NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
ASSOCIATION NEWS
WORKPLACE AND RELOCATION MANAGEMENT EXPECTED TO BE THE
FASTEST GROWING AREA OF FM OVER THE NEXT TWELVE MONTHS
Tarrant Parsons, Economist, RICS
8 OCTOBER 2020
Facilities
management
continues to be
heavily influenced
by the ongoing
pandemic, according
to the August 2020
RICS UK Facilities
Management Survey.
Demand for FM
services across healthcare appear to be rising
sharply, with retail remaining the weakest
performing category.
Just over half (51 per cent) of survey participants
report that the buildings they are involved with are
now fully set up to operate with social distancing
measures in place. When asked to estimate the
proportion of workers that would eventually come
back to the workplace, a majority of contributors
envisage at least 40 per cent of workers not
returning to the workplace (at least not to the same
schedule as prior to the pandemic). According to
a Morgan Stanley survey conducted in July, only
one third of UK o ice workers had returned to
their physical workplace, that is, before the latest
change in advice was issued by the government to
work from home again if possible. This had been
much slower than in France and Germany where
it appears around 80 per cent and 70 per cent of
workers respectively returned to o ices by July.
The previous quarterly feedback showed a
significant shi in perceptions on which area of
FM is likely to see the strongest growth in the year
ahead, and these views have become further
entrenched in the latest results. Workplace and
relocation management now stands out as a
clear leader, with cleaning displaying a firmly
positive assessment. Businesses are likely to be
reconsidering the amount of space they need, at
least across certain sectors, as working from home
becomes more prevalent and the pressure on firms
to reduce costs is intensifying amid the challenging
macro climate.
Aside from these two areas, the strategic
planning and project management category
had the third strongest score when it comes to
expected expansion. When it comes to service
contracts, bundled contracts and total integrated
facilities management are predicted as the fastest
growing types of FM service over the next twelve
months.
A net balance of -29 per cent of contributors
anticipates profit margins coming under further
downward pressure, yet there are positive
projections for overall workloads, with a net
balance +58 per cent of contributors envisaging
an increase in the year to come. New guidelines
to make buildings ‘COVID secure’ require much
more rigorous hygiene standards and distancing
protocols in place, which FM professionals could
be vital in helping to deliver. The future will require
tremendous innovation, use of technology, data
analytics and leadership to ensure our buildings
– whether they be schools, hospitals, o ices or
retail – are environments that are, of course, safe
and secure, but also perform to a high standard in
terms of environmental and social impact.
Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of respondents
now cite sustainability as being the most important
issue for clients, up from a share of 56 per cent
in both of the previous two reports. Alongside
this, health and wellbeing, as well as energy
management, were seen as the fastest rising areas
of sustainability over the past twelve months. As
occupiers consider the rationale and the benefit of
their workplaces in light of the success of remote
working during the pandemic, real estate must
evolve to ensure buildings deliver value in areas
such as health and wellbeing. As such, these issues
have become more important than ever and this is
reflected by the survey feedback.
For more details visit
www.rics.org
We talk o en about how we live in
times of uncertainty, but in many
respects, these last few years have
also seen the birth of an era of transformation.
There have been huge changes to our way of
life, the impacts of which will be felt for years
to come: the West’s political landscape has
transitioned to populism; the UK has le the
EU and is about to have the comfort blanket
of the transition period snatched away at
year’s end; COVID-19 has been, in more than
one sense of the word, a novel crisis that has tested countries and people to
their limits, and in the process exposed long-running issues at the heart of
societies, economies and business.
As we heard at our Annual General Meeting last month, our profession,
too, is transforming and IWFM with it. Outmoded tropes of ‘bogs and boilers’
are thankfully dying out as boards witness that workplace and facilities
management practitioners are among the key drivers for organisational
performance and optimisation. While it may have exposed issues, COVID-19 has
also shone a spotlight on our profession and highlighted its immense value.
If we were to draw a map of the twists and turns that 2020 has taken so far, it
would resemble a toddler’s doodle, complete with squiggly lines, rough circles
and sharp zigzags. Traversing these uncertain times has been our profession’s
greatest challenge and also its greatest triumph, as has been evidenced in the
amazing entries we have seen in our special new category for this year’s IWFM
Impact Awards, the COVID Response Award.
But we must not lose sight of the bigger picture. While COVID-19 has
monopolised headlines, global megatrends continue to a ect us all and, just as
with the pandemic, our profession is on the frontline, facing down challenges
and creating opportunities to do better.
With the help of amazing speakers, we tackled four of these megatrends
in our virtual IWFM Conference last month: Arctic explorer Pen Hadow on
climate change; CEO of mental health charity SANE, Marjorie Wallace CBE, on
wellbeing; author and Chief Envisioner Dave Coplin on technology; and the
CEO of the RSA, Matthew Taylor, on the future of work.
Before we got to them, we had a four-day build-up of enthralling live and on
demand presentations from keynote speakers, which saw: Nigel Risner talk
about the four types of animals in our workplaces; Sam Conli discuss positive
rebellion and how to ‘be more pirate’; and Timandra Harkness present on the
VUCA model for resilience and navigating today’s challenges. We also had a ra
of sponsored sessions and networking opportunities.
If there has been one quality that would typify our profession this year, it
is resilience. Fittingly, last month also saw us join Airmic, ASIS International
and BCI in launching the Resilience Alliance: a new collaborative relationship
aimed at promoting the importance of resilience and establishing best practice
‘resilience’ initiatives. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that being prepared
for any eventuality is at a premium.
AN ERA OF TRANSFORMATION
IWFM CEO, Linda Hausmanis
/www.rics.org
