FOCUS MAINTENANCE
READY AND
WAITING
34 MAY 2020
For the majority, the world has gone into
standby mode, with some businesses and
non-critical operations closing their doors
indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For others, the expectation remains that
employees continue to go to work, all the while
adopting some new and very alien approaches
to their everyday tasks.
Paul Bullard, Business Strategy Director at FSI,
points out that the UK FM industry has never
been so disparate; shopping centres and o ices
are desolate, yet hospitals and supermarkets
have much higher levels of activity. Each scenario
presents a particular challenge for the FM teams
managing building maintenance.
“Traditionally, FM is served by the customer
base acting as the ‘sensors’ of the property,
identifying issues and reporting them to the
FM team,” says Bullard. “But with low or no
occupancy, there is a need for the building to
‘talk’ to the FM team directly. Having an intelligent
CAFM/IWMS system plugged into a comprehensive
BMS is helping organisations across the UK
access assets remotely and identify issues see
References, note 1.”
How do you manage unoccupied buildings during a lockdown?
We talk to three FM specialists about the issues involved,
including the role of technology, shutdown procedures and the
impact on maintenance programmes