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EUROFM AWARDS 2008 - HOW TO ENTER

The second European FM Awards will be held in 2008 and presented at the EFMC2008 conference and exhibition in Manchester on 10th June 2008 at the annual dinner. There is one new category – European FM of the Year - to add to the three awards categories presented in the first year.

Entries are invited for three categories:

Partners Across Borders
FM Student of the Year
European FM Researcher
European FM of the Year

Entries in all categories in the new European FM Awards should demonstrate best practice and excellence in European facilities management. Entries should also be able to demonstrate the challenge for facilities management of the national, cultural, regulatory and language differences across the European region.

The language of these Awards in English, the common language of FM in Europe. Entrants should provide written material in English and be prepared to be interviewed in English.

Partners Across Borders Award:

Providing facilities management services across European national boundaries presents challenges of different languages, cultures, currencies, regulations, etc. This Award will recognise excellence in delivering facilities management services to an organisation located in more than one European country demonstrated by:

  • Partnership between a corporate client and service provider/s
  • The achievements of the partnership towards agreed goals
  • The innovation introduced to deliver facilities management consistently and effectively across European boundaries
  • Entries should be submitted jointly by all partners

How to enter: provide a written description of not more than 1500 words describing the FM partnership. The entry can include photographs of the client site and relevant aspects of the services provided. The entry must be accompanied by a completed application form and emailed to eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk

European FM Student of the Year Award:

Today’s FM students in educational institutions across Europe are the future in European facilities management. This Award recognises their technical knowledge, international perspective and personality. Entries are open to undergraduate students at the end of their studies or in employment in the year of their graduation, or graduate students with some previous FM experience, studying in educational institutions in member countries of EuroFM. No entrant should be more than 30 years of age. Entrants must be nominated by their head of department or a member of EuroFM.

How to enter: provide a 1,500 words description of the student’s

  • academic achievements including an academic study/essay of their choice,
  • international experience – work experience, international research, languages skills
  • understanding of European FM issues
  • aspirations as a future FM professional

The entry must be accompanied by a completed application form and emailed to eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk.

European FM Researcher of the Year

This award will recognise the value of research being undertaken across Europe. The research must address the EuroFM research agenda and contribute to its overall objectives to ‘advance knowledge in FM and promote its effective application in practice and education’. Entrants should be able to show that their research has a European perspective by using data from more than one country or that it has European applications. The research should show achievable results be innovative and robust in its research methods.

Entrants should be researchers at EuroFM member institutions, or conducting research produced or sponsored by EuroFM and its corporate and institutional members, and be nominated by a department head or EuroFM national association member.

How to enter:Submit 1500 word description of the research project with a completed application form and emailed to eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk.

Postgraduate researchers that have submitted abstracts for the EFMC2008 research symposium will be automatically considered for the award.

European FM of the Year

Organisations that conduct business across international boundaries in Europe, and occupy property in more than one European country, are increasingly relying on experienced facilities management professionals to support their business activities. This award for European FM of the Year will recognise the experience, technical expertise and management skills of facilities managers who have responsibility for managing property estates and support services across Europe for their employer or for clients.

Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate their breadth of management experience in an international environment including language skills, their understanding of cultural, technical and business differences across the countries for which he/she has responsibilities, and how they manage their organisation’s business in this complex environment.

Entrants must be nominated by a senior manager, client or a member of EuroFM and have responsibility for FM in at least two different European countries.

How to enter: provide a 1,500 words description of the entrant’s

  • international experience and current job functions
  • innovation introduced to deliver facilities management consistently and effectively across European boundaries
  • achievements in establishing and maintaining efficiency and energy savings across the European estate
  • understanding of European FM issues
  • personal development including academic qualifications, membership of European FM/property organisations and speaking or teaching at European conferences.

The entry must be accompanied by a completed application form and emailed to eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk.

The judging process:

  1. Entries to all categories must be in English and accompanied by the entry form, and sent to eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk.
  2. Entrants are asked to register your interest in entering for an Award by emailing eurofmawards@imlgroup.co.uk by 7 March 2008. Entries close on 28 March 2008.
  3. Three finalists will be selected for each category from among the entries received
  4. The finalists in the European FM Student of the Year, European Reseacher of the Year and European FM of the Year will be invited to attend an interview with the judges. (Only the travel costs of finalists in the European FM Student of Year category will be paid for by EuroFM.)
  5. Finalists in the Partners Across Borders category will be visited at their site by the team of judges who will interview the partners.

Full information on how to enter is also posted on the website of EuroFM www.eurofm.org and on www.pfmonthenet.net

The Judges:
Each category will be judged by a team of expert judges selected by EuroFM. The judges’ decisions are final.

The Presentation:
All finalists in the European FM Awards must attend the presentation dinner at EFMC 2008 in Manchester 0n 10 June 2007.

(Finalists in the European FM Student of the Year will have free entry to EFMC2008 and travel)


First Prizes

When European FMs gather from 24-26 June in Zurich at EFMC 2007, they will be applauding winners of the first ever European FM Awards in three categories - for Europe’s best FM student, best FM researcher and best FM partnership

IF PROOF WERE NEEDED that facilities management has come of age in continental Europe, it is the arrival of its first Awards to recognise the scope of FM across the region, the quality of its research and recognition for its future leaders. EuroFM, the networking group that brings together those in Europe who research, study and practice FM has launched these Awards at a time when the organisation is growing in stature and scope. PFM is assisting with the organisation of the Awards based on the formula that guides its own successful PFM Awards now in their 14th year. Entries to this first event have been of high quality and the judges have selected their top three in each category to go forward for final judging.

European FM Student of the Year finalists

THOMAS KIRCHWEGER, 24, is a student at FH Kufstein Tirol University of Applied Sciences and speaks German, English and Spanish. An active member of IFMA and IFMA Chapter West in Austria, he participated in the international Facility Management Summer programme in 2004, and has entered EuroFM's student poster competitions. In 2006 his was awarded the first IFMA Foundation Scholarship given to a European student, and was invited to the IFMA Foundation Gala and Education Reception in IFMA’s World Workplace in San Diego, California. He has gained working experience with international companies including ThyssenKrupp HiServ Facilities Services in Munich and the Corporate Real Estate & Services Department for Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt/Main where he reviewed the company’s KPI and SLA processes and the relationships between service supplier and in house organisations after outsourcing of all facility services. He was part of a global project team developing a global performance management system for facilities services in Deutsche Bank.

PEGGIE ROTHE, 27, studied at Helsinki University of Technology firstly in Material Technology before switching to FM in 2002. She speaks Swedish, Finnish, English and French. In 2006, her poster submitted with Hanna Berger won Best Poster in the EuroFM student poster competition at EFMC in Frankfurt. Peggie’s thesis has centred on the usability of business parks and the methodology of usability, and her findings were presented at the CIB W111 working commission on the Usability of Workplaces held in Helsinki in 2006. Her work is now an integral part of the CIB’s work, she is contributing to a series of case studies from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK and France and will be published in a case report for CIB W111 working commission. Her studies were concluded this year and in April she became a management consultant at Poyry plc, an intenational consultancy based in Finland.

SASKIA SIEGERS, 24, is a student at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She speaks Dutch, English, German and is learning Spanish. She is currently undertaking an eight month work placement as an energy/waste and recycling research officer with Hospitality & Accommodation Services at the University of Birmingham. She is responsible for two major projects to improve energy reduction and increase recycling among students at the university, from research through to implementing her proposed improvements. Additionally she is working with Birmingham City Council to improve street cleaning around the University campus. Her work also has a direct link to his academic research in which she has monitored eight student flats for six weeks including reading energy meters and conducting surveys of the residents, to determine how energy consumption is linked to lifestyle. Saskia has also worked for Mowlem Asset Services in Leeds and on a project for a nursing home in Sarjevo. Her ambition is to work in change management specialising

European FM researcher of the Year finalists

WOLFGANG BRUNAUER, 26, a research fellow at the Kufstein University of Applied Sciences, Innsbruck where he is responsible for a major international research project establishing the interactive Real Estate Benchmarking Database IBI. Wolfgang is a founding member of the IFMA West Chapter in Austria. His diploma thesis, ‘Herausforderung Leerstand: Nutzerorientierte Büroimmobilienanalyse zur Ermittlung von Revitalisierungspotentialen’ (Vacancy as a Challenge – User Oriented Analysis of Office Real Estate for the Identification of Revitalisation Potential) was awarded prizes in Austria and Germany. His current research, ‘How to identify cost drivers in real estate benchmarking: an empirical survey of heating costs’ will be presented at the EFMC 2007 Research Symposium in Zurich next month. Every year €billions are spent on the operation and maintenance of buildings without much consistent use of statistical techniques to analyse the determinants of operating costs. Highly relevant to the introduction of the EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings, his research has used data on office buildings in 94 German cities to determine the major factors influencing heating costs.

JELLE VAN DER KLUIT, MSc, 26, studied at Wageningen University, Netherlands, and conducted a research project for Hewlett-Packard Real Estate and Workplace Services, Northern European Region (HP REWS NER). The study focuses on the restrictions, advantages and disadvantages of cross border management of the FM organisation. Real Estate and Workplace Services is the worldwide cross border operating FM organisation of HP and is built upon a global/ regions/ sub regions and country structure. Jelle is studying what the implications are for the globalization of REWS including the conflict between the need for international coordination and for local responsiveness, cultural differences and the professionalisation of the FM organization. He sought to discover what determines the balance between international coordination and local responsiveness for the FM organisation. Jelle is now working for FM consultants, Twynstra Gudde.

QI ZHOU MOSS, 29, has been a researcher for Centre for Facilities Management (CFM) at University of Salford, England, for the past five years. One of her main responsibilities in CFM is FM market research. She published her first market analysis report in 2002 and has been updating and collecting FM market data since. The more Qi collated FM market analysis, the more she realised how limited is the current understanding and how different is the market research methodology used in various studies. This inspired her to undertake a market research project across Europe to gain a better understanding of the market and a comparison among different countries, and to try to find a robust FM market research methodology. Qi thinks that a market research methodology is needed which shifts the focus from supply to the demand side of the market. Her work is the beginning of long research process for a better understanding of FM in Europe.

Partners across Borders finalists

FACEO with THALES
Faceo has a 5-year Master Service Agreement with electronics and systems group, Thales, and currently provides FM services, and utilities and property management to 55 of its sites in France, UK, Italy, Germany and Belgium. Faceo has implemented a systematic performance mangement system based on SLAs and KPIs, and developed appropriate tools, skilled people, processes, attitudes and values to support the delivery of FM across varied international estate. Some 400 Thales staff have been successfully transferred under TUPE in more than 30 different operations by working closely with dedicated HR cells for each case. By introducing its Reporteo reporting and Piloteo customer satisfaction tools, Faceo has provided monthly reporting for each site and quarterly reports for steering committees. Monitoring service deliver has improved services and site security, and identified of €1.5m (in 2006) for Thales’ sites across Europe from this large scale contract worth £150m in turnover.

JOHNSON CONTROLS with BP
In 2004 BP decided to work with one partner on a pan-European contract spanning a diverse portfolio of 22 sites in 16 different countries. Johnson Controls was chosen to lead the design and creation of a unique alliance that would be a radical new approach to partnership across international borders. The partnership that Johnson Controls leads includes European FM providers, Wisag and Altys Sodexo, and uses the geographic strengths of each organisation to give BP a solution that meets its business needs. BP has one point of accountability to ensure consistency and simplification in Johnson Controls. This model breaks down traditional boundaries of competition with FM service providers by creating a joint European operational management team supported by a network of local level management working towards the same goals and visions. A single service standard has been developed for all locations and financial reporting at corporate level is standardised on US$ using a currency conversion tool.

MICROSOFT with BUSINESS & FACILITIES
Microsoft decided to harmonise with real estate and FM provision for its portfolio of properties in 58 countries in the EMEA region, to bring some standardisation of service levels and performance evaluation. The Microsoft business model allows each country (subsidiary) to be autonomous for its budget with support from the centre as needed. Business & Facilities was selected together with the Corporate FM Alliance – a formal partnership of several businesses set up to provide a pan-European and strategic solution with local delivery and execution. Spain and the Netherlands were selected as pilot projects to reflect the cultural differences in northern and southern Europe, and because no existing FM contracts were in place. The partners drew up Request for Information and Request for Proposal packs and set about reducing the 26 vendors in Netherlands and the 16 in Spain to just one per country. SLAs and KPIs in each country were aligned with Microsoft’s other EMEA offices. Customer satisfaction has increased, operational costs have reduced and client time spent on day to day facilities issues has diminished. Work has now started on implementing the outsourcing strategy in Italy and Belgium, and in South Africa, with Russia on the horizon.

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