Insight Blog

Facilities Management (FM) teams have worked hard to demonstrate FM's role as an instrumental component to the overall success of healthcare and higher education institutions. The most effective departments function strategically and work alongside executive teams on progressive initiatives such as technology integration, sustainability and energy efficiency - all of which make positive impacts upon the financial stability of organizations. Some of the current trends their programs are:

• Aligning Information Technology (IT) and facilities

This initiative is prevalent among healthcare and higher education institutions. Organizations seek to create and integrate software systems that work in tandem with financial systems to effectively manage their utilities, facilities, capital projects and budgets on a real-time or close to real-time basis.

• Improving energy management

Utilities management is a rapidly advancing area of FM and it is central to the short- and long-term plans of every institution. Some organizations are strategically taking advantage of utility rebates and cost savings of locking in fuel and utility prices. Others are pursuing comprehensive commissioning and retro-commissioning programs (predominantly higher education).

• Initiating Commissioning & Retro-Commissioning

Building Commissioning (Cx) and Retro-Commissioning (RCx) have become popular programs among colleges and universities. These concepts have received interest for their cost and energy saving benefits. Statistics show a commissioned building can have average operating costs that are 8 - 20% below those of a non-commissioned building and those savings are only the beginning of Cx's advantages. RCx has been found to generate energy savings of about 16% annually.

Two prominent institutions that have aggressive programs for Cx and RCx are University of Chicago and University of Michigan.

• Utilizing green building and sustainability to increase competitive advantage

Though higher education leads in the amount of LEED-certified square footage in the U. S., healthcare is not far behind. Green building and sustainability continue to grow in importance and prominence worldwide. Institutional owners are performance-driven and are increasingly demanding green construction and LEED-certified projects. In fact, many higher education institutions have announced that they will only build LEED-certified facilities.

Supporting this initiative is the U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC). In April 2011, it added a healthcare category to its LEED rating system, encouraging developers, designers and contractors of healthcare projects to implement services and programs.

• Experimenting with innovative technologies and alternative project delivery methods for capital projects.

New technologies continue to shape the way capital projects are designed and delivered. Pressures are always mounting to keep project costs down and to increase efficiency, which is why BIM has earned much respect in the institutional sector. With its many benefits for owners, designers and contractors, its market will only expand.

Institutional owners consistently seek to maximize their return on investment (ROI) of capital projects and to generate revenues as quickly as possible. There are various concepts being tested in the marketplace. While Construction Management At Risk and Construction Management As Agent are still the most popular for capital projects, new alternative delivery methods have been successful in certain situations.

While the Design-Build Institute of America claims that more than 40% of medical facilities are constructed utilizing Design-Build, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is gaining traction in the industry due to its increased collaboration and integration between parties and efficient construction management process. This method gathers architects, contractors, facilities staff and major subcontractors together early in the planning phase to easily provide "design-assist" services, mitigate potential problems and streamline the entire process. In a recent survey conducted by Mortenson Construction, 83% of architects surveyed reported a growing preferene for IPD within healthcare institutions and 72% reported a growing Design-Build preference. It should be noted that architects are unsure how well received IPD will be long-term in healthcare as 62% recommend the approach while 38% do not.

Prefabrication and modularization, proven methods in Europe, are emerging concepts in the U. S. that are expected to accelerate due to owners wanting shorter schedules, decreased costs and a new way to address the worsening labor shortage.

Job-Order Contracting (JOC) shares the same concept, benefits and goals of Design Build but can be used for smaller projects ranging from $50k - $2M such as renovations and repairs. This is a relatively new concept for owners and facility managers but one that can deliver quality as well as efficiency. JOC has a strong record of success on projects for federal and military agencies.

FM has become a fast-paced and rapidly changing industry and it has earned its stature within owner organizations. Teams have to continually stay abreast of the latest technologies and advancements relating to energy management, sustainability and capital project delivery. They dedicate much time and consideration to developing strategies for these programs to make their organizations run as efficiently and as effectively as possible, maximizing their ROI.