Achieving consensus
Industry standards in current development touch upon FM issues such as quality, taxonomy, process and space measurement. Here, Stan Mitchell — chair of the BSI committee that is working up standards for the sector — looks at the work presently being undertaken both in the UK and on an international platform.
By Stan Mitchell
Standards in the facilities management profession started evolving in the 1980s by those who were involved in the formation of the Association of Facilities Management and the Institute of Facilities Management, both of which came together in 1993 to form the BIFM. The act of establishing these bodies was in effect establishing professional standards.
It was, and is, all about recognition and trying to ensure that whatever we do within our discipline can be recognised, achieves certain standards and delivers value to government, commence and industry. The development of standards is what any profession is all about — see box.
The standards that are being developed today through the efforts within the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the European equivalent (CEN) are a continuation of the same process but as we mature as a professional discipline then so too must the sophistication of our standards.
BSI and CEN
The development of FM standards within the BSI, dates back to 2004 when an initiative was launched in Europe to gather together those who were striving across several European countries to develop FM as a professional discipline. It was agreed that in order to gain the recognition for the discipline we had to start to develop standards against which such recognition could be leveraged.
A BSI Facilities Management Committee was established in the same year to focus on the European standards initiative. In 2006 the first two standards in Facilities Management BS EN 15221-1 Terms and Definitions and BS EN 15221-2 Guidance on How to prepare Facilities Management Agreements were published with input from the BSI FM committee. The second phase of the development of European standards is coming to a conclusion and will be completed this year and published in 2011.
The current standards under development were established as a prerequisite to the development of a benchmark standard. The four standards under development, although not finalised, are as follows:
15221-3 Quality in Facilities Management
15221-4 Taxonomy of Facilities Management
15221-5 Facilities Management Processes
15221-6 Facilities Management Space Measurement
Meanwhile the BSI Facilities Management Committee is looking at 15221-7 A new European Benchmark Standard in Facilities Management. This new standard, which will build upon standards 3 to 6 is currently in progress. Dave Wilson, past deputy chairman of the BIFM, is the convenor of this workgroup and it is his role to drive the process through to completion with the help of representative experts from the participating European countries.
What is a Standard?
A standard is a technical document designed to be used as a rule, guideline or definition. It is a consensus-built, repeatable way of doing something. Standards are created by bringing together a diverse range of interested parties in order to ensure a robust process is followed and that all those who have an interest and contribution to make have the opportunity to do so. All parties benefit from standardisation through a common benchmark against which services and products can be compared. A European Standard (EN) automatically becomes a national standard in the 31 member countries.
Standards are voluntary, consensus-based and do not impose any regulations. They provide the test specifications and test methods such as interoperability, safety and quality. However in law reference will often be made to standards that exist and they will be used as a benchmark against which compliance may be judged.
There is a current trend towards a new framework of the ‘New Approach’ where European Standards are used to provide presumption of conformity to ‘Essential Requirements’ of the Directives. These ‘Essential Requirements’ are mandatory in some cases. Compliance with widely recognised European Standards is an effective means of differentiation in a competitive marketplace
Within the BSI Facilities Management Committee there are a broader range of activities associated with the development of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards as well as British standards. Facilities management touches a diverse range of activities and demands upon the committee come from an equally diverse range of standards development activities. These currently include Business Information Modelling in which the committee currently undertakes a liaison role in the creation of a new ISO standard.
The BSI FM committee is also engaged in the development of a Sustainable Facilities Management Briefing Standard and is about to embark upon the creation of a British standard in relation to this activity. It has been determined that this is a standard that will fill a gap in what is available in the market to better inform those who may be charged with the procurement of facilities-related services and management and this standard will act as a guide in doing so.
A liaison role to interface with a European Technical Committee which is developing a standard in Engineering Consultancy Services is a new demand upon the committee and a specification for the provision of ICT facilities and services in the workplace is a similar requirement in which the group is about to embark which is being created as a Public Available Specification (PAS) within BSI covering all aspects of ICT within the workplace.
International work
A current ISO standard that the BSI FM Committee is contributing to is Buildings and Constructed Assets — Service Life Planning. Incredibly relevant to much of what we do within the facilities management discipline in a proactive sense, this standard is deemed to be extremely important and requires a liaison role. As an international standard it continues to evolve through the standards process and currently consists of the following parts:
Part 1: General principles
Part 2. Service life prediction procedures
Part 3. Performance audits and reviews
Part 4. Data requirements
Part 5. Life cycle costing
Part 6. Procedures for considering environmental impacts
Part 7. Performance evaluation for feedback of service life data from practice
Part 8. Reference service life
Part 9. Inclusion of requirements of service life assessment and service life declaration in product standards
Part 10. When to assess functional performance
At a more domestic level the committee is also liaising with another BSI Committee considering the design of sheltered housing and is about to embark upon the rewrite of a standard in Building Maintenance Management.
The BSI FM Committee is also about to be restructured in order to be able to fully engage with the increasing level of demands that are being put upon it.
What may not be fully realised in relation to these activities is the indirect impact that such standards can have. Today there is growing government recognition regarding facilities management and it is in no small part down to the fact that such standards exist. The same can be said for international recognition in relation to facilities management best practice where the UK enjoys a considerable reputation as being one of the countries that has been at the forefront of FM as a professional discipline.
Do standards always get it right? Not always. But they do play a vitally important part in the long-term future and recognition of facilities management as a professional discipline to the efficient and effective design, development and delivery of those support activities that every organisation needs — whether they realise it or not.
Stan Mitchell is chairman of the BSI Facilities Management Committee — a more detailed version of this article is available at www.fm-world.co.uk