FACILITY MANAGEMENT

UNIT 1
ASSIGNMENT -1

UNNAMALAI A

161592101008

M.ARCH II YEAR

DR.MGR EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE

1. Explain the role of a facility manager?
 Facilities managers are accountable for services such as cleaning, security and
parking, to make sure the surrounding environment is in a suitable condition to
work. They also manage any building maintenance with things like heating and air
conditioning, to maintain the working environment.
 Facilities managers are involved in both strategic planning and day-to-day
operations, particularly in relation to buildings and premises. Likely areas of
responsibility include:

 building and grounds maintenance;

 cleaning;
 catering and vending;
 health and safety;
 procurement and contract management;
 security;
 space management;
 utilities and communications infrastructure.
 In these cases, facilities managers may work for a firm offering all services or
one that offers specific services such as catering.
Typical tasks may include:

 preparing documents to put out tenders for contractors;

 project management and supervising and coordinating the work of contractors;
 investigating availability and suitability of options for new premises;
 calculating and comparing costs for required goods or services to achieve maximum
value for money;
 planning for future development in line with strategic business objectives;
 managing and leading change to ensure minimum disruption to core activities;
 directing, coordinating and planning essential central services such as reception,
security, maintenance, mail, archiving, cleaning, catering, waste disposal and
recycling;
 ensuring the building meets health and safety requirements and that facilities
comply with legislation;
 keeping staff safe;
 planning best allocation and utilisation of space and resources for new buildings, or
re-organising current premises;
 checking that agreed work by staff or contractors has been completed satisfactorily
and following up on any deficiencies;
 coordinating and leading one or more teams to cover various areas of responsibility;
 using performance management techniques to monitor and demonstrate
achievement of agreed service levels and to lead on improvement;
 responding appropriately to emergencies or urgent issues as they arise and dealing
with the consequences.
2. Explain the fundamentals of facility management?

 Facility management get re-directed by the latest trends and concepts and neglect to
focus on the fundamentals that drive results.
 Here are three things that should always be at the top of a facility management to
focus on and get done, no matter what else is happening.
 Listening, planning and promoting are the foundation for building success in other
areas.
 Listening

o “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” — W. Edwards

Deming
o Listening is about gathering information and data.
o It includes hearing from senior executives about organizational objectives
and goals, reading reports, receiving and analyzing facilities data from
building systems, talking to other experts and colleagues, attending
conferences and training, and talking with (and listening to) facilities staff and
contractors who are experts in what they do and can offer advice on what
should be improved, changed, etc
o The overall trend shows increasing adoption of facilities software, which is
important because these software systems are a fundamental tool in
managing processes efficiently and providing data for management, analysis
and decision making that every FM should have. It is worth noting that even
if FMs have a system, they don’t always go to the next step and use the data
to analyze and inform their decision making
o Listening takes time, not only to collect information and data but also to do
something with it — to analyze it and turn it into decisions and actionable
changes that improve results.

 Planning
o “People and their managers are working so hard to be sure things are done
right, that they hardly have time to decide if they are doing the right things.”
— Steven Covey
o Planning is about looking forward, whether to tomorrow or next year — and
importantly, taking a more strategic approach to that planning. Since a lot of
the basic facilities role is reacting to occupant needs and solving them, facility
managers seldom take as much time to plan strategically as they should.

o Planning takes focus and time but it also takes courage — courage to
delegate and courage to put the long-term objectives in front of some short-
term tasks, and to change from managing the urgent items to managing the
important ones.
  Promoting
o “Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their
solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with
them.” — Paul Hawken
o Promoting is about ensuring the facility manager’s organization and senior
management understand the importance of the facilities management
department and provide support when the facility manager presents
proposals for staff, resources, changes or strategic plans

o And in combination with listening and planning, promoting paves the way for
future success in other areas.

3. Explain the process of building infrastructure to fleet services?

 Fleet facilities are designed to last decades, and good facility maintenance can help
the building last even longer. But, as vehicles and technologies change, and as fleets
grow, public agencies find they need new or upgraded facilities that will meet the
requirements of their operations.
 From special building features to advanced technologies, the newest trends in
maintenance facility design are helping fleets operate more efficiently and safely.

 Facilities Designed for Alternative Fuels

Many fleets are or should be designing facilities for vehicles that run on fuels that
are lighter than air, such as compressed natural gas (CNG), propane autogas, and
hydrogen. Roger Thompson, president of Effective Management Decisions, explained
that for gasoline and diesel, facilities are designed to capture fumes up to 18 inches
off the floor. Lighter-than-air gases need to be captured from the ceiling, which
means electrical services must be placed 18 inches beneath the ceiling, except for a
methane detector.

 Improved Security

Increased security solves a safety issue, as the shop floor can pose hazards to those
not working there, Thompson and Campbell said. It’s also a productivity issue, as it
cuts down on the time operators talk to technicians. And finally, technicians often
don’t want others in the shop while they are working.

 More services bay per technician

Reserving only one work bay per technician can result in lost productivity. At Fort
Wayne’s new facility, heavy-duty technicians will have access to 1.5 bays each, and
light-duty technicians will each have two bays to work with, an increase from its
current 1 to 1.25 bays per technician.
  Sustainable design

The goal of many sustainably designed buildings is LEED certification from the U.S.
Green Building Council. Montgomery County’s $40 million facility is LEED Gold
certified and includes features such as a green roof, which includes plants and grass;
radiant floor heating; photovoltaic array that pumps out 44 kW per day; solar-
powered lights; CNG backup generator; and a water recovery system.

4. Explain the responsibilities of a project manager who acts as a facility

manager?

 Facility project managers oversee the construction and renovation of buildings,

manage relationships with contractors, control space allocation and maintain facility
project budgets. These professionals can have jobs with a wide variety of
organizations, including health care facilities, educational institutions, government
agencies and businesses.
 IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES

o Superior analytical and problem-solving skills are fundamental to the success of

facility project managers. They use these skills to identify issues and respond to
emergencies. For example, when a college's facilities maintenance costs
suddenly increase, the institution's facility project managers would use their
analytical abilities to evaluate the performance of the maintenance contractor and
determine whether he uses low-quality materials for repairs. Problem-solving
skills come in handy when developing suitable solutions to the issue, such as
hiring new maintenance contractors.

 SELECTING CONTRACTORS:

o Facility project managers play a leading role in the selection of architects,

consultants and engineers to undertake various projects. They use their industry
knowledge to help organizations secure cost-effective contracts with reliable
contractors and service providers. For example, when a hospital wants to select a
construction engineer for building patient wards, the facility project manager can
conduct market research to gather information on prices of construction materials
and compare with bid proposals of all interested contractors to determine the
most competitive bidder.

 MEETING CONTRACTORS:

o The facility project manager ensures that all buildings meet all relevant federal,
state and local building codes. For example, a hotel’s facility project manager
 ensures new buildings comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To do
this, she analyzes construction blueprints to confirm that the design meets the
ADA’s accessibility standards

5. Explain the concept of Architectural Programming?

 Architectural programming began when architecture began. Structures have always

been based on programs:
 Architectural programming defined as the research and decision-making process that
identifies the scope of work to be designed. Synonyms include "facility
programming," "functional and operational requirements," and "scoping."
 In the early 1960s, William Peña, John Focke, and Bill Caudill of Caudill, Rowlett, and
Scott (CRS) developed a process for organizing programming efforts. Their work was
documented in Problem Seeking, the text that guided many architects and clients
who sought to identify the scope of a design problem prior to beginning the design,
which is intended to solve the problem.
 Now, several generations of architects have little familiarity with architectural
programming and the advantages it offers:
 Involvement of interested parties in the definition of the scope of work prior to the
design effort
 Emphasis on gathering and analyzing data early in the process so that the design is
based upon sound decisions
 Efficiencies gained by avoiding redesign and more redesign as requirements emerge
during architectural design.


 Programming may happen for different purposes and may impact the level of detail
of investigation and deliverables. For instance, programming at the master planning
level is more strategic in nature—providing information to building owners to make
decisions regarding current and projected space needs and rough budgeting for
implementation. Programming at the individual project level provides specific,
detailed information to guide building design.
Many different programming formats incorporate the same essential elements. In all cases,
the design programming fits within a larger context of planning efforts which can also be
programmed. For design programming for a building, we propose a six-step process as
follows:

 Research the project type

 Establish goals and objectives
 Gather relevant information
 Identify strategies
 Determine quantitative requirements
 Summarize the program

EMERGING ISSUES
Some of the emerging issues in the discipline of architectural programming include:

1. Development of standards and guidelines for owners that build similar facilities
frequently. These efforts include:

a. Formalizing (computerizing) building facility requirements for Web-based

consumption—for example, the National Park Service has developed Facility
Planning Model Web-based software to assist park superintendents and
other staff in the development of space and cost predictions for legislative
requests. The intention is to make budget requests more realistic and more
comprehensive.
b. Facility programming to make early predictions to aid in early capital
budgeting
2. Client-owners are increasingly requiring verification that the design complies with
the program.
3. New technologies are generating a need for types of space which have no
precedents. Basic research on these technologies is required to determine standards
and guidelines.
4. As more clients require measures for building energy and resource conservation
standards (LEED, Green Globes, etc), the programming process needs to reflect these
requirements in goals, costs, scheduling, and process.
5. The supply of facility programmers is smaller than the demand. More professionals
need to consider this sub-discipline as a career path.

6. Define FM. Write down the principle duties of a Facility manager.

 Facility management is a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to

ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place,
process and technology.
 It means owning and managing a high end asset like a five star hotel, IT park,
factory etc.
 FM covers these two main areas: 'Space & Infrastructure' (such as planning,
design, workplace, construction, lease, occupancy, maintenance, furniture
and cleaning) and 'People & Organisation' (such as catering, ICT, HR,
accounting, marketing, hospitality). These two broad areas of operation are
commonly referred to as "hard FM" and "soft FM".
 The first refers to the physical built environment with focus on (work-) space
and (building-) infrastructure.
 The second covers the people and the organisation and is related to work
psychology and occupational physiology.
PRINCIPLE DUTIES OF FACILITY MANAGER:

Facilities managers (FMs) operate across business functions. The number one priority of an
FM is keeping people alive and safe. Facility managers have to operate in two levels:

 Strategically-tactically: helping clients, customers and end-users understand the

potential impact of their decisions on the provision of space, services, cost and business
risk.
 Operationally: ensuring corporate and cost effective environment for the occupants to
function.
This is accomplished by managing:
 EHS: environment, health and safety
The FM department in an organization is required to control and manage many
environment and safety related issues. Failure to do so may lead to unhealthy conditions
leading to employees falling sick, injury, loss of business, prosecution and insurance claims.
The confidence of customers and investors in the business may also be affected by adverse
publicity from safety lapses.
 Fire safety
The threat from fire carries one of the highest risk to loss of life, and the potential to
damage or shut down a business. The facilities management department will have in place
maintenance, inspection and testing for all of the fire safety equipment and systems,
keeping records and certificates of compliance.
 Security
Protection of employees and the business often comes under the control of the facilities
management department, in particular the maintenance of security hardware. Manned
guarding may be under the control of a separate department.
 Maintenance, testing and inspections
Maintenance, testing and inspection schedules are required to ensure that the facility is
operating safely and efficiently, to maximize the life of equipment and reduce the risk of
failure. Statutory obligations must also be met. The work is planned, often using a
(computer-aided facility management) system.
 Building maintenance
Building maintenance comprises all preventative, remedial and upgrade works required for
the upkeep and improvement of buildings & their components. This works may include
disciplines such as painting and decorating, carpentry, plumbing, glazing, plastering, and
tiling.
 Cleaning
Cleaning operations are often undertaken out of business hours, but provision may be made
during times of occupations for the cleaning of toilets, replenishing consumables (such as
toilet rolls, soap) plus litter picking and reactive response. Cleaning is scheduled as a series
of periodic (daily, weekly, monthly) tasks.
 Operational
The facilities management department has responsibilities for the day-to-day running of the
building, these tasks may be outsourced or carried out by directly employed staff. This is a
policy issue, but due to the immediacy of the response required in many of the activities
involved the facilities manager will often require daily reports or an escalation procedure.
Some issues require more than just periodic maintenance, for example those that can stop
or hamper the productivity of the business or that have safety implications. Many of these
are managed by the facilities management "help desk" that staff are able to be contacted
either by telephone or email. The response to help desk calls are prioritized but may be as
simple as too hot or too cold, lights not working, photocopier jammed, coffee spills, or
vending machine problems.
Help desks may be used to book meeting rooms, car parking spaces and many other
services, but this often depends on how the facilities department is organized. Facilities may
be split into two sections, often referred to as "soft" services such as reception and post
room, and "hard" services, such as the mechanical, fire and electrical services.
 Business continuity planning
All organizations should have a continuity plan so that in the event of a fire or major failure
the business can recover quickly. In large organizations it may be that the staff move to
another site that has been set up to model the existing operation. The facilities
management department would be one of the key players should it be necessary to move
the business to a recovery site.
 Space allocation and changes
In many organizations, office layouts are subject to frequent changes. This process is
referred to as churn, and the percentage of the staff moved during a year is known as the
(churn rate). These moves are normally planned by the facilities management department
using (computer-aided design). In addition to meeting the needs of the business,
compliance with statutory requirements related to office layouts include:

 the minimum amount of space to be provided per staff member

 fire safety arrangements
 lighting levels
 signage
 ventilation
 temperature control
 welfare arrangements such as toilets and drinking water.
7. Mention the importance of Facility management in Architectural field

THE CORE COMPETENCIES OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT

 Communication
 Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity
 Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability
 Finance and Business
 Human Factors
 Leadership and Strategy
 Operations and Maintenance
 Project Management
 Quality
 Real Estate and Property Management
 Technology