Active Workplace Solutions, a bespoke workplace specialist, has launched ‘Sustainability in facilities management: A Holistic View’, a report exploring sustainability within the built environment. The report analyses how the facilities management (FM) sector can impact wider environmental, social and economic goals, and build a holistic strategic picture of sustainability.
According to the UK Green Building Council, the built environment contributes approximately 40 per cent of the UK’s total carbon footprint. Almost half of this comes from the energy that buildings use and the country’s infrastructure. As a key component of the built environment and the services that help maintain and run the infrastructure, the FM industry has a critical role to play in meeting these important environmental challenges.
FM has the power, and responsibility, to contribute towards social, economic and political betterment, but to do so the industry needs to be more explicit in the value it offers. The report delves into the idea that professionals from across the built environment sector have to work together to build an environment that will foster openness and honesty.
Active’s white paper illuminates how organisations need to approach sustainable activity and points to three key pillars of focus that organisations need to address:
Developing a sustainable strategy - there are a number of ways facilities managers can make tangible improvement to improving energy and environmental performance. By having a strategy in place that is not only implemented, but also clarified to the wider workforce, practical changes have the opportunity to make a real difference.
Changing behaviours - buy-in does not just happen at the top, facilities managers must also garner buy-in for sustainability initiatives for the rest of the organisations workforce. A cultural shift needs to occur, whereby the entire organisation is behind the initiatives and new ways of working
Social value – as a service-based industry, FM touches huge numbers of people, organisations and communities. The industry and organisations themselves need to therefore consider how they can secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits.
John Voller, Director of FM services at Active, said: “Our latest report proves that FMs and their organisations face some significant challenges now and in the future. This is why a wide-ranging and proactive approach should be taken to ensure that the FM can make a positive impact on sustainability efforts within the built environment sector.”
https://www.activefm.co.uk/workplace-guides-and-white-papers
