NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
WHAT IS SFG20 AND ITS
RELATIONSHIP TO IWMS?
David Smith, CEO, Bellrock
SFG20 is the standard maintenance specifi cation for
building engineering services and was originally
launched in the early 1990s by what is now known
as the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
Today, it is the defi nitive standard for planned maintenance
activities, in the United Kingdom.
Building owners and FMs use the SFG20 guidance to
ensure that maintenance regimes remain compliant, while
identifying where effi ciencies and savings could be made.
A Unifi ed Vision
In 2017, the key industry bodies Chartered Institution of
Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the Construction
Products Association (CPA) and the Building Engineering
Services Association (BESA), supported by the BIM Task
Group and UK BIM Alliance agreed on uniformity and
alignment between asset-related taxonomies such as NRM3,
SFG20 and BS 8544:2013. In practice, assets captured and
aligned to NRM3 asset classifi cations, perhaps via a BIM
model during design and construction, automatically inherit
a relationship to BESA SFG20. This in turn, triangulates to BS
8544:2013. The latter being guidance and recommendations
on costing the lifecycle of maintaining a building during its
use.
Joining the dots
Historically, aligning the BESA SFG20 regime with CAFM
(computer-aided facilities management) or IWMS (integrated
workplace management system) software has been a manual
and somewhat cumbersome exercise. To simplify the process
Bellrock has recently developed the functionality to enable
the Concerto IWMS to import a BESA subscriber’s SFG20
taxonomy. This allows Bellrock users to view PPM (planned
preventative maintenance) service history, tasks, remedials
and documentation alongside the BESA SFG20 guidance
allowing Bellrock clients to understand and manage their
statutory and commercial risks.
The Concerto system and our expert consultants assist
clients to simplify, conform to and manage these datasets
using the digital estates lifecycle. This ranges from
identifying business needs, to planning and acquisition,
design and build, and in-use activities, ultimately supporting
the decision to retain or dispose of the asset. We believe that
an IWMS system that directly correlates and links to SFG20
is a powerful tool for organisations to monitor and manage
statutory and commercial risk while maintaining the golden
thread between complex and important asset datasets.
What is Concerto IWMS?
The Concerto system is much more than a typical standalone
CAFM, or property management solution. An Integrated
Workplace Management System (IWMS) is a term used
to describe a single system that supports the recording of
data and processes related to Facilities, Project, Real Estate,
Spatial and Environmental management.
In 2020, many organisations face a complex challenge of
balancing acceptable levels of statutory compliance, with
ever-diminishing budgets. Concerto assists organisations in
adopting connected paperless processes with their supplychain
partners or direct labour; allowing compliance evidence
and information, including remedials to be directly uploaded.
The direct upload of compliance information provides greater
transparency, reduces administrative burden and cost.
Adopting Concerto and utilising transparent rate-cards and
evidence-based payment processes drive cost avoidance and
provide savings; allowing Concerto clients to manage their
commercials risks eff ectively.
Concerto brings traditionally disparate data, processes and
teams together to provide insight and management of the
property and asset-related data; ultimately allowing its users
to manage commercial and statutory risks proactively.
The Concerto platform supports over 200,000 sites,
drives an average cost saving of 33 per cent on reactive
maintenance spend, and processes over £1.3 billion of
fi nancial transactions every year.
Part of the Bellrock Group, Concerto is trusted by the likes
of John Lewis and Waitrose, Capita, and over 70 public sector
organisations.
6 FEBRUARY 2020
NET ZERO CARBON: UKGBC RELEASES NEW
ENERGY PERFORMANCE TARGETS FOR OFFICES
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published new energy performance targets
for commercial o ices that are aiming to achieve net zero carbon in operation.
Following direct engagement with industry and analysis of the projected zero carbon
energy capacity of the UK, UKGBC is recommending that the o ices sector should reduce
energy demand by an average of 60 per cent by 2050 to help the UK achieve net zero.
The targets were developed as an addition to UKGBC’s landmark 2019 report ‘Net Zero
Carbon Buildings: A Framework Definition’, which sets out guidance for buildings seeking
to achieve net zero for construction and operational energy. They have been developed
in collaboration with Verco,
Better Buildings Partnership
and BPF, with support from
Arup, Carbon Intelligence,
JLL UK and TfL.
Details of the new energy
performance targets are
set out in a short paper
and include a trajectory
of targets starting from
current best practice with
tightening targets every five
years up to 2035. By this
date, all o ices aiming to be
net zero should be operating at the energy performance standards that will be needed
by 2050.
According to the UKGBC, o ices seeking zero carbon for operational energy should
first meet the energy performance targets, then meet demand as far as possible through
renewable energy and finally o set any remaining carbon. This data should then be
independently verified and publicly disclosed on an annual basis to demonstrate how
the net zero balance has been achieved.
Richard Twinn, Senior Policy Advisor at UKGBC said: “The net zero carbon buildings
framework was introduced to bring consistency about what net zero carbon means in
practice. The industry is already starting to use the framework to meet net zero, but these
targets will begin to raise the bar for o ices, placing much greater emphasis on energy
e iciency before renewable energy and o sets. They will challenge the o ices sector and
show the way towards buildings that are truly fit for 2050.”
BSRIA AND IWFM SIGN MOU
Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) has signed an
MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Institute of Workplace and
Facilities Management (IWFM) formalising the organisations’ relationship.
The agreement outlines how BSRIA and IWFM will work cooperatively to improve the
built environment and operational use of buildings.
Both BSRIA and IWFM share a common interest in the promotion of best practice
within the workplace & facilities business discipline. This agreement provides a
foundation for future collaborative working, enabling a louder voice in the industry to
benefit members and the wider sector. It will hasten the pace of change, harnessing
the opportunities presented by their respective membership, industry and government
engagements.
The initial areas of joint interests will focus on:
Development of operational and technical good practice guidance.
Development of knowledge, training and competence across technical facilities
management and building operators.
Seeking opportunities to undertake joint research projects.
Having an open and regular method of communication between executive teams
through a joint steering group.
The MoU was signed on 17 January 2020 by Julia Evans OBE, Chief Executive, BSRIA and
Linda Hausmanis Chief Executive, IWFM.
WORKPLACE SOLUTIONS
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