The impending economic slowdown offers great opportunities for the FM sector to show businesses how they can improve the bottom line. That was the message from Mark Prisk, Conservative MP for Hertford and Stortford and shadow spokesman for business, enterprise, deregulation and competition, speaking earlier this year at the 22nd Facilities Management Forum.
The economy has been growing since 1992 and lots of businesses have never had to operate in the bad times that makes them vulnerable. “Talk of a possible US recession bodes ill for us,” Prisk says, arguing that the US government used fiscal measures to inject money into the US economy but it’s not possible for the UK government to do the same as it is in deficit — something he is unashamedly critical of as an opposition MP.
“Effective facilities management enables senior management to reengineer what they do and allows them to focus outwards on the customer and not inwards towards the organisation,” he says. “Over the next 18 months, as the economic situation tightens, businesses will need to look carefully at what they’re doing and FM has a key role to play in allowing them to do that.”
The government’s promise to plough £170 billion into future PFI projects is also good news for the FM sector, Prisk says, although he is critical of the way in which PFI is managed. He cites Metronet as being “a rotten deal for the taxpayer” and maintains that part of the problem is that the data doesn’t exist to show a comparison between PFI and the public sector equivalent. “We need meaningful financial data that shows not just the upfront costs, which the public sector tends to judge projects on, but whole lifecycle costs.”
<span style="font-size: .8em;"Mark Prisk
Shadow Minister for Business
Another key issue for FM, according to Prisk, is how to square the debate about being sustainable while also being competitive. “The climate change debate is characterised by dire threats and worries that if no punitive measures are out in place it won’t work.” Like his party, Prisk makes the case for a more laissez-faire attitude where government, business and society all do their bit. “We all have to do something, both individuals and companies. By changing habits and lifestyles we can save money and the planet. Enlightened self-interest works. The best way to help people to change is incentives not penalties, the carrot works better than the stick. Green taxes should be about encouraging people to adopt green habits.”
He is openly critical of the Building Regulations arguing that they should be simpler and less prescriptive. “We should be saying ‘these are the outcomes we want, now you the experts work out how to get there’. Restraint prevents people from innovating.” An example of this innovation is Carillion’s construction of a depot for the City of York council that is entirely carbon neutral in construction and subsequent operation. It uses locally grown bale for insulation that is three times more efficient than the building regulations require. The firm’s Sustainability Strategy Model is now being adopted by companies as far afield as New Zealand, as a leading example of sustainable building design.
Chaos theory
Prisk also criticises the regulation’s implementation. “The motivation behind the changes to Part L is entirely laudable, but its execution was laughable. The approved documents were published just a few weeks before implementation, leaving companies completely unprepared. Meanwhile retraining for building control has either been wholly inadequate or non-existent. The net result was chaos.” And he describes the government’s Review of Sustainable Construction, published last October, as “a generalised set of well meaning, but half-hearted ambitions.”
Prisk believes that the government should lead by example, by using its purchasing power to set the direction but contends that it is failing to do so. He cites a National Audit Office report into government procurement in construction that showed that 35 per cent of government new builds and 18 per cent of major refurbishments had carried out, or planned to carry out environmental assessments.
Eighty per cent of all state building projects failed the standards set, Prisk says. One solution is to improve the civil service’s project management skills. He believes that he public sector is structured to provide good career paths to those who concentrate on policy and this needs to change to encourage good project management skills to drive through projects and raise standards.
A chartered surveyor by profession, FM was almost unknown when Prisk started his career in the early 1980s. It was just about changing light bulbs, he says. “That has completely changed. It is now a distinct sector and the value of gaining its own distinct SIC Code is immense.” He estimates the FM market to be worth around £200 billion in terms of corporate spend but argues that its value is not just monetary.
“FM is a management tool to help organisations better manage their own resources. Corporate real estate is all about assets but FM is about managing a service.”
