1

Space type B

Space B-3 …

Space B-2

Space B-1

Space type C

Space C-3 …

Space C-2

Space C-1

DMU Space -Time (month, week, or day)

DMU Space B1-Month1 DMU Space B1-Month 2 ........ DMU Space B1-Month 12

DMU Space C1-Month1 DMU Space C1-Month 2 ........ DMU Space C1-Month 12

DEA Energy

Management System

Floor-3 …

Floor-2

Department Floor-1

Energy Management Effectiveness

DMU Space A1-Month1 DMU Space A1-Month 2 ........ DMU Space A1-Month 12

Figure 2: Each 'space' in a given period of 'time' is regarded as a DMU whose energy management effectiveness is further assessed by the DEMS.

3.1.2 Multiple regression analysis

As mentioned earlier, the actual energy consumption of each space is an interacting result of three groups of factors, i.e., the 'existing environment' factors, the 'occupancy' factors and the 'management' factors. For each space (type), since its 'existing environment' conditions most likely remain unchanged over time, and its unique 'occupancy' use patterns are rather stable over time, their effects on energy consumptions can be considered predictable. If the data of the 'existing environment' and 'occupancy' factors (independent variables) of all DMUs in a department can be collected and multiple regression analysis performed on their actual energy consumptions (dependent variable), a regression model can be identified and used to predict the energy consumption of each DMU. For each DMU, the difference between its 'actual energy consumption' and 'predicted energy consumption' can be interpreted as the effect of those 'management' factors. If the 'actual energy consumption' of a DMU is larger than its corresponding 'predicted energy consumption', it could be due to poor 'energy management effectiveness or conduct'; and vice versa. The 'energy management effectiveness' of all DMUs can then be further assessed by the data envelopment analysis.

In this study, 'monthly actual EUI' (Wh/m2-month) is defined as the dependent variable of the regression model to be analyzed. On the other hand, the independent variables include ten 'existing environment' factors such as monthly highest temperature (°C), monthly highest

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relative humidity (%), space/room orientation (0~360°), room area (m2), envelop surface area (m2), envelope U-value (W/m2K), fenestration percentage (%), light fixture density (w/m2), equipment density (w/m2), and HVAC density (w/m2); as well as two 'occupancy' factors such as occupant density (person/100m2) and space utilization hours (hr/month).

3.2 The DEMS procedure

The DEMS assesses the energy management effectiveness of all DMUs by analyzing their input levels relative to their output levels. The data envelopment analysis will be conducted to produce the overall efficiency, scale efficiency, and pure technical efficiency scores for all DMUs to indicate their energy efficiencies from different perspectives.

3.2.1 Data envelopment analysis

This study designates the 'predicted EUI' as the 'output', and the 'actual EUI' as the 'input' of the DEMS. Figure 3 shows a scatter plot of the input (actual EUI) and output (predicted EUI) data of certain hypothetical DMUs (space-time). The solid line in Figure 3-a is the regression line derived from the multiple regression analysis. The DMUs above the regression line are considered as 'energy efficient' DMUs. For instance, X in Figure 3, given the same level of output (predicted EUI), has a lower energy input level (actual EUI = x) than its expected input level (actual EUI = y) and is therefore regarded as an efficient DMU. It's logical to reason that the reduction in X's actual EUI could be due to certain positive 'management' factors such as higher level of energy manager's involvement. On the other hand, Z in Figure 3 has a higher energy input level (actual EUI = z) than its expected input level (actual EUI = y) and is therefore regarded as an inefficient DMU, possibly due to certain negative 'management' factors such as lower level of occupant energy consciousness.

(a) Actual EUI (kWh/m2) (b) Actual EUI (kWh/m2)

Figure 3: (a) Scatter plot of actual EUI and predicted EUI of a group of DMUs and the regression line derived; (b) the efficiency frontier of the same group of DMUs.

In Figure 3-b, the line connecting the forefront points of all DMUs, i.e., P1, P2, P3, and P4, forms their 'efficiency frontier'. All the points on the efficiency frontier are regarded as the most energy efficient DMUs (spaces at certain time) and are given the highest efficiency score of 100%. They are the benchmarks for those DMUs away from the frontier which are not as efficient and are given with efficiency scores less than 100% (the lower the scores, the less energy efficient they are).

Predicted E

UI

Predicted E

UI

P3

Z X

x y z c d

Y

b

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3.2.2 Energy management effectiveness scores

According to the DEA methodology (Charnes et al., 1978; Chauhan et al., 2006), the following three types of efficiency scores can be produced for all DMUs to indicate their energy efficiencies. Point D in Figure 3-b is used to illustrate their meanings:

1. Overall efficiency: The line MN in Figure 3-b represents the envelope of the data set with constant returns to scale (CRS). It is a straight line that connects the origin and the most forefront data point on the frontier (P2). Those points on line MN are considered as efficient and has the highest 'overall efficiency' score of 100%. Those points that are not on line MN are given with 'overall efficiency' scores less than 100%. The 'overall efficiency' score of DMU D is defined as AB/AD (Figure 3-b). One can interpret that AB is the 'ideal input' required to produce the output B on MN (actual EUI = b), if constant returns to scale were to prevail. In the DEMS case, the 'overall efficiency' score of DMU D indicates its overall energy management effectiveness relative to other DMUs. The 'overall efficiency' scores reflect the effects of three groups of factors, i.e., the 'existing environment', 'occupancy' and 'management' factors.

2. Scale efficiency: The line connecting the most efficient DMUs P1, P2, P3 and P4 in Figure 3-b represents the envelope of the data set with variable returns to scale (VRS), which represents a more realistic phenomenon in reality. 'Scale efficiency' is therefore defined to quantify the effect of the presence of VRS in the DMUs. The 'scale efficiency' of D is defined as AB/AC (Figure 3-b), representing the ratio of its 'ideal minimum EUI' (AB) to the 'minimum EUI' (AC). In the DEMS case, the 'scale efficiency' scores reflect the influences of the 'existing environment' and 'occupancy' factors on energy efficiency (since the 'predicted EUI' is calculated by the regression model with the both groups of factors).

3. Pure technical efficiency: The 'pure technical efficiency' is the 'overall efficiency' that has the effect of 'scale efficiency' removed. Those points on the frontier are given with the highest 'pure technical efficiency' score 100%. The 'pure technical efficiency' of D is defined as AC/AD (Figure 3-b) and is calculated by dividing its 'real minimum EUI' (AC) by its 'actual EUI' (AD). In the DEMS case, 'pure technical efficiency' scores indicate the energy management effectiveness of all DMUs and reflect the effects of the 'management' factors on energy efficiency.

With the above three types of efficiency scores, the DEMS allows individual departments to know the energy efficiencies of all spaces within their facilities from different perspectives, and further identify appropriate energy saving targets. For example, DMU D will be given an 'overall efficiency' score of AC/AD; and be advised to move towards point C (pure technical efficiency score of 100%) and try to reduce its actual EUI from d to c ( Figure 3-b).

In addition, the DEMS will assist individual departments in analyzing and comparing the energy management effectiveness among different 'space types' to understand the differences and the effects of various ' management' factors on energy efficiencies among different space types. Finally, the DEMS is able to analyze and compare the energy management effectiveness of a certain type of space over time to understand the pattern or

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SV5

SV4

trend of its energy efficiency over time and to identify critical 'management' factors that have great effects on its energy efficiencies over time.

3.3 The DEMS implementation: future research tasks

This study intends to further implement the DEMS in the Department of Architecture (DA) of a national university (NTUST) in Taiwan, and use it as a case to demonstrate how the DEMS can assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy management effectiveness of their spaces and in improving the energy efficiencies of their facilities. The implementation research tasks to be conducted are planned and outlined.

3.3.1 The DEMS implementation subject

There are about 350 occupants in the Department of Architecture of NTUST (17 full time faculty members, 10 research assistants, three full time administrative staff, 200 under-graduate students, and 120 graduate students). The department occupies the 7th, 8th and 9th floor of the Research Building on campus. There are a total of 66 spaces in the DA of NTUST, taking up a total of 3,386 m2 of floor area. These spaces can be classified into five major types according to their ‘functional uses’: administrative office, faculty office, research lab (for graduate students), design studio (for undergraduate students), classroom (excluding spaces such as workshop, lobby, corridor, elevator, toilet and staircase). Each space type is characterised by its unique occupancy patterns (Table 1).

NTUST is located in Taipei City with a humid subtropical climate. The average temperature in summer is 29.4 °C and in winter 11 °C. Summers are hot (133 days in a year with maximum temperature exceeding 30 °C) and humid (mean relative humidity 74.0~81.1%), and accompanied by occasional rainstorms and typhoons. Winters are short and mild. Taipei’s average annual sunshine is 1,408 hours (67% of the time is cloudy), and average annual precipitation is 2,325 mm (46% of the days rain).

Table 1: The five space types and their occupancy patterns in the DA, NTUST.

Space type User type Density

Equipment type Density

Occupancy time (wk, day) Length of daily use

Classroom Students Medium density

Office equip. Low density

Variable (wk), intermittent (day) Short-to-long hours

Admin. office Admin. personnel Low density

Office + special equip. Medium density

Constant (wk), continuous (day) Medium hours

Faculty office Faculty Low density

Office + special equip. High density

Variable (wk), continuous (day) Short-to-medium hours

Research lab Graduate students Medium density

Office + special equip. Medium density

Variable (wk), intermittent (day) Medium-to-long hours

Design studio Undergrad. students High density

Office equip. Medium density

Variable (wk), intermittent (day) Short-to-long hours

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3.3.2 Intelligent energy monitoring system installed

An intelligent energy monitoring system was installed in the DA in August 2011. The system was set up to record the electricity consumption data of lighting, equipment, and HVAC on each of the three floors. In addition, the system also records the electricity consumptions in five typical spaces, each representing one of the five major space types: RB-809 classroom, RB-810 administrative office, RB-905 faculty office, RB-906 research lab, and RB-909 design studio. The logged data can be tabulated into hourly, daily, or monthly data tables for reference. As shown in Table 2, the monthly actual EUIs of the five spaces and those of department average are summarized (data from January to December 2012).

Table 2: The monthly actual EUIs (kWh/m 2) of the five space types and the department average in the DA (data from January to December 2012).

2012 Jan

2012 Feb

2012 Mar

2012 Apr

2012 May

2012 Jun

2012 Jul

2012 Aug

2011 Sept

2012 Oct

2012 Nov

2012 Dec

Total kWh/m 2

RB-809 Classroom 4.8 4.0 6.5 6.7 13.4 9.3 6.9 5.5 11.3 9.3 8.6 5.2 91.5

RB-810 Admin. office 4.2 4.2 5.6 5.5 7.3 7.5 9.6 7.4 8.4 6.6 6.8 5.3 78.3

RB-905 Faculty office 2.8 3.6 4.0 4.4 5.3 6.9 8.3 5.9 6.5 4.3 3.8 3.9 59.5

RB-906 Research lab 4.2 4.2 4.7 6.2 8.4 10.1 14.6 9.7 10.7 12.4 13.1 7.4 105.6

RB-909 Design studio 2.3 2.2 4.0 5.3 7.4 9.6 10.9 2.5 5.4 10.0 7.8 5.9 73.4

Department average 4.2 3.6 6.2 8.1 10.4 10.2 11.2 7.7 8.1 9.1 8.5 6.3 93.7

3.3.3 Future research tasks planned

The monthly electricity consumption data of the DA in 2012 is ready for comprehensive data analysis. This study plans to perform the following research tasks of the DEMS implementation, and present the actual implementation and analytical results thereafter:

1. DMU definition: For a full year, there will be a total of 60 DMUs (= 5*12) in this study. 2. Regression analysis: Multiple regression analysis will be performed on the ten 'existing

environment' and two 'occupancy' independent variables ('management' factors NOT included) and one dependent variable 'month actual EUI'.

3. Calculate the 'monthly predicted EUI' of five types of spaces: The derived regression equation will be used to calculate the 'monthly predicted EUI' (Wh/m2-month) of the 60 DMUs by feeding the values of independent variables of all DMUs into the equation.

4. Data envelopment analysis: The DEA-Solver-Pro software will be used to conduct data envelopment analysis on the input (monthly actual EUIs) and output (month predicted EUIs) of all DMUs.

5. Energy efficiency assessment of all DMUs: The overall efficiency, scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency scores of all DMUs will be inspected. Pure technical efficiency

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scores will be used to identify benchmark DMUs (on the frontier) as well as those that are least energy efficient. For the least efficient DMUs, the causes and problems will be speculated (low pure technical efficiency scores mean less effective in 'energy management', and the related 'management' factors will be examined) and their energy saving targets will be identified.

6. Energy efficiency assessment among different space types: The energy efficiency scores of five space types will be analyzed and compared to realize the most and least effective space types (in terms of 'energy management'), as well as to understand the differences among different space types and the 'management' factors that may have caused them.

7. Energy efficiency assessment of each space type over time: The energy efficiency scores of each space type over 12 months will be analyzed in order to understand the its energy management effectiveness over time and identify the 'management' factors that may have caused them.

After implementing the DEMS and obtaining the analytical assessment results, this study will further discuss the potential and the limitations of the DEMS. It's expected that certain problems may arise during the DEMS implementation process. For example, how should the energy efficiencies between spaces with different envelope construction be compared? Such issues will be addressed and future research tasks to improve the DEMS will be outlined.

4. Conclusions

This research explores the ‘space type’ and ‘internal benchmark’ research concepts, and the ‘data envelopment analysis’ method to establish the ‘DEA Energy Management System (DEMS)’ to assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy efficiencies of their facilities from the ‘management’ perspective. DEA is a method that assesses the efficiencies of a number of decision making units (DMU) by analyzing and comparing their input levels relative to output levels.

The DEMS proposed considers each ‘space’ in a given ‘time’ (such as a month) as a DMU. Then, regression analysis is performed on data of the independent variables related to the ‘existing environment’ factors (such as highest temperature, highest relative humidity, space orientation, room area, envelop surface area, envelope U-value, fenestration percentage, lighting fixture density, equipment density, and HVAC density) and 'occupancy' factors (such as occupant density and space utilization hours), and of the dependent variable (actual energy consumption EUI) of all DMUs. The regression equation derived is then used to calculate the ‘predicted EUI’ for all DMUs. The ‘actual EUI’ is considered as the input data, and the ‘predicted EUI’ as the output data of the DEMS. Finally, data envelopment analysis is conducted on the input and output data to produce three types of energy efficiency scores (overall efficiency, scale efficiency, and pure technical efficiency) to indicate the energy efficiencies of all DMUs. The ‘pure technical efficiency’ scores reveal the 'energy management effectiveness' of all DMUs. Those DMUs on the efficiency frontier are the most energy efficient ones and are given with the highest pure technical efficiency score of 100%; and those DMUs that are away from the frontier are less efficient ones and are given with efficiency scores less than 100%. Energy efficiency assessments can also be performed to

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compare the energy management effectiveness among different space types as well as those of individual space types over time.

The DEMS will be implemented in the Department of Architecture of NTUST in Taiwan to illustrate how it can be used to assist individual departments within universities in assessing the energy management effectiveness of their spaces and in improving the energy efficiencies of their facilities. The implementation research tasks to be conducted are planned and outlined, and the actual implementation and analytical results will be presented thereafter.

Acknowledgement

The author thanks the National Science Council of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan for sponsoring this research work (Project No. NSC 101-2221-E-011-149).

References

Berg, S. (2010). Water Utility Benchmarking: Measurement, Methodology, and Performance Incentives. International Water Association.

Bohdanowicz, P. and Martinac, I. (2007) Determinants and benchmarking of resource consumption in hotels – Case study of Hilton International and Scandic in Europe. Energy and Buildings 39 (1), 82-95.

Charnes, A., Cooper, W.W. and Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the Efficiency of Decision Making Units, European Journal of Operational Research, 2(6), 429-444.

Chauhan, N.S., Mohapatra, P.K.J., and Pandey, K.P. (2006). Improving energy productivity in paddy production through benchmarking - An application of data envelopment analysis. Energy Conversion and Management, 47, 1063-1085.

Chung, W., Hui, T.V. and Lam, Y.M. (2006). Benchmarking the energy efficiency of commercial buildings. Applied Energy, 83 (1), 1-14.

Cook, W. D. and Green, R. H. (2000). Project prioritization: a resource-constrained data envelopment analysis approach, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 34(2), 85-99.

Filippin, C. (2000). Benchmarking the energy efficiency and greenhouse gases emissions of school buildings in central Argentina. Building and Environment, 35, 3206-3217.

Haji-Sapar, M., and Lee, S.E. (2005). Establishment of energy management tools for facilities managers in the tropical region. Facilities, 23, (9/10), 416-425.

Lee, W.L., Yik, F.W.H., and Burnett, J. (2007). Assessing energy performance in the latest versions of Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (KH-BEAM). Energy and Buildings, 39 (3), 343-354.

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Önüt, S. and Soner, S. (2006). Energy efficiency assessment for the Antalya Region hotels in Turkey. Energy and Buildings, 38 (8). 964-971.

Poel, B., Cruchten, G.V. and Balaras, C.A. (2007). Energy performance assessment of existing dwellings. Energy and Buildings, 39 (4), 393–403.

Sohn, S.Y., and Moon, T.H. (2004). Decision Tree based on data envelopment analysis for effective technology commercialization, Expert Systems with Application, 26(2), 279-284.

Sowlati, T., Paradi, J.C., and Suld, C. (2005). Information systems project prioritization using data envelopment analysis, Mathematical and computer modeling, 41(11-12), 1279-1298.

Tu, K.J. and Lin, C.H. (2012). Benchmarking Energy Efficiency by ‘Space Type’: An energy management tool for individual departments within universities. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 11 (2), 1-8.

US Green Building Council (2009). LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance Rating System.

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Factors Affecting the Maintenance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) Buildings in Nigeria

Mohammed, Adelaja Olowoake1, Song, Wu2

Abstract

The process needed to retain Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) buildings; their services and facilities to acceptable standards are recently being challenged by the need to sustain their Utilities and values in Nigeria. The absence of appropriate procurement strategies, maintenance methods, and adequate maintenance budget in the HEIs in Nigeria led to keeping a backlog of maintenance and repairs of their built environments (now in dilapidated conditions) which may impact negatively on staff and learners performance, and reduce their productivity levels. This paper seeks to assess and evaluate the works and service departments in higher education institutions in Nigeria by examining the effectiveness of maintenance works being carried out in connection with identifying the maintenance programme , maintenance schedules and jobs specifications (as maintenance control toolkit) have impacted the HEIs, and Proposing a framework to support key decision makers in Nigeria. Using a case study research strategy, adopting purposive sampling technique to select twelve HEIs, the approach is qualitative using a series of data collection employing semi structured interviews with the Directors of works and services from the selected HEIs . The data analysis employed was the thematic analysis of the data collected. It revealed that, a general shortage of financial resources has allowed a backlog of maintenance and repairs of HEIs Buildings to be built up across both the federal and state type. Furthermore, it identified that, within this context of a maintenance backlog, that the following factors exist, namely-low level of overall maintenance budget; delays in releasing fund (maintenance cash); the adoption and use of assets condition surveys and curative maintenance methods; a shortage of in-house technical staff. Based on the findings a framework is proposed to assist key decision makers to develop enduring solutions to such maintenance challenges to HEIs built environment in Nigeria.

Key words: Backlog , Environment, Maintenance, Procurement, Sustainable.

1 Post Graduate Research Student; School of the Built Environment; University of Salford; Flat 1, 15 Oldfield Road Adelphi Sandwich Bar & Café, Salford, Lancashire,M5 4NE United kingdom. A.M.olowoake@edu.salford.ac.uk.olowo_ake@yahoo.com

2 Reader; School of the Built Environment; University of Salford; Salford, Lancashire, M5 4NT, United Kingdom. S.wu@salford.ac.uk

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Taking from The Polytechnic Ibadan,2012.

Figure 1: HEIs Buildings in dilapidated conditions.

1.0Introduction

Chartered Institute of Building (1990) also defines maintenance and refurbishment as “work Undertaken in order to keep, store, or improve every facility, its services and surrounds to currently acceptable Standards and to sustain the utility and value of the facility”. The British Standard (BSI,1993) defines building maintenance as combination of any actions required to retain an item in, or restore to acceptable conditions. Alan(1998,p.74-90) defines defects as “ugly spots on both old and new buildings, and such spots reduce the commercial values of the assets as well as their service years”.

David (1999,p.122) defines facilities or assets management “as managing a facility to maximise profit or returns on investment to give value for money expended.” He explained further that frequencies of maintenance works on a building or asset depends on many factors, such as quality of materials used, quality of workmanship, frequency of use, nature of use, the age of the asset, ecological factors, nature of activities within and around the asset-for example activities that can cause vibrations to occur, such as mining, heavy traffic –vehicle train and air craft movements. David (1999) classifies asset maintenance into three, namely- preventive, predictive and corrective depending on the type of maintenance strategies adopted and used by the individuals or corporate organisations concerned. He explains further that repairs of damaged or worn-out parts of a building is curative and maintenance is preventive. He classifies repairs into two, namely minor and major repairs.

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1.1 Justification of the Study

A cursory look at some Higher Education Institutions buildings in Nigeria, especially those built more than five years ago, suggests that they are not well maintained .It is suspected that some Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have not considered budgeting for maintenance at all. In Nigeria, ownership of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can be categorised as being Federal government owned, state owned, and those in private ownership(for the purpose of this study emphasis is on Government owned). In South Western Nigeria (comprising of six states), there are fifteen Higher Education Institutions (public owned).This evidently shows the commitment of the Nigerian gover nment towards ensuring better quality of life for its citizens. However, meaningful skills and knowledge need to be imparted to learners in a very conducive environment. In addition the workplace for academic and other faculty staff must also be conducive. The study needs to evaluate current approaches to asset maintenance in Higher Education Institutions and develop a strategic framework for (HEIs) Works and services departments in HEIs in Nigeria.

1.2 Aim of The Study

The study needs to assess the constraints of Higher Education Institutions works and services departments in Nigeria with a view to evaluating their procurement strategies, maintenance methods, budgets, assets sustainability, and the influence of culture in the execution of projects. The study aims to propose a theoretical strategic framework on asset management in Higher Education Institutions in Nigeria.

1.3 Objectives Of The Study

*To establish current theoretical approaches to assets maintenance management

*To assess and evaluate works and services departments constraints in relation to procurement strategies, maintenance methods, budgets, effective maintenance management, and the influence of culture.

*To develop a theoretical asset maintenance strategic framework for HEIs in Nigeria.

*To validate the framework(through interviews and by attending workshops).

2.0 Research Methodology

Dainty(2008) asserts that there are four philosophical paradigms, namely-1-Ontology,-ii-Epitemology,-iii-Axiology,-iv-and Rhetorology. The author explains further that, the selection of any philosophical paradigm should consists of the three essentials, such as Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology. Crotty(1998) explains that there are three essentials namely, Ontology which is study of being and concerns with what is the nature of existence with the structure of reality, such as “meaning”, and realism, epistemology means reality-that is, what it means to know, and that is a way of understanding and explaining how we know what we know and methodology is the strategy, plan of action, process or design underlying the choice and use of particular method and linking the choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes.

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2.1 Mixed Method

For the purpose of this study, both the qualitative and quantitative approaches(mixed method research design based on pragmatism) would be adopted and research questions shall be drawn to ensure that the study achieves its objectives. However, for the purpose of this presentation, the researchers used semi-structured interviews(Qualitative) to collected the data been presented now.

2.2 Methodology and Data Collection strategy

In the whole study, both the hard and soft paradigms shall be used. The first phase of data collection shall be carried out by conducting semi-structured interviews(qualitative) for the Directors of works and services departments of the selected HEIs in Nigeria. The second phase shall be by administration of questionnaires(quantitative) for the users of the HEIs built environments. The researchers intend to use triangulation method. Robson(2002) asserts that, triangulation when used removes the bias of the researchers, enable an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the study area, encourages wider coverage, helps in validating the results of the research and finally enhance results credibility.

2.3 Research Design

Bryman and Bell(2003,p.32) define “research design as the ways in which the data will be collected and analysed in order to answer the research questions posed and to provide a framework for understanding the research”. The study sampled twelve HEIs out of the entire fifteen of them (Federal and State owned), with one respondent in each HEI(One-Director of works and services) sampled.

2.4 Sources of Data

For the purpose of the study, the researcher used both primary source and secondary source of data collection.

2.5 Limitation of Methodology

The study shall be limited to the selected HEIs buildings in six states of the South Western part of Nigeria. The study shall use semi-structured interviews (qualitative) for the Directors of works and services and surveys for the users of the assets.

3.0 Current Theoretical Approaches to Asset Maintenance Management.

3.1 Maintenance Strategies

Chika(2008) asserts that, no single maintenance method and strategy can effectively provide needed remedies to both natural and artificial defects on buildings. The author recommends the use of a planned maintenance method which is termed as Planned Preventive Maintenance. Olanrewaju et al.,(2011, p.263) asserts that “there is a need for shift from maintenance management principles to value-based initiatives”. This argument is calling for an improvement in maintenance management processes.

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3.2 Procurement Strategies

Barret and Baldry(2003)describe procurement as the process by which a user employs a separate organisation under a contract to perform a function or to be performed by in- house staff. They conclude that HEIs as Corporate entities cannot stick to adoption of a particular procurement strategy in order to achieve quality of work done and ensure effective project delivery.

Brian and Brook(2009,p.44) assert that, “the choice between in-house and outsource services is not always clear cut”. They argue that, the organisation management must consider first the issue of costs. RICS(2009) agrees that, a high degree of expertise is one of the advantages of outsourcing. The report further explains that, in-house technical staff(direct labour) carries out specialist work, especially where breakdowns have to be attended to immediately or where security is a high priority. An investigation must be made into the value of the project before a decision is taken as to which of the two strategies or combination is to be adopted and use (RICS,2009).

3.3 Maintenance Methods

David(1999) classifies building maintenance into three, namely-1-preventive,-2-predictive-3-and corrective maintenance methods. The author explains further that, repairs or replacements of works can be minor or major. Chika(2008) recommends the use of planned preventive maintenance method, while Justine and Keith(2008,p.361) assert that, ”in the United Kingdom a stock condition survey(combination of predictive and curative) is the common tool used to assess the need for maintenance. In addition, (Oyewande,1992;Taiwo,2010 and Akinpelu, 2002) recommend the use of preventive maintenance method as a measure to avert eventual collapse of buildings. RICS(2009) asserts that the combination of preventive and corrective maintenance methods are needed for facilities to be durable and perform well. Iwarere and Lawal(2011) assert that, all public facilities can be utilised efficiently and effectively if a combination of preventive and corrective methods are employed.

3.4 Techniques of Maintenance Budget Estimation and Percentage

David(1998,p.215) asserts that, “an annual maintenance budget of about two to four percentage of the Agency annual budget needs to be allocated to the department of works and services for minor repairs and replacements”. Justine and Keith(2008,pp.362-363) assert that “maintenance needs are determined by considering the physical conditions of the assets components in compliance with the Decent Home Standard”. They assert that, budgetary and specification standards are the challenges being faced in the restoration of assets to normalcy. Olanrewaju, et al.,(2011) assert that, most HEIs based their maintenance budget estimates on the previous year’s budget plus allowances for the coming year’s budget. RICS(2009,pp.12) in its report that, “maintenance budget should be set up by taking information from the condition surveys and in particular from the prioritised schemes of works”.

3.5 Surveys on Users Satisfaction

Emmit and Gorse(2006) assert that, any fault or defect discovered should be recorded and reported for immediate and appropriate actions(correction of the defects).

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3.6 Quality Control of Maintenance Projects

Emmit and Gorse(2006) assert that, quality of completed building projects are determined by design process, quality of materials, components and works undertaken. Soderholm et al.,(2007) assert that, quality management aims to increase customers’ satisfaction. Brian and Brook(2009) assert that, works and services departments should have a quality system in place and have their project designs, planning and execution stages accredited under ISO9000/9001:2008. RICS(2009) asserts that, many organisations now formally put quality management regimes in place to conform with ISO 9000:2000-now updated to ISO9000:2008.

3.7 Sustainability of the Built Environment

Project performance is considered in terms of cost, time and quality(Ding,2005 and Patermann,199). Alameda(2002) asserts that, sustainability development can be divided into three types, namely-1-build for durability,-2-make the environment safe-3-and use materials from sustainable resources. Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs(Ugwu and Houpt,2007). Spilans(2009) asserts that, the three fundamental aspects of sustainability developments are-i-environmental,-ii-economic-iii- and social. RICS(2009) asserts that, many organisations have put in place local strategies in environmental sustainability, material sourcing, waste disposal and energy management policies in an attempt to set up a framework to achieve a sustainability operation.

3.8 Use of Maintenance Control Toolkit

Olowoake(2006,p.3-9) asserts that the use of maintenance control toolkit, such as maintenance schedule, maintenance programme, job specification and facility register make maintenance project planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation efficient and effective and reduce maintenance costs.

4.0 Research Questions

4.1 Which of the procurement strategies do you adopt and use for-1-maintaining building structures -2-domestic equipment-3-and other services provided?

4.2Which of the maintenance methods do you prefer to use-and why?

4.3How do you estimate your annual budget-and what percentage is it of the Institution overall budget?

4.4How often do you carry out a survey on users satisfaction of the built environment that your department manages?

4.5How often do you ensure the delivery of quality in your projects-and how do you improve on it?

4.6What are your department programmes in sustaining the assets that you managed?

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5.0 Summary of Current Work Done and Findings on Semi-Structure Interviews(Qualitative) Conducted for Directors of Works and Services of the Selected Twelve HEIs in Nigeria.

The outcome of the recent semi-structured interviews (qualitative) conducted for the Directors of works and services departments of the selected twelve HEIs in Nigeria revealed as follow: All the twelve departments of HEIs in Nigeria adopt and use outsourcing for large and complex maintenance projects, and in –house technical staff for supervision, monitoring and controlling of such projects. In addition, they all use in-house technical staff for small and simple maintenance projects.

*Majority of HEIs works and services departments don’t use planned preventive maintenance method, instead, they prefer the use of conditions survey and curative maintenance methods-due to paucity of maintenance funds and delays in releasing same where available.

*Many of the HEIs works and services departments base the estimation of their annual maintenance budgets on consideration for the previous year budget and the prevailing market prices of materials, components and labour plus a percentage or lump sum increase, while some of them use budget forecasting.

*Almost all of the HEIs works and services departments in Nigeria don’t carry out surveys on users satisfaction. They rely on letters of complaints from the assets users.

*In general, design of new maintenance projects are carried out by Commissioned Consultants. Such projects are executed via outsourcing, while the in-house technical staff carry out the supervision monitoring and controlling of the projects materials, components and workmanship.

6.0 Suggestions

*The HEIs works and services departments should on yearly basis prepare and attach their maintenance schedules and work programme with their departments annual budgets for their HEIs management approval and release of maintenance funds to time. The department should also create a quality control unit within-comprising of seasoned professionals from the consulting firms and the in-house technical staff (Olowoake 2006;Olanrewaju et al.,2011)

*The HEIs works and services departments should endeavour to carry out reconnaissance surveys of their built environment with a view to identifying likely problematic areas, do the costing, prepare and attach annual maintenance schedules and works programmes for the approval and release of maintenance cash by their HEIs managements(Olowoake 2006;RICS,2009).

*The HEIs works and services departments should twice in a semester (at the beginning and the end) carry out surveys on users satisfaction of the buildings they use. This is necessary to get to know the needs and feelings of the users(David,1998;Justice and Keith,2008;Olowoake,2006;RICS,2009).

*The HEIs works and services departments should create a project control unit within, and the duties of the unit is to supervise, monitor and control maintenance projects materials,

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components and workmanship in order to ensure cost saving, quality deliveries of projects within time limit (Olowoake,2006).

*The HEIs works and services departments to sustain built environment effectively, they should endeavour to prepare and use environmental sustainability toolkit-such as –maintenance schedules, work programme, facility register, history record, maintenance planning and others (Brian and Brook,2009; Chika,2008;RICS,2009;Olowoake,2006;Iwarere and.Lawal,2011).

7.0 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS(DIRECTORS OF TWELVE SELECTED HEIs IN NIGERIA.

7.1 Adediran,M.M.(2012) Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Nigeria

7.2 Wahab, S.(2012) Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Nigeria.

7.3 Oyediran, A.T.(2012) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

7.4 Oyebanji,M.(2012) The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.

7.5 Olaniyan,S.(2012) University of Ibadan, Nigeria

7.6 Layode,K.(2012) Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria.

7.7 Ayeye,O.(2012) University of Lagos, Nigeria

7.8 Adenuga,O.(2012) Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria.

7.9 Ogunbadejo, O.A.(2012) Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Nigeria.

7.10 Williams, S.T.(2012) Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

7.11Oyekunle, F.A.(2012) Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

7.12 Banjo,O.T.(2012) Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

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8.0 A Theoretical Framework Designed to Support Assets Maintenance

Management of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)Buildings in Nigeria.

Figure 2: Culled from the semi-structured interviews-2012.

7.0 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS(DIRECTORS OF TWELVE SELECTED HEIs IN NIGERIA.

7.1 Adediran,M.M.(2012) Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Nigeria

7.2 Wahab, S.(2012) Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Nigeria.

7.3 Oyediran, A.T.(2012) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

7.4 Oyebanji,M.(2012) The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.

7.5 Olaniyan,S.(2012) University of Ibadan, Nigeria

7.6 Layode,K.(2012) Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria.

7.7 Ayeye,O.(2012) University of Lagos, Nigeria

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7.8 Adenuga,O.(2012) Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria.

7.9 Ogunbadejo, O.A.(2012) Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Nigeria.

7.10 Williams, S.T.(2012) Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

7.11Oyekunle, F.A.(2012) Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

7.12 Banjo,O.T.(2012) Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

References

Alameda County(2002) Alameda County Waste Management Authority. New House.

Akinpelu, J.A.(2002) The need for Code of Conduct, Building Regulations and bye-laws for the

Building Industry in Nigeria. The Professional Builder, Nigeria Institute of Buildings,2(1) 11-14.

Alan,P.(1998) Facilities Management-An Explanation (Second Edition), Macmillan, England,p.74-90.

Barret, P.and Baldry, D.(2003). Facilities Management, Towards Best Practice, Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford Ox2 OEL, UK.

Brian, A. And Brooks,A.(2009)Total Facilities Management. Third Edition. Blackwell Science Ltd.

Bryman, A. and Bell, E.(2003).Business Research Methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

BSI(1993) BS 3811-Glossary of Maintenance Management Terms in Terotechnology, British Standards Institute, London, {Manual request} [Infotrieve].

Chika,E.U. (2008) Professional Practice for Real Estate, TREEM NIGERIA LIMITED, Lagos. Nigeria,p.34.

CIOB(1990), Maintenance Management-A Guide to Good Practice, Chartered Institute of Building ,Ascot.

CIOB(2011) ISO 9001 Quality management case studies, Construction Standards Report. www.ciob.org/Quality

Creswell,J.W.(2003) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and mixed methods approaches Second Ed.London:Sage Publications.

Crotty,M.(2005)The Foundations of social research; meaning and perspective in the research process. London:Sage publications.

Dainty,A.(2008) Methodological pluralism in construction management research. In :Knight,A.and, Ruddock

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David,G.C. (1999) The Facility Management Hand book, American Management Association, New-York.

David, L. (1998). Selected Issues in the philosophy of social science. In S.Cleave (1998), Researching Society andCulture (pp.7-22).London EC 2A.

Ding, G.K.C.(2005). Developing a multicriteria approach for the measurement of sustainable performance. Building Research and Information 3391),3-16.

Emmitt, S. and Gorse, C.(2006) Introduction to construction of buildings. Blackwell publishing ltd, USA.

Fellows, R. And Liu, A.(1997). Research Methods for Construction, Blackwell, Oxford.

Fink,A.(2006) How to conduct Surveys. A step-by step guide. Sage publications, 3rd Edition, London.

Hammersley, M.(1996). The relationship between qualitative and quantitative research: Paradigm loyalty versus methodological electism, in Richardson, J.T.E.(ed.) Handbook of Research Methods for Psychology and the Social Science, BPS Books, Leicester.

Iwarere, H.T. and Lawal, K.O. (2011). Performance measures of maintenance of public facilities in Nigeria, Research Journal of Business Management.5(1):16-25, 1819-1932.

Layder, D.(1993) New Strategies in Social Research, Policy,Cambridge.

Loosemore, M.,Hall, C. and Dainty,A.R.J.(1996) Excitement, innovation and courage in construction management research-Challenging historical values, in Thorpe, A.(ed.) proceedings of the 12th Annual ARCOM Conference, Sheffield Hallam, pp. 418-427, ISBN: 0863396607.

Olanrewaju, A.A.L .,Mohd,F.K. and Arazi,I.(2011) Appraisal of the building maintenance management practices of Malaysian Universities.Journal of Building Appraisal, a Professional Journal 6(3/4):262.

Olowoake,M.A.(2006) Building Maintenance Management for Beginners. Excel Design Press,Abeokuta,Nigeria

Oyewande, B.(1992) A search for quality in Construction Industry. Builder Magazine, june/july edn.,Lagos, Nigeria.163-168.

Patermann,C.(1999).The fifth EU framework programme and its consequences for the construction industry. Building Research and Information, 27(60,412-418.

Pikutis,R and Seduikyte, L (2006) Estimation of the effectiveness of renovation work .Journal of Civil Engineering and Management vol.X11,No 2,163-168.

Popper, K.R.(1963). The myth of framework. London Routledge.

ROYAL INSTITUTION OF CHARTERED SURVEYORS (2009) RICS Practice Standards-Building Maintenance strategy; planning and procurement. Second Edition. United Kingdom.

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Robson (2002)Real world research: A research for social scientists and practioner-researchers, second ed. London: Blackwell publishing Ltd.

Rosenhead, j (1997) Forward, in Mingers, J. and Gill, A. (eds) Multimethodology: The Theory and Practice of Combining Management Science Methodologies, Wiley, Chichester.

Runeson,G.(1997) The role of theory in construction management : comment. Construction Management and Economics. 15,229-302.

Spilanis,I.,Kizos,T.,Koulouri,M.,Kondyli,J.,Vakoufaris,H., and Gatis,I.(2009).Monitoring Sustainability in Insular Areas. Ecological Indicators,9(1),179-187.

Taiwo, A.A. and Afolami, J.A.(2010) Incessant Building Collapse: A case of a Hotel in Akure, Nigeria. Journal of Building Appraisal, vol.6,(3/4),241-248.

Ugwu, and Haupt, T.C.(2007) Key Performance Indicators and Assessment Methods for Infrastructure Sustainability-A South African Construction Industry Perspective .Building and Environment, 42(20),665-680

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Factors Threatening the Cultural Heritage- the Windows of Europe

Paul Dettwiler1

Abstract

Today, historical windows of Europe are disappearing from the façades in a magnitude that can possibly be compared to the destruction of the building stock during the World Wars. The purpose of this paper is to give a structure to the problematic and to discern factors that contribute to such circumstance. Even though the European legislation generally protects historical buildings since the last 30 to 70 years, the vigour of law seems toothless in favour of market forces and weak insights of the consequences of establishing sustainability policies. One factor that has in recent years grown in significance seems to be divergences of policies between sustainability and protection of the cultural heritage. Another contributing factor to the rate of destruction seems to be economic wealth that correlates to inappropriate change of windows. The paper proposes a more holistic view of the consequences when sustainability measures and decisions are taken. Finally the paper contributes to a proposition how the unfortunate development should be hindered or mitigated.

Keywords: Architecture, Change, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, Windows.

1. Introduction

Windows are the openings in the walls of buildings, which originally were merely holes. In order to enable daylight entering the inside of buildings and in the same time excluding wind and cold temperatures, transparent material were sought as covering material in the wall openings. The first glass windows were already created in ancient times, when the Romans were capable to produce glass. Windows were a luxurious artefact of a building and grew continuously in importance and contributed with a development of specialized craftsmen in the field. In the middle ages windows of composed pieces of circular (or hexagonal) crown glass with plumb frames was the predominant way of creating a window. From the 17th century larger pane surfaces where sought, which lead to a development of the technique of producing cylinder (plain) glass. During hundreds of years until the last century the same technique of producing pane of glass remained the same, however with increased sizes and refinement. A mouth-blown glass square was produced through a two-step procedure: first a glass-cylinder was moulded in a form. After cooling, it was cut up alongside the height and a second time put into the oven where the cylinder opened to a flat rectangular pane of glass. (also called cylinder blown sheet glass). With this technique it is impossible to create a perfectly flat surface; instead it contributes to an almost inimitable and special character of windows and in a larger context: the perception of the façades. The thickness of glass panes is from 2 to 5 mm that render the panes quite sensible; a minor impact is enough to destroy

1 F:A Arch. SIA, CTH, Schlossbergstr. 49, CH-8820 Waedenswil, Switzerland, cthdettw@gmail.com

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a pane of glass. The cylinder glass windows relates to the architecture that succeeded the medieval building with crown glass. Larger glass surfaces became a significant architectural resource of expression of European architecture; e.g. from Versailles in the 17th century to every common buildings until the 1920s. During the early 20th century cylinder glass for windows were replaced with a number of new techniques of producing considerable large surfaces (e.g. float glass) with a perfection of a flat surface. Uncontestably the new glass production technique contributed together with the development of steel and concrete techniques to the characters of the various trends of modern architecture during the 20th century. However in the beginning of the modernistic era, when perfect plain surfaces were sought, particular unevenness of windows in buildings can be found until the 1930s. The window ratio of the façade area before the 1930 generally was 10% to 50 % and afterwards the span extended until 20% to 100%. This fact suggests that the character of the glass surfaces play undoubtedly a mayor role of how we perceive the architecture of a building. The texture of mouth-blown the glass panes get lost when they are replaces with modern windows. This paper want to raise the question if it is possible to maintain a more subtle and careful way to deal with windows in old houses, that in fact would be more sustainable in a holistic viewpoint and ultimately “is there any willingness to do so?”. (This article is limited to the topic of “Casement window” which is the traditional window of Northern and Central Europe, hence named here merely as “window”)

2. Architectural values

Old windows have generally a frame of timber (rare alternatives are iron, steel or lead), which in particular in Northern Europe have often a very high quality (often heartwood of pine and spruce) a low propensity to decay even if the coats of paint have fallen away. In central Europe hardwood like oak was the domineering material for the frames. Panes of glass are fixed in the wooden frames with small nails and putty. Traditionally linseed oil is an important ingredient in window manufacturing: (1) As impregnation as a primer of the timber frame, (2) As binder for the putty and (3) As binder of the coat of paint. Through the ages linseed oil loses its elasticity through an oxidation process; when it becomes dry it does no longer protect the window. Due to the winter season, parallel frames of windows were common from Northern Europe until the alpine region. In southern Europe sun protection is solved through shutters and blinds. In Northern Europe the whole year’s windows are nearest to the façade and opens outwards. The windows for the cold season are hooked inside with opening inwards. In Switzerland and Central Europe the season windows are often contrarily hooked nearest the façades. Traditional window frames are subdivided into smaller sections because the glass panes were not technically possible to produce large enough for the size of one window frame. The glass panes are separated by slender timber parts; the horizontal are called saddle bar and the vertical bar: stanchion bars. Windows are often symmetrical; a vertical timber part, the mullion, separates the left and right window frames. The timber parts of a traditional window have often elaborated and refined design of profiles (www.buildingconservation.com).

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2.1 Irreplaceable qualities

The concept of “Nordic Light” is related to early skills of milling appropriate profiles of timber of the interiors in order to optimise the daylight in morning and evenings and has thus a functional role apart from the decorative appearance. The timber profiles together with composition of multiple uneven glass panes enable daylight to enter a building smoothly without sharp contrasts that occur between shadow and light. The handicraft of windows of traditional windows consists furthermore of elaborated details of metal: fittings, hinges, catches and handles (e.g. Figure 1). All mentioned materials compose together a characteristic element of the architecture of a façade, and are consequently utmost significant for our cultural heritage.

Figure 1. Details and Texture of old windows do not exist in modern windows:

Original Window 18th century, Skottbergska Gården, Karlshamn, Sweden

3. Energy Saving vs. Protection of Cultural Heritage

The oil crisis of 1974 gave rise to energy saving requirements in Europe and has since then continuously been a theme in European Governments and Financial institutions, which has given a rise in industry to produce windows with higher thermal insulation. The façades of existing buildings got an additional layer of thermal insulation; the windows were replaced with new windows with better U-value. Since the 1960s, city cores in Europe have endured a time when historical buildings, often several hundreds of years, have disappeared to larger extent than during the world wars. All cities cores in Sweden (that did not even participate in the world wars) must during the 1960s sacrifice an important stock of historical buildings in favour of new constructions for supermarkets (Primarily the chain “Konsum”, politically related to the Social Democratic Party with its ideology of “The People’s Home”) and office

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buildings. The remaining historical buildings often have been radically changed from the 1970s due to energy requirements; new facade layers, new roofs and replacement of windows. Undoubtedly large amount of the historical values have thus vanished or been changed to a considerable extent.

3.1 Questionable Vigour of Protection of Cultural Heritage

Since the beginning of the 20th century, governments of Europe have to a various extent created regulations of protecting the cultural heritage; initially building of spectacular value like castles and churches became protection early whereas private buildings (dwellings, factories, offices and commercial building) from medieval to 19th century become protected after WWII. Despite status as protected heritage, changes of windows are frequently made. In the archives of the building authorities the blue prints of façades often have the scale of 1:100, which means that a window with measure of let us say 2 x 1 meter has the size on the blueprint 2 x 1 cm. Certainly on such tiny size, details of a window cannot be seen or evaluated of its architectural or historical quality, nor can a difference between old and new windows be distinguished. In reality, it is undoubtedly a considerable difference between an original window with substitute of a modern window: (1) modern glass panes a perfectly even, which can be easily detected in the mirroring of the glass pane. Instead of multiple glass panes, a single glass pane fill the entire frame where saddle bars and stanchion bars are often mere decoration and fixed inside the glass pane (2) Instead of wooden parts, the windows have frames are often of plastic or aluminium. The profiles of the frames (and the “false bars”) are of standardised form paying no heed to the above mentioned functions of the original windows profile. Furthermore, from inside the frame create a sharp contrast to the daylight instead of the particular character of the subtle light dispersion of old windows.

3.2 Movements of Protection in Academia and Practice

During the 1970s, a wave of demolition of old buildings took place. Voices of protecting historic values arose, often as a protest to market and political forces. The protests against the extensive demolition of historical building resulted in higher academic interests at the architectural schools in Sweden (primarily the Professors Boris Schönbeck at Chalmers and Ove Hidemark at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) where maintenance of old art and crafts within the building sector acquired new-born interest. Relations to artisans were established that were invited to architectural school to work-shops. One example was Hans and Sonia Allbäck from Ystad, Sweden who specialized in the art and craft of old window at its traditional materials. Hans Allbäck invented a glass-tube that heated the old putty of windows and thus facilitated removal of putty without damaging the mouth-blown glass panes. It must be said that specialists in repairing old windows have in the recent decades found its market segment in Europe. Another example is the firm Glomet AG in Horgen Switzerland (www.glomatag.ch) who as well has a stock of old windows and thus is capable to provide original window parts for their clients. The interests for preserving old buildings have become institutionalised phenomena in Sweden; outside academia organisations like The Swedish Association for Building Preservation (www.byggnadsvard.se) has been established. Contacts to specialised artisans and providers of traditional building material are provided from several sources.

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Intermediary solutions between old and new windows were as well of interest; for example in the 1970s the firm EMDE Inredningar, (design Max Dettwiler) in Sweden pursued experiments by preserving the old glass panes and transferring them to new timber frames with an internal additional window frame with a modern isolation glass pane. Contrarily the authorities of building preservation (www.ag.ch/denkmalpflege, Switzerland) recommend a method of replacing old glass-panes with modern glass panes and preserving the timber parts of the windows. There are today some manufacturers of mouth-blown glass pane in Europe that have to reconstruct forgotten techniques of various times; for example the degree of organic pollution in the sand resulted in particular textures that are difficult to reconstruct (www.byggnadsvard.se). Moreover there is a large amount of modern glass panes with market label as “antique”. They are however far from the character of mouth-blown glass panes and cannot function as a substitute.

3.3 Two main categories of old windows

The character of a building in relation to an urban context must be paid better attention where details such as Figure 2 that render historical traces have great significance for the architectural understanding and historic traceability (Schönbeck, 1994).

Figure 2. Details and Texture of old windows do not exist in modern windows: Original Window from 17th century, Dijon, France

Schönbeck (1994) suggests that if changes of a historical building must be made, it should be elaborated with prudence. Distinction is made between restoration and renovation: traditional techniques should be used in repairing measures (restoration); whereas new building parts must pay heed to the character of the place. The Venice charter of 1964

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stipulates that new building elements should represent the present time, thus not being a pastiche of past times.

In this paper it is argued to divide the management old windows into two categories: (1). Buildings where the windows earlier have been replaced one or several times (medieval to 19th century) and (2) Buildings where façades and windows have the same age like Figure 3 (frequent example, houses from 1870, art nouveau buildings from beginning of 20th century). According to “The Venice Charter 1964” a new window might have its place in a historical building that have changed the character of the façade throughout the centuries and where the existing windows have little historical and cultural value. The second category however deals with historical buildings where a considerable part of the original surface is threatened; if possible it would have high value if the entire building to a maximum can maintain its original materials. Nypan (2009) compares short life cycle of modern windows and maintenance of old windows; thus put to question the necessity of a change. Dettwiler (2012) conclude that changes often occur without a rational reason and often the change per se can be of nuisance. An example are the art nouveau buildings in Eastern Germany that after the opening 1989 were renovated for symbolic reasons; having now lost their original windows the buildings must probably already have their second generation of plastic windows.

Figure 3. A residential building from beginning last century in Davos, Switzerland where the upper floors have changed to new windows, whereas the lower floor has maintained the original windows.

In several ways, the original windows can in fact have sustainable features: (1) they old windows were repairable, the new windows not, (2) maintenance consists of a layer of linseed oil each fifth year, enabling a quality as a new window (3) societal cost of energy

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would be saved by avoiding manufacturing, transport, installation and waste, (4) cultural value would be maintained etc. (Ohlén, 2005).

4. Analysis of Sustainability

In recent decades Switzerland have agreed to achieve a so-called 2000 Watt Society (introduced by ETH in Zurich, 1998), which is a target of energy consumption per head in a future. Such a political target has resulted in requirement of energy savings among the existing building stock. If house-owners commit themselves to transform their houses to new energy standards they receive lower interest rates on the loans. Similarly cultural values seems to be forgotten when it matters of energy saving in historical buildings; methods of renovation is well spread in Germany. It means thus that Financial Institutions and Governments contribute to the disappearance of old windows. The manufacturing industry of plastic windows fulfilling the new requirement has grown and offers easy delivery and replacement of desired sizes.

The Swiss authorities accept that old glass panes of cultural heritage classified buildings are replaced with new glass panes and thus would the timber parts of the window saved (for example www.ag.ch/denkmalpflege). Windows in historic city cores have to a considerable extent been replaced by new windows (often of white plastic frames and false bars behind the glass pane): examples are Appenzell (Figure 4), Zermatt, Zürich, Geneva, Lausanne and more. Being classified as a Unesco Heritage more prudence of window repair and preservation can be seen in Bern.

4.1 Architectural Design vs. Energy Saving

The manufacturing of windows during the post WWII era has been developed from handicraft to large scale industrialisation. The technical qualities of windows has continuous been enhanced in terms of acoustic and thermal insulation. Glass panes have become thicker with a significant more flat texture and can be produced of considerable larger sizes than it is possible with mouth-blown glass panes. Together with steel and concrete as building materials, the technical development of glass production has incontestably contributed as an important material of the architecture of modern buildings. Old windows have poorer thermal insulation however compensated by its minor part of the surface of the façade. Modern windows often have a larger part of the façades with less wall surface. In Northern and Western Europe, the floor surface per capita grown as well as the floor size of apartments has as well continuously grown since WWII. On one hand we have thus an older building stock with smaller surface of windows with on the average small apartments. On the other hand we have an architectural trend of increasing glass surfaces and a design of larger apartments with more floor surfaces per capita. As a part of discussion on sustainability, this observation argues for not studying only the physical aspects of windows as an isolated building element but rather as in ingredient in a larger context in briefing, building physics and architectural design.

Sustainability labels generally do not pay heed on culture values, rather they tend to be directed to incorporate insulation materials and thus attain targets of energy saving. Ohlén

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(2005) suggests that old windows in fact can be better than new windows; the differences should be about 4% of the entire heating cost between preservation and new windows. Energy can be saved in a number of other changes in a house like more efficient ventilation, roof insulation, efficient re-use, low energy household equipment etc. A balance with humidity and temperature is relevant; historical timber houses with historical painting layers suffer from damages of continuous level of heating because water evaporates and dry the timber with results of volume changes. It causes cracks and peeling of paint and plaster. The other extreme is too much humidity in the building which often were the case of the additional insulation of the 1970s (due to the oil crises 1973) were the condensation point felt inside the wall through openings in the moisture barrier.

4.2 A Philosophic Comment on Sustainability

It is remarkable that there seems to be a correlation between wealth and destruction of cultural heritage; Dettwiler (2012) exemplifies with the opening of Eastern Germany and how Art Nouveau houses were badly damaged through unskilled renovation. The same can be seen in Switzerland where cultural heritage seems primarily have an image role for tourists; one of the Landmarks of Switzerland; the Kappelbrücke in Luzern was completely destroyed in 1993 through an intense fire. It was originally constructed in the 14th century with 111 paintings from 17th century. A new copy was quickly reconstructed in its place. The newly built Kappellbrücke is still a photographic symbol of Swiss tourism.

Figure 4. A residential building from 17 th in Appenzell, Switzerland after a “Sanierung” with a new coat of paint and new windows (NB. Plastic bars, without function, behind a single glass pane)

Furthermore; houses from 15th century until 19th century that are renovated (German: “Sanierung”, literarily translated “Cleansing”) in Switzerland often got a new perfect facade with new layers of paint and new windows whereas more prudence can be seen concerning old houses in neighbouring countries with lower GDP. During the 1960s the Swedish word

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“Sanering” (Cleansing) was as well frequently used when a considerable part of the historical building stock insensitively disappeared and is today avoided due to its negative associations. “Sanierung” is however today frequently used in Switzerland, which implies that there might be cultural differences of the attitude to cultural heritage (Figure 4). Through insensitive restoration the original character vanishes and a have a new “look”; a building with the same treatment of its surface can in fact easily be reproduced elsewhere in the world. It can be associated to newly built city centres aimed for tourist; e.g. the collection of copies of various European old houses in Macao or the copy of Venice in Las Vegas. The question arises “Is it indifferent whether buildings or building parts are original or copies?”

Investments in historical buildings have often a dual character. Buildings in city cores with high symbolic values and rentable surfaces are a subject of investment and speculation. Negative aspects are risks of costly and complicated renovations with restrictions due to protection of cultural heritage. Most frequently old windows of old houses seem disconnected to the value as an old house. The contractors specialised in renovation do seldom want to exhibit a renovated window as an enhancement of value, whereas ornaments of the walls are often new painted or cleaned. The outcome of a renovation is (as the name implies) a new “look”.

It is probably a matter of status of a building if a window renovation should take place. For example, we cannot accept that the glass panes of the royal castle in Stockholm should be replaced by modern glass panes. An extensive and most prudent renovation lead by Professor Ove Hidemark maintained all original glass panes, the oldest from 1741 (www.gardochtorp.se). Auditing of real estates is a fundamental element of valuation and information for real estate archives, where a multitude of physical aspects are documented. In Italy old building parts are included in the auditing process (Bellintani and Ciaramella, 2008). Documentation might in fact be a step to establish a value of old windows and other original building parts. It is a well-known fact that investment and value has a psychological background. As far, old windows have frequently been regarded as a financial burden where the easy solution is replacement. If old windows would be ubiquitously regarded as valuable objects, more balance could be found in the future between change alternatives.

The concept of “sustainability” deserves some analytical remarks. There is apparently a divergence of policies and interests between sustainability and the protection of the cultural heritage. Alternatives of managing old windows are highlighted in Table 1.

One can assume that the targeted 2000 watt society to a large extent is biased not only to fulfil political goals but as well of an emerging industry. If the approach of achieving sustainability would be to cause a minimum of nuisance by a change it is not certain that a manufacturing of new production, and its related processes, like transports would the best alternative. Decision of changes can be related to variables of pro- activeness, re-activeness and weighting of functional and symbolic values (Dettwiler, 2012): We might feel that we have done something good for the environment if we replace old windows by new ones when we actually are influenced by governmental and market goals. In the same time we have invested financial means that result in a new painted façade with new windows (that have a life-cycle of about 25 years and cannot be repaired). Certainly it would be a sacrifice

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of renouncing for a short-sighted economic profit in favour of altruistic ideals of preserving cultural heritage for the benefit of coming generations.

A comparison between the two alternatives of managing windows in Table 1 can be further deducted to the utilitarian thoughts of Mill (1863) where a human action should be transferred to a satisfaction, ethics and moral. It is not evident that users and owners of buildings would be immediately happier by preserving old windows with the disadvantages of inferior acoustic and thermal qualities. Shall the mouth-blown glass panes be sacrificed in favour of comfort requirements of today or shall possibly moral and ethics be a means to fulfil conservation aspirations?

Table 1. Alternatives Maintaining existing Windows or exchanging them.

New windows (discharge of old windows) Maintaining old windows (maintenance and

repair)

• Loss of cultural heritage

• Change of 10-50% of façade architecture

• Improvement of Energy Cost for the

building

• Improvement of acoustic quality

• Risk of humidity damages and

contribution to “sick houses”.

• Limited life cycles, Replacement with

another window each 25 years>recurrent costs

• Higher Societal energy cost of

transporting, manufacturing and waste windows

(thus less sustainable?)

• Easy to realise accessible on market

(Economies of Scale, Standardisation and

Supply)

• Governmental request of energy saving,

promotion through financing

• Gives jobs and business opportunity for

manufacturing industry

• Plastic, Aluminium cannot be repaired

• Maintenance of cultural heritage

• Maintenance of façade architecture

• Some Improvement of Energy Cost for

the building if maintained and repaired

• Some Improvement of acoustic quality if

maintained and repaired. Otherwise poorer

quality than new windows.

• Higher energy cost for owners

• Undefined life-cycle if maintained and

repaired

• Recurrent cost of maintenance and repair

• Lower societal costs of energy and

material (assuming that maintenance and repair

is less energy demanding than replacement,

thus more sustainable?)

• Difficulty to find competent artisans in

the field

• Timber repairable and easily

maintainable.

• Growth rebirth of old art and crafts

Sustainability from Political and Market Forces’

viewpoint

Sustainability from a scientific viewpoint?

5. Summary: What can be done?

Building authorities are the institution that primarily can promote a more sober and differentiated view on windows. Original windows that are repaired could be entered as part of the value enhancement of a historical building: information to the public has a preventive effect. Such information has a multidisciplinary duty: from historical, architectural values to technical advices and guidance to the few artisans in the field that are capable to repair and maintain old windows. The architectural (and engineering) school might have a course in preservation of cultural heritage and traditional arts and craft as a mandatory theme. An

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advice for the future would be more prudence and balance by identifying the real needs and necessary changes.

5.1 Recommendations

Some ideas in the paper that can be transformed to practice:

• Profound investigation whether a certain change must take place. An analysis of consequences can be motivated. What is sustainability in a societal and larger context? Contradictions can be found in a limited context as that of a singular building. More subtle weighting should be made between energy saving and preservation. Finding alternative ways between preservation and fulfilling acoustic and energy saving requirements (like intelligent and variable heating of spaces) are motivated.

• Educational measures: (1) Education of more artisans capable to repair appropriately windows and in fact open a market to the public as an alternative to pre-fabrication window suppliers. (2) Historical values that might be transformed to economic values. Elite of educated real estate investor would appreciate original windows of a real estate. Might such attitudes be spread to a broad category of owners?

• Documentation performed by municipalities, investors and owners as a part of the auditing process and value creation. Better routines among authorities: details of façades should be better protected against changes with higher degree of details in drawings (from 1/100 to 1/20 for example). The development of technologies, ICT, BIM etc. gives large opportunity to manage large amount of data concerning windows.

• Energy savings of old building relate often lower interest rates of loans when original windows of old buildings are replaced with plastic or aluminium framed windows. Probably such rule has caused the high degree of disappearance of old windows during recent years. Governmental financial support of repairing old windows might give balance to the today’s financial promotion of replacement alternative.

• Two categories of old windows have been distinguished that lead to various measures: (1) original windows with same age as the facade and (2) old windows, but younger than the facade itself. Repair and maintenance is more motivated in the first category in order to maintain an original facade, whereas the second categories represent another window in a succession of several previous generations of windows.

6. Conclusive Remarks

This paper has highlighted the imminent problematic of the loss of historical building and windows in Europe; in particular the loss of mouth-blown glass panes (cylinder blown sheet glass) has been treated. It is furthermore most remarkable that the institutionalised ideas of energy saving, sustainability labels, political and market targets seem more or less to have been forgotten the architectural and historical values of old windows. Recommendations are made in order to safeguard the remaining part of the old-window stock. A holistic view of the

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consequences would be motivated when sustainability measures and decisions should be taken. New windows imply that energy can be saved in a limited perspective but is more doubtful in a larger and societal context. Various alternatives should be considered in the decision process before making a change. Ultimately, it can be said that this paper has an underlying research question: “What is sustainability from a scientific perspective?”

References

Bellintani, S. and Ciaramella, A. (2008) “L’audit immobiliare, Manuale per l’analisi delle caratteristiche degli edifici e dei patrimoni immobiliari”. Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy.

Buildingconservation.com (available online www.buildingconservation.com/articles/windowfurn/windowfurniture.htm [accessed on 22/11/2012])

Byggnadsvard.se (available online http://www.byggnadsvard.se/byggnadskultur/ola-wetterberg-professor-i-kulturv%C3%A5rd [accessed on 22/11/2012])

The Venice Charter 1964 (available online www.icomos.org/charters/venice_e.pdf [accessed on 22/11/2012])

Dettwiler, P. (2012) The Change Management Challenge in Growth Firms, IN “Facilities Change Management”, (Ed. Finch, E.), Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. pp. 42-56.

Gard och Torp (available online www.gardochtorp.se/en-kunglig-fonsterrenovering.aspx? article =6007 and www.gardochtorp.se/ hantverkstorget/index.aspx?category=119 [accessed on 22/11/2012])

Glomet AG (available online www.glometag.ch [accessed on 22/11/2012])

Kantonale Denkmalpflege Aargau, (available online www.ag.ch/denkmalpflege [accessed on 22/11/2012])

Mill, J.S. (1863), “Utilitarianism”, Parker, Son, and Bourn, London.

Nypan, T. (2009), Effects of European Union legislation on the built cultural Heritage, Report, Riksantikvaren, Directorate for Cultural Heritage, Norway.

Ohlén, B. (2005) Gamla fönster kan bli bättre än nya, Byggnadskultur, No. 1

Schönbeck, B. (1994) ”Stad i förvandlinguppbyggnadsepoker och rivningar i svenska städer från industrialismens början till idag” Byggforskningsrådet, Distribution, Svensk Byggtjänst in Stockholm,Solna, Sweden.

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How Can Facilities Management Add Value To Organisations As Well As To Society?

Per Anker Jensen1, Anna-Liisa Sarasoja2, Theo van der Voordt3,

Christian Coenen4

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present lessons learnt from a 3 year collaborative research project on the added value of Facilities Management (FM) involving institutions in five European countries. The starting point was the so-called FM Value Map developed earlier by the leader of the research group. The project applied three basic theoretical perspectives: FM, Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) and Business to Business (B2B) marketing and started with a major literature review on added value based on each of these perspectives. The collaboration included a series of workshops and preparation of research papers covering theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects. The results were published as an anthology in May 2012. The three basic perspectives of FM, CREM and B2B marketing provide both overlapping and complementary focus areas in relation to adding value. Four conceptual models are presented and compared. They include parameters and strategies for how FM can add value with many similarities and a trend towards convergence. Stakeholder relationships and relationship management are seen as crucial in adding value, which for instance is expressed in the concepts FM Value Network and Value Adding Management. Besides adding value for the core business of organisations it is becoming increasingly important for FM to add value for society, for instance in terms of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The advancement in knowledge and understanding presented in the paper offers a new state of the art, which can give inspiration and guidance for cutting edge FM organisations and professionals as well as for advanced teaching and future research.

Keywords: Facilities Management, Corporate Real Estate Management, B2B Marketing, Added Value, State of the Art.

1 Professor, Centre of Facilities Management, Technical University of Denmark; pank@man.dtu.dk, 2 Senior Researcher, Aalto University, School of Science and Technology; anna-liisa.lindholm@tkk.fi 3 Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture & Center for People and Buildings, Delft; D.J.M.vanderVoordt@tudelft.nl 4 Professor ZHAW - Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Facility Management; coen@zhaw.ch

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1. Introduction

This paper is based on the work of a EuroFM research group on “The Added Value of FM” established in 2009. The group included researchers from Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK. The background for the collaborative research is that the perception and application of Facilities Management (FM) during the last few decades have seen a gradual shift from a focus on cost reduction towards managing of facilities as a strategic resource to add value to the organisation and its stakeholders and to contribute to its overall performance. The main results of the work so far are presented in the anthology “The Added Value of Facilities Management – Concepts, Findings and Perspectives” (Jensen et al., 2012), which was launched during the European Facility Management Conference (EFMC) in Copenhagen, May 2012.

The book shows why and how this shift occurred and how the supply of facilities and services can or should be aligned to the different interests and needs of various stakeholders. It connects concepts, theoretical frameworks, research data and measurement tools from different countries and different disciplines, including Facilities Management (FM), Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM), and Business to Business Marketing (B2B Marketing). The empirical studies explored different sectors such as offices, higher education, industry and health care.

This paper presents some of the main results of this collaborative research with a focus on how FM can add value to organisations as well as society. The three basic theoretical perspectives of FM, CREM and B2B marketing will be outlined and four models of how FM and real estate can add value will be presented and compared. Furthermore, some important lessons learnt and new insights concerning relationship management and sustainability are presented.

2. The Three Basic Theoretical Perspectives

It was clear from the outset, that the researchers in the group had different academic and theoretical backgrounds. Even though they all did research in relation to FM, some of the researchers were more engaged in the related field of CREM. There were also differences with some researchers from architectural and engineering backgrounds and others from B2B marketing and similar marketing related backgrounds. These different backgrounds were seen as fruitful in providing different types of insights into frameworks and challenges in reaching common understanding of the benefits and shortcoming of the different theoretical frameworks.

2.1 Facilities Management (FM)

The activities that today are regarded as part of FM have existed in organizations for a long time before the term FM was used and the profession of FM was established starting in the 1980’s. The development of FM as a new management discipline in many countries during the 1980’s and 1990’s has very much been driven by an aim to control and reduce cost by new ways of organizing and managing a number of disparate activities, which formerly had

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been without much management attention. With the introduction of centralisation, internal markets, benchmarking, outsourcing, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), a new management regime has been introduced and in many cases resulting in tremendous cost savings. Around the change of the millennium the role of FM has changed in many corporations. Controlling cost is no longer sufficient. In periods of expansion and with strong demand for new generations of a limited number of highly skilled professionals from the creative class, it is for many companies more important to attract and retain employees. Providing attractive workplaces with excellent services has become increasingly important as a primary requirement for FM. This forces FM to focus on how facilities can be managed to add value to the core business. The same applies to the changes in society towards an experience economy. The financial crisis which started in 2008 may, for a period, change the focus back towards cost reduction, but the underlying change to knowledge and experience economy has not changed. The new focus on sustainability and corporate social responsibility are other trends that, drives FM towards a focus on added value.

One of the first manifestations of the new focus on added value in FM was the establishment of a NordicFM work group in 2006 to ‘Highlight the added values for the core business provided by Facilities Management’. The members were mostly practitioners. The only researcher participating in meetings in the work group was Per Anker Jensen, Technical University Denmark, who alongside participating in the NordicFM work group was leading a research project at the Technical University of Denmark on FM Best Practice in the Nordic Countries. The project included 36 case studies. One of the general conclusions was that there had been a change in FM from mainly focusing on cost reductions towards a higher degree of focus on adding value. By analysing 21 cases from the first phase of the research project he developed the so-called FM Value Map, which was partly inspired by strategic mapping from the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) methodology (Kaplan and Norton, 2000). The FM Value Map was published together with the 36 cases in books in English and Danish (Jensen et al., 2008) and as a research paper in the scientific journal Facilities (Jensen, 2010).

2.2 Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM)

During the last few decades there has been a shift going on from perceiving real estate as a necessary burden, toward a rising awareness of the possible contributions of real estate to corporate performance. Contrary to the transaction-oriented focus of real estate management from an investors’ point of view, aiming to get the best possible return on investment in the short and long run, CREM focuses on alignment of real estate to corporate needs and objectives, incorporating the needs and wishes of shareholders and different stakeholders at strategic, tactical and operational levels. While real estate resources and capabilities were initially controlled and managed by the individual corporations, activities and responsibilities are nowadays delegated more and more unto professional parties outside the corporation. In the field of public real estate, i.e. real estate owned or rented by ministries, municipalities and other governmental agencies, a shift is going on from decentralised real estate management with a focus on facilitating primary processes towards integration of FM and CREM in centralised shared services.

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As a consequence of this changing context and the changing scope of corporate and public real estate, real estate managers working in or for public or private companies are in urgent need for clear conceptual frameworks, data and tools for “evidence based” decision making on linking real estate decisions to corporate strategy and adding value by real estate. Nourse and Roulac (1993) were the pioneers who started to investigate how alternative real estate strategies can contribute to business objectives. They found that too often the dominant emphasis is on the financial goal of cost minimization. In order to effectively support a range of corporate objectives, multiple rather than single real estate strategies are required. They linked eight types of real estate strategies to a number of possible aims of a firm. This research has been followed up by Anna-Liisa Lindholm (Lindholm et al., 2006), who developed a model based on strategic mapping from Balanced Scorecard (BSC) methodology (Kaplan and Norton, 2000) to show how real estate strategies can lead to profitability growth and/or revenue growth and thereby maximize the wealth of shareholders. Jackie de Vries investigated the impact of real estate interventions on organisational performance through a survey among Institutes of Higher Professional Education in the Netherlands (De Vries et al., 2008). The empirical study was based on a theoretical model that takes its starting point in the thinking of Joroff et al. (1993), that real estate is the fifth resource after human resources, technology, information and capital. A recent dissertation by Alexandra den Heijer on Managing the University Campus (Den Heijer, 2011) further explored how policymakers and real estate managers incorporate ways to add value to the core business in campus management and how they balance the needs of different stakeholders such as the daily users, controllers and society.

2.3 Business to Business Marketing (B2B Marketing)

Marketing - in the sense of development of new products or pricing decisions - has been playing a role in market transactions for several centuries already. The early phase of marketing’s development was characterized by the idea of selling products. In the 1950s and 1960s, the so-called marketing-mix was defined (McCarthy, 1964), which integrated the existing concept of marketing as advertising and sales into a broader system of classifying marketing activities. In recent years the discipline has witnessed a shift to issues addressing marketing implementation, which called for a more multi-disciplinary viewpoint combining marketing with other business disciplines such as organizational behaviour, psychology or finance (Workman et al., 1998). A new approach addressed the question of to what extend a company should be managed as a market-oriented organization (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). Parallel to the emphasis on market-oriented management, customer relationships increasingly gained more importance and attention from both marketing practice and theory (Homburg et al., 2009). The basis of this perspective is the awareness that the establishment and sustainability of profitable long-term customer relationships pose a central challenge to business in general and marketing in particular. The concept of relationship marketing implies that the individual transaction with customers is replaced by a focus on long-term business relationships (Berry, 1983; Grönroos, 1990).

In the 1980s a string of research evolved around the difference between marketing of goods and services (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Basically, service marketing was established as a research and management discipline, because services needed different marketing

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approaches than physical goods. Services are mostly intangible and the customer takes part in the delivery process (Zeithaml et al., 2006). Because of this the customer and his/her perception of the service process plays an even more significant role than in evaluating physical goods. Based on the original idea of the value chain (Porter, 1998), the Service Value Chain structures value creating processes of service firms (Bruhn and Georgi, 2006). In addition, the concept of the Service Profit Chain (Heskett et al., 1994) by Harvard Business School structures the impacts of service provider’s activities on the customer’s perceptions and behaviours. At the same time it shows how customer value is created. Services marketing activities are evaluated by the customer and will lead to certain customer’s behaviours, e.g. loyalty and repurchasing. This positive behaviour will ultimately lead to increased firm value. It can be stated that the Service Value Chain encompasses value activities by organizations; the Service Profit Chain encompasses the value effects of these activities (Bruhn and Georgi, 2006).

2.4 Comparison of the three perspectives

The difference in scope between FM and CREM is that CREM has its focus on real estate as physical and economical assets utilized by an organization, while FM has a wider service focus including demands related to space and infrastructure as well as people and organization (CEN, 2006). As professions, FM and CREM can be overlapping with different traditions in different countries and organizations. The difference in scope between FM and CREM on one side and B2B marketing on the other as professions is that FM and CREM are related to organizations’ use of built facilities and the input side of business processes, while B2B marketing can concern the sale of any product or service and is related to the output side of business processes. B2B marketing as a discipline is mostly based on social science with research and teaching at business schools, while FM and CREM have a more multi-disciplinary character with a knowledge base from social science, architecture and engineering. FM and CREM are strongly related to the resource based view in strategic management thinking. Marketing in general has a longer tradition as a profession than FM and CREM.

Table 1 presents a comparison of the different aspects included in the scope of the three basic disciplines. FM and CREM both have a strong focus on the physical assets of an organisation in terms of facilities, real estate, property and buildings. FM has a much stronger focus on services and service management than CREM, whereas B2B marketing also can have a strong focus on services, particular when applied to the FM domain. B2B marketing naturally has a strong focus on marketing, which is not the case for FM and CREM. Relationships are also very much in focus for B2B marketing, but that is increasingly the case for both FM and CREM too, particularly in terms of stakeholder relationships and management and regarding partnerships between providers and customer organisations. Economy is important for all perspectives, but with major differences in focus. FM has a strong focus on operational cost and CREM has a strong focus on investments and life cycle costs, while price and income generation is the main economical focus of B2B marketing.

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Table 1: Comparison of the three basic perspectives

Aspect

Perspective

Physical assets

Services Marketing Stakeholders Economy

FM X XX X X

CREM XX X X X X

B2B marketing X XX X X

3. Four Conceptual Models

When the collaborative research started there were three main conceptual models of mapping added value – The FM Value Map by Per Anker Jensen and two models from CREM by Anna-Liisa Lindholm (now Sarasoja) and Jackie de Vries. The model of Jackie de Vries is shown in Figure 1. The FM Value Map is shown in the generic version in Figure 2. An updated version of the model by Anna-Liisa Sarasoja is shown in Figure 3. It includes “Supporting environmental sustainability” as an additional real estate strategy and also shows possible Green FM influences for the other real estate strategies. Alexandra den Heijer developed a fourth model shown in Figure 4 as part of her PhD-study at Delft University of Technology (Den Heijer, 2011). It is partly based on the model by Jackie de Vries, but it rephrased and added new values and as such is seen as a new model.

A comparison of the added value parameters in the four conceptual models is shown in Table 2 structured according to the four headings: People, Process, Economy and Surroundings. The parameters related to People are quite similar in model A and D. All models include (employee) satisfaction. Model B defines “Culture” as including “Image”, which are separated as different parameters in model A and D. Model C only includes “Increase employee satisfaction” under People, but this model as the only model includes “Promote marketing and sale” under Economy, which can be seen as an economical expression of “Image”, similar to brand. All four models include at least three parameters for Process with many overlaps; the differences can partly be seen as different degrees of sub-dividing. In relation to Economy, model B (the FM Value Map) only includes the parameter “Cost”, while the three other more CREM based models include parameters for “Value of real estate”, “Value of assets” or “Possibility to finance”. The parameter “Controlling risk” in model D is defined as related to financial goals, but it is also strongly related to the Process parameter “Reliability” in model B. In model A “Risk control” is included as well, partly related to reducing financial risks, but also to improving health and safety. Model B was the first model to include parameters related to Surroundings, including the “Environmental” parameter, but the other more recent CREM based models C and D also include a parameter for “Environmental sustainability”.

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Figure 1: Model 1 by Jackie de Vries (De Vries et al., 2008)

Figure 2: Model 2 by Per Anker Jensen (Jensen et al., 2008)

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Figure 3: Model 3 by Anna-Liisa Sarasoja (Jensen et al., 2012)

Figure 4: Model 4 by Alexandra den Heijer (Den Heijer, 2011)

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Table 2: Comparison of added value parameters in the four models

A. Jackie de Vries

B. Per Anker Jensen

C. Anna-Liisa Sarasoja

D. Alexandra den Heijer

Core business People Image

Culture Satisfaction

Satisfaction Culture

Increase employee satisfaction

Increasing user satisfaction Supporting image Supporting culture

Process Production Flexibility Innovation

Productivity Reliability Adaptability

Increase innovation Increase productivity Increase flexibility

Increasing flexibility Supporting user activities Improving quality of place Stimulating innovation Stimulating collaboration

Economy Cost Possibility to finance Risk control

Cost Increase value of assets Promote marketing and sale Reduce cost

Controlling risk Increasing real estate value Decreasing cost

Surroundings Economical Social Spatial Environmental

Supporting environmental sustainability

Reducing the footprint

The structure of the FM Value Map (B) differs basically from the three CREM based models (A, C, D) by including a clear separation between FM and core business and inclusion of FM processes. The distinction between FM as a support function to a core business is a fundamental part of much theory on FM – although not undisputed. The CREM based models A and D also include a process view with input and output. However, the process in question is obviously the core business process with no distinction of a separate CREM process. Model C does not include a process view but focuses on different real estate strategies and their impact on revenue growth and productivity. Model C is also different by a focus on maximizing shareholder value, while the two other CREM based models include multiple stakeholders like the FM Value Map. The distinction in the structure of the FM Value Map and the CREM based models can be related to the basic theoretical understanding in FM and CREM. CREM is a resource based management discipline and connects building science with business administration and business economics, while FM is a service and process oriented discipline.

4. Lessons Learnt and New Insights

Several chapters in the book discuss relationship management and the subjective nature of value, making clear that added value of FM cannot be created without cooperation and by understanding the different value perspectives. Coenen et al. (2012a) presents FM as a “Value Network” and propose to consider FM as a network of relationships, which create perceived value amongst key stakeholders i.e. clients, customers and end users. Furthermore, they claim that perceived value can only exist and be produced within this specific network of relationships. They extend the idea of the FM Value Map by taking up a demand-driven, co-creating, and subjective perspective of value and differentiating between various dimensions or perceived value in FM. Coenen et al. (2012b) goes a step further to

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find a way to capture relationship value in FM. Various value dimensions and relevant drivers of FM relationship value are described and analysed, including trust, reliability and adaptability. The key learning point is that the success of a collaborative relationship leads to the success of value delivering to the stakeholders. Jensen and Katchamart (2012) present the concept of “Value Adding Management”, which focuses on the relationships between FM and the core business at strategic, tactical and operational levels and argues that the relationships with the stakeholders should be managed differently at each level. At the strategic level FM should have a business orientation, where considerations for the whole corporation are in focus. This calls for joint decision making involving all main stakeholders at management level, which can take the form of a coalition. At the tactical level FM should have a customer orientation, where the specific needs of each business unit are in focus. This calls for a bilateral negotiation and decision making. At the operational level FM should have a service orientation, where the individual users’ needs are in focus and the services are either provided based on price per order or based on a service charge.

Just like everywhere else, sustainability is discussed more and more - also in connection to FM. It is already a widely known fact that at present, buildings contribute as much as one third of total global greenhouse gas emissions and that the building sector has the most potential for delivering significant and cost-effective green house gas emission reductions in western economies (UNEP, 2009). However, less recognized is that over 80% of greenhouse gas emissions take place during the operational phase of buildings (Junilla et al., 2006) and is (or should be) under the control of FM. Sarasoja and Aaltonen (2012) studied environmental sustainability from the occupier organisation perspective and identified in a case study the ways to create added value through greener FM processes. This case study shows that improving the environmental performance of facilities and services does not only decrease the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but also contributes to the organisation in other ways. Greener FM services have a potential to affect employee wellbeing and productivity, improve image of the occupier organisation, and last but not least decrease costs at the same time. These kinds of studies are good examples also on the strategic nature of FM and how FM had a potential to contribute at the strategic level to the client organisation. With proven and commercially available technologies, the energy consumption in both new and existing buildings can be cut by an estimated 30 to 80% with potential net profit during the building life-span. Consequently, it is not overstating to say that FM has a potential to influence the world more than ever before.

5. Conclusion

The comparison of the three basic perspectives of FM, CREM and B2B marketing show that they provide both overlapping and complementary focus areas. FM and CREM has a strong focus on the physical assets. FM and B2B marketing both have a strong focus on services, which is not so much a focus area in CREM. All three perspectives share a focus on stakeholders and relationship management. Comparisons of the added value parameters of four conceptual models from FM and CREM show many similarities and a trend towards convergence. It is particularly noticeable that the recent models from CREM like the FM Value Map include “Environmental sustainability” as a parameter. However, the basic

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structures of the models are different, which can be related to CREM being transaction and project oriented, while FM is more service and process oriented.

One of the important lessons learnt is that relationship management is an essential aspect of FM and a careful management of stakeholders and relations is a prerequisite for FM to add value. The different conceptual models are important tools to analyse and demonstrate how FM and real estate can add value, but there is a need to further develop management concepts, which can guide facilities managers to develop strategies and relationships that enhances the implementation of value adding activities. The concept of FM Value Network and Value Adding Management are attempts to develop such concept. Another lesson learnt is that sustainability is a crucial aspect of FM in relation to adding value to both organisation and society and is particular attractive as it can at the same time increase staff satisfaction and corporate image and result in cost savings, particularly in relation to reduction in energy consumption. But the wider aspects of sustainability in relation to social aspects needs to be developed much further and Corporate Social Responsibility is another area, which is expected to be essential for FM to create value in the future.

References

Berry L (1983) “Relationship marketing”, in Berry L, Shostack L and Upah G (eds.) Emerging Perspectives of Service Marketing, Chicago, 25-28.

Bruhn M and Georgi D (2006) “Services Marketing – Managing the Service Value Chain”, Prentice Hall, Harlow.

CEN/TC 348 (2006) Facility Management – Part 1: Terms and definitions. EN 15221-1.

Coenen C, Alexander K and Kok H (2012a) FM Value Network: Exploring Relationships amnongst Key FM Stakeholder. Chapter 5 in Jensen et al. (2012).

Coenen C, von Felten D and Waldburger D (2012b) Beyond Financial Performance: Capturing Relationship Value in FM. Chapter 7 in Jensen et al. (2012).

De Vries J (2007) Presteren door vastgoed [The influence of real estate on performance]. PhD thesis, Delft University of Technology, Eburon, Delft.

De Vries J C, de Jonge H and Van der Voordt T J M (2008) Impact of Real Estate Interventions on Organisational Performance. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 10: 4, 208-223.

Den Heijer A (2011) Managing the university campus. PhD thesis Delft University of Technology, Eburon academic book publishers, Delft.

Grönroos C (1990) “Relationship approach to the marketing function in service contexts: the marketing and organizational behavior interface”, Journal of Business Research, 20: 1, 3-12.

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Heskett J, Jones T, Loveman G, Sasser W and Schlesinger L (1994) “Putting the service-profit chain to work”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 72, No. 2, pp. 164-175.

Homburg C, Kuester S and Krohmer H (2009) “Marketing Management – A Contemporary Perspective”, McGraw Hill, London.

Jaworski B and Kohli A (1993) “Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences”, Journal of Marketing, 57: 3, 53-70.

Jensen P A (2009) “Theoretical Model Demonstrating the Value Adding Contribution of Facilities Management”. Proceedings from EFMC 2009 Research Symposium. Amsterdam, 15-17 June 2009.

Jensen P A (2010) “The Facilities Management Value Map: a conceptual framework”. Facilities, 28: 3/4,175-188,

Jensen P A and Katchamart A (2012), Value Adding Management: A Concept and a Case. Chapter 7 in Jensen et al. (2012).

Jensen P A, Nielsen, K and Nielsen S B (2008) Facilities Management Best Practice in the Nordic Countries – 36 cases. Centre for Facilities Management – Realdania Research, DTU Management Engineering. Technical University of Denmark.

Jensen P A, van der Voordt, T and Coenen C (eds.) (2012) The Added Value of Facilities Management – Concepts, Findings and Perspectives. Centre for Facilities Management - Realdania Research, DTU Management Engineering, and Polyteknisk Forlag, May 2012.

Joroff M L, Louargand M, Lambert S and Becker F (1993) Strategic Management of the Fifth Resource. Report no. 49. Industrial Development Research Foundation.

Junnila S, Horvath A and Guggemos, A A (2006), “Life-Cycle Assessment of Office Buildings in Europe and the United States”, Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 10-17.

Kaplan R S and Norton D P (2000) “Having Trouble with Your Strategy? Then Map It”. Harvard Business Review, September-October 2000.

Lindholm A-L (2008) Identifying and Measuring the Success of Corporate Real Estate Management. PhD-thesis, Helsinki University of Technology.

Lindholm A-L, Gibler K M and Leväinen K I (2006) “Modelling the value adding attributes of real estate to the wealth maximization of the firm”, Journal of Real Estate Research, 28: 4, 443-475.

McCarthy J (1964) “Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach”, R.D. Irwin, Homewood.

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Nourse H O and Roulac S E (1993), “Linking real estate decision to corporate strategy”, Journal of Real Estate Research, 8: 4, 475-494.

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml V and Berry L (1985) “A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 41-50.

Porter M (1998), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, The Free Press, New York.

Sarasoja A-L and Aaltonen A (2012) Green FM as a Way to Create Added Value. Chapter 12 in Jensen et al. (2012).

UNEP (2009) Buildings and Climate Change –Summary for decision makers. United Nations Environment Programme.

Workman J, Homburg C and Gruner K (1998) “Variation in the organization and role of marketing”, Journal of Marketing, 62: 3, 21-41.

Zeithaml V, Bitner M, and Gremler D (2006) Services Marketing – Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, McGraw Hill, Boston.

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Issues of breadth and depth in Facilities Management - Reflections of 30 years of educational

development

Danny Shiem-Shin Then1

Abstract

Facilities Management (FM) has been around for almost three decades. As a profession, FM is now recognized in all six continents with recent movements of international collaborations between national institutions in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. This paper will trace the development of FM and critically examine issues relating to the breadth and depth of FM from an educational perspective against the backdrop of a dynamic business environment and changing corporate demands for facilities provision and facilities services. The paper advocates that education in FM must balance theory with practice with emphasis on identification of context and culture, hard and soft skills, procurement and administrative processes, appropriate application of tools, and increasingly in a regional and global scale. In particular, issues relating to the role of FM, scope of functions, strategic and operational support to business units have been considered, with a view of justifying the contributing role of this rapidly growing profession. A focus of the paper is to provide a framework for postgraduate education and training in Facilities Management. The framework has been evolved out of the author’s experience as program leader in developing and teaching postgraduate FM courses in three universities in three countries – i.e. United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong.

Keywords: facilities management, educational development, trend.

1. Why FM is needed in a dynamic business environment

In a recent white paper by i-FM (www.i-fm.net UK, 2012) “Facilities Management – New needs. New solutions? it is stated that “…Facilities Management is an essential management discipline, and a multi-billion pound business sector employing hundreds of thousands of people. ……” This is generally true for most countries; the differences are perhaps in the perception of facilities management (FM) as a distinct economic activity or an industry sector. There is also a consensus that while FM are tactical in its day-to-day operations, it is nevertheless closely related to, and should be involved in the corporate strategic planning and decision-making processes in both private and public sector organizations. There is greater corporate management acknowledgement that in realizing an organization’s business objectives, the provision of facilities and support services is an integral part of strategic business planning. The recent global financial crisis have brought home to many organizations, the need to seriously consider the facilities dimensions of 1 Associate Professor; Department of Building Services Engineering; The Hong Kong Polytechnic

University; Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong ; danny.ss.then@polyu.edu.hk

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business planning – a resource which commonly constitutes 20-40% of total corporate asset value and consumes 10-15% of corporate expenses. The unique characteristics of facilities assets in terms of modes of ownership, functional adequacies, essential support services and long-term asset care demand management competencies that are often underestimated by corporate managers.(Apgar 2009) More recently, the growing awareness of impact of climate change has added the agenda of sustainability and corporate social responsibility on shoulders of facilities managers.

Over the last two decades, the discipline of facilities management and the FM industry that had developed to support it have both grown in complexity and maturity in response to the ever-shifting social, economic and technological trends. As the nature of work itself changes, so does the design and operation of the workplace, as do the drivers behind an organization’s facilities strategy in relation to facilities design, provision and on-going management. The impact of globalization and the growing trend towards outsourcing of non-core functions, have also led to the transformation of client-service provider relationships within large multi-national corporations which are promulgating long-term, bundled or total FM contracts on a national or regional basis.

1.1 Key trends and influences and their impact on FM practice

FM delivers critical business services that underpin the day-to-day operations of major and minor operations within any economies. A scan of learned papers in facilities management journals over the last two decades will reveal that the general development of FM thinking has evolved over four distinct phases (Jensen , et al. 2012):

1. FM merely considered as an overhead to be managed for minimum cost rather than optimum value.

2. FM as in integrated continuous process in relation to the organization’s core business.

3. FM as resource management concentrating on managing supply chain issues associated with the FM functions.

4. FM as strategic management to ensure alignment between organizational structure, work processes and the enabling physical environment according to the organization’s strategic intent.

A key theme across the four phases of change is a shift from pre-occupation with tactical concerns to addressing strategic concerns as illustrated in Figure 1. (Then 1998)

Key factors that drive the changing focus in facilities management include:

• Dynamics of business environment – need to cater for the speed of change.

• Demand for flexibility – need to incorporate built-in exit strategies in facilities provision.

• Demand for global connectivity – impact of technology and communication network on nature of work and business delivery

• Changes in work and workplaces – need to cater for employees’ diversity and mobility.

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Figure 1: Changing focus in Facilities Management

It can be surmised from the above that the role definition of facilities managers is predicated on change which necessitates abilities to respond to organizational change, to predict and manage facilities changes and changing service delivery models. Facilities managers should regard this as an opportunity to promote themselves as a catalyst of change within their organization as any change in the corporate strategic business direction are likely to impact on some facilities dimensions of facilities management.

1.2 Review of FM Practice in Corporate Organisations

Facilities management is now a recognized component of the business delivery supply chain but its mantra has been associated with ‘reduced costs’ and ‘improved efficiency’. This tired proposition is in danger of becoming irrelevant since cutting cost and process efficiency are a means to an end, and not the end itself. The massive economic and societal changes the world is currently experiencing require a more fundamental rethink of how the provision and management of real estate and facilities services can add value to businesses by taking a more strategic view of organizations’ operational needs.

Figure 2: What businesses expect from Facilities Management? (Then 2012)

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The above 4-phase change in FM development described in the last section clearly reflects a change from the initial dominating focus on cost reduction towards stronger strategic focus on actively supporting the core business. However, such a shift in focus and approach must be accompanied by a conscious attempt to understand the various facets of facilities management and their demands, as illustrated in Figure 2.

Ultimately, the justification for FM professionalism to corporate management demands a proactive integrated management system with ability to:

� Provide strategic facilities options and advice to corporate business planners.

� Demonstrate to corporate senior managers that facilities managers possess the ability and competences to provide facilities solutions to business challenges by leveraging facilities resources and services at a strategic level.

� Demonstrate the contributions of real estate and facilities services interventions to human resources productivity, business profitability and competitive advantage, through innovative facilities solutions – whether they be sustainable design and operations, branding, portfolio rationalization, high performance facilities, continuous improvements through technology, innovative procurement, etc.

2. Educational provision in Facilities Management

This paper represents an overview of my involvement in facilities management as an academic in three universities: Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh; Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and the last decade at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. As an academic offering high level education to practicing professionals from various disciplines, a primary challenge is to provide a credible knowledge framework from which the content of the program remains relevant and attractive to potential students. In this respect, I am constantly challenged to keep up-to-date on the latest pressures from the realities of economic and social shifts in an increasingly competitive, globalized and networked world. The aim has always been to develop a framework for postgraduate education in FM that is relevant, logical and credible. In this respect, I was particularly conscious of a comment by Adrain Leaman in an article in Facilities in 1992, which I shall quote:

“..At present, the agenda of facilities courses sometimes appears as unco-ordinated or illogically-formed lists, with no one quite knowing what to put in or what to leave out and with items sometimes included on the basis of staff availability or enthusiasms rather than on a clear idea of overall course structure…” (Leaman, 1992, p.20).

Formal university courses in FM (including variants of it) at certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate levels are now available in many countries in North and South America, UK, Western and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia and Africa. A scan of course content of existing programs in the internet confirmed a wide mix of subject topics. It would be fair to say that Leaman’s statement still holds true for some programs. A critical examination of the breadth and depth of FM may provide a basis for differentiating different product offerings.

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2.1 Issues of breadth and depth in defining Facilities Management

Professional institutions’ definitions of FM tend to focus only on competencies – with an emphasis on getting the job done. Educational development in FM, on the other hand, focuses on personal development and extending knowledge acquisition. For the continuous development of facilities managers, both knowledge (theory) and competencies (practice) are essential.

Given the potential scope of functions/services that could be included under the umbrella of facilities management, in practical terms, the unit of analysis has to be the business entity per se – i.e. it is the nature of business and the structure of business organization which provide the context within which the FM role has to operate. In an organizational context, ‘breadth’ can be taken to be synonymous with the scope of FM services needed to support the core business deliverables and how they are procured and managed. In terms of ‘depth’ this is a reflection of how the FM role is perceived at corporate management level and actually reflected in organizational positioning, in level of resourcing and in value adding potential to the core business – i.e. the current FM practice in the business entity.

From an education and training viewpoint, issues of breadth and depth in FM take on a different perspective in that they are a by-product of the program’s or course’s intent and the target population.

The breadth of FM has been variously described by a range of functions in relation to competences required to get the job done, much in line with the approach taken by FM professional institutions like IFMA, BIFM and FMAA. Similarly, FM has also been described in relation to the range of services needed to support the core business, particularly in decisions relating to procurement and outsourcing strategies. However, In terms of the knowledge areas, decisions relating to FM actions often rely on understanding and application of theories and principles that underpin:

� Economics and finance – e.g. financial control, budgeting, asset life-cycle cost evaluations;

� Human relationships and people management – e.g. working with service provider(s);

� Technology – e.g. its role and impact on work and workplace design, technology as a management tool;

� Physical asset management – asset life-functional, technical and economic, maintenance and component renewals, long-term care.

There are inherent tools and processes for each of the above knowledge areas that must somehow be incorporated in the individual subject content of FM programs.

As depth in FM is embedded in current practice within a business entity, the approach to learning is to assess and understand the context of actual practice. The learning outcomes rely essentially on soft skills in terms of understanding the determining variables (factors) that had influenced the current practice. These factors may be cultural, organizational,

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political, internally or externally driven, and can only be abstracted through knowledge in soft skills.

In my opinion, it is the delicate balance in choice that has to be struck between the appropriate breadth and depth in FM that underpins the core of a well-structured course in FM. This has been the governing principle that has guided my program design.

3 A framework for postgraduate education in Facilities Management

It has taken me a greater part of three decades to complete the development what I consider to be a dedicated FM program that is comprehensive in coverage of FM functions that may be found in most business organizational settings. In the three universities that I have had the privilege of serving, I have sought to adopt a path of integrating the activities associated within the realm of FM as part of business resource management, albeit with a biased towards the effective management of the provision, servicing and management of physical assets within business settings, be there private or public sector organisations.

My initial thoughts of FM as a discipline started at Heriot-Watt University when I started my research career in public sector housing maintenance management in the early 1980s when FM first ‘arrived’ in UK with much confusion as to its role and content. Having spent a year discussing with FM consultants and professionals, I came to the conclusion not to attempt to seek a definitive definition for facilities management, but resolved to chart a course that attempts to map its context within business settings. Over the last 30 years or so, I have continued to explore what I consider to be essential facets of the practice of FM from a strategic management perspective. (Then, 1992, 2003, 2004) The emphasis on ‘strategic’ is both deliberate and critical, especially for post-degree programs with an emphasis on broadening an individual’s knowledge horizon in a managerial role within an organizational setting.

3.1 Key facets of Facilities Management

In the more mature markets like in North America, Western Europe and U.K. the market for facilities management services appears to have developed to cater for three interrelated areas associated with the management of operational property assets. The search for value for money has had one important implication for the whole spectrum of industries selling products and services of all kinds - the need to describe (specify), to measure (performance criteria) and to quantify (price) the outputs (end products). In terms of facilities management, the response for more effective utilisation of operational property assets has been on three main areas: (1) strategic evaluation of the real estate portfolio which has led to the development of strategic facilities planning in many of the larger organisations; (2) space management and post occupancy evaluations which have been driven by the need to maximise utilisation of the workspace but with considerations on the well-being of occupiers; and (3) premises audits and condition assessments which have raised the awareness and need for cost effective long-term asset management. (Then 1994)

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The above developments have reinforced my personal view of the scoping of facilities management. There are many definitions of facilities management that have been proposed by professional institutions around the world. Personally, I have found them to be unhelpful from the business point of view, especially from the perspective of corporate management, as their focus tended to be on required competences rather than what corporate management should focus on. From my experience, the core of facilities management can be considered as management relating to three key aspects of corporate facilities - assets, workspace and support services – all three are impacted by technological developments. (Figure 3)

Figure 3: Management Aspects in Facilities Managemen t (Then 2012)

The scoping of facilities management under assets, workspace and support services also conveniently define the distinct sectors of the FM services market that have evolved in the more mature economies. This categorization also defines the specific competencies relevant to facilities asset management, workplace management and service management respectively.

Corresponding to the three facilities management facets, the last two decades have seen major fundamental changes on the demand side and supply side of the facilities management market that has resulted in shifts in the management approach and focus as illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Changing Management Focus (Then 2012)

The adoption of the above scoping necessitates fundamental shifts in the current conceptualization of facilities management in terms of:

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� FM beyond transactions – about people, investments, assets and space.

� FM beyond buildings – about effective deployment and utilization of functional space.

� FM beyond cost – about alignment of supply to demand, value contribution to core business, affordable and appropriate services, and whole-life asset management.

3.2 Main components within each facet of FM

In terms of implications on competencies, the four core components of FM become apparent covering strategic, tactical and operational aspects of facilities management activities:

� Strategic Facilities Planning – responding to business dynamics.

� Space Planning and Workplace Strategies – workplace location, workspace design and space utilisation.

� Asset Management and Maintenance – asset value, asset care and performance.

� Facilities Support Services Management – defining services, procurement and monitoring delivery.

Figure 5: Integrated Facilities Management – Main components (Then, 2004)

The need for an integrated management approach is critical in that the prevailing business strategic direction will drive strategic facilities planning, the outcome being an agreed workplace strategy which in turn feeds into the needs for facilities support services and asset management and maintenance. It is within such an integrated management approach that the need for corporate management to consider their operational assets as a business

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resource and integrates facility-related considerations within the strategic business planning processes. Figure 5 proposes a model that sees facilities managers’ involvement spanning from facilities provision (strategic components) to facilities services management (operational components). The four components of Strategic Facilities Planning, Space Planning and Workplace Strategies, Facilities Support Services Management and Asset Management and Maintenance, reflect a broad, but inter-related resources base (people, place, process and technology) that the practice of FM must manage effectively to bring about favourable outcomes to business demands. The inter-relationships of the four components within an integrated management framework are illustrated in Figure 5.

The growing acceptance that an optimum facilities solution must be a by-product of considerations of the business operational needs (for space), the users (people) of the facility in performing their work tasks (process), and the necessary support infrastructure (technology and support services) to carry out their tasks efficiently and effectively; has had the impact of promoting this integrative view of managing business resources. The integrated components of FM in Figure 5 above points to a need to understand the business needs for space (demand) as the driver of facility provision (supply) – the start of the building development cycle. The use of new procurement methods has led to the integration of design-build-operate necessitating a partnership approach between traditional professions and taking a whole-life view of buildings as functional, durable assets.

From the above review, three features of the ‘professional core’ for FM are apparent:

• A broad framework of competencies for facilities management is identifiable; its coverage spans from facilities provision to facilities services delivery;

• Facilities management is multi-disciplinary embracing a blend of generic management skills with a range of facility-related technical knowledge that are specific to the asset portfolio needed to support the core business; and

• FM education and training must cater for career development from different traditional disciplines and at different entry levels.

3.3 A working model for postgraduate education and training

In my opinion, the theming of a program is critical in differentiating one from other competition in the marketplace. The reality will always be – the customer’s choice. My journey to aspire to develop a dedicated FM graduate program started at Heriot-Watt University, Department of Building Engineering and Surveying, in Scotland where I initiated the MSc. in Facilities Management and Asset Maintenance in 1992. In 1997, at the Queensland University of Technology, School of Construction Management and Property, the first Graduate Program in Facilities Management (offering certificate, diploma and masters level qualifications) was jointly developed with the Graduate School of Business. I joined the Department of Building Services Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in late 2001 where an existing MSc program in Facility Management already existed. As program leader since 2003, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to guide the development of the MSc program in FM in terms of its subject content, pedagogy and international accreditations. The development of each program’s content progressed in

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stages as I was fortunate to move from one university to the next which all wanted FM as a discipline.

The current working model of the MSc in Facility Management offered by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is based on the conceptualization articulated above (3.1 and 3.2). Perhaps, a point of departure in the approach I have taken is to view the requirements of FM from the business perspective, rather than, from a professional viewpoint, whatever the bias may be; i.e. from a surveyor’s, engineer’s or real estate/facilities manager’s viewpoint.

I am also fortunate to have colleagues who share my view of FM and contributed by developing specialist subjects in legal aspects and sustainability. Figure 6 illustrate the subject headings of the current program. The program is currently on its 17th year of self-funded existence with a consistent applicant-intake ratio of 2 to 3 for the last decade. It is perhaps worth mentioning that all the subjects on the program are specifically designed with the FM perspective in mind. In terms of pedagogy, almost all the subjects have a workshop component aimed at applying theory into practice via real-life case scenarios developed with experienced practitioners from the FM industry. The aim of incorporating the workshop (lasting 11 formal scheduled hours) for each subject is to provide a business context, via a case study scenario. Students (working in teams of 4) are required to generate realistic solutions against issues raised in the particular scenario based on knowledge, concepts, processes and tools covered during lectures and prescribed readings. The workshop scenario sessions also provided valuable opportunities in role playing and in considering realities of soft issues relating to organization culture and politics in terms of managing change through facilities-related initiatives and projects. This approach to pedagogy has proven to be effective, with positive feedback from students, who are all working professionals.

Figure 6: MSc in Facility Management - Course Structure

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4 Reflections

As an academic, I have been very fortunate to have been given the opportunities and support in the three universities that I have the privilege of serving. I have the luxury of realizing a postgraduate program that was conceptualized during my doctoral research – even though the fruition of the complete package took a greater part of the last three decades and over three continents.

Over the same period, facilities management, as a recognized profession, has grown in strength, in numbers and in countries around the world. However, its recognition as an academic discipline is still somewhat patchy, due mainly to a perceived lack of its own knowledge base when compared to the more traditional disciplines. Nevertheless, healthy discourse amongst academics have already emerged in recent years that points to possible avenues of research to redress the knowledge or theoretical gap that beset it recognition as a valid discipline. (Jensen, et al 2012; Drion and Melissen 2012; Then 2004a; Price 2001, Wagenberg 1997). On the other hand, there are some practitioners in FM who argue that its lack of a clear definition is a source of FM’s strengths rather than weakness.

Personally, I subscribe to the view that there is a growing consensus that acknowledges FM as potentially central to an organisation’s core business processes. My view of FM comprising essentially of the management of assets, workspace and services, testifies to the potential breadth of FM within an organisational context. Issues of depth are manifested in the practice of FM within an organisation and is a consequent of knowledge, awareness of the potential role of facilities design in changing human behavior and hence, organisational performance. Ultimately, I believe, the pressures to remain competitive, coupled with the need to cope with rapid changes, driven by technological, social, environment and political developments, will drive the need to optimize all business resources, The management of physical assets and the facilities and services within them, being one of the most under-managed business resources, offers ample opportunities to add value to business by being more effectively matched to business requirements. (Apgar 2009, de Valence 2004; Ward and Holtham 2000, Then 1998). I concur with Wagenberg’s assertion that ‘development of FM theory has to take place in the practical context of FM… Theory proofs itself in the reality of management of facilities.’ (Wagenberg 1997; 6).

5 Conclusion

Educational offerings in FM education and training will continue to evolve worldwide, but the nature and content of programs offered in each country will be influenced by the level of maturity of the local FM industry in terms of developments in the demand side by clients’ organisations, and supply side by FM service providers, FM professionalism and awareness of the need to better manage the built environment in a more sustainable manner. Given the broad scope of facilities management as a professional practice and field of research, it is hoped that this paper goes some way to provide considerations of potential avenues of specialisation in courses offering by institutes of higher learning in different countries in relation to their respective level of development in facilities management.

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References

1 Apgar IV, M, ‘(2009) What every leader should know about real estate.’ Harvard Business Review November 2009: 100-107.

2 Drion, B., Melissen, F. and Wood, R. (2012) “Facilities management: lost, or regained? Facilities 30 (5/6): 254-261.

3 I-FM (2012) “Facilities Management – New needs. New solutions?” UK. (available online http://www.i-fm.net/documents/file/whitepaper/New%20needs%20New%20solutions.pdf [accessed 12/06/2012)

4 Jensen, P. A.; van de Voordt, T.; Coenen, C, and von Felten, D.; Lindholm, A,; Neilsen, S.B.; Riratanaphong, C.; and Pfenninger, M. (2012) “In search for the added value of FM: what we know and what we need to learn.” Facilities. 30 (5/6): 202.

5 Leaman, A. (1992) “Is Facilities Management a Profession? Facilities 10 (10): 20.

6 Price, I. (2001) “Can FM evolve? If not, what future?” Journal of Facilities Management 1 (1): 56-69.

7 Then, S S and Akhlaghi, F. (1992) “A Framework for Defining Facilities Management Education.” FACILITIES MANAGEMENT - Research Directions, Ed. Peter Barrett, University of Salford, 1992 (ISBN 0-9519060-1).

8 Then, Danny Shiem-Shin. (1996) A Study of Organisational Response to the Management of Operational Property Assets and Facilities Support Services as a Business Resource - Real Estate Asset Management. PhD. Thesis. Heriot-Watt University. (Published in 2012 as “Real Estate Asset Management – Operational property assets and facilities support services as a business resource.” LAMBERT Academic Publishing. ISBN: 978-3-8465-2785-6).

9 Then, S.S. (1998) “Corporate leadership in real estate and facilities management.” Proceedings of CIB W70 Singapore ‘98 Symposium on Management, Maintenance and Modernisation of Building Facilities – The Way Ahead into the Millennium, edited by Quah Lee Kiang; 18-20 November 1998. pp.A9-A16. (Keynote paper)

10 Then, S.S. (2000) “The role of real estate assets in supporting the fulfilment of corporate business plans - key organisational variables for an integrated resource management framework.” Facilities 18(7/8):.273-280. Highly Commended Award 2001 by LITERATI club.

11 Then, S. S. Danny. (2003) “Integrated resources management structure for facilities provision and management.” Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 17(3): 34-42.

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12 Then, Danny Shiem-shin (2004) “The Future of Professional FM Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. New World Order in Facility Management.” HKIFM-PSDAS Conferences in Hong Kong and Beijing. 3-5 June 2004. (available online http://www.psdas.gov.hk/content/doc/Prof_Danny_Then.pdf [accessed on 12/07/2012])

13 Then, Danny S. S.. (2012) “Developments in Facilities Management – Coming of age, what are the expectations? Keynote paper - Proceedings of New Zealand FM Summit FMANZ 2012. Auckland 23rd May 2012. (available online http://www.newzealandfmsummit.org/images/Paper%20-%20Danny%20Then-

%20Keynote%20speaker%20FMANZ%202012.pdf [accessed 12 June 2012])

14 de Valence, G. (2004) “The FM industry and added value for clients.” Proceedings of the 3rd European research symposium in facilities management, Copenhagen 12-14 May 2004; 16-23.

15 Wagenberg, A.F. (1997) “Facility management as a profession and academic field.” International Journal of Facilities Management. 1 (1): 3-10.

16 Ward, V. and Holtham, C. (2000) “Physical Space: The most neglected resource in contemporary knowledge management? (available online www.sparknow.net/cgi-bin/eatsoup.cgi?id=602 [accessed 20/5/2006])

Bibliography:

Danny Shiem-Shin Then and Wes McGregor. (1999) Facilities Management and the Business of Space. Arnold, UK. Reprinted (2001) under Butterworth-Heinemann. UK. ISBN:0-340-71964-8.

Danny Then Shiem Shin and Tan Teng Hee. (2013) Facilities Management and the Business of Managing Assets. Routledge. ISBN:978-0-415-27494-4.

Danny S. S. Then, (2004) “Concepts in Facilities Management.” Chapter in Architect’s Handbook of Construction Project Management. Editors: Michael Murray and David Langford. RIBA Enterprises. 2004. pp.297-312. ISBN:1-85946-123-9.

Danny S. S. Then, (2003) “Strategic Management.” Chapter in book Workplace Strategies and Facility Management - Building in Value. Editors: Best, R; Langston, C; & de Valence G. Butterworth-Heinemann, UK. January 2003. pp. 69-80. ISBN:0-7506-5150-4.

Price, I. Chapters on ‘Facility management as an emerging discipline’ and ‘The development of facility management’ in Workplace Strategies and Facilities Management – Building in value. Editors. Best, R.’ Langston, C. and de Valence, G. Butterworth-Heinemann 2003. pp. 31-66.

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Marketing, Programme and Project Management: relationship building and maintenance over project lifecycles

Hedley Smyth1

Abstract

Business development is in transition with its increasing focus upon relationship building and maintenance. Theoretically this represents a shift from the transactional marketing mix towards relationship marketing (RM). Four international main contractors were examined to identify the extent of transition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst Directors with Marketing responsibilities, Business Development Managers, Heads of Procurement, Project Directors and Project Managers in each contractor. The analysis was conducted inductively and evaluation was made against the literature. The analysis presented draws upon three findings common to the four contractors: i) an emergent key account management function (KAM), ii) the lack of a RM system, iii) the absence of an internal relationship and system between procurement and business development (BD). The evaluation of the findings against the literature shows KAM to be partially conceived in different ways by each contractor both at project and programme management levels. It shows that all contractors lack integrated cross-functional systems over the project lifecycle, and the absence of a RM-cum-management systems means that the gaps between functions during the lifecycle are not overcome and RM as a function is compromised. Whilst the procurement function at a programme level was found to be well-developed internally, from which marketing could benefit, the systematic and behavioural dislocation between BD and downstream functions constrains marketing and inhibit the development of value propositions that aligns with RM. The conclusion is that international contractors are in early stages of transition towards RM. The consequence is that configuring and delivering coherent value propositions and quality service experience remain highly constrained.

Keywords: Business Development, Procurement, Key Account Management, Relationship Marketing, Systems Integration

1. Introduction

The twenty-five year shift from the marketing mix (MM) to relationship marketing (RM) in many sectors has marked a move from viewing exchanges as discrete transactions towards building long-term business-to-business (B2B) relationships (cf. Grönroos, 2000). A time-lagged transition is underway in construction (Skitmore and Smyth, 2007). Business

1 Director of Research; School of Construction and Project Management; UCL; Torrington Place

Site, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT; h.smyth@ucl.ac.uk.

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development (BD) in construction increasingly focuses upon relationship building (Smyth and Fitch, 2009). This is part of a broader shift in project management towards an emphasis upon strategic front-end and “soft” management issues to support technical and engineering expertise (e.g. Walker, 2002). This is conceptually underpinned by strategic input from the corporate centre via portfolio and programme management to project management (Morris, 2013). Marketing and BD are located in this ‘hierarchy’ at the project front-end.

Firms have restructured since the 2008 “credit crunch”. The emergent pattern in construction has been to delayer and reduce costs. The research investigates whether the downturn has affected marketing and BD practices in construction: (i) To what extent have there been any significant changes in marketing and business development since the 2008 “credit crunch”? (ii) To what extent do business development processes interface with other functions? (iii) How is business development evolving as an effective function? The prime focus centres upon serving client interests. Four international main contractors are examined using semi-structured interviews across a range of management roles. The analysis was conducted inductively and evaluation was made against the literature. The analysis particularly draws out the role of key account management (KAM) over project lifecycles as part of programme management, and upon the paucity of RM systems for marketing in relation to other key functions. Conclusions and recommendations follow.

2. Setting the Scene – a short literature review

2.1 Marketing mix and relationship marketing

Levitt (1983) defined marketing as creating and keeping a customer. Kotler et al (1996) adopted a catholic approach, as do many professional bodies and institutes. Definitions also arise from paradigm choice. The MM is based on the 4Ps, of product, place, promotion and price (Borden, 1964; McCarthy, 1964) and its variants. RM (Berry, 1983) is based on B2B relationships for intangible services.

The MM is transactional. It dominated project markets (Cova et al, 2002) and still remains a strong force where price is an overriding criterion (Skitmore and Smyth, 2007). BD is largely reactive, soliciting project pipeline information and engaging with clients to prequalify for projects. BD is project specific once market segments are identified, often defined in administrative “silos” by procurement routes and building type (Pryke and Smyth, 2006). RM is client focused. Tailor-made services are configured for segments of one. The objectives are to add product and service value through in-depth understanding of clients to induce improved satisfaction levels and loyalty. Increased repeat business and premium profit are direct benefits to the contractor (e.g. Grönroos, 2000). Suppliers are proactive market managers and shapers of projects (Cova et al, 2002). RM requires support from systems (Storbacka et al, 1994), procedures and through behavioural guidance across networks and interrelated markets (Christopher at al, 2002). Thus, links between the corporate centre and the project, articulated through portfolio and programme management down to the project management level, are necessary for effective RM.

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2.2 Marketing and project management

Marketing, which is conceptually strategic, (Preece et al, 2003) in practice is confined to communications and promotion in many construction companies (Preece et al, 1998). It is frequently separated from BD. BD traditionally has been isolated at the start of the front-end of projects (Pinto and Covin, 1992; Turner, 1995), terminating at prequalification or bid submission. BD under RM starts prior to a project being identifiable (Cova et al, 2002) and continues during execution beyond completion and final account towards seeking repeat business, that is, managing sleeping relationships (Cova and Salle, 2005). The relationship value or the client lifetime value to the contractor carries greater significance than project values. Project lifecycles therefore require management from project through programme to corporate management for developing competencies and capabilities that are articulated through the systems, procedures and behaviours (Smyth and Fitch, 2009).

BD is claimed to be transitioning from the MM approach towards RM (e.g. Preece et al 2003). The transition stage reached has yet to established. The effects of the post-2008 “credit crunch” upon marketing need scoping. The extent BD interfaces with project management and other project lifecycle functions has yet to be empirically established. RM conceptually provides one system to be integrated with technical and functional systems for delivering solutions that satisfy clients.

2.3 Portfolio, programme and project management

Portfolio management administers bundles of assets (e.g. Morris 2013). Contractors’ assets include technical, technological and social capital. Portfolio management develops fixed capital resources, competencies and capabilities, and their allocation to programmes and projects, including the development of RM systems and procedures (cf. Storbacka et al, 1994). Portfolio and programme levels overlap in order to assess and allocate resources for project management. Morris (2013) claims portfolio management is analytical, operating at a more strategic hierarchical level. Programme management is managerially directional on a day-to-day basis. Programmes have a pool of resources to share and trade-off, choosing between projects on an opportunity cost basis under MM and choosing between clients and their programmes under RM. Programmes focus on strategic coordination, projects focus on task outputs (Morris, 2013). Detailed resource allocation might include a programme of behavioural competencies to consistently serve clients and projects.

3. Methodology and Methods

An interpretative methodology was applied, respecting the information provided and emanating context (Denzin, 2002). Interpretation recognises subjectivity and embodied value judgments (Sayer, 1992), including how facts are selected and articulated in different ways (Krige, 1979). It recognises respondents are subjective (Sayer, 1992). Respecting key actors perceptions enriches understanding of attitudes present, the strengths and weaknesses of organizational artifacts, processes and behaviour, yielding meaning to generate patterns of events, draw out experiences, draw attention to outcomes of significance (Smyth and Morris, 2007). A case study method (Yin, 2003), specifically a case-based approach, was applied

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inductively (Eisenhardt, 1989). The UK operations of four major international contractors were examined via semi-structured interviews conducted in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2012. The number of interviews per contractor varied slightly; the aim being to cover a Board Member with responsibility for Marketing, Head of Marketing/Business Development, two Business Development Managers, Head of Procurement, and two Project Managers. All companies and personnel interviewed are kept anonymous as organizational rather than individual performance and business effectiveness provided the focus – see Table 1.

Table 1: Schedule of case study contractors and personnel

4. Findings from the Field and Inductive Analysis

4.1 Marketing and top down management

The case companies restructured post-“credit crunch”. Headcount loss was conducted by

Contractor

Alias

Ownership Primary

Activities

Divisions

Interviewed

Interview Respondents

EUCo EU country Civil

Engineering &

Infrastructure

and Specialist

Subcontracting

Civil

Engineering &

Infrastructure

Chief Executive

2 Regional Business Development Managers

(BDMs), 1 Senior BDM and 2 BDMs

Head of Public Relations and

Communications

Contracts Manager

Head of Business Processes & Sustainability

EuroCo European Building, Civil

Engineering &

Infrastructure

and Specialist

Subcontracting

Building, Civil

Engineering &

Infrastructure

Customer Solutions Director

Head of BD

Sector BDM

BD Coordinator

Head of Procurement

Commercial Director

Technical Service Director

2 Project Directors

AntCo Antipodean Construction

and

Development

Construction Head of New Business

Head of Procurement

Bid Manager

Head of Project Management

UKCo UK Building, Civil

Engineering &

Infrastructure,

Consultancy

Infrastructure &

Consultancy

BD Director

2 BDMs

Head of Procurement

2 Project Managers

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hierarchical delayering of BUs as opposed to considering markets and what capabilities were anticipated for future competitive advantage. Specialist BD capabilities were lost in AntCo and EuroCo. The claimed benefit is that others took up additional BD roles, resulting in becoming more outward facing. Yet important opportunities were lost, the understanding of clients needs was compromised, and ineffective gathering of pipeline information were consequences. For AntCo, the current aims are to “incubate” markets for entry, although capabilities to optimize this objective may be constrained.

Marketing was found to operate in two ways in the case companies. First, it is considered in terms of Communications and Promotion functions, which operated separately (cf. Preece et al, 1998). This is most evident in EUCo and EuroCo. Second, marketing focuses upon producing a marketing strategy. These are configured at board level as part of an integrated business plan or as separate documentation. Marketing options are constrained by the case companies being structured into BUs around procurement, contract and/or building types/construction types for ease of management. These become procurement and task driven market segments. For example, AntCo is structured around project execution, not around clients in a complementary fashion. Consequently, they are good at developing the “big picture”, but capturing and cascading the implications down the hierarchy and along the project lifecycle from the front-end through delivery is weak. There is an absence of programme management to facilitate coordination in all the cases with the consequence that BD is largely disconnected from marketing. BD is further subdivided by BU and coordination across BUs is sporadic: They do work fantastically well together if they are joined together in the right way (Interview with a Bid Manager, AntCo). Recognition of this problem at senior management and operational levels is described as a “silo mentality. These findings inhibit effective implementation and constrain the implantation of RM principles and systems.

BD is perceived as an information gathering to help the companies prequalify. A Senior Business Development Director in EUCo reported he briefs his teams: Is there anything out there you think we should know? The next step is to communicate information to the team producing prequalification documents; a division of labour between BDMs and prequalification. The extent to which BDMs were involved in the bid management process varied between the case companies. In all cases BDM is marginalised beyond prequalification, a constraint for service continuity where other managers are performing the marketing and BD functions in subsequent project stages. BDMs largely contribute to winning work as a confined transactional task. A comprehensive marketing management system to coordinate action from senior management to the operations level and across projects is absent. Coordination from the corporate centre or through explicit portfolio and programme management (Morris, 2013) is underdeveloped. Although EUCo is rolling out a customer RM initiative, it is said to be “fairly simplistic”, relying upon individuals taking responsibility. There is a rudimentary customer relationship database, a CRM software system, in place to support from below, yet no systematic coordination from above. CRM databases depend upon employee engagement. This is also left to individual responsibility in EUCo, AntCo and UKCo. CRM engagement levels are low.

All the companies stress the importance of relationship building in line with RM theory, which seems to arise from two sources. First relational contracting where several respondents in

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AntCo and EUCo stress the benefits derived from internalising the lessons of partnering. Senior management in both companies said informal partnering is necessary to respond to clients, cost drivers and for effective project management. Second BD where relationship building is seen as key to increasing strike rates. There was recognition of its importance along project lifecycles amongst BDMs, in accord with previous claims that contractors are in transition from MM towards RM (Preece et al, 2003). Previous research has failed to clarify the stage reached. This research found that BDMs are a disparate group that understand and build relationships differently in each company. All BDMs cite the importance of relationships, using similar language: It all about people and relationships (Interview with a BDM, EUCo); It boils down to some trusted relationships (Interview with the Head of New Business, AntCo). The companies are not developing systems for managing relationships, i) for each relationship type within BD, ii) for continuity along project lifecycles, iii) for cross-functional coordination to ensure, a) the understanding of client organisational and project needs beyond stated requirements, and b) value propositions are passed along the project lifecycle for the development of win-strategies and for delivery in execution.

Although all BDMs cite the importance of building relationships, when asked what this entailed, phrases such as “understanding client drivers” are used. To all interviewed, “client drivers” meant building relationships to get information on the project pipelines and requirements, to some it meant understanding the motivations and considerations of the key decision-makers (clients and their professional representatives), to a few it meant understanding client business solutions or organisational purposes projects are addressing, and to one person alone it meant understanding the client’s own core business to get to the bottom of what they perceive as valuable. All levels are important in RM.

Leaving relationship building to individual responsibility has consequences: You do end up living in an area of ambiguity a lot of the time (Interview with the Head of New Business, AntCo). There is a lack of awareness and partial implementation of RM principles. There is a great deal of evidence of hiding behind business jargon, such as “right behaviours”. For example it was stated: It’s all about behaviours and culture (Interview with a Regional BDM, EUCo); Behaviours are key to making this a success (Interview with a Project Manager, EUCo). This lends a false impression of standardization, yet the meanings held for these terms are different and action is inconsistent. BD was repeatedly described in terms of “instinct”. There is no guidance about how to build and manage relationships i) through relationship systems, ii) through procedures to address types, continuity and coordination of relationships, and iii) behavioural codes of conduct to establish norms and specific guidance on behaviour. A code provides a baseline upon which the interpersonal skills of BDMs can flourish. There is sporadic evidence of trying to manage behaviours at a micro-level. It was stated: There’s a lot of behavioural-cultural work that goes on (Interview with the Head of New Business, AntCo), which was described as mobilising propositions by “socializing the idea”. This seems reliant upon informal routines and is reactive. This research found weak interface linkage between functions, confirming other research (Roberts et al, 2012).

4.2 KAM, programme and project management

Key account management (KAM) is being adopted in the case companies. KAM is an RM

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concept for coordinating client interests across the internal actors responsible for customer contact and service delivery (e.g. McDonald et al, 1997). AntCo first introduced KAMs in the boom market pre-2008. They were appointed from Project Managers with responsibility for client programmes. KAMs are client facing. The ability to resolve client issues was hampered by a lack of an independent budget. The result was inward facing vying for resources and it was abandoned. It was recently reintroduced with the title of Key Account Holders and a banner of “Loving the Customer”. Key clients are provided a single contact point and a consistent approach, supported by “correct behaviours”. The AntCo approach is fragmented. Awareness creation, training and induction for the role have not been addressed. Internal systems and procedures are absent for coordinating KAM. Bidding teams are put together project-by-project. Although a more centralized resource and support are being developed, bid development does not relate to KAMs to generate value propositions of technical and service value. KAMs are not guided as to how to build relationships.

UKCo’s Managing Director of the Civil Engineering & Infrastructure division has sought to build relationships. Core clients have been allocated KAMs. KAM is described as “quite open and loose”, aligning with the lack of formal guidance for relationship building. Information feedback is sought to improve responses in reactive ways, complying with MM rather RM principles. EUCo takes a selective approach to KAM, only allocating “key customer contacts” to key clients. The aim is to improve coordination, however, formal procedures are lacking and informal processes are hampered because some KAMs are BDMs who occupy isolated positions over the project lifecycle. EuroCo adopts a lower profile, the Customer Solutions Director assigning Directors to counterpart key client contacts. Reports at Monthly Board Meetings include monitoring and scoring content to assess attractiveness and progress with the key clients. In practice reports are inconsistent in timing and content.

For project businesses KAM has a twin function: coordination across the interface with clients on and across projects. It covers programme management and project management, potentially providing relationship feedback to inform strategic resource allocation from the portfolio management level. KAM is partial in the companies and without linkage to programme management. There is an absence of resource consideration and how costs can be defrayed against other BD and bid costs by increasing repeat business, improving strike rates and enhancing reputation in the longer term. There also seems to be a lack of awareness throughout the hierarchy as to the conceptual contribution KAM can make to RM and project execution. A stronger integrating function could be developed, extending KAM across project lifecycles for each project and coordinating a programme from the client perspective. Whilst KAM is not an essential component of RM, it could make a significant contribution because the companies have commenced implementation.

4.3 Marketing and the project lifecycle

The companies are structured around projects rather than clients. It was found that project management during execution provides the primary focus, constraining the ability to link client interests identified through BD to the execution phase. Morris and Hough (1987) drew attention to the importance of the front-end to secure project success, and therefore, inductively analysing how this is manifested in marketing and BD is important. EuroCo states

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the organisation is structured around project execution and not around clients in a complementary fashion. This is echoed in UKCo, evident in underdeveloped portfolio and programme management. The integration of different BUs is described as a work-in-progress. The company is highly decentralised and tends to focus efforts upon internal matters, inhibiting service integration: There is an aura of ‘we don’t like our client and they are very difficult to work with’ (Interview with the Business Development Director, UKCo).

How BD is structured affects handovers between functions along project lifecycles. In EuroCo there has not historically been a strong lead from the centre. This is changing and solutions development is part of the central enabling pre-construction function. Yet, BD is not part of that function. Estimating, bid management and front-end planning are formally and informally dislocated from BD – an absence of formal understanding and informal dialogue. The situation is described as “confusing”. Board members have an “engagement process” with counterparts in key client organisations and “Customer Plans” to scope a 5-10 year pipeline and procurement routes. BDMs are not always linked to this action. Relationship or client lifetime value are not considered by EuroCo. EUCo BDMs do not produce the prequalification documentation. Whilst this may be ‘efficient’, it relies upon effective coordination. Formulating value propositions for win-strategies is poor. EUCo’s Chief Executive stated that value identification is now conducted during business development, yet BDMs do not see themselves as identifying value. Prequalification producers, bid managers and subsequent functionaries along the lifecycle do not see the need to work with BDMs to develop value propositions: It is hard to shoehorn those things in post-prequalification (Interview with a Regional BDM, EuCo). In UKCo, BDMs focus upon project pipelines and bid opportunities. UKCo BDMs do not consider relationship value or client lifetime value. Bid managers, procurement and project managers address projects from their respective areas of expertise. It is a task orientation rather than a service or client focus. Portfolio and programme management are underdeveloped, the net result being a lack of systematic integration along the project lifecycle. A similar pattern is found in AntCo. One respondent used the analogy that the company needs to move from an Encarta to a Wikipedia approach to information and relationship management (Interview with the Bid Manager, AntCo). The same respondent reports the bid team process is rather chaotic, “it's a mess”, yet a general belief exists that it is more coordinated than it is. Self-interest amongst BDMs is present: They want to be able to say, ‘I won that job!’ (Interview with the Bid Manager, AntCo).

BDMs are involved marginally in subsequent stages. They do not shape projects towards developing specific win-strategies (cf. Cova et al, 2002). Other functions are insufficiently involved to shape the value proposition at prequalification stage. It is found that bid management and project management are not perceived to add value in later stages. Bid management takes place without reference to the KAM function, lacking detailed understanding of clients and projects at the front-end. The front-end and project management lack integration. Project Managers have no direct involvement or coordinating linkage with BDMs across the case companies. All companies have a cut-off between BD and project management. In every case the procurement and supplier systems are amongst the most robustly developed on their own terms, yet are not linked to other stages and client needs are not specifically linked to procurement. Project managers do not receive guidance on value propositions from marketing and procurement.

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Risk is a major consideration for all the contractors, especially EUCo. At tender stage EUCo had a “Financial Bid File” and have recently introduced a “Technical Bid File” to brief project managers. Yet, they do not have a “Service Bid File’ to standardize and add value to the service component of project management. The Director of Business Process stated he is not quite sure what that would look like, showing a lack of focus upon service consistency on projects and continuity for (implicit) programme management (Interview with a Director of Business Process, EUCo). It general EUCo think value is lost between prequalification and bid submission. This perception probably arises from regularly coming first or second at prequalification, yet a lower strike rate at bid stage. Inductive analysis suggests the lack of integrated systems, including relationship management systems, is a large contributory factor. Bid teams become locked into the minutiae of operations rather than responding to customer understanding and developing aligned value propositions. Bid managers can be Estimators, Planners or Project Managers. They do not necessarily understand the bigger picture. There is a tendency for a bid to develop its own strategy based upon the logic of expertise of engineering and procedures (Interview with a Contracts Manager, EUCo). EUCo knows that bids won are those where they understand the client in detail, yet action to improve this is lacking. Project management focuses upon “the sharp end”. A Contracts Director states there is still work to be done to convince Project Managers that they are “marketeers”. This and other case companies exhibit a project task focus (cf. Handy, 1997) rather than a complementary customer focus now prevalent across most sectors.

At AntCo bid teams are put together ad hoc and typically without consideration for carrying forward client understanding, nascent value propositions and requirements. Nor do bid teams engage with KAM functions. There are tensions between Operations Directors that hold the resources and other functions, especially BDMs wishing to have further input. Operations Directors in EuroCo appoint Estimators and Project Managers without reference to BD or bid management. Procurement talk to Bid Managers and Project Managers in response mode rather than proactively. Although EuroCo has not developed an explicit KAM function, there is awareness of the need for integration. A Project Director stated that marketing and BDM have improved and are recognized in project management: We are just being more professional in our tenders, presentations and all we are putting forward. Yet the approach tends to be somewhat transactional, pushing information and ideas into its marketplace rather than drawing the client to them. It is described as tactical with a “very short-term view”. The value of a client over extended timescales is selectively addressed, yet the primary focus remains project specific. Project Managers on both the Building, and the Civil Engineering and Infrastructure divisions appear to value relationship building more than their counterparts in other case companies, although how this is achieved is left to individual responsibility. At UKCo BD stops at prequalification and bid management is conducted via estimating and tendering under the commercial management. There is scant evidence of cross-functional working for this case company. Project briefing for UKCo starts with workshops during the bid stage and post-bid briefings before starting on site. There is no direct link for relationship continuity. The project management perspective is that early contractor involvement (ECI) helps align design with construction planning and project management methodologies. Project Managers also perceive ECI to be central to developing effective relationships for execution.

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Summarizing, there is a lack of linkage and alignment of systems, added value development and relationship management across the stages of the project lifecycle. Further, there is a similar lack of cross-functional working for support functions such as procurement. This questions whether there is any effective feedback loop into marketing and BD upon project handover and completion. Feedback in the form of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other lessons learned can be seen as purely operational functions. Yet, lessons can be the raw material for improving value propositions from a marketing perspective. In addition, there is a need for relationship continuity to enhance opportunities for repeat business, especially from an RM perspective. Several of the case companies use marketing and BDM personnel to solicit KPI data. Customer feedback for UKCo, especially from a major infrastructure client, shows the company as offering generic services, lacking the specificity to give “confidence” at prequalification and bid stages. This is a management concern at multiple levels; continuous improvement and investing in capabilities is reported as being poorly understood by top management. The decentralized structure and absence of cross-functional working also results in proposed improvements meeting resistance down the hierarchy. AntCo’s KPI processes tend to focus upon contract and client compliance rather than embedding feedback and applying lessons learned for developing and delivering value propositions. EuroCo do not apply KPIs as learning opportunities to develop enhanced technical and particularly service value propositions.

Client and consultant relationships that EuroCo claim to nurture during projects tend to “disappear” during defects liability – closing the loop with BDMs is largely absent. A Project Manager recognized this as “a huge inefficiency in the industry”. This is because junior staff tend to close out projects, lacking awareness of the benefits and the link with repeat business. It is not picked up in BDM, probably as it detracts from meeting targets on prequalifying for new opportunities.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

International contractors were found to be in early stages of transition towards RM. Some partial understanding and implementation of the main concepts and principles were found. Relationship building and KAM were most prevalent, but were not linked into investment and capability development from the corporate centre. Relationship management systems to support RM were absent. Other functional systems and procedures did not enable formal or informal integration. Explicit and implicit portfolio and programme management systems were not in place. This was apparent in the partial implementation of KAM as a programme function. Configuring and delivering value propositions remain highly constrained.

Main contractors have become less responsible site production. There were some in-house capabilities, but these were exceptions. In-house providers were treated as ‘subcontractors’. Main contractors have become systems integrators. Integrating a range of professional, supplier and subcontractor activities requires integration between contracts and work packages to deliver value whilst spreading risks. It requires internal integrations, which was found to be absent. They may be selling systems integration (Davies et al, 2007), but delivery falls short of solutions that go beyond requirements compliance. A task focus rather than enhanced and complimentary service orientation and value was lost or compromised.

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There have been changes in marketing and BD since the 2008 “credit crunch”, yet reversion to a transactional MM under cost driver pressures in the downturn has not occurred. Cost drivers have encouraged the case companies to internalize relational contracting benefits, even where formal partnering has ceased. This trend informs a gradual transition to RM practices. Those firms that effectively embed processes are likely to be the most successful.

BD processes remain disconnected to other functions hierarchically, cross-functionally and over project lifecycles. Functions operated under distinct and separate systems that constrain delivering effective value propositions. Marketing and BD were organisationally isolated, not only due to a lack of systems integration but also poor understanding of marketing and BD amongst senior management, other management and amongst many BDMs. Appropriate systems for RM were lacking. In the absence of “hard” systems to integrate stages on the project lifecycle and ensure cross-functional working, the “soft” systems of RM become more significant to counterbalance hard system deficiencies (cf. Storbacka et al, 1994). This was another aspect of the lack of awareness amongst senior management levels. The task focus resulted in the service value component being overlooked. Adding service value continues to be something of an anathema, which is rather telling for a sector classified as a service industry. This research confirms a number of claims and suppositions about the way marketing and BD are organized (e.g. Preece et al, 2003). In-depth comparative case studies have not been developed previously. This study also maps for the first time the extent of transition from MM to RM approach in construction.

The primary recommendations for research are to i) extend study into construction in several nations and contractors of different sizes, including SMEs; ii) extend study into other project sectors. The primary recommendations for contractors are to: a) improve awareness of marketing and BD functions; b) introduce systems, procedures and behavioural processes to coordinate marketing along the project lifecycle and from the senior management level through portfolio and programme management to project level (front-end and execution).

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Post-occupancy evaluation of university student hostel facilities: a case study in Hong Kong

Joseph H.K. Lai1

Abstract

With the new 4-year university curriculum of Hong Kong implemented in 2012, the volume of university students has continued to expand, leading to the increasing development of student hostels. In order to assess if the facilities in the hostels have performed to the satisfaction of their end users, it is necessary to carry out post-occupancy evaluations (POEs). A search from the open literature, however, could hardly find any recent POE studies on university hostel facilities in Hong Kong. Therefore, a two-stage POE study targeting a typical hostel was conducted. In the first stage, a research model was formed based on a review of relevant literature and past studies. On this basis and referring to the findings of a focus group discussion among the hostel’s end users, a questionnaire was designed for use in a survey. By way of face-to-face interviews in the second stage, the survey solicited the end users’ expected performance levels and perceived satisfaction levels of six main aspects of facilities, namely lighting, air-conditioning, fire safety, acoustic, internet, and hygiene. The largest gap between the expectation and satisfaction levels was found with the air-conditioning aspect. Gender was not a factor affecting the orders of perceived satisfaction with the facilities. The importance levels of the various aspects were determined using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) but the respondents’ judgments based on which the AHP weights were computed were not of good consistency. Further work is needed to overcome this deficiency and study if there are factors other than gender that would affect the end users’ expected and perceived performances of the hostel facilities.

Keywords: expectation, importance, post-occupancy evaluation, satisfaction, university hostel facilities.

1 Associate Professor; Department of Building Services Engineering; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; joseph.lai@polyu.edu.hk.

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1. Introduction

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is the process of evaluating buildings in a systematic and rigorous manner after they have been built and occupied for some time (Preiser, 1989). In order to evaluate the performance of existing facilities in a building, a POE is usually needed. Results obtained from a POE will inform how well the building matches its user needs, and reveals ways for improving any design, construction and performance of its built facilities.

POE studies, particularly those on student hostels, have been growing across the world. For instance, Hassanain (2008) conducted a POE study to investigate the major technical and functional elements of performance of the facilities in a student housing in Saudi Arabia. Adewunmi et al. (2011) carried out a POE study on the facilities of a postgraduate hostel in Nigeria. In Malaysia, Najib et al. (2011) completed a POE study which identified the level of student satisfaction with campus student housing facilities.

In Hong Kong, the new 4-year university curriculum, which supersedes the original 3-year curriculum, has been implemented since September 2012. This change has led to an increasing number of university students and hence a rising demand of hostel facilities for the higher education institutes. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University serves as an example. In addition to the existing Halls of Residence (i.e. the Hunghom Halls), a new Halls of Residence (Homantin Halls) has been completed for occupation in 2012. Yet a search from the open literature could hardly find any recent research findings on university hostel facilities in Hong Kong. Therefore, it is not known whether the performance of the facilities in the existing hostels is satisfactory.

In order to investigate the performance of the facilities in the hostels, a POE study was conducted on a typical university student hostel. In the following, a review of some previous POE research models is given and the formation of a research model for the present study is outlined. The major characteristics of the hostel and the design of the questionnaire used for collecting data from the hostel’s end users are described in the next section. Then the data analyses, including those made on the demography of the interviewed end users, the levels of their expectation of and satisfaction with the hostel facilities, as well as their perceived levels of importance of the facilities, are reported. The final section covers the conclusions drawn from the findings and the future work required.

2. Research model

The model based on which a POE should be performed may vary from one case to another, depending on the circumstances. As reviewed before (Carpenter et al., 1995), there are various POE models, e.g. the Merri Model (Merri Inc.,1993), the Performance-Based POE Model (Preiser, 1989), the System of Building and People (Markus, 1972), and so on. According to the life-cycle facility evaluation (LiFE) continuum (Carpenter et al., 1995), there are four facility performance categories in relation to occupancy: (1) physical system; (2) environmental quality; (3) functional system; and (4) behavior factors. Under each of these categories, there are multiple elements of performance.

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Generally, the quality of a service involves a comparison of expected performance of the service and its actual performance (Gronroos, 1978). Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed the SERVQUAL model to enable evaluation of customers’ expectation of the quality of a service and their perception of the service’s actual performance. Along this line, the performance of facilities in a hostel can be assessed by detecting any gap between the end users’ expected level of performance of the facilities and their level of satisfaction with the facilities’ performance.

In an earlier study (Lai and Yik, 2007), it was found that factors such as gender and duration of stay of building end users affect their perceived importance of various indoor environmental qualities of commercial buildings. Similarly, this kind of findings was observed in another study (Lai and Yik, 2009) which, based on a conceptual framework of tendencies of perceptions (Figure 1), investigated the users’ perceptions of importance and performance of the environmental qualities of residential buildings. These studies illustrated that by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) of Saaty (1980) to analyze the users’ perceived relative importance between pairs of environmental quality attributes, their orders of importance and performance can be determined. According to the evaluation framework of Lai (2010), the importance and performance of facilities in buildings can be further analyzed using the matrix in Figure 2 to determine which aspect of facilities should be monitored, maintained, improved or capitalized.

Figure 1: Tendencies of perception and perceptions of importance and performance

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Figure 2: Importance-performance evaluation matrix

Based on the above, information about the studied hostel was gathered and a questionnaire was designed to collect data from its end users.

3. The hostel and data collection

Housing over 3,000 boarders, the hostel has been occupied for 9 years. It is 22-storey high, with its majority (3-20/F) being student accommodations, and the remaining floors include: 21-22/F for warden suites and staff quarters; 2/F for function rooms; 1/F for dining hall; and G/F for reception and lobbies. There are three types of rooms for the boarders, namely A: double room in a conventional 4-person-suite; B: double room in a 5-person-suite, and C: triple room in a 5-person-suite. An example floor plan of room type A is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Typical layout plan of a 4-person-suite

Improve Monitor

Maintain Capitalize

Performance

Importance

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A walk-through visit was paid to the hostel to obtain an overview of the facilities there. A focus group consisting of five users of the hostel was then formed to discuss on the facilities affecting their living and activities in the hostel. The main aspects of such facilities were found to be: lighting, air-conditioning, fire safety, acoustic, internet, and hygiene.

A questionnaire comprising three sections was designed to collect data from the hostel’s end users. The first section enquired into the demographic information of the respondents. The second section asked the respondents to indicate, based on a 7-point scale (1: lowest to 7: highest), their expectation and satisfaction levels of performance of the six facilities aspects in their accommodations. In the final section, the respondents were requested to make a series of comparisons between pairs of the aspects based on the same 9-point scale (Figure 4) adopted in an earlier study on residential buildings (Lai, 2012).

Aspect X

Aspect Y

Point Description

1 Equally important 2 Intermediate level between the two adjacent levels 3 Moderately more important 4 Intermediate level between the two adjacent levels 5 Strongly more important 6 Intermediate level between the two adjacent levels 7 Very strongly more important 8 Intermediate level between the two adjacent levels 9 Most important; no compromise acceptable

Figure 4: The 9-point scale for pair-wise comparisons

The questionnaire was used in face-to-face interviews with the end users, who were invited to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. In total, 204 interviews were completed and the collected data were analyzed.

4. Analysis and discussion of findings

4.1 The interviewees

There were 101 female and 103 male among the interviewees. The vast majority (94.6%) of them were regular residents of the hostel although their residence durations varied from 1 to 12 months, with the majority having lived there for 5 months (Figure 5). The proportions of the interviewees staying in room types A, B and C were 47.5%, 31.4% and 21.1%, respectively.

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Figure 5: Residence durations of the interviewees

4.2 Expectation of and satisfaction with the facilities

The responses given by the interviewees to the second section of the questionnaire were taken to figure out the key statistical values - minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation (S.D.) (Table 1). Among the six main facilities aspects, air-conditioning was given the highest mean level of expectation (4.99), showing that the end users desired this aspect to outperform the remaining aspects. The aspect with a lower level of expectation was internet (4.65), followed by lighting (4.47), acoustic (4.17), hygiene (3.95), and fire safety (3.79).

Table 1: Levels of expectation and satisfaction

Aspect Expectation Satisfaction Gap

Min. Max. Mean S.D. Min. Max. Mean S.D.

Lighting 1 7 4.47 1.25 2 7 5.13 1.24 +0.66

Air-conditioning 1 7 4.99 1.14 1 7 3.56 1.40 -1.43

Fire safety 1 7 3.79 1.48 1 7 4.80 1.40 +1.01

Acoustic 1 7 4.17 1.46 1 7 3.30 1.32 -0.87

Internet 1 7 4.65 1.46 1 7 3.04 1.37 -1.61

Hygiene 1 7 3.95 1.27 1 7 3.86 1.39 -0.09

The lighting aspect, the mean expectation level of which being 4.47, was most satisfied by the end users. While fire safety was given the lowest level of expectation, its level of satisfaction (4.80) was only second to that of the lighting aspect. The hygiene aspect, with a satisfaction level of 3.86, ranked third. Apart from this aspect which was perceived by the end users as lower than the neutral satisfaction level (rating being 4), the remaining aspects falling within this category, in descending order of satisfaction levels, were: air-conditioning (3.56), acoustic (3.30), and internet (3.04).

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Analyzing only the expectation levels or satisfaction levels of the facilities aspects, however, could not inform whether or not their actual performance were able to meet with the end users’ expectations. The differences between the calculated mean satisfaction levels and mean expectation levels of the various aspects revealed that the lighting and fire safety aspects, both with a positive gap value, were able to satisfy the end users’ expectation. Nevertheless, the gap values of the remaining four aspects were all negative, meaning that their performance levels failed to meet the levels that the end users expected.

The mean levels of expectation of the various aspects of facilities drawn from the female and male respondents were computed. Similarly, the counterparts of the satisfaction levels were obtained. Based on such mean expectation and satisfaction ratings (Table 2), the corresponding rank orders were determined, which show that the air-conditioning aspect recorded the highest order of expectation from both the female and male subgroups. While the hygiene aspect ranked bottom according to the male respondents, the female subgroup expected its performance to be higher than that of the acoustic and fire safety aspects.

Table 2: Mean expectation and satisfaction ratings of the female and male subgroups

Aspect Expectation Satisfaction

Male Female Male Female

Lighting 4.544 (3) 4.396 (3) 5.243 (1) 5.010 (1)

Air-conditioning 4.961 (1) 5.020 (1) 3.476 (4) 3.653 (4)

Fire safety 3.816 (5) 3.762 (6) 4.709 (2) 4.901 (2)

Acoustic 4.252 (4) 4.089 (5) 3.320 (5) 3.277 (5)

Internet 4.835 (2) 4.465 (2) 2.893 (6) 3.198 (6)

Hygiene 3.786 (6) 4.119 (4) 3.951 (3) 3.772 (3)

Note: Rank orders are in parentheses.

Referring to the results pertaining to perceived satisfaction levels, it was found that the rank orders across all the rated aspects were identical between the female and male subgroups. This indicates the existence of perfect positive correlation between the subgroups of satisfaction ranks. On the other hand, the rank orders of expectation of the two subgroups were not identical. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (range: -1 to +1) calculated based on these rank orders was found to be 0.829, indicating the existence of a strong but imperfect positive correlation.

4.3 Importance of the facilities aspects

Under the final section of the questionnaire, the interviewees were asked to make comparisons on the importance they perceived between each pair of the facilities aspects. Given that there were six such aspects, each interviewee had to make 6C2 (i.e. 15) pairwise comparisons. The response given by each interviewee was processed by the AHP method to give the importance levels they perceived for each of the six aspects. Statistics of the calculated AHP weights, including the minimum, maximum, S.D. and mean values, are shown in Table 3. Also listed in the same table are the importance ranks of the aspects, which were determined with respect to their mean importance weights.

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Table 3: Statistics of importance (AHP) weights

Min. Max. S.D. Mean Rank

Lighting 0.029 0.414 0.068 0.180 2

Air-conditioning 0.053 0.457 0.076 0.231 1

Fire safety 0.030 0.377 0.055 0.145 5

Acoustic 0.026 0.321 0.060 0.160 3

Internet 0.029 0.274 0.061 0.129 6

Hygiene 0.042 0.316 0.052 0.154 4

Inspections across the minimum values of the importance weights found that they were of the same order of magnitude, and a similar observation was noted from the maximum values. Among the standard deviation values, the one pertaining to the air-conditioning aspect (0.076) was the highest, indicating the widest spread of its importance weight values. On the other hand, the spread of the importance weight values of the hygiene aspect was the smallest given that its standard deviation was the least (0.052).

As the total AHP weight of all the rated aspects is unity (1.000), the nominal weight of each of the six aspects is 1/6, or 0.167. The calculated mean importance weights show that the perceived importance levels of the air-conditioning and lighting aspects were higher than the nominal level. The greatest importance weight of the air-conditioning aspect reflects that the air-conditioning facilities were dominant elements affecting the end users’ perceptions. The importance levels of the remaining four aspects, ranging between 0.129 and 0.160, were lower than the nominal importance level.

Whereas the above results have informed the levels of importance of the various aspects of facilities, the credibility of these findings depends on whether or not the pairwise comparisons made by the interviewees were made from consistent judgments. In order to determine such consistency, the consistency ratio of each interviewee’s response was computed following the same process used in the study of Lai and Yik (2009). The distribution of the calculated consistency ratios is displayed in Figure 6.

The majority of the consistency ratios lied in the range of 0.22-0.34 and the mean value was 0.4494. According to Saaty (1995), the consistency ratio of responses made from consistent judgments should not exceed 10%. But the smallest consistency ratio was found to be 0.1202, meaning that none of the responses was made from consistent judgments. Although the analysis thus far is unable to explain the cause for this finding, the fact that the interviewees had to make 15 pairwise comparisons on the importance levels of the six facilities aspects is a factor that probably contributed to the inconsistent judgments. In the study of Lai and Yik (2009) where six pairwise comparisons were made for four attributes under study, 33% of the responses were made from consistent judgments. A lower proportion (31%) of consistent judgments was obtained in another study (Lai, 2011) where the respondents had to make 10 pairwise comparisons for five attributes.

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Figure 6: Distribution of consistency ratios

5. Conclusions

The POE study, focusing on a typical university student hostel in Hong Kong, was carried out based on a research model incorporating the SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman et al. (1988) and the performance-importance model of Lai and Yik (2007; 2009). The six main aspects of facilities affecting the living and enjoyment of the boarders, as identified from the focus group discussion, were: lighting, air-conditioning, fire safety, acoustic, internet, and hygiene. By interviewing the end users of the hostel, their perceived expectation of, satisfaction with and importance of these aspects of facilities were solicited.

While air-conditioning recorded the highest mean level of expectation, the end users indicated their lowest satisfaction with this aspect of facilities. The evaluation so far, however, was not able to inform the root cause of this finding. The users’ qualitative comments on the performance of the air-conditioning facilities need to be analysed in future in order to identify what improvements are required for such facilities.

Lighting and fire safety were the only two aspects which were given a satisfaction level higher than the respective expectation level. In other words, the performances of the other four aspects of facilities have yet to be improved in order to meet with the expectation of the end users. Although the analysis of the responses given by the male and female users revealed that gender was not a significant factor affecting the rank orders of satisfaction with the facilities, whether other factors such as residence duration, room capacity, level and orientation, etc. would have influence on the end users’ perception of the facilities’ performance should warrant further investigation.

Using the AHP method, the importance levels of the six aspects of facilities were determined, with air-conditioning bearing the highest importance. In contrast, internet facilities were perceived as the least important. Examination of the consistency ratios of the responses unveiled that the judgments given by the interviewees for the pairwise comparisons between the various facilities aspects were not of good consistency. While it

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may be ascribed to the large number of comparisons the interviewees had to make, further work is needed to find ways to tackle this problem.

Acknowledgement

The study reported above was supported by a research grant (No. G-YL16) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

References

Adewunmi Y, Omirin M and Famuyiwa F (2011) “Post-occupancy evaluation of postgraduate hostel facilities” Facilities 29(3/4): 149-168.

Carpenter C L and Oloufa A A (1995) “Postoccupancy evaluation of buildings and development of facility performance criteria” Journal of Architectural Engineering 1(2): 77-81.

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Hassanain M A (2008) “On the performance evaluation of sustainable student housing facilities” Journal of Facilities Management 6(3): 212-225.

Lai J H K and Yik F W H (2007) “Perceived Importance of the Quality of the Indoor Environment in Commercial Buildings” Indoor and Built Environment 16(4): 311-321.

Lai J H K and Yik F W H (2009) “Perception of Importance and Performance of the Indoor Environmental Quality of High-Rise Residential Buildings” Building and Environment 44(22): 352-360.

Lai J H K (2010) “Investigating the quality of FM services in residential buildings, Proceedings: W070 - Special Track”, 18th CIB World Building Congress (CIB Publication 343), 10-13 May, Salford UK, 13-25.

Lai J H K (2011) “Comparative evaluation of facility management services for housing estates” Habitat International 35(2): 391-397.

Lai J H K (2012) “Analytical Assessment and Comparison of Facilities Management Services for Residential Estates” International Journal of Strategic Property Management 16(3): 236-253.

Markus T (1972) Building performance, New York, N.Y., John Wiley & Sons.

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Najib N U M, Yusof N A and Abidin N Z (2011) “Student residential satisfaction in research universities” Journal of Facilities Management 9(3): 200-212.

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml V A and Berry L L (1988), “SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality” Journal of Retailing 64(1): 12-40.

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Saaty T L (1995) Decision Making for Leaders: The Analytic Hierarchy Process for Decisions in a Complex World, RWS Publications.

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Sustainability in FM: Trends in Policy and FM competence consequences

Abbas Elmualim1

Abstract

Sustainability is emerging as a core business strategy and obligation for many organisations. The facilities management (FM) profession is at the forefront of delivering sustainable practices at the operational, tactical and strategic management levels. The profession, however, faces more demands and challenges as the goals of sustainability agendas change over time and must be equipped with new knowledge, tools and competencies to overcome the challenges. An annual sustainability survey was conducted to examine how facilities management (FM) professionals are engaging with sustainability in their business environments over the past 4 years. The objectives are to provide insights to the relevant knowledge, skill sets and best practice that can enhance their professional competencies. It further aims to provide the FM professionals with up to date sustainability toolkits, techniques and information that can enhance their competencies in dealing with the challenges posed by the sustainability agenda. The sustainability survey report provides an insight into the issues and trends influencing the delivery of sustainable policies and practices across different organisations and economic sectors. The analysis provided valuable information on the overall impact of the sustainability agenda on Facilities managers’ professional work. Similarly, the findings provided the FM professionals with information that may be used to enhance professional competences of facilities managers in dealing with sustainability management and operation issues, develop sustainability good practice guides and education and training in particular continuous professional development (CPD) modules/courses.

Keywords: Sustainability, facilities management, policy, CPD and competences.

1. Introduction Benefits of sustainability in the built environment are well known to facilities managers but the practice of sustainable FM is rapidly evolving due to the three Cs of customer demands, competition from competitors and climate change (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) 2005; Elmualim et al. 2009; Warren 2010). Global, national and local sustainable development agendas continue to demand that organisations develop and implement sustainability policy that respond to the challenges. However, identifying the most appropriate approach is a major test for most organisations especially facilities managers who are often tasked to deliver sustainability goals and objectives with financial prudence (Elmualim et al. 2010). Although, this is an opportunity for FM professionals to

1 Senior Lecturer; School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK; Email: a.a.elmualim@reading.ac.uk

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make a real and measurable difference in improving businesses they seem not to have easy access to the specialist knowledge, tools and case study material necessary to make this a reality (Loch 2000; Shah 2007). As a leader in advancing the FM profession, the BIFM seeks the relevant knowledge, information and skill sets that will enhance FM professionals’ competencies in dealing with the demand, challenges and opportunities of delivering sustainability in business environments.

The Sustainability in FM research programme aims to provide the FM profession with sustainability toolkits, techniques and information to ensure FM organisations or managers become more reactive or proactive towards sustainability challenges. The project objectives are to develop tools and information on sustainable FM; help FM professionals respond to the increasing importance and challenges of climate change and meet their environmental responsibilities. A key component of the Sustainability in Facilities Management programme (SFM) is the annual sustainability survey. The annual survey aims to investigate how FM professionals are engaging with sustainability in their business environments. The objectives are to provide insights to the relevant knowledge, skill sets and best practice that enhance professional competencies in delivering sustainability developments and practices. The survey identifies the most relevant issues and emerging trends being emphasised by facilities managers. The 2010 survey builds upon previous studies. Previous annual sustainability surveys were conducted in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The insights gained set the objectives of future sustainability surveys enabling any changes in the data collected to be measured.

Importance of FM in driving sustainability

Sustainability is now a major obligation and expectation across many businesses (Stern 2006). Pressure from key stakeholders, governments and competitors are driving organisations to implement the sustainability agenda in business activities (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) 2005; Nousiainen and Junnila 2008). For example, economic, social and environmental factors like climate change and limitation of energy resources point toward FM professionals being challenged to do more for their organisations. As most business activities occur in built environments, the quality of the built environment can be a noticeable manifestation of an organisation’s sustainability credentials. Walker et al (2007) suggest that “the only credible route an organisation has to achieve for appropriate environmental management is to take a systematic approach to promote a sustained, continuous improvement in performance.” Though final organisational responsibility for committing sustainability rests on the highest level of management, FM professionals are at the forefront of integrating sustainable practices to their operational and management activities (Shah 2007; Elmualim et al. 2009).

In the past FM professionals were responsible for managing the non-core business activities that support the core business strategies. Increasingly facilities managers are at the forefront making valuable strategic contributions toward their organisation’s sustainable business as sustainability and CSR become a core business in many organisations (Loch 2000; van Ree 2007). Hence, the FM profession has an opportunity to drive sustainability policies within business environment by addressing core business strategies (Brandon and

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Bentivegna 1997; Tay and Ooi 2001; van Ree 2007). In addition to their technical and operational skills, FM professionals have a great opportunity to expand their activities into boardrooms as they provide managerial skills in support of core business strategies for organisations as a whole. As a result facilities managers need to understand how the growing emphasis on sustainability is affecting the way they discharge their duties. FM professionals must become professionally competent and knowledgeable about sustainability issues that will impact on their business environments both operationally and strategically (Cooper 1996; Puddy et al. 2001; Warren 2010). By examining the emerging trends and issues influencing FM professionals’ engagement with sustainable practices across different sized organisations and economic sectors, the new knowledge gained will help develop FM professionals’ understanding of the issues underpinning effective sustainability management. In addition, the new knowledge can be used to support trade organisations interested in sustainability to develop more effective approaches to interact with FM audience.

2. Survey Method

As in the previous surveys, the questionnaire was primarily distributed and administered by BIFM to its members and other interested stakeholders as an online survey. The questionnaire instrument involved 20 closed questions and 5 open questions. Compared to 251 respondents in 2007, 168 in 2008, and 222 in 2009, a total of 268 respondents completed this year’s survey online. The data was transferred into spread sheet for analysis (See Appendix for a copy of the questionnaires). To draw out new knowledge, similarities and differences in trends and shifts a simple comparison of the perceptions of respondents conducted for each question. The new results are then compared to previous years’ results. As with previous survey data and reports, the analysis of the current data is based on the following format:

• Demographics of respondents. This provides information on the background of the respondents and organisations completing the survey.

• Trends on Sustainability/CSR Policy development, implementation and management issues especially areas of concern to facilities managers.

As respondents were self-selected, the results of the survey should be taken as only an indication of the perceptions and observations of facilities managers in general. They represent the views of facilities managers interested in sustainable FM. Furthermore, as respondents were not asked to specify their position within their organisations, perceptions and observations reported here may not necessarily represent the views of specific organisations and professionals – however the BIFM status of respondents allows for a high proportion to be practicing FMs.

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3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Demographics of respondents

This section provides demographic information about the background of the respondents and the organisations they work in. The respondents were asked questions about their current BIFM membership status, academic qualifications gained, type of organisation and its economic sector, the level of annual turnover and the size of the organisations in terms of employee numbers. These data will be analysed for changing trends in surveyed professionals. A total of 268 people responded to the 2010 annual sustainability survey. The data collected were as reliable as the survey will allow.

over 90% of the respondents are either associate, corporate, certified, student or full members of the BIFM. Over 63% of the respondents are identified as full member of BIFM meaning they have at least five years of management experience and over three years of FM experience. over 50% of respondents worked FM departments in End-user organisations (in-house departments). A further 16% worked in FM companies that have been out-sourced as FM service providers. Other FM organisation where respondents worked were Independent FM Consultancies (11%), FM service providers (9%) and FM product suppliers (1%). 10% of respondents, however, indicated “other” type of FM organisation. over the last four years, over 50% of respondents worked as facilities managers in in-house FM departments (End-users organisation) even though the proportion of respondents from the End-user organisational category has decreased by 10% since 2007. The proportion of respondents from out sourced FM organisations and consultancies has remained fairly constant over the years. The only exception is that respondents from full FM service provider organisations have increased by 7% since 2007. As a whole, the result reveals that overall, 68% of the respondents worked in large organisations employing more than 250 people while the remaining worked in SMEs (organisations employing less than 250 people).

3.2 Development and management of sustainable FM

This section of the paper focuses on respondents’ perception of the levels of sustainability policy and the effectiveness of sustainability management within their organisations. The results showed that in 2010, as shown in Figure 1, 72% of respondents indicated that their employers had a sustainability policy in place. 6% did not know whether their employers had one or not. The remaining 22% indicated that their employers did not have a sustainability/CSR policy. Clearly, a majority of the respondents believe that their organisations do have sustainability/CSR policies in place.

Figure 1 also indicates the proportion of respondents indicating that their organisations do have a sustainability/CSR policy rose steadily from 65% in 2007 to 84% in 2009 but dropped significantly by 12% in 2010. The proportion of respondents who indicated their organisation had no sustainability/CSR policy, however increased by 6% (Figure 1). Also a sizeable amount of respondents do not know whether their organisations do have a sustainability/CSR policy. The results are worrying given that sustainability is growing in importance as a core business strategy and the FM profession has a great opportunity to

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add value to their organisation’s sustainability agenda. Although there might be reasons for the sharp drop and the increase of respondents who don’t know, there is an urgent need to encourage FM professionals to develop and manage sustainability policies and activities in their organisations.

Regardless of the levels of uptake, the issue of “effective implementation” is not addressed in this question; therefore one should not assume that the “development” of a policy framework implies appropriate management of the policy. The management of the policy is a much broader concept that considers the core project cycle stages (Identification, formulation, appraisal, implementation, monitoring and evaluation). shows that approximately 40% of the respondents´ revealed that their organisations have had either a sustainability or CSR policy for a period of 2 years or less. 30% of respondents indicated their employers have had a sustainability or CSR policy for 2-4 years. A further 30% indicated that their organisations have had a sustainability or CSR policy for more than four years. Clearly, majority of the respondents believe that their employers have had a sustainability/CSR policy in place in the last four years or more.

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The survey shows nearly 40% of respondents rated their organisation’s effectiveness in implementing and managing sustainability responsibilities as adequate. An additional 25% of respondents rated their organisation’s effectiveness as very good to excellent, while 24% of respondents ranked their organisation’s effectiveness as inconsistent. 11% of respondents however, rated their organisation’s effectiveness as poor. Clearly nearly two-thirds of Facilities managers rank their organisations’ effectiveness in implementing and managing sustainability/CSR policy as ranging from adequate to excellent. However, the remaining third view their organisations’ effectiveness as ranging between poor and inconsistent. Comparing the present result with previous findings as shown in Figure 2, a majority of respondents have consistently ranked their organisation’s effectiveness as adequate (nearly 40%). On the other hand, the proportion of respondents ranking their organisation’s effectiveness as poor has consistently decreased since 2008 (overall by 13%). Similarly, the percentage of respondents ranking their organisation’s effectiveness as

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“very good” has decreased by 10% (31% in 2009 and 21% in 2010). Presently, nearly 66% of all respondents rank that their organisation (s effectiveness as ranging from adequate to excellent compared to 72% in 2009. The overall decrease may be attributed to fewer respondents ranking their organisations effectiveness as excellent or very good.

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Figure 2: Organisational effectiveness of implementing and managing Sustainability/CSR responsibilities over last four years

3.3 What aspects of sustainable development are covered by the sustainability Policy

Figure 3 shows that 90%, 89% and 81% of the respondents reported that waste management and recycling, energy management and carbon footprint respectively, are the key aspects covered by their sustainability policy. Also highlighted were Health and safety (69%), and sustainable travel (66%). Other aspects covered by the sustainability policies are targets, measurement and reporting, ethical purchasing and community engagement, specification of sustainable products and services. Only 35%, 30% and 26% reported that building disposal, biodiversity and staff productivity has coverage in their policies. Clearly, the surveyed facilities managers consider waste management and recycling, energy management and carbon footprint as the aspects of sustainability mostly covered by their policies. However, there could be a danger of these areas being the easiest to implement hence their presence in sustainability policies. Hence there is a need to develop professional competencies and knowledge in all aspects so that only the relevant issues and activities are included in the policies. Although the least covered aspects are biodiversity and staff productivity, there is also a need to develop competencies in all aspects of sustainability.

Comparing similar results from previous studies (Figure 3); there are significant similarities as well as differences over the years. For example, the 2007, 2008 and 2009 surveys indicated that the three key issues covered by sustainability policies were waste management and recycling, energy management, and health and safety (Figure 3). Carbon footprint was not significantly covered then. However since 2009, there has been steady rise of carbon footprint coverage by sustainability policies. A reason is the increase in tighter legislation and higher taxes on carbon emissions and the efforts made by organisations to

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gain financial savings on the carbon-end. In addition, Carbon footprint is intrinsically linked to other aspects such as Energy, Waste and Sustainable Transport management issues, hence leading to wider coverage.

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As shown in Figure 3, coverage for Health and Safety issues has declined. A reason may be these issues are highly regulated by legislation anyway and therefore addressed outside the sustainability frameworks. An important distinction is continued coverage of issues such as training, staff productivity biodiversity and an increased coverage community engagement. This is a reflection of increased awareness by policy developers of the value of sound sustainability frameworks that address environmental, economic and societal issues through more balanced approaches. Clearly Waste management and recycling and energy management continue to dominate issues covered by sustainability policies. However, carbon footprint issues are seen as highly relevant and thus covered by the policies. Other aspects of sustainability issues covered are health and safety, flexible working, ethical purchasing, staff productivity and biodiversity.

With regard to stakeholders that are recipients of sustainable development reports. 53% of respondents indicated that they reported their sustainability to Clients/customers. A further 46% reported to employees, 42% to Government and 40% to Shareholders. Only 22% of the respondents reported their sustainability activities to the local community. Perhaps indicating that either the benefits from actively engaging with local communities are not fully known, or knowledge regarding effective methods for achieving this is not well known. At 10%, Donors/Sponsors remain the least reported to. Often the donors and sponsors who require sustainability activity reports are the Charitable and Not-for-profit organisations. However, it is important to notice that a small yet significant percentage of respondents (7%) have selected not to report to any group of stakeholders. Although reporting may be seen

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as a complex activity by some organisations, learning and understanding the issues involved in reporting appropriately should be part of any organisation´s agenda in its pursuit to trigger a wider range of benefits from its sustainability policy.

The showed that over the last three years, Employees, Client/customers, Shareholders and the Government remain as the top four most popular stakeholders for whom sustainability reports are produced. Although most respondents identified Employees as the top stakeholders to whom sustainability reports were prepared for in 2009, in 2010 as in 2008, most organisations are now reporting to their clients/customers. A reason may be that either clients/customers are now demanding such reports or organisations are reporting the benefits from its sustainability policy to its customers/clients instead of employees. The findings indicate that clients/customers, Employees, Governments and Shareholders are the main stakeholder organisations for whom sustainable reports are produced.

3.4 What aspects of sustainability does your organisation report on?

As shown in Figure 4, Majority of respondents identified Energy Management (79%), Waste management and Recycling (76%) and Health and Safety (68%) as the top three aspects of sustainability most organisations reported upon. A further 67% of respondents identified Carbon footprint as a key aspect that organisation reported on. 44% identified Sustainable Travel an aspect closely related to managing carbon emissions. Other topics include Training (39%), Community engagement (35%) and Specification of Sustainable Products (33%). The aspect least reported upon is biodiversity (18%), building disposal (21%) and ethical purchasing (23%). Biodiversity may be least reported as a result of organisations not engaging with the wider community and/or specialist organisations in the field. Overall, the results highlight aspects of sustainability seen as intrinsic parts of the process for implementing an effective sustainability policy. Although much effort is placed on reporting on issues such as Energy Management, Waste management and Recycling, Health and Safety and Carbon footprint, other aspects of sustainability should be encouraged and reported upon. Such a report may be seen as a collective effort seeking to drive forward wider sustainability goals. The findings indicate Energy Management, Waste management and Recycling, Health and Safety and Carbon footprint as the main aspects of sustainability most organisations report on. The least is biodiversity.

Figure 4 showed that the most popular aspects of sustainability reported upon over the past three years are Energy management and Waste and recycling, and Health and Safety. However, Carbon footprint is increasingly becoming a popular topic in sustainability reports. Its continuous rise probably exacerbated by the introduction of new carbon related legislation such as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) (Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) 2010). This also confirms the weight that legislative drivers place over the implementation of sustainability policies. Interesting, respondents who identified the Targets, measurement and reporting, and Ethical purchasing aspects has declined by a massive 30% (Figure 4). A reason may be that organisations are responding to the needs and requirements of their clients/customers and stakeholders rather than the organisation itself (Loch 2000; Nousiainen and Junnila 2008). On the other hand, Biodiversity, Building

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disposal and Ethical purchasing continue to be the least popular topics reported upon during the last three years.

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Figure 4: Aspects covered in sustainability reports over the last three years.

3.5 What methods of reporting are used in communicating sustainability aspects?

Figure 5 indicates that 52%, 50% and 36% of respondents identified Separate reports, Annual reports and Intranet are the most preferred methods of communicating sustainability issues respectively. Separate reports are excellent methods for reporting on sustainability as the criteria (e.g. time and audience) are defined according to the specific needs of the organisation. The use of Intranet is also effective as it presents an easy and direct way for organisations to engage with their employees. However, it may restrict any other organisational efforts to communicate their performance. Other methods of communicating aspects of sustainability identified use of websites and other forms of reporting mechanisms. Other forms of reporting include monthly reports, notice boards, community newspapers, emails, weekly toolbox talks, Case studies and regular meetings. A reason for using other forms is that different people have different preferred methods for learning. The best approach is to provide a balanced approach.

As shown in Figure 5, for the fourth year in a row, a steady decline has been observed concerning the use of Annual Reports as a mechanism for sustainability reporting (71% in 2007 and 50% in 2010) while the use of separate reports has remain essentially the same. Interesting, the use of intranet is identified as the recent survey (36%) while it had not been selected in earlier surveys. However the use of websites is in decline while other forms have remained the same. Clearly, Separate reporting, annual reports and intranets are now the preferred method for reporting on sustainability.

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3.6 FM responsibility on sustainability issues The study findings revealed that more than 80% of the respondents identified waste management and recycling, energy management and carbon footprint as the key issues covered in organisations’ sustainability policies. The trend is correlated in sustainability aspects covered in sustainability reports, with energy management, waste management and recycling, health and safety, and carbon footprint rated as the key issues reported upon. Similarly the trend is correlated with the management responsibilities of Facilities managers. Survey findings indicate that Facilities Managers are increasingly being put forward by organisations to manage their sustainability activities. Nine out of every ten of the respondents are in charge, formally or informally implementing and managing activities that support the organisations´ wider sustainability strategy.

Accordingly, majority of Facilities managers have responsibility for energy management, waste management and recycling health and safety, carbon footprint management and targets, measurement and reporting. However these issues have been part of FM professional agenda long before the sustainable development (Alexander 1996; Pitt and Hinks 2001; Tay and Ooi 2001). Carbon footprint, however, is quickly climbing up the responsibilities list. The ever tightening legislation around the carbon market like the carbon reduction commitment (CRC) legislation and carbon emission related issues means that facilities managers are expected to increasingly take ownership over activities flagged under the carbon emissions or energy management arena. The findings indicate that the issues covered within sustainability policies are ultimately reflected in sustainability reports. The issues then become an intrinsic part of the process for implementing sustainability policy. Such an approach can overshadow equally important sustainability issues like biodiversity and staff productivity in FM organisations, and limiting knowledge, expertise and competence in such issues. Ultimately such diverse issues should be encouraged as a collective effort to drive forward a wider sustainability agenda that protects the environment and sustains development (Cooper 1996). Professional institutions like the BIFM can improve its members understanding of sustainability by providing relevant information,

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knowledge and guidance materials that are up to date especially where it is less emphasised. Awareness and understanding sustainability issues can be aligned with the core competence requirements of members.

3.7 Uptake of sustainability policy, management effectiveness and associated barriers to implementation

The findings indicate that 72% of respondents believe that their organisations have sustainability/CSR policies in place. Similarly, 70% of the respondents indicated that their organisations have had a sustainability/CSR in place for less than four years. Worryingly, a significant 22% of respondents also suggested that their organisation do not have any policy on sustainability/CSR and 12% less respondents believed their organisation had a sustainability/CSR policy. Clearly, there is a need to encourage facilities managers to become competent and knowledgeable in sustainability issues as new demands, challenges and opportunities arise in their organisation. Institutions like the BIFM can provide relevant information and knowledge resources by raising members’ awareness through the education and training services it offers. Two-thirds of the respondents suggest that their organisations are performing at either an adequate to excellent level, a noticeable improvement regarding 2009 results. However findings also indicate that FM organisations’ effective in implementing and managing policies sustainability/CSR policies were rated as only ‘adequate’ and ‘poor’ by a significant 40% and 35% of respondents, respectively. It is evident that the importance and relevance of sustainability in FM continues to grow as a primary requirement and expectation. Therefore there is a need to encourage all FM professionals to improve their competencies and skills in sustainability and CSR issues.

4. Conclusion

A longitudinal survey was conducted over the past four year to investigate trends in sustainability policy within FM industry. The survey results have revealed trends in how facilities managers and organisations are engaging with the sustainability agenda within the built environments over the last four years. Sustainability is emerging as a core business strategy and FM professionals are at the forefront of implementing and managing it in the workplace. However, it is necessary that facilities managers enhance their understanding of sustainability and sustainable development as challenges and opportunities arise. FM professionals need to develop their understanding of the key issues of sustainability. One way of achieving this is by commissioning and conducting research on the trends in sustainability and sustainable development. There is evidence of a gap in the coverage of environmental and social components of sustainability agenda which are most appropriate for the built environment. Thus recommendations for more studies will include investigating how Facilities managers are engaging with the commitment, understanding, development, implementation and management, responding, controlling, monitoring and reviewing environmental, social and economic sustainability issues and responsibilities. Findings of such surveys will enable professional institutions like the BIFM to tailor and provide relevant information, training, education, guidance and leadership to enhance the competencies of Facilities managers in the areas of sustainability and efficient energy use.

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Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the support of the EPSRC and the project’s Technical Group and the BIFM Sustainability SIG members, who kindly gave their time to encourage, guide and support the research project.

References

Alexander, K., Ed. (1996). Facilities Management: theory and practice. London, E & FN Spon.

Brandon, P. S. and V. Bentivegna (1997). Evaluation of the built environment for sustainability. London, E & FN Spon.

Cooper, I. (1996). Environment management. Facilities Management: theory and practice. k. Alexander. London, E & FN Spon: 110-120.

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (2005). The UK Government sustainable development strategy. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. London, TSO (The Stationery Office)

Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). (2010). "CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme." Retrieved 18 November 2010, 2010, from http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/crc/crc.aspx.

Elmualim, A. A., Shockley, D., Valle, C. R., Ludlow, G., & Shah, S. (2010). Barriers and commitment of Facilities Management profession to the sustainability agenda. Building and Environment, 45(1): 58-64.

Elmualim, A., A. Czwakiel, Valle, C. R., Ludlow, G., & Shah, S (2009). "The Practice of Sustainable Facilities Management: Design Sentiments and the Knowledge Chasm." Architectural Engineering and Design Management 5(1): 91–102.

Loch, B. (2000). "Avoiding the usual suspects." Facilities 18(10-12).

Nousiainen, M. and S. Junnila (2008). "End-user requirements for green facility management." Journal of Facilities Management 6(4): 266-278.

Pitt, M. and J. Hinks (2001). "Barriers to the operation of the facilities management: property management interface." Facilities 19(7/8): 304 - 308.

Puddy, F. R., I. Price, Smith, L (2001). "FM policies and standards as a knowledge management system." Facilities 19(13/14): 504-514.

Shah, S. (2007). Sustainable practice for the facilities manager. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.

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Stern, S. R. (2006). Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. London, Cabinet Office, HM Treasury UK.

Tay, L. and J. T. L. Ooi (2001). "Facilities management: a “Jack of all trades”?" Facilities 19(10): 357 - 363.

van Ree, J. M. (2007). "From business strategy to FM strategy." Facilities Management 14(1): 10-12.

Walker, D., M. Pitt, et al. (2007). "Environmental management systems: information management and corporate responsibility." Journal of Facilities Management 5(1): 49-61.

Warren, C. M. J. (2010). "The facilities manager preparing for climate change related disaster." Facilities 28(11-12).

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The Characteristics of Public Real Estate Asset Management and Maintenance Practice in New

Zealand Council Community Buildings

Zulkfli Sapeciay 1, Suzanne Wilkinson 2, Seosamh Costello 3

Abstract

Asset Management is an important element of the Council’s policies and assists delivery of its service objectives. Asset management is a vital role to facilitate organizational performance, both in the public and private sector. Most of the asset management literature suggests that there is a relationship between asset management practice and organizational performance. New Zealand, Australia and the UK are perceived to have the most advanced asset management processes, driven by strong government direction. The New Zealand Government, via its 72 local councils, have used Asset Management Plans (AMP) as a tool for managing, operating and maintaining its property.

This research studies AMPs for community centres in New Zealand local councils, and shows that there is no standard approach in asset management practice. Non-standard approaches are likely to result in poorer asset management and limited improvement in public asset management practice, due to differences in management systems, quality, levels of service and KPIs. Furthermore, the mechanism of how maintenance management adds value and enhances council property performance via AMPs, and the link between maintenance practice for community centres and organizational performance as an outcome, is unclear. Thus, there is a need to understand how asset management, in general, and maintenance performance measurement, in particular, for community centres, can be successfully applied to improve the performance of council community assets. This paper presents an overview of the current characteristics of the property asset maintenance practice that is being implemented by New Zealand local councils related to community buildings in New Zealand.

Keywords: Property asset management, Maintenance management, Local government, Community buildings.

1 Doctoral Student; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, email: zsap711@aucklanduni.ac.nz. 2 Assoc. Professor; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, email: s.wilkinson@auckland.ac.nz. 3 Senior Lecturer; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, email: s.costello@auckland.ac.nz.

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1. Introduction

Property asset management has emerged as a distinct discipline as part of a broader worldwide trend, especially in the private sector. The public sector has mirrored the reforms through adoption of private sector practices. These practices have not developed uniformly across the world, but Australia, New Zealand and the UK are perceived to be the most advanced, driven by strong government direction (Phelps, 2011). The government owns or uses a substantial amount of property and provides real estate for public amenities, for example public halls, libraries, administration buildings and community housing. Governments emphasize the importance of considering real estate as a strategic portfolio whose composition, extension and employment plays a key role for local government performance (Vermiglio, 2011).

In the international literature, the New Zealand public sector is often considered a world leader in central government driven public asset management reform (Kaganova and Nayyar-Stone, 2000). In the context of any organization or business unit, the focus of asset management is to reconcile the demand for, and the supply of, a physical asset base and associated support services essential for the delivery of its core products or services. In this case, the principle role of asset management is to support the core business of the local councils, that is community services. Shardy et al. (2011) identified that the main characteristic of asset management practice is the focus on maintenance management. This study investigates the maintenance management of public assets, identifies problems associated with current practices, and focusses on identifying how the local council and management committee understand and maintain these assets. The findings will help local authorities to determine the advantages and disadvantages of its current practice, and could be used to evaluate the capabilities of asset and maintenance management processes.

2. Asset management in the government sector

McDonagh and Hayward (2000) defined real estate asset management as the management (planning, organizing, leading and controlling) of real estate assets and related personnel of those organizations whose primary area of business is other than real estate. Kaganova et al. (2006) added that real estate management should be referred to as the process of decision making and implementation related to the acquisition, use of and disposal of real estate. RICS (2012), in their public sector property asset management guideline refer to the definition given by The Institute of Asset Management UK as ‘the management of physical assets, their selection, maintenance, inspection and renewal which play a key role in determining the operational performance and profitability of industries that operate assets as part of their core business’.

The principle of asset management has developed over the last decade, and a number of approaches, standards and models are used. Asset management improvements have been driven by influences including maintenance legacies, rising services standards, socio-economic changes and scare public funds (Kaganova et al., 2006). Good asset management involves optimising within any absolute constrains, including the mix of cost, risk and performance over the whole asset life (IAM New Zealand, 2012). IAM further

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explained that the lessons learnt over the last 20 years from different sectors, for example; electrical, water utilities, transport systems, mining and manufacturing industries is realizing great opportunities in asset management. In local government, good asset management makes an essential contribution to the governance and management of a public entity’s business and is an integral part of an organisations wider service and financial planning process (Audit New Zealand, 2010). The main purpose of asset management for public entities is to provide a desired level of service through the management of assets in the most cost-effective manner.

In New Zealand, councils are required to produce an Asset Management Plan (AMP) as a tool for managing public assets for short, medium or long term periods. The benefit and need of asset management planning continues to be promoted by central government, and its profile has been raised in local authorities. This has been reinforced through the guidelines and standards produced by central government and local government. Through the AMPs, the central government are looking for more local authorities to improve the quality of their asset management planning (Audit New Zealand, 2012).

In the asset management literature, it is assumed that there is a relationship between asset management, facilities management, maintenance practices and performance. Amaratunga and Baldry (2000) stressed there is a causal link between facilities management practices and performance. Vermiglio (2011) in discussing the definition of corporate real estate management by Krumm et al. (2000) stated that the management of an organization’s real estate portfolio is achieved through aligning the portfolio and its related real estate services (facility management, property management and maintenance management) to the needs of the core business (processes), in order to obtain maximum added value for business (processes) and to contribute optimally to the overall performance of the organization. Vermiglio (2011) added that one important factor in performance measurement in order to enhance the planning and managerial control system of real estate property portfolio is maintenance activities.

Most services are provided through facilities (Brackertz and Kenley, 2002), including in the public sector. IAM New Zealand (2012) explained the backbone to a good management system for assets is the clear connectivity between the organisation’s strategic plan and the on-the-ground daily activities of individual departments in planning, engineering, procurement, operations (facilities), maintenance and performance management. Shardy et al. (2011) in discussing their research findings stated the main characteristics found in the current practice of government real asset management needed more focus on maintenance management.

White (2011) in discussing the link between asset management and performance measurement in UK public sector estate asset management, cited the report outline prepared by Howarth (2006):

“Measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of property and facilities management is a critical component of better real estate asset management and provide the opportunity for increased productivity and delivery of saving”.

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Based on the above review of the international literature, it is clear there are vital links between property asset management, facilities management, maintenance practice and performance measurement both in building and engineering maintenance.

3. Local Councils and Community Facilities

Local councils play an important role by providing physical spaces for activities that help to build strong communities. They provide resources and community facilities as a way of meeting their organizational outcomes to the community. Community facilities are a good example of the way in which councils and communities work together to provide for the needs of the local citizen. These facilities need to be managed to ensure most of the services provided are available and achieving organizational goals. Poor maintenance and ineffective maintenance programming of community buildings will lead to loss of building performance, organisational performance and reputation, decrease of level of services, increasing operational cost and maintenance. Therefore, maintenance management in local government is an important factor to maximise the performance of physical and community infrastructure.

4. Methodology, Data Collection and Case Studies

A constantly changing society has meant changing need for some district facilities. Greater mobility, changes in population and changing leisure need has had a significant impact on some communities (Whangarei District Council, 2007). These changes need to be identified, measured and translated into an asset management plan. Audit New Zealand (2010) has been successful in identifying a number of asset management problems which may be caused by poor maintenance approaches. The current practice of local authorities typically addresses only some specific aspects of asset management and maintenance strategies due to different asset requirements, complexity of the asset and the absence of a standardized whole life asset maintenance management process. In this study, AMPs from four diverse local councils in New Zealand were reviewed to define the characteristics of public real estate asset management and maintenance practice, particularly for community buildings. Through the literature review undertaken, there are five main characteristics that were found to show the differences in the practice of public asset maintenance management implemented by local councils for community buildings namely, asset management plan documentation and policy, maintenance organization, maintenance approach, procurement arrangements, and continuous improvement. This paper will focus only on two of these characteristics; maintenance organization and maintenance approaches. Their operation and maintenance (O&M) issues will be discussed to show significant differences in their asset maintenance management practice.

4.1 Local Authority A

In this case study, a ‘Community Hall Strategy Plan’ sets out the planning, operation and maintenance plan for 36 community halls under the jurisdiction of Local Authority A. The strategy of this management plan is to provide clear information of facilities provided, clarify council roles and responsibilities, explain the funding framework and develop a

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comprehensive database. Local volunteers largely drive the planning and construction of community halls with assistance from district fundraising and donations. These volunteers are a vital part of the district’s social fabric, and management and maintenance of the community halls still relies heavily on volunteers. In New Zealand, the national trend within local authorities is towards community halls both owned and managed by local communities, with the councils primary contributions being to the maintenance of the facilities. It means all community facilities are supported by Councils, with no distinction based on ownership, but the maintenance approach is different among local councils. In this case study, all community halls are managed by the volunteer hall committees, generally legally constituted as Incorporated Societies or Trusts. The council contribution to maintenance is limited to external maintenance, ground maintenance, landscaping, external works and maintenance and operating costs, for only a few Council-owned buildings or Council-owned land. Council also assists the committees in terms of maintenance costs by making a provision for a Community Hall Maintenance Fund and Community Grants Fund, to which the hall management committee can apply for financial assistance.

In asset maintenance, the council assists the hall committee by providing advice, expertise and resources to assist community halls with their property maintenance requirements. A comprehensive periodical facility inspection is carried out on all community buildings by the Council, together with hall committee representatives, and this establishes an agreed baseline of information on maintenance needs and determines the maintenance requirements. A medium to long term maintenance work plan complete with a budget of maintenance works is then developed based on the inspection report. Consequently, a Building Assessment Record is prepared and used in order to develop a prioritization framework which will help the technical team assess requests for community hall maintenance in terms of support for usage, on-going viability and maintenance needs for safety and health requirements. At this time, the hall committees are able to apply for extra funding for any other specific projects or one-off renovation works. Normally, council’s annual budget will be processed after a schedule of community hall maintenance projects have been submitted to them. The council continues to assist the committee in insurance matters, auditing of community hall committee accounts, fire safety provision and requirements, developing Community Response Plans and giving advice on administration especially on legal requirements. Some issues have been identified in this case study which result in difficulties in decision making in operation and maintenance due to confusion between the committee and council interest, usage, roles, responsibilities and authorities. The main issue is the difficulty attracting and retaining volunteers as the management committee members.

4.2 Local Authority B

Local Authority B has developed a Community and Recreation Facilities Asset Management Plan (2009-2019) as a guideline for managing their community assets on a long term basis. It includes 11 community halls, 2 public pools, 3 libraries, 57 public conveniences, 57 pensioner houses and 1 museum which total $45 million. The council uses asset management software, providing an integrated database system which helps the councils in financial and specialist local government application system solutions. The asset

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management database is the asset register for all of the council’s assets and stores information on the assets. It includes the value, condition, life and renewal date of an asset complete with details of the asset recorded such as its materials, construction and typical life determined from previous knowledge. An effective asset management tool is essential for effective decision making in asset and maintenance management. This case study shows the District Council has used an information asset management system since 2002, and it provides a greater understanding of the asset network and its conditions, which help the council in setting out asset policy and decision making processes.

The council is responsible for maintaining all community facilities under The Community and Recreation Division. The main policy and management of the asset are set-out by the council and used by policy and asset managers in strategic planning, asset management, policy planning, operation and maintenance. The Council has developed a Lifecycle Management Plan which includes a 10 years financial forecast, to illustrate a comprehensive framework consistent with asset management practices and analyses the construction, operation, maintenance and renewal of facilities. The purpose of this management plan is to help the property manager in planning, managing and operating the assets at the agreed level of service, and optimising lifecycle costs.

Asset maintenance management practice in this case study focusses on routine planned maintenance. Periodical asset inspection and condition assessment is carried out as part of a 3 year cycle building maintenance program to identify the structural condition and any defects to building components. Through these inspections, all components are ensured to meet safety standards and specification, and these data are recorded for information gathering which will aid in planning facility maintenance, upgrades, replacement and renewals. Data produced from these inspections are using in lifecycle based expenditure analysis, and are compared to the long term strategic plan where work plans are identified and produced. All operation and maintenance works are planned and conducted in accordance with industry best practice and maintenance contractors are appointed based on their experience with council procedures. Maintenance of community facilities are generally determined by public safety, national or local significance, location, specialist use and level of usage. The decisions in regards of maintenance works are made based on knowledge, experience and public input, such as public complaints and requests, and available funds.

The Council categorised maintenance management into 3 types; scheduled inspections, scheduled maintenance and unscheduled maintenance. Scheduled inspections are the routine inspections to monitor asset condition and identify the physical and structural soundness of an asset. Any identified maintenance needs are recorded and reported either under urgent or routine status. This type of inspection is conducted by visual and hands on approach, but all data is recorded in a computerised information database using asset management system software. Scheduled maintenance is the periodical or cyclic maintenance to ensure the assets continue functioning at the standard and level of service identified. This allows the assets to reach their maximum life expectancy. Under scheduled maintenance, routine maintenance is conducted by the community team which consists of the day to day operation and maintenance. Unscheduled maintenance, therefore is undertaken to repair an asset, to correct faults identified by routine inspections and

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notification from the users. This is generally reactionary works that has not been foreseen such as repairing vandalised assets.

4.3 Local Authority C

Local Authority C has produced a comprehensive Building and Property Asset Management Plan (BAMP) to provide an overview of what the property team will be doing to contribute to the community outcomes and priorities identified in the 10-year Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP). As a major feeder plan for LTCCP, this document helps the council in improving their business and service processes and practices to become more efficient and effective. It contains information regarding changes and achievements in the asset portfolio, current and future demand as key drivers of growth and usage trends, level of services, risk management, lifecycle of the assets, financial forecast and their assets improvement plan. An interesting part of this plan is on the value management framework whereby strategic and operational asset management is being measured, monitored and reported, as part of performance management in assessing the effectiveness and efficiency in achieving the outcomes. Thus, effective asset management will reduce the long-term cost of ownership and servicing to the council.

Operation and maintenance (O&M) of community buildings has been managed by the council under a property asset team which is divided into two main departments; Property Management and Maintenance Management. The maintenance management department is responsible in all operation and maintenance of public real estate assets in line with statutory compliance, capital and contract management while the property team manages a diverse range of leases, licences and tenancies. This case study uses a lifecycle management approach to operation and maintenance management. It contains four lifecycle activities necessary in managing the facilities: 1) Operations; day-to-day work to keep assets operating, 2) Disposal; sale, demolition or relocation of assets, 3) Augmentation; creating a new asset or upgrade beyond asset capacity, and 4) Renewals; does not increase but restores original capacity.

Asset maintenance management covers planned maintenance and unplanned maintenance, and operation of the maintenance works are undertaken on the Council’s behalf by approved contractors. Routine maintenance or day-to-day work is carried out to keep all community buildings and facilities operating, running smoothly and complying with statutory requirements and agreed levels of service. The property team responsible for managing the community buildings categorized maintenance into planned or proactive operation and maintenance and unplanned or reactive maintenance. Planned operation and maintenance is pre-arranged inspection and maintenance works undertaken to maintain the assets and prevent asset failure. This includes inspection works, monitoring and follow up maintenance and certificates for building mechanical and electrical components. Maintenance contractors are appointed to carry out a series of regular maintenance activities. In some instances, follow-up action and maintenance will also be undertaken to keep the current level of service and keep up statutory compliance. The council uses single supplier contracts for all operation and maintenance in order to ensure the effectiveness and performance of the assets.

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Unplanned maintenance is an action to correct faults and failure as required, for example in repairing storm damage, leaking roof and windows, and rectifying vandalism damage. Incoming work requests are recorded in the team’s Task Manager System, prior to the work being assessed, and then assigned to a pre-approved maintenance contractor. In terms of its service level agreements, the team is responsible for responding and resolving the problem to the customer’s satisfaction within an agreed time period. Similar to planned maintenance, the council has plans to create single supplier contracts for such tasks as afterhours call outs and responsive maintenance.

4.4 Local Authority D

In this case study, the council has provided the most comprehensive asset management plan in managing public real estate property, from those assessed, especially for community buildings. The council has developed a Community Facilities Asset Management Plan for yearly usage in managing their 48 community facilities, which is in line with a 10-year Long-term Council Community Plan, previously established for the management needs and work programmes for community facilities owned by the council.

This plan explains the service provided by the council, how they manage growth, demand and asset lifecycle, sustainability approach, financial report and risk in asset management practices. Rapid population growth is the major factor causing increasing demand for community facilities. In order to ensure all community assets are in good condition, asset condition information is used to prepare work programmes to replace existing assets. Most assets are replaced before they reach failure to ensure they continue to provide a cost effective service. Different to other case studies, the council has used building condition survey assessments in order to analyse failure and determine which community building are in most need of renewal. The council also adopted a sustainable management approach to asset management practice and asset performance measures are utilised to determine the levels of service. Levels of service focus on what customers’ value about community facilities and the service provided. Performance measures are linked to the council vision through identification of the management strategy and policy. Monitoring the performance of community centres is a council responsibility with key performance measures outlined in the management agreement.

Most community centre buildings have been managed by the council, with others managed by a management committee under a partnership agreement. This case study shows planned and unplanned maintenance is undertaken based on data collection from building condition surveys. Maintenance needs are identified through condition surveys using the National Asset Management Steering (NAMS) group property approach, undertaken on a 3-year cycle by contracted building surveyors. Such needs can also be identified by the contract cleaners which are required to notify the council of any maintenance issues they find. Monthly inspections are also carried out by council staff. Responsive maintenance is for urgent repairs that are required to keep an asset functioning. The facility maintenance contract is outsourced and deals with response maintenance and smaller maintenance repairs that are carried out for health and safety reasons, or to protect the asset. Technical contracts include items such as building warrants of fitness, lift maintenance, heating

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ventilation and air conditioning maintenance. They are typically routine service contracts that include small value responsive maintenance repairs.

5. Discussion

In the field of maintenance management, the term maintenance approach refers to the maintenance techniques and strategies such as preventive maintenance (PM), condition-based maintenance, total productive maintenance (TPM), computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), reliability centred maintenance (RBM), predictive maintenance (PdM), maintenance outsourcing, effective centred maintenance, strategic maintenance management, and risk-based maintenance (Garg and Deshmukh, 2006). Through this study, it is found that all case studies are practicing a general approach to maintenance management, with their own strengths and weaknesses. The discussion of the practices and a comparison based on the characteristics mentioned in section 4.1 to 4.4 is presented in Table 1. The asset maintenance practice of each case study varies according to the management policy and organisation, and building management strategy the council adopts. The study shows there is no standardisation in asset maintenance management, in term of asset management plan documentation, maintenance organisation and maintenance approaches.

• The case studies show that each council uses different structures and forms of asset management plans in managing their community assets. For example, the AMP for Local Authority A explains the role of local authorities and community facilities, addresses the current conditions and issues of community assets, and their recommendations for managing community halls. Local Authority D used a more comprehensive AMP which clearly explains their community services, shows how they manage the community’s growth and demand, describes their asset management risks, policy and asset lifecycle in asset management practices, includes a financial summary of community assets and proposes their plan for improvement, monitoring and review procedures in public asset management. This shows there is no standardization in the documentation of AMP by Local Authorities in New Zealand.

• Community buildings under Local Authority A are managed by volunteers (hall committee) and assistance from the council seems limited, but the case of Local Authority B, C & D, community buildings are managed by the councils. This situation affects the organization structure and level of services in asset and maintenance management. The discussion on operation and maintenance issues shows that asset management carried out by local authorities is more efficient and practical compared to community assets managed by volunteers.

• Local Authority A, B and C used periodic asset and facilities inspection for a justification of the need of maintenance management, but Local Authority D used standard building prioritisation methods from building condition survey data for decision making processes related to assets and maintenance management.

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All local authorities used asset condition prioritisation methods in decision making processes, but the techniques are different and there is no standard approach. Local Authority A used a committee prioritisation method, Local Authority B used an integrated database system, knowledge tools, experience, public input and available funds, and Local Authority C & D based prioritisation on asset condition and condition survey analysis.

Table 1: Case studies summary

Characteristics Local Authority A Local Authority B Local Authority C Local Authority D

1. Maintenance Organisations

Volunteers: Hall Committee

The Council: The Community & Recreation Division

The Council: Property Management and Maintenance Management

The Council

2. Maintenance approach:

a) Condition audit Periodical facilities inspection

Periodical asset inspection

Monitoring Condition survey & inspection

b) Maintenance technique

Routine & planned maintenance

Routine & planned maintenance (Scheduled inspection, scheduled & unscheduled maintenance)

Planned & unplanned maintenance

Long-term maintenance, routine maintenance & response maintenance

c) Data collection method

Inspection & building assessment

Condition assessment

Remote sensing, physical inspections assessment model & rating systems

Building condition survey & monthly inspection

d) Decision making Committee based prioritising method

Based on integrated database system, knowledge tools, experience, public input & available fund

Based on asset condition

Based on condition survey analysis

6. Conclusion

This paper presented the result of a study on asset management plans (AMPs) of four local councils in New Zealand. The main objective of this study was to identify the characteristics of public real estate maintenance management practice on community centre buildings implemented by these government agencies. The findings of this study show that in relation to published literature, there is no standard approach in asset management and maintenance practice for community buildings. New Zealand Audit emphasizes in their report in 2010 that, there has been no improvement in public asset management practice by most of the councils for the period 2007 to 2009, and that the current practice of deferred maintenance will store up problems for the future. The AMPs show there is no standard

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approach to measuring performance of their assets due to maintenance activities, within the management of their public real estate portfolio.

References

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Shardy A, Arman A R & Abd H K P (2011) The Characteristics of Real Estate Assets Management Practice in the Malaysian Federal Government, Journal of Corporate Real Estate 13: 16-35.

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Tucker M & Smith A (2008) User Perceptions in Workplace Productivity and Strategic FM Delivery, Facilities 16: 196-212.

Vermiglio C (2011) Public Property Management in Italian Municipalities: Framework, current issues and Viable Solution, Property Management 29: 423-442.

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Usability: managing facilities for social outcomes

Keith Alexander1, Siri Blakstad2, Geir Hansen3, Per Anker Jensen4, Goran Lindahl5, Suvi Nenonen6,

Abstract

The paper argues for the development of usability concepts, methodologies and tools, in considering the effects of the built environment from a user, organisational and community perspective, in order to have a positive influence on social outcomes.

Since it was formed over ten years ago, the CIB W111 on Usability has been exploring concepts, methods and tools, developed in the evaluation of all kinds of consumer products, applied to the built environment. In the most recent phase of this work, conducted over the past three years, an international network of partners has collaborated to focus on the usability of learning environments achieving their objectives through a series of case studies and associated workshops. The work has sought to identify and evaluate the ways in which users (and other stakeholders) in projects are involved in decision making about building use and the methods and tools they used to understand, as well as to design and manage the relationship between activities and places.

The paper describes and reviews the development of the field of research on usability. It concludes that the action and use of facilities is strongly related to experiences of the users and thus their possibility and will to perform. People create their own places in the facilities created by professionals and there has to be an approach that opens up for questions like what use and why do an organisation want a specific solution. If professionals and laymen could meet, understand and define the emerging properties of a workplace, they could better manage and design the facilities for improved social outcomes.

Interpretation and analysis of the built environment (and support services) based on how it is socially constructed will enable integration of organisational use and the facilities provided to arrive at an understanding of usability. The concept of usability brings the organisational space to the fore and by doing so supports the actions needed. The paper concludes that usability will not be fully understood without understanding the social constructs of the users – the organisational ecology of narratives or constructs.

Keywords: Usability, organisational ecology, facilities management, social outcomes

1. Introduction

Facilities are defined as tangible assets that support an organisation (CEN, 2006). As such, facilities are managed in an organisational context and the physical assets are embedded in a service to support achievement of the organisation’s primary objectives i.e. they are

1 Professor, Director; Centre for Facilities Management; Manchester, UK; keithalexander47@gmail.com. 2 Adjunct Professor; Centre for Real Estate and FM; NTNU; Trondheim, Norway; siri.blakstad@ntnu.no. 3 Assoc Professor; Centre for Real Estate and FM, NTNU; Trondheim, Norway; geir.hansen@ntnu.no. 4 Professor, Director; Centre for Facilities Management; DTU; Copenhagen, Denmark; pank@dtu.dk. 5 Assoc Professor; Construction Management; Chalmers Univ; Gothenburg, Sweden; goran.lindahl@chalmers.se. 6 Research Manager; Built Environment Services; Aalto University; Helsinki, Finland; suvi.nenonen@aalto.fi.

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business support services. However, whether in the private, public or third sector, facilities should benefit stakeholders in the organisation, in communities and in society.

In the public sector and in social enterprises, social and environmental objectives are explicitly identified and managed. Increasingly, in the private sector, companies now recognise broader corporate responsibilities, not as an optional marketing strategy (as in CSR), but as an essential element of business success, In response, new concepts such as creating shared value (CSV) are being developed, with the need for new ways of evaluating the benefits derived by key stakeholders (Porter, 2011).

The paper reviews the development of the field of research on usability from the last decade. The recent work has focused on how users and other stakeholders are involved in decision making about buildings-in-use and in projects and the available methods that support this.

The paper argues for the development of usability concepts, methodologies and tools, in considering the effects of the built environment from a user, organisational and community perspective, in order to have a positive influence on social outcomes.

2. Usability of facilities

Usability is an intriguing challenge for architects, designers and facilities management (FM) as it concerns how a space, an artefact, is used and the effects of that use. It is an equally challenging concept for managers and organisational strategists as it includes the physical setting in which an organisation performs its activities. This makes usability of facilities a topic at the centre of the relationship between what we do, how we do and where we do it.

Since it was formed almost 10 years ago, the International Council for Building Research and Documentation (CIB) working group on usability (W111) has been exploring concepts, methods and tools, developed in the evaluation of all kinds of consumer products, applied to the built environment (Alexander, 2005, 2008a, 2010a). In the most recent phase of this work, conducted over the past three years, an international network of partners has collaborated to focus on the usability of learning environments achieving their objectives through a series of case studies and associated workshops. They sought to identify and evaluate the ways in which users (and other stakeholders) in projects were involved in decision-making about building use and the methods and tools they used to understand, as well as to design and manage, the relationship between activities and space.

A starting point was the definition of usability in ISO9241–11 (related to the “Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals”) as “the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use” (ISO, 1998). Usability in the built environment is context dependent, a product of user experience related to the social relations amongst users and to the interaction between users and facilities (Fenker, 2008). Usability has been found to be strongly related not only to relationships between people and physical settings, but also to clear strategies for the organisation of work and the use of facilities. The approach of looking at buildings as a means to fulfil strategic objectives and not only as a way to house people and activities is supported by the work of Becker and Steele (1995), Horgen et al. (1999) and Grantham (2000).

The research has enabled broad conclusions to be drawn about the nature of usability as a concept and its application in the built environment and has challenged the basis of conventional approaches to briefing and post-occupancy evaluation. In summary, the group sees usability as “a cultural phenomenon that can only be improved through a better

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understanding user experience, considered as situated action in a specific context” (Alexander, 2008b). Here we elaborate the concept of usability, discuss practical implications for FM and for the development of management processes and raise specific issues for usability research in the built environment. We argue usability as a core concept for managing organisational ecology.

3. Changing the perspective

Studies of the usability in the built environment originate from the field of FM and other disciplines e.g. cognitive psychology, where the focus and interest have shifted from a technical perspective on building quality to the actual use of buildings. This shift represents a significant change from looking at buildings as end products and measuring their technical qualities and functional performance to looking at buildings as a means for the occupying organisations, or core businesses in the prevailing language of FM, to achieve their overall goals and objectives. Another consequence of this shift has been for buildings to be regarded as artefacts that interact with organisational processes and information technologies rather than defined objects (Gjersvik & Blakstad, 2004a, 2004b; Fenker, 2008; Nenonen & Nissinen, 2005).

Much recent effort in construction research in Europe and the UK has been focused on creating a client-oriented, knowledge- and value-based industry. Interest in considering the client and user perspective has increased. A growing number of international research networks have recently been established, including various working groups of CIB. CIB concerns construction and built environments, and many working groups take a sectorial perspective, i.e., they are concerned with the actors in the building process rather than the users of the output, the building. A sector-based perspective is clearly needed in order to develop and stimulate innovation in a field such as construction. However, the logics of use must also be recognized as a governing factor for the planning of facilities rather than a focus on professional knowledge to determine what is most appropriate or what is best practice. The most recent CIB workgroup (W118) was created as a clients and users forum. This is a step towards trying to understand this relationship, albeit in a project context.

However, CIB W111 is the only group that focuses specifically on a user perspective. The application of the concept of usability in the built environment presents a number of key challenges to conventional construction and property perspectives. Nine characteristics of a usability approach have been identified and contrasted with, for example, conventional built environment approaches (Jensen, Alexander & Fronczek-Munter, 2011):

1. User focus—usability puts a focus on the user and the organisation rather than the building.

2. Demand driven—usability recognizes the dynamic requirements of organisations (and communities), derived from the strategic objectives.

3. User experience—usability is primarily concerned with the perceptions of users rather than the intentions of designers and service providers.

4. Contingency quality—usability is contingent on user values rather than an inherent function of the built environment.

5. Context of use—usability considers facilities in the context of use rather than as a project (context of action).

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6. Process oriented—usability is considered as a process rather than as product or service provision.

7. Service production—like all services, facilities are co-created by service users.

8. Relationship management—usability implies changing relationships with users.

9. Learning process—usability exchange of knowledge amongst users, managers and service providers.

These characteristics are rooted in a pragmatist philosophy, ultimately derived from Peirce (1905), starting from what works well is what is worth achieving. This is also based in the work of Dewey (1977) and his development of activity-based pedagogy where theory, practice, reflection and action are connected. This approach is based on the development of knowledge derived from use, which is what understanding usability also is about. It is the effect of what is done that is at the core of usability, not the specification of what functions shall be performed. Elsewhere, Granath and Alexander (2006) reflected on some of these theoretical aspects of usability research.

4. User experience—the core of usability

If use is what happens, how do we grasp it, understand it and deal with it? There must be ways of describing and thereby understanding the effects of use; otherwise, it cannot be communicated and reflected upon. Fenker (2008) describes usability as a process that can only be understood as a social construction where the building acts as a sort of stage. According to him, “the artefacts are bearers of a set of possibilities and constraints as well as, most importantly, activity and social practices.” Alexander (2010) argues for greater emphasis on user experience and suggests reconsidering the original triumvirate of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction to substitute experience for satisfaction. Recent work on service design and space management draws upon work about experience design (Shedroff, 2011). So far, there is a lack of ability to combine subjective, often qualitatively described user experience with objectively defined standards and requirements of built environment. The user experience is based on individual perceptions and they cannot be objectively measured. However there exist various ways to capture the knowledge of user-experience and create descriptions of the non-measurable, intangible conditions. (Nenonen et al., 2012)

This development is also denoted in service management, where customers’ experiences rather than specification of service gain more importance. Ultimately the customer is considered a co-creator of the service experience. The use of facilities has the same characteristic; we as humans interact with it. Alexander (2012) extends this thinking to consider the co-creation of value in FM, whilst Jensen et al (2011) relates it to the concepts of user driven innovation and co-design and to the idea of lead users (von Hippel, 2005),

One approach to explain the concept of usability in a way that makes it easier to understand and use for practice is presented in the USEtool handbook (Hansen et al 2011). Usability can be understood by focusing on:

• For what? What objectives should be achieved? And what activities actually take place?

• For whom? It is important to define which user groups are in focus, as there are several potential user groups to take into account.

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• Where? Users’ experiences should be related to space or place. In usability evaluations there is a need to relate users’ experiences to specific physical surroundings. The definition of usability clearly underlines that usability is dependent on context and specified users’ perception and experiences

• Why? Discovering factors that enhance/inhibit effectiveness is not sufficient. The next step is to understand why. This is essential when the knowledge acquired is to be applied in order to generalize and provide knowledge for the benefit of later projects, or to improve existing solutions.

Usability evaluations are based on different user’s experiences and assessments on how well the buildings perform regarding different parameters. A building’s performance can never be seen or understood in isolation from an organisational and technical perspective, as those aspects interact and influence each other. Discussing use implies a view on who is the user, and one has to be critical of conventional concepts of users. Olsson, Blakstad and Hansen (2010) suggest a tendency to oversimplify the way that users are addressed and challenge the predominant assumption that there is only one group of users. They identify categories of users and their roles at different stages of the building life cycle. They highlight different user roles and perspectives at different project phases. The perspective that is applied determines which user groups are included in a planning process or discontinuities in user involvement. In a usability perspective, different tools for usability analyses may be needed when studying usability from different user perspectives. This opens up a debate on value beyond value management and it brings culture and governance into the discourse. Who is a user and why are they a user? Whose needs and interests should be at the core of usability analysis and guide possible design?

Themes that have been central to usability research were reflected in the chosen theme of the CIB work group W70 on FM conference in São Paulo— FM and the Experience Economy—following Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) seminal work in service marketing. Da Graca (2010) argued that this should now be the focus of FM responsibilities and stressed the need to open the way to demand management focusing on the user experience. Professionals working with facilities need to understand user behaviour, user needs and user experiences and need to manage and systematize the user experience. There is a need to learn how to understand and design experiences as good FM briefing leads to effective design. There are necessary tools but they need to be put to work. He suggests that research in this area is essential and that FM practice should focus on the user experience, looking at the demand side, managing experiences and putting the resources to work.

This challenge is illustrated in a study following the implementation and use of tools for usability evaluation in FM and Corporate Real Estate organisations. Blakstad and Hansen (2012) found that this had limited effects on practice in most of the organisations they studied. There where however exceptions. The cases with the most successful implementation, which had actually led to new practice and new “contexts of use”, had used the most resources on implementation, and continued the research relationship with the researchers to develop own staff with competence to carry out the evaluations. The study suggested that focus on usability in practise can only be drivers for development in cases where key players have awareness and competence, and where the need for change is seen as urgent enough to justify the amount of resources needed to both analyze the situation and implement the change.

Contingent user values are not easy to explore using conventional techniques such as post-occupancy analysis, and there have been calls for multi-method approaches (Blakstad,

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Hansen & Knudsen 2008) and a greater range of methods for understanding user experience (Alexander, 2008a). This is highly important as there must be methods that manage to bridge from the facilities professionals, architects and engineers to the everyday user without imposing professional knowledge in such a way that the user’s perceptions are depreciated.

5. The usability brief—a key instrument in facilities management

Much recent effort in the research has focused on developing tools to operationalize the usability concepts, particularly for briefing and evaluation. To date, those who work in the building industry have not been sufficiently interested in evaluating the use of buildings they have helped to create. Does the building function as intended? Are there problems related to function or room use? How efficiently is the building utilized? How satisfied are the users? By not evaluating the use of buildings through asking such questions, vital opportunities for improvement and for coming up with new solutions have probably been missed.

Table 1: Traditional, inclusive and usability briefing A usability perspective has consequences for methods used in design and planning today. Briefing has been highlighted in several studies as a bearer of clients’ and users’ needs and requirements and a key instrument in getting what one wants. The recent work by CIB W111 on usability has similarly highlighted the importance of briefing as a means to achieve usability. Jensen et al (2011) have compared the characteristics of the concept of usability briefing with traditional briefing and so-called inclusive briefing In Table 1.

However, these findings raise a further series of issues and a possible agenda for future research and have interesting implications for the way we think about briefing, particularly when usability is seen as a contingent quality rather than as the inherent functionality of the physical environment.

Hudson (forthcoming) argues that much of the existing work on briefing is based on premises that it can be reduced to a rational process, that it is part of a finite project, that the final outcomes of this project are buildings or other physical facilities and that user requirements have an external objective existence that can be captured in the briefing

Traditional briefing Inclusive briefing Usability briefing

Concerns new building/construction

Concerns all client/user needs in developing facilities

Concerns user needs in existing facilities

A definite phase at an initial stage of construction

A continuous process with changing focus in different phases of building life cycle

A continuous process at different phases during occupancy

An expert based information collection

A guided learning and dialogue process

A co-learning process

Users mainly involved as data sources

Users actively involved as part of a corporate change process

Users as co-producers

The result is a brief, i.e. a requirement specification

The result is acceptance of solutions based on a brief

Brief as an evolving ‘bulletin board’

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process. He goes on to suggest that the usability work suggests the limitations of these premises and argues that a new approach to briefing may be necessary.

This approach might be characterized by an emphasis of briefing as creative exploration of possibilities rather than requirements capture, a focus on the social construction of requirements and their evolution over time and a focus on human satisfaction rather than physical facilities. The professionals’ capability to integrate and translate becomes important here and implies a responsibility to manage user needs and feed them forward to the subsequent project without losing the understanding of the social processes from which the facilities have emerged.

6. Usability appraisal—how to understand and interpret the use of facilities

Usability evaluations are based on different user’s experiences and assessments on how well the buildings perform regarding different parameters. By considering a building as a tool, we should be interested not only in how the building itself functions, but also how the building impacts value creation in the user organisation. The user organisation should ask itself: what do we want to achieve? What do we want the building to contribute? How can our premises create added value for the organisation? We have seen that many user organisations have little awareness of those aspects. Instead a building is merely seen as floor space or workplace, without much consideration: a return for the rental. For instance, a business that wants to stimulate co-operation and learning should be interested in how the workplace supports these goals; a kindergarten that wants to encourage involvement by the children should consider how the facilities promote their mastery of their environment. Over the past 5 years, a EuroFM research group has explored the concept of added value of FM, with a strong connection to the CIB W111 Usability group (Jensen et al. 2012).

For building owners and users, an increased focus on usability represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge lies in the fact that the user organisation may want quick changes and a high degree of customization to achieve maximum effectiveness. If not handled wisely, this may result in unnecessary tailoring for tenants, which can drive costs up and be difficult to change later. In this type of situation it is essential that solutions are flexible so that they can readily be changed as needs change. At the same time, an increased focus on effectiveness represents an opportunity for building owners and FMs, as having expertise and premises that can contribute to increased customer satisfaction may be an advantage.

A building’s performance can never be seen or understood in isolation from an organisational and technical perspective, as those aspects interact and influence each other. Hence, usability is complex and has been described as a “wicked problem” (Blakstad et al., 2008). Such problems are characterised by no definitive formulation of solutions, and they are open to multiple interpretations (Rittel & Webber, 1973). The solution is simply the one that in a certain context is most satisfactory. According to Blakstad, addressing “wicked problems” requires multi-method strategies using a triangulation of methods and evaluations with multiple perspectives.

This aligns with findings from studies showing that evaluations work best when they are based on several methods and aspects, depending on objective, purpose, focus, competence and resources (Frechtling, 2002). All this implies that usability evaluations are complex, that there is a need for simplification and that the evaluator possesses both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills (Baird, Gray, Isaacs, Kernoghan & McIndoe, 1996). Blakstad et al. (2008) describe how different methods and tools were explored and

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tested according to their relevance and validity for evaluation of usability in several Norwegian cases. An important discussion is whether the results or findings from those evaluations can be considered as valid and reliable, and whether context dependent knowledge from usability evaluations can be feed forwarded to new projects or be generalized and added to a more generally applicable body of knowledge (Hansen et al, 2010). One may always discuss the external validity of qualitative methods. According to Halvorsen (2008) the main question is not if results may be generalized but if knowledge can be transferred to other settings. As pointed out earlier, few of the available methodologies aim directly at evaluation of usability related to organisational objectives. However, they found that many traditional research and evaluation methods had potential to be developed for the purpose of usability evaluation.

Hansen, Blakstad and Olsson (2012) review usability evaluations and the feedback on users’ experiences of their environment. The value of such evaluations for feed forward into new projects or improving existing facilities lies mainly in the ability to understand users’ experiences and to translate them into adequate products and solutions. Consequently, the results of research related to evaluation should be quickly and easily accessible to clients, designers, decision-makers and others involved in the building process. At its best user feedback provides a learning process for different stakeholders. Kärnä et al. (2009) stress the importance of a systematic approach and of continually improving the flow feedback.

7. Usability of learning environments—a thematic focus

Over the 10 years of W111 research the working group has compared case studies from different sectors, first of all focusing attention of the usability of workplaces and then broadening to include industrial, educational and healthcare environments.

From 2009 to 2011 the work of CIB W111 on usability has mainly focused on the usability of learning environments (Alexander, 2010a; Arge, 2010; Jensen and Oesten, 2010). The lead was taken by the UK, in collaborative work with the Centre for Effective Learning Environments (CELE) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a project to develop tools for evaluating the quality of educational environments (EQES). Research by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2010) concluded that school context must be taken into account when assessing the impact of a school building program and that, new buildings alone, are insufficient to change pupils’ attitudes and behaviour. They suggest that the real challenge is to link the transformational agenda to changes in pedagogy and leadership in schools.

This view is supported by the Norwegian work on usability. One of the case studies showed a university college with a very high score on building performance and coloration between program and completed building, but still showed a lack of usability due to change in pedagogic, increased student number, lack of changing culture among the department. In another case we found a high degree of pride and high academic score among the pupils, in spite for a building performing really badly (Hansen et al., 2006).

Reporting on evaluation research conducted in the UK, Alexander (2010a) argued that school facilities should be considered in the context of the communities they serve and as a prime means of transforming education. Effective learning environments successfully combine appropriate social and digital environments with the physical environment (Beard, 2012). Creating quality learning environments, which are more broadly accessible in the community, can also play a catalytic role in regeneration. To improve usability, the parallel processes of pedagogy and facilities planning must be reconnected, users must be empowered and communities must be offered the opportunity of managing their assets. And

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professionals must utilize a usability perspective concerning for whom and why. The majority of conventional evaluation methodologies, particularly Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) and Practitioner-focused Facility Evaluation (PFE) methods and tools, fail to address strategic objectives, consider buildings out of context and tend to focus on the characteristics and performance of the physical environment, rather than on the effects on users and on benefits realization. The evaluation of schools must take account of three key dimensions according to their role in the development of sustainable communities, in educational transformation and in the quality of the learning environment.

Assessing the usability of learning environments against these criteria, using appropriate research-based methods and tools, will require the development of new skills. It also suggests the need to develop different relationships amongst key actors in co-production processes. This is a challenging agenda for the FM of learning environments.

The objective of FM is to provide the setting and services that support the effectiveness of organisations that contribute to the development and creativity of the occupants and provide community benefit. The key is establishing the strategies and processes that connect effective utilisation of the physical, environmental and human resources to create positive outcomes for all stakeholders, through the whole life of the facilities. Stakeholders include owners, occupiers and operators of the facility, all service users and providers, the local community and representative agencies.

Seen in this way, FM is the brokerage of processes amongst all stakeholder interests and between stakeholder constructs. Myerson (2012) and Vischer (2012) argue that, in the experience economy, learning and co-creation are key processes. Elsewhere, Beard (2012) and Thomas (2012) describe learning itself as a complex process conducted via conversation, in a broad sense, including symbolic change and reflection or silent conversation and kinaesthetics.

8. Management for usability

Jensen (2010) has suggested that a focus on buildings in FM is concerned with how the corporate needs for facilities can be provided and optimized in both a short- and long-term perspective. Therefore, every phase of the life cycle of buildings is important. He proposed that continuous briefing and continuous commissioning are two interrelated concepts that, together with the concept of learning buildings, can be used to integrate the management of buildings and usability. Just as learning organisations need a specific form of management, where traditional hierarchical structures are removed and a shared vision is defined and accepted, so learning buildings need a similar specific form of management.

The management tasks to obtain usability include formulation of visions, strategies and requirements for the long-term development of buildings in the planning phase; involvement of users in defining needs and requirements and deciding on design solutions in continuous briefing; and on-going monitoring of performance and usability to capture new needs and requirements for changes during the use phase of buildings. In short, FM is about connecting use and space. FMs should be the obvious profession to take on this important management role in close collaboration with the top managers and users in the organisation.

9. Framework for use—a structure for discourse

Recent reflections on Nordic contributions to the usability research have led to the introduction of a framework – USEframe - to conceptualize contextual dimensions of usability. The framework is based on a perceived need to bring usability studies into one

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structure and to relate what had been done in the different studies. This led to a discussion about a framework that also would enable the positioning of previous research by the research team members as well as the positioning of other research related to usability.

A framework developed by the research team is illustrated in Figure 1 and is further discussed by Lindahl, Hansen, Nenonen and Blakstad (2012). It illustrates steps in a process of understanding and mapping use to support action in projects or FM processes. It is a framework that can be used to describe processes as well as to map and relate projects or studies.

Figure 1 USEframe A typical FM loop could be from “as is, use” via development of new knowledge, supported by the USEtool and back to daily use, i.e., to “as is, use” in “context of use.” This is an iterative process of change and possibly improvement. New knowledge can also be forwarded in a structured form, in a proprietary information system, to projects and action to create new workplaces via projects in the “context of action” domain. This then results in plans for new or changed facilities, the future use, “to be.”

Based on the research carried out in Nordic FM and usability projects we argue that there is a substantial amount of research and development (R&D) concerning facilities in use that already today allow for the possibility of sustaining usability of facilities. However, these are not clearly related and there is a mix between management-oriented research that focuses on the “context of action” and usability-oriented research that focuses on “context of use” and subsequent development of knowledge and briefing.

The framework USEframe provides a possibility to map and discuss this material (Hansen et al., 2012; Lindahl et al., 2012). With the creation of CIB W118 clients and users and the previous CIB workgroups W65 Organisation and Management of Construction, W070 FM and Maintenance, W096 Architectural Management and W111 Usability, understanding and delivering what the users need appears well covered. However, much of the research has focused on methods and processes.

While this is relevant, we already know that clear information, participation and knowledge dissemination is beneficial. While continued development of methods and processes is needed, there is also a lack of R&D of theory concerning users and their activities in the facilities the construction and FM sectors deliver. As much as researchers like to practice nearness in cases, there is now a need to step back and reflect in order to develop a theory to sustain the field of understanding the effects of facilities in use.

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The delivery world of methods and processes has its own set of social constructs - i.e., it is one ecology; the user world is another. Usability research needs to think through the mind and narrative of the user world. Mental and cognitive maps are the source to understand this. Macdonald (2012) shows that, in a healthcare setting, strategic FM can be seen as a translation between the two. Higher usability was delivered by FMs who reached out to relate to the users and translated user requirements into appropriate service delivery.

10. Usability—managing facilities for social outcomes

The paper has argued for the development of usability concepts, methodologies and tools, in considering the effects of the built environment from a user, organisational and community perspective, as an essential approach for managing facilities for social outcomes.

On one hand usability has its significance in the relationship between people and building. On the other hand the usability is connected to various co-operation, communication and co-creation processes between different people. Nevertheless the usability research so far has been able to map and frame processes and methods in connection to usability of built environment. The service design approach provides more insights for capturing the user experience. Evidence for usability is based on user experience, may be linked to discussions on evidence based design, which may be seen as a way of designing based on actual use, i.e. evidence for what really works given a certain context.

This paper suggests that further research in the field of user orientation of the built environment is strongly needed. The overview of the area shows that there are many different approaches which vary in theoretical foundations, methodologies and stage of development, but they are in most cases not incompatible and they use many similar research methods. Further research should focus more on direct interactions with and involvement of users and mostly qualitative research methods are needed. It is important to distinguish between different types of users and apply methodologies involving users both as individuals and in groups and organisations.

Jensen et al (2011) have adapted the USEframe to make suggestions for future user oriented research (Fig 2) with a distinction between the three areas: Developing, Finding and Explaining.

Figure 2 USEframe – cyclical processes The development of knowledge and tools within USEframe will help structure the further implementation of usability knowledge and tools in practice. A crucial question is how

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research can contribute to, on one hand, strategic/practical development in organisations and, on the other, the design and construction processes. USEframe illustrates this and aims to support discussion at the interface of research and practice. This will then also address the validity, reliability and generalizability of usability research.

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