EDITORIAL COMMENT
JULY 2022 3
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Editorial steering committee
Alan Hutchinson, Facilities Director, Howard Kennedy LLP
Charles Siddons, Head of Operations, NHS Property Services
Darren Miller, NBCUniversal, VP for International Workplace, Facilities & Real Estate
Ian Wade, Head of UK Estates, British Medical Association
Lucy Hind, Senior FM Lecturer, Leeds Beckett University
Marie Johnson, Head of Workplace & Wellbeing, Nominet
Russell Wood, Facilities Manager at Dentsu Aegis Network
Russell Burnaby, Head of FM, Regeneration and Environment, Brent Council
Simon Francis, Principal Lead, Estates and Masterplanning, ZSL
Simone Fenton-Jarvis, Workplace Consultancy Director at Relogix
Stephen Bursi, Facilities Lead, BAE Systems
Stephen Vagg, Head of Estates and Strategy, National Express Group PLC
Vicky Thorp, Head of Facilities Management, CLSH Management
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In this month’s issue we’re pleased to report
from our fi rst live roundtable event since 2019,
where we brought together a group of FM
thought leaders to discuss ways of delivering
wellbeing and sustainability to the post pandemic
workplace.
During the discussion what emerged were the huge
di erences in approach. While many were embracing
hybrid working patterns, there were still those who
insist sta must be in the o ice full time. It’s a useful
reminder that we can theorise all we like about how
to reposition the workplace, but the culture of each
organisation will greatly influence the outcome.
In order to maintain engagement levels, we need more
of a carrot than a stick to encourage people back into the
workplace. There are a range of approaches FMs can take,
but as the case study on M&G’s workplace solutions teams
ably demonstrates, a growing choice of workplace apps
are useful tools in not only helping steer sta through the
physical o ice, but can help keep them connected to their
organisation when working remotely.
These apps don’t work in isolation. They put more
pressure on facilities to unpin all the services being
o ered, by delivering a safe, comfortable, e icient
and attractive workplace. This is arguably the greatest
challenge for the FM sector since its inception, and was the
main remit of the recent BCO (British Council for O ices)
conference in Manchester (event report).
The conference’s prime purpose was in exploring the
opportunities for the o ice sector following one of the
biggest shi s in workplace culture in our lifetime. The
overriding conclusion was that despite the challenges for
the o ice sector, organisations are still primarily o ice
led, but the workplaces they provide must be as flexible
as possible. As the keynote speaker said, “we need places
that o er much more than a desk.”
As always, we’d welcome your feedback about any aspect of
the magazine, together with your insight into what’s
happening in the FM sector.
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