Given the magnitude of recent news reports citing the interdependencies of the global economy and the linkage of world financial markets, one might assume that facility expansions outside the United States would be relatively simple and straightforward.
However, experience tells a different story.
A couple of years ago, a company in Texas received a call about a new opportunity to help expand into Beijing, China. The company was based in a Chicago suburb, with the actual project contract being negotiated from Singapore. The agreement took the form of an amended contract issued out of Hong Kong and the project manager who led the project in Beijing was from Stuttgart, Germany.
Once rare, such multi-cultural scenarios are becoming fairly common in international facility projects. Successfully navigating the complexities of global implementation requires an aligned team that understands the nuances of facility planning practices, building codes, standards and customs in various countries, regions and cultures of the world.
If an organization is faced with the challenge of global implementation, one can avoid many pitfalls by organizing major considerations into several universal categories. The following checklist approach will minimize the potential for significant schedule delays and budget overruns—ultimately affecting an organization’s bottom line and the facility manager’s credibility.
The following items can serve to maximize an organization’s global facility planning projects.
- Intent behind your company’s facility planning standards
- Communication with regional business units about practices of their business peers
- Impact that local regulatory agencies may have on your facility design
- Impact that local customary consultants may have on your facility design
- Jurisdiction of employee or worker councils
- Impact of design issues surrounding disabled and handicapped workers
- Issues surrounding life safety and flammability of products
- Landlord approval rights
- Local procurement requirements
- Customary schedule and delivery expectations
- Receptiveness to new and uncustomary design solutions
- Political unrest, personal security and natural disasters
Although not completely comprehensive, this checklist offers a strong start to a successful facility management planning project.
1. Intent behind your company’s facility planning standards
Many organizations publish or require specific facility planning standards. Understanding the intent behind these standards is a very important part of global facility planning implementation. One of the most common types of standards is office size characterized by specific dimensions. The primary driver behind this type of standard is to comply with an overall density target or furniture standard. By planning globally, it may not be practical to consider such prescriptive standards. Using a common Western standard of six feet by eight feet for a workstation is not practical in many parts of the Asia Pacific (APAC) geography. Instead, enforcement of the larger goal of overall density may be more appropriate. Asia generally uses smaller workstations and more liberal-sized, multi-group spaces. Therefore, a global goal of 270 square feet per person served is a better standard than a workstation size requirement.
Space guidelines should be tailored per geographic region. Global companies cannot assume that their North American standards can be used for Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and Asia, Pacific, Japan (APJ). Cultures also need to be considered when developing guidelines. For instance, in many European countries, employees have the right to be near windows and have natural light exposure within their workspace. As a result, floor plates tend to be much smaller bay depths than in North America. Hard wall offices are typically placed adjacent to interior core space instead of placement along windows. European planning considerations may require that departments be broken up on different floors due to the smaller floor plates. Working with local design/architecture firms is helpful since they know the trends in each country and region.
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| Symantec, Dublin. Light wells are used to provide natural lighting to interior work spaces. |
2. Talk to regional business units about practices of their business peers
Closed offices are more common in Europe and Latin America than in the United States and APAC. Sometimes, closed offices are a significant indicator of negotiating status for a sales and management team. Reducing or eliminating closed offices within some parts of the world may severely reduce an organizations ability to recruit and retain talented staff. A good method for evaluating this type of need is to visit with geographic business units to better establish what direct competitors provide. At the very least, this is a logical starting point for office planning solutions.
In Japan, managers like to sit so they are facing their team. Each row of desks is arranged so that the most senior person sits at the front of the row next to the manager and the least senior person sits at the end. Although an ideal solution for the business culture of Japan, this type of planning may not be suitable in less hierarchical cultures.
Expected staff amenities can also vary greatly from one region of the globe to another. For example, many global companies building new facilities in China provide a wide range of amenities. Some of the common practices include outdoor beach volley ball courts, basketball courts, table tennis, covered bicycle parking, meditation gardens and provisions for table games.
3. Know what local regulatory agencies will impact your facility design
Most locations around the world have regulatory agencies that have prescriptive planning requirements. Most often, these take the form of building codes. Building codes can take the form of regulations that reference product standards, assemble standards and overall space planning standards. There are two methods of assuring conformance to these requirements. The first is through the use of a competent local design consultant. The second is through the use of a code consultant. Many regulatory agencies will require that a design or code consultant stamp, seal or chop design drawings—asserting that the content of the drawings conform to local requirements.
France requires a project safety person that must be hired independently from the contractor/design firm to train the workers on safety and inspect the site—or be on site throughout the project to insure safety is addressed. Similarly in Ireland, there is a requirement for an independent fire/safety consultant to submit drawings to government agencies and then prepare evacuation plans and provide safety classes to the employees. These were both not included as part of the construction costs since they cannot be initiated by the contractor/designer.
4. Know what local customary consultants can impact your facility design
Most facility managers are familiar with architects, engineers and interior designers. In Asia and other parts of the world it is best, if not a requirement, to include the proper use of feng shui consulting. Feng shui involves the use of geographical, psychological, philosophical, mathematical, aesthetic and astrological concepts in relation to space and energy flow. It is not simply a decorating style, but a discipline including guidelines compatible with many different techniques of architectural planning. India has a similar practice called Vastu Shastra. Also in India, offices are usually blessed prior to occupancy along with special alcoves included into the design for prayer.
Unfamiliarity with such practices might create conflicts among project stakeholders. Being open and receptive to different customs can enhance the quality of the design and functionality of the space for end users.
5. Jurisdiction of employee or worker councils
Some parts of the world require that facility plans and designs conform to the requirements of employee or workers councils. The general principal behind these groups is to assure that facility designs are employee friendly and safe. They can also ensure a high level of employee amenity such as access to daylight. Functioning like a regulatory agency, these groups often have the ability to approve or reject project designs. Germany has one of the strongest programs of this type, with France and Italy also having similar entities.
Working in countries that have such employee councils may result in a need for extra programming and planning time. Approvals can take several iterations before consensus is reached. Again, one should not assume that corporate standards can be strictly followed.
6. Impact of design issues surrounding disabled and handicapped workers
Many countries have stringent requirements surrounding the accommodation of disabled and handicapped workers within a facility. Other countries have little to no requirements of this type. It is important to understand the intent of these requirements when working around the world. In many countries, such as the United States, inspections of facilities can be conducted a year after occupancy. Non-compliance with regulations can result in costly fines and physical facility alternations. In many locations, regulations surrounding provisions for disable and handicapped workers may have both, a national and regional set of criteria.
7. Issues surrounding life safety and flammability of products
Life safety and fire related regulations are often a subset of local regulatory building codes. However, this is not always the case. This is especially true with many issues that face facility management professionals. A typical example is with furniture. A facility plan may be approved by regulatory agencies regarding emergency escape distances, clearances and flame spread of wall finishes. However, furniture is often regulated differently in many locations. Therefore, a facility manager must be sure that furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) specified in a project conform to local regulations. This is best accomplished by working closely with consultants, FF&E manufacturers and dealers, and by providing the necessary technical data to show that the products are acceptable.
8. Landlord approval rights
Many countries have arrangements where the government and landlord work closely together resulting in the landlord having significant approval rights. This is common within China. However, many countries have little or no relationship between the government and landlords such as the United States. In both instances, it is important for the facility manager to have knowledge of landlord approval rights regarding facility planning and project construction. These requirements are most commonly found within the lease agreement.
An example of strict landlord requirements is often found in Japan. Many leases require vacated space to be reinstated to the original condition at handover. To make this requirement more interesting, it is also required that only the landlord’s contractor can execute the renovation work. This can often result in a cost, which is usually much higher than expected or budgeted. In some countries including Japan and Eastern Europe, the landlord mandates that you use their contractors for parts or all of the fit out work. In Eastern Europe these costs are often built into the rental rate.
9. Local procurement requirements
In many Western countries there is no requirement for locally manufactured building components. As long as a product conforms to the performance set forth by regulatory agencies, it can be used. Facility building projects attempting to achieve green ratings may be an exception. Sustainable buildings generally have credits for buying and recycling locally manufactured products. This is the case regardless of where in the world the project is located.
Many countries within APAC require that a percentage of products utilized in a project be manufactured within a prescribed distance of the project itself. Most often this is expressed as a geographic border. There are other instances where local product manufacturing is not required, but import taxes and tariffs make outside products unaffordable.
As an example, importing duties into India can easily translate into an automatic 36 percent increase to the overall project cost. Products made in Malaysia—such as furniture and carpet—are of good quality, more cost effective and do not require the same import duties. In this case however, special attention needs to be paid to melding metric and imperial dimensional characteristics of products.
10. Customary schedule and delivery expectations
Varying workweek hours and holidays can also make a difference in facility project implementation. The United States has a 40-hour workweek. However, many countries employ a 37.5-hour workweek. Holidays are also different. The United States has one of the most conservative paid holiday programs in the world. By comparison, many countries in Europe take summer holiday breaks during the month of August. In France, for example, many businesses do not attempt to achieve much progress during the entire month of August, due to the extensive staff time off. Many geographic regions have one- to two-week holiday breaks that facility managers should be aware of. Develop comprehensive project schedules to avoid surprises. Begin scheduling at the pre-real estate phase and take it all the way through final occupancy—taking into consideration all customary holidays and common vacation periods within the region that the project is located.
11. Receptiveness to new and uncustomary design solutions
Some parts of the world are very receptive to new and innovative officing concepts, with mobility and hoteling being just a few. Ease of implementation of these facility planning concepts vary greatly. For example, many Eastern European countries are reluctant to the development of new officing concepts. Other countries view office space as an obligation of an employer to provide amenity to each employee. Innovative global facility planning processes will be viewed and embraced differently throughout the world.
12. Political unrest, personal security and natural disasters
Hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes are some of the more common natural disasters that can influence the location of a project or building. Political uncertainty is also a consideration. Even within one country, some regions can have a higher degree of volatility than others. When considering political unrest, conservative placement of a project can avoid large amounts of financial risk. Employee security is often a concern in Central and South America. Locating a project within a safe and secure neighborhood can have a large impact on reducing the probability of staff kidnapping.
These are some primary fundamentals in the development a global facility planning program. Organizing each category and expanding it to include specifics to the geographic region where a project resides will help to avoid unnecessary costs and reduce potential costly mistakes and oversights.
Think globally and plan regionally. The rewards will be a better facility planning experience for you and your organization.
About the authors
Peter M. Winters, FAIA, CFM, is a senior vice president for HOK where he is responsible for the management of the Dallas, Texas, office. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and recently served on the IFMA board of directors.
Winters has more than 33 years of facility management, project management, strategic planning, architecture and interior design experience in the U.S., China, Canada, Australia, U.K., France, Mexico, Hong Kong and Japan. He has expertise in planning and move strategies for global organizations in the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe.
Shannon Schiermann, NCIDQ, LEED AP, is a senior strategic real estate planner at Symantec Corporation. She has more than 25 years of corporate interior design, facility planning and project management experience. Schiermann has worked on projects in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South America.
She has been a member of IFMA and the Corporate Real Estate Council for 11 years, is a past president of the Austin Chapter of IFMA and currently is serving as the chapter’s membership chair.
Ellen R. Matson, AIA (Photo and bio were not available at the time of publication.)
