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This edition of FMA Online is
proudly supported by Pronto 
Issue 19, Nov 2007
Ceo Message
Since the last issue of FMA Online, I have been fortunate to have traveled to New Orleans to attend IFMA’s World Workplace conference and exhibition. The scale of such an event is enormous, and its organisation almost beyond belief. I understand some 6000-7000 delegates attended the conference and well over 300 exhibitors presented a diverse range of products and services to the key decision makers within the facilities management industry. From an organisational perspective, it is interesting to compare ideaction with other international FM Associations’ conferences, and in doing so, I believe we are able to learn and to lift the standard of our conference. Our next ideaction conference is being held from 7-9 May 2008 on the Gold Coast, and it is shaping up to be one of our best conferences yet. While in New Orleans, I attended the board meeting of Global FM as well as an international workshop. The founding FM Associations of Global FM, namely IFMA (USA and chapters worldwide), BIFM (UK) and FMA Australia have now been joined by Arseg (France), HFMS (Hungary), SAFMA (South Africa) and a number of other national FM Associations are currently considering joining. Global FM has two key goals:
It has identified six international hot topics and has resolved to focus on two of these (i.e. sustainability and education) in the immediate future. Additionally, it has formulated its balanced score card/ strategic plan and is currently finalising a business plan covering its activities over the next year or so. Despite the fact that Global FM was formed in July 2006, it has achieved much in its short existence, but acknowledges that there is much yet to be done. In much the same way that FMA Australia has much to gain from forming strategic partnerships with like minded organisations in Australia (e.g. TEFMA), our participation with Global FM is expected to deliver similar benefits. Finally, following a number of staff departures at national office, I would like to take the opportunity of introducing new staff members; namely Stacey Vassiliadis (Events and Professional Development Coordinator), Murray Hirst (Finance Manager) and Rosie Bennett (Marketing and Communications Advisor), who along with my Executive Assistant, Belinda Ralph, have joined the team. Please make them welcome when you get the opportunity. Until next month… Kind regards, David Duncan Issue Contents
 Edition SupporterUpcoming Branch EventsBranch NewsGeneral NewsEdition Supporter Pronto Software
FMA Online spoke to Brian Alston, Business Systems Manager, on how technology is helping Norfolk stay one step ahead of the competition, exceed industry best practices and deliver exceptional customer service. Norfolk Group Limited Raises the Bar on Customer Service using PRONTO-Xi Norfolk Group Limited (ASX: NFK) is a leading Australasian provider of integrated electrical, communications, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), passive fire protection and property services, and products. With an annual revenue of more than $A800 million, Norfolk has more than 19,500 customers across a diverse range of markets including infrastructure, industrial, commercial, resources, retail, government and communications. FMA Online spoke to Brian Alston, Business Systems Manager, on how technology is helping Norfolk stay one step ahead of the competition, exceed industry best practices and deliver exceptional customer service. FMA Online: Tell us more about the FM business within Norfolk Group Limited. FMA Online: The FM service industry is highly competitive, what is your strategy to stay ahead of the game? We have a longstanding partnership with Pronto Software, who provide us with an integrated platform to manage our reactive service calls, the project costing of capital works and the predictive and preventive maintenance of customer assets. PRONTO-Xi Facility Management enables us to manage the complete life cycle costing for buildings and individual assets, capital expenditure (capex) spends, and compliance management (Fire Standards & OH&S). We have extended the Service Call functionalities of PRONTO-Xi to automate email confirmations, SMS notifications to contractors, and critical call escalations to key customers for priority 1 calls via email/SMS. This has considerably improved our customer service levels. FMA Online: Can you give a specific example of how you have used technology to streamline your business? When we saw the power of PRONTO-Xi Maintenance Management and what it could do to help us maximise planning and continuance control of our plant maintenance activities, we were really impressed. Today, PRONTO-Xi Maintenance Management acts as our integrated Equipment Register and has helped us improve our asset utilisation and resource productivity, as well as reducing disruptive breakdowns and maintenance costs. We are finding it a very useful tool to ensure that the right parts and manpower are available when required. FMA Online: What other future projects do you have planned? We are also keen to optimise our service scheduling efficiency and we are currently evaluating PRONTO-Xi Engineer Scheduler to offer us more visibility of unallocated service calls and engineer activity. Pronto Software is pleased to be able to provide an integrated service and planning solution designed to meet the sophisticated needs of Resolve FM and their customers. About Pronto Software PRONTO-Xi FM applications provide the tools to optimise people, process, and assets for FM organisations to deliver superior customer service and operational efficiency. With fully integrated Engineer Scheduling and Mobilily functionalities, PRONTO-Xi facilitates resource management and keeps service teams up-to-date when they on the road. PRONTO-Xi Facilities Management is easy to use, fast to implement and cost effective to run. It is powerful tool for total business management that delivers superior customer service and an accelerated return on your investment. Pronto Software Pty Ltd Upcoming Branch Events Upcoming Branch Events FMA Australia State Branches provide numerous opportunities for networking and social events, industry presentations and Site Visits. For the latest Branch Events in your State click here.Branch News FMA Australia VIC Branch News
Caption: Flinders Street Station, Melbourne In September I reported that we have a new committee up and running and now we have had our first month of settling in and agreeing on the portfolio distribution and mix. As the new committee members have been learning the ropes, it’s been a quieter month than most on the committee productivity front, but we are now rearing to go with many new initiatives in place – a lot of our focus on Education, Sustainability, member retention initiatives and new member incentives. Committee Member Profile: Brent Boyd, Operations Manager, Tungsten
Within this role, Brent is responsible for contract management, client satisfaction, staff development and leadership, contract and financial remodelling, risk mitigation strategies, driving compliance and innovation and work flow management. His theoretical and practical knowledge has been gained in the industry whilst working in various positions across a broad section of the industry over the last 16 years that include petrochemical, commercial, retail, local council, local and national Government, Defence and industrial contracts ranging from site based to National and Global contracts. Brent has also gained extensive experience across the industry prior to joining Tungsten, working as a tradesperson through to various supervisory positions and then into project management, contract and maintenance planning and auditing roles that encompassed the FM business. October Lunch Forum170 members and guests attended our October lunch forum to hear Nick Alsop, Project Manager for Sustainability Victoria, address a very topical issue. Nick works in the Built Environment Team at Sustainability Victoria, working on the ResourceSmart Commercial Buildings Program. Prior to this role, Nick worked for four years at the City of Melbourne as the Greenhouse Program Coordinator, which involved corporate environmental management, green energy purchasing, energy and water efficiency, and business and community sustainability programs. Nick has also worked on green buildings, water efficiency and product stewardship at the Centre for Design at RMIT University. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Environmental Science. He is a member of the NABERS Steering Committee and BATE (Business and The Environment) Steering Committee.
Not surprisingly, question time became quite animated and the passion in the audience was apparent. Facility Managers obviously have a pivotal role in instigating sustainable solutions and managing the change process that goes with any culture shift. The attendance numbers and vocalism at our lunch were testament to the genuine interest and concern our industry members have. It’s true to say that perhaps, particularly in one instance, there was a little too much passion portrayed, but whether appropriate or not, it has to be said that this is a topic that brings out the green monster in us all! Personally I’d rather see the passion however it comes across – after all, without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility. If you missed the October lunch, don’t despair, we have will have numerous lunches addressing this issue including our November panel lunch.
Visit to TasmaniaLast month I also had the pleasure of attending the inaugural FMA Australia Tasmania lunch. The reason for my participation was to meet some members and see if the Victorian branch of the FMA can assist the Tasmanian members in setting up an FMA branch committee and perhaps sharing our experiences and speakers. We are still unsure how much involvement the Vic branch will have, but if the success of the luncheon was testament to the amount of interest in forging ahead, then I should think it will happen sooner rather than later. Interestingly, at my table was Senator Christine Milne, a woman who defies latent force and far-flung possibility when it comes to sustainability!
Caption: Senator Christine Milne Congratulations to EcoBright, a Victorian based lighting product and consultancy company, who organised and sponsorsed this very successful luncheon! For more information on EcoBright, I would suggest you look at the innovative lighting strategies on their website: www.ecobright.com.au Upcoming Branch Functions
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We are pleased to welcome Brent to the Victorian Committee and his experience will reflect in his work on our Innovation & Best Practice portfolio. Brent joins Kerry Lodge and Lou la Delfa on this portfolio. Brent joined the Tungsten Group in August 2006 as the Operations Manager – Vic/Tas for Tungsten Group, responsible for a number of large contracts.
Thank you to our major lunch sponsors, GJK Facility Services, for their sponsorship and support to make these lunches such a success! For more information on GJK, please check their website on:
The judges accordingly decided that only the first 9 holes were to be taken into account, and announced the following winners:
Handicap team winner was awarded to Gary Wakington of the Australian Sports Commission, and Paul Browne and Neil Gavin of Spotless Services. Each member of the team took home a large hamper each, courtesy of the Frontier Group
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 Caption: The Winner Joe Magro with George Macris of Frontier. |
Getting warm around the Bar of the Yamba Club of the Southern Cross Club after the ‘game, participants were also presented with lucky door prizes donated by Culligan and Iken. Networking and celebrations continued as the promised BBQ meal was served and business cards were swapped between participants.
Caption: Culligan lucky door prize presentation.
Caption: Iken presents its lucky door prize.
Caption: The Winning Team.
Thank you to Culligan Australian P/L for providing the major Corporate Support for the third year in a row. Thank you also to the Frontier Group Australia, Iken Commercial Interiors, Multiplex Facilities Management, Schiavello ACT, Movers and Shakers Business Relocations, Toll Transitions for providing corporate support for this fun day.
Many participants on the day had expressed their wish to return next year and the Committee is considering holding the day at an earlier time in 2008, but we will certainly give you all plenty of notice so that you can all mark it in your diary!
We would also like to thank Peter Mollison, Allan Schmidt and Rebecca Petrass plus her team at the Frontiers Group, for organising this fantastic day.
Future Events
The Committee will be developing its calendar for next year at the coming Branch Committee meeting, due to be held on Tuesday 20 November 2007. If you have any suggestions for topics, venues, or issues, please do not hesitate to contact any of the Committee members, or turn up to the Branch Committee meeting, to be held at the Facilities meeting room, Australian Institute of Sport Arena, Australian Institute of Sport, Bruce.
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Caption: The stunning skyline of Brisbane City
FMA Australia National AGM in Brisbane
The National Annual General Meeting of the Facility Management Association of Australia will this year be held in Brisbane. On behalf of the Queensland committee I would like to extend a special invitation to our Queensland members to attend the AGM.
This is an excellent opportunity to meet the Board and other State Chairs and delegates as well as help to shape the future of the FMA.
The AGM will be held on Wednesday November 28th at 5.30pm, level 3, Green Square South Tower, 505 St Pauls Terrace, Fortitude Valley.
Past Events
Green Buildings Forum – The how and why of Green Buildings, 31 October
Our October event was a double header featuring two keynote presenters in the field of green buildings. Lee Williams from Davis Langdon, Melbourne, and Robin Mellon from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).
Robin presented first, setting the scene for the green building market in Australia. He explained the function of the GBCA and the latest developments in the rating tools with examples of current best practice throughout Australia.
Lee then presented on the findings from the leading industry report “the Cost and Benefits of Green Buildings”. This report explores the challenges and opportunities that a sustainable design approach can provide. Lee’s presentation addressed the commonly asked question – how much more does it cost to build a green building?
Robin is acting Executive Director at the Green Building Council of Australia. He is currently steering the production of new rating tools and teaches the Green Star Accredited Professional Courses.
Lee is a Melbourne based Director of Davis Langdon and leads the Sustainability Sector group within the company. Lee is a Quantity Surveyor and both a Green Star Accredited Professional and a Green Star Assessor. He has participated in the development of a number of the Green Star Tools through his work with the technical working group.
Caption: from left to right: Lee Williams – Davis Langdon, Lex Dewar – FMA Australia Qld Branch Chair, FMA and Robin Mellon - Green Building Council of Australia.
Upcoming Events
Technical workshop – Latest developments in Fire Safety Regulation, 21 November.
The Queensland Branch will be hosting a technical workshop on the latest developments in fire safety regulations and practices. Leading consultants in the field, The Hendry Group will provide an overview of recent changes and what they mean for facility owners and managers.
Mark this date in your diary. Registration details will be available soon.
End of Year Christmas Networking Lunch – Friday 7 December
Jojn your FM colleagues and friends for the FMA Australia Qld Branch end-of-year Christmas networking lunch. Don’t miss one of the premier events on the Associations calendar with special guest speaker, raffles, doors prizes and much more. This year proceeds will be going to support a nominated charity.
Full details will be available soon.
Five minutes with….
Five minutes with….Stacey Vassiliadis – Events and Professional Development Coordinator, FMA Australia, Victorian Branch Office.
FMA Australia national office staff are chosen for their professionalism and their commitment to providing the level of membership services that meet or exceed member expectations. WinterComms Communications Officer Bianca Frost spoke to Stacey Vassiliadis about her role.
My main responsibility at FMA Australia is for the organization of FMA Victorian branch events and the many professional development courses that the FMA runs throughout Australia.
The main kind of events that I look after are the Monthly networking lunches, golf days and occasional breakfast events.
I have been working at the FMA for three months and prior to that spent 12 months working in London as an Events Planner at a five star hotel and traveling through Europe and the US. At the hotel I coordinated everything from large corporate conferences to smaller private functions such as weddings.
I didn’t know a lot about facilities management before coming to FMA Australia but I have learnt a lot more since being here although I was accustomed to liaising with facilities managers in my previous role in London and was also exposed to various maintenance issues when I worked at the RACV Club in Melbourne where I was employed as a Conference and Events Coordinator.
The one thing I have really noticed about the FMA membership is that they come from all kinds of backgrounds and have all kinds of different personalities - they can be male or female, young or old, but almost without exception, all the people I have met have been incredibly friendly and positive.
I really like working with the members. I like talking with them over the phone, helping them out and answering their questions. In my work I get to meet a lot of different kinds of people and this is something I really enjoy about my work at FMA. It’s great to meet someone at an event that I have only spoken to previously on the phone. Everyday is different at FMA which is a great thing for me.
The thing I enjoy most about my work at FMA Australia is learning more about the facilities management industry and its particular challenges. I also really like the team I work with. It’s very fun and there’s lots of laughter. We might like to joke around, but we also work really hard at the same time. The atmosphere at the FMA office is a welcome relief from the pressure that builds in the lead-up to a large event or professional development course. These times can become really busy as sometimes I am organizing as many as five different events in different states in a single week.
The key to coping with the pressures of my role are good organizational skills, a keen sense of humour and excellent customer service skills.
At the moment, I am busy organizing November’s panel lunch, “Achieving Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings: Opportunities and Challenges”. I am also working on our December Christmas lunch which features a well-known Australian comedian plus lots of fun, raffle prizes and many different things that will be happening over the afternoon. Other projects in the pipeline include the FMA’s 2008 series of panel lunches, a golf day in April and a whole complement of other events for members and their non-member guests.
When I am not working I like to unwind by spending time with friends and family, partying it up and dancing, or for more quiet nights, going to the movies or going out to dinner.
The next FMA panel lunch is being held this Friday, November 16 and is called “Achieving Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings – Opportunities and Challenges”. The FMA’s annual Christmas lunch will be held on December 6th at the RACV Club. For more details, contact Stacey on 8641 6666.
Just a timely reminder that if you would like to take part in a legendary Facility Management Christmas Event in your State, you have to move quickly by clicking here.
To continue delivering first-rate services to our members, FMA Australia is offering you the opportunity to take part in Webinars relating to topical issues in the Facility Management industry. Short for Web-based seminar, Webinars can take the form of a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the Web. A key feature of a Webinar is its interactive elements -- the ability to give, receive and discuss information.
FMA Online’s Melanie Drummond spoke to FMA Australia’s Webinar Sponsor, Don Hitchcock of Advanced Spatial Technologies (AST) in Perth and Marty Chobot of FM Systems in North Carolina about the benefits of this advancing technology.
FMA Online: Tell us a bit more about Webinars.
Don Hitchcock: People can register on a webpage, get online and all they really need is their computer and some audio to access an informative online session. In this particular instance AST has offered to sponsor these first Webinars for the FMA and Marty will be the person running the Webinars. AST represents Marty’s company, FM Systems, in this region and both of our companies use this technology everyday for presentations, support and projects but it can also be used for one-to-many type presentations.
FMA Online: How long has the capacity existed for Webinar technology to be enabled?
Marty Chobot: WebEx is one of the first companies that started providing these type of services about eleven years ago, so it’s been around for a long time. CITRIX Systems, an American technology company, is the company that provides the GoToWebinar product FM Systems uses (www.gotowebinar.com) and they’re a very well established company as well. IFMA (International Facility Management Association) here in the United States run a number of Webinars. They’ve really pushed the programme a long way, they target their members and offer continuing education credits through the Webinars.
Don Hitchcock: What we’ve done is focus the FMA Australia Webinars around interesting things for FMA Australia members, such as how to manage your churn better and the integration of real estate and facility management.
FMA Online: Are Webinars pre-recorded, or do you go live at the allocated time?
Marty Chobot: Basically Webinars are a screen-sharing technology, what I see on my screen, you’ll see on yours. For example, a current presentation I’m doing is done entrirely in power point and this is discussed during the session.
FMA Online: How do you apply a voice component to the Webinar?
Marty Chobot: Usually I would recommend that we find a conference call service that allows the panelists and the attendees to dial in, for the FMA Australia Webinars we would look for one with a toll-free number for Australia.
FMA Online: How interactive are Webinars?
Marty Chobot: Typically with Webinars we mute the phone lines and the reason we do that is that there is always some sort of background noise in the audience. There is however a question and answer panel, so participants can ask questions which are logged so that you can download those questions after the event. There’s also the benefit, from the presenter’s point of view, of being able to poll the audience. Basically you can survey your audience, so for example, in the Move Management Webinar I can ask the audience what their churn rate is. It gives me a good idea as a presenter about how best to speak to my audience. It’s also valuable for the audience to see what their peers are saying.
FMA Online: Does it usually follow that the time for the Webinar is posted on a website and people all log in at the same time to participate?
Marty Chobot: Exactly.
FMA Online: As far as software requirements to participate in Webinars, can people just use their home or office computer?
Don Hitchcock: There’s a little plug-in which you download once you connect to the session and that only takes a minute or two. Webinar and WebEx are just some of the providers of the service, we use Webex at AST which is hosted by Telstra. They’re a medium we use to deliver presentations and offer support, of course some are better than others.
FMA Online: What costs would a company incur to set up a Webinar system for their staff and clients?
Don Hitchcock: We have a WebEx account with Telstra and we pay something like $500 per month for that service and that allows us to provide a one-on-one service. With WebEx each time you add on a new person in a remote location, it charges you a nominal amount so the way we tend to use the software is to have people at the other end in a meeting room with a projector viewing the presentation that way.
FMA Online: Who will Webinars benefit?
Marty Chobot: Definitely the practitioner, it’s a great way to share knowledge without requiring people to travel. They can be used for things such as Best Practice presentations like the one we’re doing at the moment. Some people also use them for internal training whether it’s for soft skills or hard skills.
Don Hitchcock: Basically Webinars are the best way to have a conference and learning experience without having to sit around the same table.
FMA Australia is proud to invite you to their first Webinar, ‘Five Keys to Managing Churn’, designed to help you deliver better organised and more cost-effective moves.
Date: Tuesday 4 December 2007
Times:
VIC 13.00
WA 11.00
NSW 13.00
SA 12.30
QLD 12.00
NT 11.30
TAS 13.00
ACT 13.00
Presenter: Marty Chobot
For more information and to register please click here
Call for Papers
Please contact Carolyn Journeaux on 03 8641 6666 or email cj@fma.com.au for information and enquiries on call for papers.
Michael Ferrier, Contract Manager (Defence), Spotless Services Australia Ltd.
Each month new members join FMA Australia, bringing with them a wealth of experience and knowledge of the FM industry. FMA Online provides a personal glimpse of some of the responsibilities faced by facility managers and the reasons they decided to join.
This month WinterComms Communications Officer Bianca Frost spoke to Michael Ferrier, Contract Manager (Defence), Spotless Services Australia Ltd.
FMA Online: When did you join FMA Australia?
MF: Two months ago.
FMA Online: Why did you join?
MF: I have recently taken up a more senior role in facilities management at Spotless and I was encouraged by my peers to join. One of the key reasons I then joined FMA Australia was to keep abreast of state and federal government statutory changes to industry standards and regulations.
FMA Online: What is your background in facilities management?
MF: I am a trade qualified electrician and have been working in Defence facilities for 16 years.
FMA Online: What can you tell us about Spotless?
MF: Spotless manage multiple different tasks as part of our key service offering in facilities management which can be anything from capital works projects to cleaning, catering, laundry service and management.
FMA Online: What does your role at Spotless involve?
MF: My role is to manage the Defence contract in South Australia and also in parts of the Northern Territory and New South Wales.
FMA Online: What services do you provide?
MF: We manage the maintenance of the Defence forces plant equipment and other general operational requirements including their high voltage and water treatment systems. We also deliver capital works projects covering routine reactive maintenance and minor corrective works on Defence estates throughout the year – things like burst water mains, broken door handles, windows and the like.
FMA Online: What are the main challenges you and your department face?
MF: At the moment, our biggest challenge is to find reliable sub-contractors. We operate mostly in remote regional areas such as Alice Springs and Broken Hill where we are competing with the mining industry, who are much better resourced in terms of wages to recruit and retain employees. We have a lot of work on offer, but it is difficult to find good contractors who are willing to work within our budget parameters.
The other significant issue we face is making sure that our small to medium size contractors are up-to-date with current OH&S laws and considerations. Their lack of knowledge in these areas means we need to spend more time assisting these contractors to ensure that they are in compliance with the legislation which can sometimes be quite complicated – particularly as we not only need to be in compliance with state legislation, but the terms of the Defence contract means we also need to meet the requirements of federal laws as well. Some of our smaller contractors struggle with this, so we need to work with them to ensure that they comply.
FMA Online: What do you do to assist them with OH&S issues?
MF: Embedded in our contracts we have health and safety professionals who are there to support our delivery of OH&S best practice and to support contractors improve their compliance regime.
FMA Online: Currently, sustainability is a major issue for business. Can you tell me what your company is doing to address sustainability issues?
MF: Clients drive where businesses head, and working for the department of Defence is no different. There’s a big push at the moment to reduce waste, improve energy consumption, monitor ground water levels and to find cleaner, “greener” initiatives and ways of doing things. As part of our Defence contract we also need to address certain heritage issues and we are responsible for the revitalization of environments that have eroded due to a lack of previous environmental management. We measure our performance in these areas against a number of key performance indicators related to sustainability that are linked to financial incentives, which embed the importance of sustainable practice within these contracts.
FMA Online: What do you think government could or should be doing to ensure that the facilities management industry continues to advance?
MF: They probably need to better inform the industry about regulatory changes and where they see further changes occurring. At the moment, we often only find out about changes to legislation from non-government industry bodies like FMA Australia. I don’t think the industry always comes to grips with these changes quickly enough and sometimes does not clearly understand the reasons behind these changes. It would also help if the industry were consulted and could provide more input into the development of regulation.
FMA Online: What changes would you like to see occur in the facilities management industry?
MF: Over the last ten years or so, facilities management has increasingly become a recognised profession. Before that, the industry was comprised of a whole series of different people from different backgrounds who just happened to manage facilities. Now, tertiary qualifications are required to undertake many roles in the industry. I think it is a good thing that people in the industry are becoming better educated and more highly qualified as this will further the development of the industry, but it also needs to encompass the needs of the clients that we are actually delivering to. Clients need to fully understand the increasing maturity of the industry and the benefits of where it is heading. For example, compliance regimes and best practice policy is not always pushed because of client-driven financial restrictions
FMA Online: What specific issues do you think your business will be dealing with in the next five years?
MF: There is a lot of competition in the market, so we will continue to face very strong competition from our competitors. This drives our need to become more efficient in what we do while at the same time we want to be seen in the market as a leader in the area of sustainability, as well as the more traditional areas of facilities management. We need to continually strive to maintain our reputation as one of the top companies in the facilities management industry.
FMA Online: Have you attended any professional development courses presented by FMA Australia, and what kind of professional development courses would you like to see FMA Australia develop for members?
MF: I have previously attended forums and seminars and am also looking at some current ones on offer which also look quite good. I am particularly interested in the areas of Customer management and service, OH&S and sustainability as these areas relate immediately and directly to the future of facilities management in Australia.
170 members and guests attended the FMA Australia VicBranch October lunch forum to hear Nick Alsop from Sustainability Victoria present on the topic of Sustainability Victoria’s Vision for the Built Environment- Driving Innovation and the Greening of Existing Buildings.
For the benefit of those who could not attend, FMA Online’s Max Winter caught up with Nick Alsop to ask him about Sustainability Victoria’s plans.
FMA Online: Tell me about your presentation at the Victorian Branch Luncheon, ResourceSmart Buildings Program.
NA: My talk was about the environmental challenges that buildings are facing, how that relates to Facility Managers, owners and operators of those buildings. I also spoke about Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart Buildings program, and how facility managers can grow their business by positioning themselves as solution providers for sustainability.
To illustrate the global climate change problem, I used the example of lessons from the Arctic Summer 2007, which highlighted the changes in summer Arctic ice cover over the last thirty or so years, particularly 2007 when there was a significant drop in summer ice cover of the Arctic.
By 2013 there will be no summer arctic ice cover at all, which is quite shocking, and has ramifications for the ecology, and the European and global climate. This is an example of an impact of climate change that is happening right now. I think climate change is not only an issue for future generations or our own kids – we’re actually starting to see the changes - right now1.
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We were talking in terms of the limiting climate change impacts for future generations.
Now we are also talking about limiting climate change that impacts on us – right now. |
We’re really in a pivotal time now. Ever since the Stern1 Report last year, and Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth, the publics’ awareness of climate change has been a driving force in the very public debate on the need for sustainable practice and reform.
Business is starting to recognise that sustainability and addressing climate change is part of core operations. It’s about reducing risk, increasing profits, business growth and future competitiveness. No longer is it peripheral, or done just for public relations or philanthropy. That is very relevant to the built environment. And we are starting to see that green buildings are a reality, particularly commercial buildings., , Sustainability Victoria and the State of Victoria have played a huge role in assisting with the development of landmark buildings such as 40 Albert Road, CH2, Bendigo Bank Headquarters, 500 Collins Street, Kangan Batman TAFE’s Centre of Automotive Excellence and others. These are the market’s leading examples of green buildings in action.2
Tenants are starting to demand at least 4.5 ABGR stars, and 4 Green Stars. A lot of that is being driven by State and Federal Government, which occupy 40% of the national office floor space. As major tenants, they are exercising their purchasing power through green property and tenancy requirements. Any developer, investor or owner of a new building who does not want to shut themselves out of that stable, long term government tenancy market will realise they need to at least meet, if not exceed, their environmental requirements. And increasingly the private sector are demanding it too. If a building isn’t built to achieve at least 4.5 Stars ABGR, it becomes obsolete from the day it opens.
FMA Online: For the benefit of the readers, can you explain the difference between the Green Star scheme, the Australian Buildings Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) and the NABERS scheme?
NA: Green Star is a national scheme operated by the Green Building Council of Australia3. It is a tool that assesses the environmental design and features of a building, scoring it up to six stars. . It is important people understand that Green Star is a useful tool for designing new buildings, fitouts and major refurbishments. It sets out a framework across a number of different environmental criteria including energy management, water management, energy efficiency, transportation, material selection, indoor environment quality and others—right from the very beginning. The smart thing to do is use this framework from an early stage of your project, to guide your decision making and capture innovative thinking and solutions along the way.
ABGR4 (Australian Building Greenhouse Rating) is also national, and administered by the NSW Government. It’s about measuring the actual greenhouse impact of existing buildings, by collecting data from the energy bills. It’s the kilograms of greenhouse emissions per square metre of office space, per year. This is translated into a star rating between 0 and 5 stars, benchmarking the performance against the rest of the market, with 2.5 stars the average market performance... NABERS5, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, is the umbrella scheme under which ABGR is the rating tool for greenhouse performance. There is also a tool for water which measures litres per square metre per year, and others in development.
FMA Online: How significant do you think 500 Collins is in terms of retrofitting existing buildings?
NA: Very significant. It’s a great example of a building that has undergone an impressive green refurbishment, but done it in a commercially viable way. It has also retained a very normal office space look, but it has an invigorating feel to it.
The refurbishment was a staged process where 2 or 3 floors at a time were being refurbished and tenants being moved around to vacate those floors while it was being done. They managed to keep an 80% occupancy rate all the way through the refurbishment, so rental incomes didn’t dry up in the process.
It is also very significant from a workplace productivity point of view. The vast majority of a tenant’s costs are related to staff salaries. So if green buildings are able to improve productivity through reductions in sick leave, it becomes a very strong business case for green buildings,
Along with the owners, the Kador Group, Sustainability Victoria undertook a study to look at business performance indicators for two of the tenants in 500 Collins. We looked at performance before and after refurbishment, using metrics such as billable hours (for a law firm) and the number of sick days per employee..
We discovered a 39% fall in sick leave which translated to a 44% reduction in the cost of sick leave, and a 9% improvement in chargeable fees. The study of the building can be downloaded off our website.
A lot of those improvements are due to the superior indoor environment quality. A lot of work was done on lighting, air conditioning, and reducing off-gassing from materials in the building—glues, paints and carpets.
One of the chief outcomes of green buildings is higher indoor environment quality, which if done properly goes hand in hand with energy efficient lighting and air conditioning systems.
FMA Online: You’re talking about Chilled Beam Technology?
NA: Yes, among other things. A lot of the problems in traditional commercial buildings have to do with the way air is forced through and mixes with stale air in the office space. If someone sneezes in the building and they have the flu, those particles very quickly spread across the floor and other people breathe it in get the flu. A lot of the new technology reduces mixing through the office, and increases levels of fresh air. This reduces sick leave
FMA Online: What where the workplace productivity findings from Melbourne City Council House 2 (CH2)?
NA: There are studies underway. What’s interesting is that productivity improvements formed a key part of the initial business case, with a conservative estimate of 2% productivity gain. It was a critical part of getting the project off the ground. I suspect the studies will show the building has exceeded those estimates.
FMA Online: Describe the broad thrust of the ResourceSmart Building Program?
NA: The aim of the ResourceSmart Building Program over the next three years is to achieve large greenhouse and water reductions from existing commercial buildings in Victoria. The challenge is huge, and requires a very different approach to our previous programs which focussed more on new building design.
The first initiative is benchmarking environmental performance. If we are going to reduce the built environment’s impacts we need to start with everyone understanding what their annual impacts are. That’s ‘Sustainability 101’ – you can’t manage what you don’t measure!
So we offer a $1,500 rebate for use of AGBR and NABERS Office Water ratings (each), as a way of establishing baselines of performance from which targets can be set and improvements made.
Secondly, we are partnering with large property owners, and working with them to establish strategic goals; benchmark their portfolio; and investigate where they can make big energy and water savings. We will see which opportunities can be implemented immediately, and of course, bring the facility managers into that picture as champions for energy and water efficiency. We will also identify other larger, more costly works that integrate into longer term building strategies. . We hope to move their buildings from an average performance of 2.5 Stars ABGR up to an average of 4.5 Stars ABGR, and we hope these partnerships will influence the rest of the market to follow suit.
Finally, we will continue to drive innovation in new buildings, by providing financial support to projects that achieve Six Green Stars. These projects are an important breeding ground for new technologies and design, which the rest of the market can take up over time.
FMA Online: What is your opinion of the state of the skills sets in the industry at the moment to support partnerships with owners and property groups?
NA: It is a great opportunity for the facilities management industry to skill up and show leadership. Building owners and investors are expecting their buildings to be more environmentally sustainable. Facility managers need to recognise that there is a business opportunity by positioning themselves in the market as solution providers on sustainability.
We have been working with FMA Australia, AIRAH and other organisations to develop some training courses for the industry such as the Graduate Certificate in Facilities Management Energy Efficiency which will be ready in 2009. That will also have an accreditation process so it will be quite easy for facility managers to demonstrate they have these skills within their organisation, to provide these solutions.
FMA Online: Finally Nick, a word on Mandatory Energy Reporting for large companies.
NA: A very important and significant step; and it will be interesting to see what percentage of the property market is affected. I think it is a good thing, if done right.
There are more pressures on some owners to report on carbon impacts of their buildings, either due to Federal and State requirements or voluntary schemes like the Carbon Disclosure Project. But an Emission Trading Scheme will also have an impact, where accurately measuring the carbon impact of the business is going to be absolutely fundamental, and there will be even greater incentive to reduce energy use due to emissions liabilities, or increasing electricity costs,.
About Nick Alsop
Nick works in the Built Environment Team at Sustainability Victoria, working on the ResourceSmart Commercial Buildings Program. Prior to this role, Nick worked for four years at the City of Melbourne as the Greenhouse Program Coordinator, which involved corporate environmental management, green energy purchasing, energy and water efficiency, and business and community sustainability programs. Nick has also worked on green buildings, water efficiency and product stewardship at the Centre for Design at RMIT University. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Environmental Science. He is a member of the NABERS Steering Committee and BATE (Business and The Environment) Steering Committee.
1 http://www.carbonequity.info/PDFs/Arctic.pdf
2 See case studies of some leading green buildings on the Sustainability Victoria website: http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1474-case-studies-.asp
3 www.gbcaus.org
4 http://www.abgr.com.au/
5 www.nabers.com.au
Louis Cini, NSW Portfolio Manager for Knight Frank
Each month new members join FMA Australia, bringing with them a wealth of experience and knowledge of the FM industry. FMA Online provides a personal glimpse of some of the responsibilities faced by facility managers and the reasons they decided to join.
This month FMA Online’s Melanie Drummond spoke to Louis Cini, NSW Portfolio Manager for Knight Frank.
FMA Online: When did you join FMA Australia?
LC: A couple of months ago.
FMA Online: What was your main reason for joining?
LC: Well when you’re working in the industry it’s good to be part of an association like FMA Australia, it gives you the opportunity to network with your peers as well.
FMA Online: What has been your background in Facilities Management?
LC: I’ve been involved in the management of properties for about 20 years. I started out working with different owners then with agencies. My current focus is working for a variety of clients, institutional and some private owners.
FMA Online: Tell us a bit about Knight Frank?
LC: Knight Frank is a private property consultancy firm, it’s been around for about 120 years. It’s an English-based company and has offices located in 29 countries.
FMA Online: What does your role involve?
LC: My portfolio currently consists of 32 properties in NSW. I look after one of our major clients and that involves providing facilities management support to a team of onsite facilities managers for this particular client, which has 12 properties nationally. The other properties in my portfolio consists of a mixture of commercial high rise buildings in the Sydney and Parramatta CBD, small and large industrial estates, some smaller office buildings around the Sydney metropolitan area and some strata office buildings in the Sydney CBD for a variety of institutional and private owners.
FMA Online: What does that involve on a daily basis?
LC: We manage the day-to-day operational aspect of the properties ensuring that the buildings engineering services are maintained and run smoothly, liaising with tenants on day to day issues, carrying out repairs and maintenance works, ensuring contractors are inducted properly, managing OH&S and risk management, managing tenant fitout works, preparing FM monthly reports to clients, carrying out various audits for sustainability and ABGR ratings and so forth. We also manage the process for tendering of different services within the buildings.
FMA Online: What problems might you face in a working week?
LC: Anything from risk issues and occupational health and safety matters, to dealing with tenants that vacate premises. Also in the high rise buildings we often have to manage a lot of the problematic issues surrounding fit-out/construction work that takes place.
FMA Online: Obviously having good contractors is an essential part of meeting your own requirements, how do you go about ensuring you have the right people for the job?
LC: Over time we’ve weeded out the contractors that don’t do a good job or don’t have the appropriate skills, so what we have now is lists of our preferred contractors. We’ve also minimised the number of contractors we have, as the more contractors we have, the bigger the risk. We now also have all of our contractors on the International Compliance Information Exchange (ICIX). It’s where all contractors register and pay a small nominal fee each year, and they then post all their compliance documentation (insurances, work method statements, risk assessments etc) on the database. ICIX manage this web-based system and ensures that the contractors have up-to-date compliance documentation posted on it which takes a lot of pressure off us. We can then access that database and if the contractors don’t have current compliance, the system will flag them, and they won’t work on our properties. Essentially it minimises our risk - it’s all about risk.
FMA Online: Do you liaise with contractors?
LC: Mostly it’s the on-site facilities managers that do that, they in turn report to me and I provide them with technical support if required.
FMA Online: What sustainability initiatives has your company implemented?
LC: All our clients are trying to promote green buildings and trying to obtain good ABGR ratings, so wherever we can see that we can save on energy and water and things like that or run our buildings more efficiently, we highlight those things and present them to the owners. A lot of our clients have already gone down the road of trying to see where they can be green-friendly.
FMA Online: What do you think Government should be doing to ensure the facilities management industry continues to advance?
LC: Government is quite out there at the moment with green initiatives, it’s definitely on the political agenda. Facilities Management is becoming more valued because all of these different issues with properties, is our area of expertise. It’s also getting a lot more media attention.
FMA Online: What issues do you think your business will be facing in the next 5 years?
LC: Our role is expanding all the time, we’re constantly recruiting – the amount of business we’re getting is really good. We’re also delving into a lot of other areas, a lot more project management work - capital expenditure work, traditionally the owners would have organised that, but now we can put up our hand and say that we can do it.
FMA Online: Have you had to upskill in order to meet changing demands?
LC: I do project management on a small scale but for the bigger jobs we have in-house professional project managers who have joined our team for the projects.
FMA Online: Have you been to any of the FMA Australia professional development courses?
LC: Not as yet, no.
FMA Online: What professional development courses would you like to see FMA run?
LC: Current topical issues that are being voiced by government, our industry or associations.
FMA Online: Do you feel there’s enough out there regarding legislative changes relevant to the facilities industry? LC: I think a lot more information needs to be broadcast, and I think FMA Australia is the right organisation to do that.
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