FM Report 179 - Thursday 24th August 2006

24 August 2006

The latest FM news directed to your desktop

Workplace accidents down
Fatal injuries at work decreased by 5 per cent in 2005/6 from 212 to 223, to the lowest rate on record – 0.71 fatalities per 100,000 workers – and the lowest in Europe. Some 43 per cent of the fatalities were in the construction sector but this is a 14 per cent drop in fatal injuries to the lowest rate on record. Bill Callaghan, Chair of HSC said, "The figures are very encouraging but more needs to be done. The construction industry is an example where all parties have worked closely together over a number of years and achieved impressive results.”
www.hse.gov.uk

Birmingham housing repairs to MITIE
In a four year partnering agreement with Birmingham City Council’s housing department, MITIE Property Services is to delivery repair and maintenance services to 27,000 properties in the south of the city in a contract worth £90m. MITIE will provide a day to day repair and maintenance with 24-hour cover for emergency repairs, and manage improvement schemes and inspection services. More than 105,000 routine repairs will be undertaken each year and the 2,450 empty properties will be reinstated each year.
www.mitie.co.uk

Retail growth for MacLellan
PRUPIM has appointed MacLellan International to provide a total FM solution to 14 of its shopping centres as part of a combined PRUPIM insourcing and MacLellan convergence project. PRUPIM is increasing its managed shopping centre portfolio by bringing in-house the management of three Scottish Amicable shopping centres currently managed externally, and in doing so is expanding the contract which MacLellan which already includes The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, West Orchards Shopping Centre in Coventry, and The Brunswick Centre in Scarborough.
www.maclellan-group.plc.uk

London Olympics – more plans and bids
Businesses seeking information about working with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games can register their interest in Games opportunities on a special website www.london2012.com/business. It will give regular updates on key announcements, tender opportunities and business summits. London 2012 is also developing a Pre-Games Training Camp guide for use by visiting national teams training in prior to the Games. They want exclusive training environments, world class facilities, comfortable but affordable accommodation, sports medical and rehabilitiation facilities, training and analysis equipment, local suppliers of transport, security, proximity to airports and other transport all in a similar climatic condition and time zone to the Olympic Games venues. Suitable facilities that meet the guidelines have to be registered by the end of January 2007.
www.london2012.org

Small carbon emitters removed from trading scheme
Defra announced this week details of industry's contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the second phase of the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The scheme in the UK will be expanded to cover additional activities at 160 installations responsible for 9.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide that are not covered in the current phase of the scheme, but hospitals, universities and the smallest industrial emitters currently within the scheme are likely to be excluded. About 10% of the installations in the first phase scheme are responsible for only 0.1%, of emissions and Government is considering other ways of incentivising emissions reductions for these installations.
www.defra.gov.uk/news

Six suspended at Interserve
Interserve has suspended six senior employees within its Industrial Services Division following the discovery of ‘mis-statements of accounting balances over a number of years’. The impact of correcting these cumulative mis-statements is to reduce net assets by about £25m on a post tax basis. An independent forensic review is underway by KPMG and Linklaters. The problems were revealed when the Industrial Services division was integrated into the Facilities Services Division following the recent acquisition of MacLellan International and consequential restructuring of these activities.
www.interserveplc.co.uk

Contract cleaning continues to grow
Following a period of strong growth over the last five years, the contract cleaning market is expected to grow from its current £5bn value to £5.7bn by 2009, according to the report by AMA Research, Contract Cleaning Market 2005-2009. Some 55 per cent of cleaning operations are contracted out. ISS UK, MITIE Cleaning Services, Rentokil Initial, OCS Group and Mowlem Pall Mall account for 20 per cent of the market. The report with a special FM Report/PFM reader discount of 20% costs £475.
Sales@amaresearch.com

BIFM membership up
The BIFM’s 2006 Annual Review reveals that it increased corporate membership by 23% and individual membership by 7%. The Institute reported a surplus of £61,277 on its ordinary activities. Income increased by 6.6% to just under £2m while costs rose just 1.6%.
www.bifm.org.uk

Award winners win again
Carillion has won an extension to 2011 for its contract with ntl Telewest, the contract that won the both the Partners in Facilities Management and the Overall Winner Awards at the PFM Awards 2005. The new contract will now also cover all the ntl Telewest office portfolio following ntl’s merger with Telewest.
www.carillionplc.com

Water KPIs for offices and hotels
CIRIA's has published new guidance on Designing Water KPIs and benchmarks for offices and hotels (C657). It describes how suitable KPI's and benchmarks have been developed for water use in offices and hotels across England and Wales to enable managers to understand whether their property is performing well or poorly in comparison with other similar buildings in the UK.
www.ciriabooks.com

Save water at the office
Envirowise has launched a programme of water saving targeting toilets and taps. It estimates that office workers use 35 litres of water a day – 86 per cent from flushing toilets – using nationally as much as 663 million gallons each day
www.envirowise.gov.uk/wateraccount

To train or not to train? ….. that is our question.
Time and money spent on training and development activities are often regarded as a cost not an investment in future business success. In association with PFM, Beverley Thompson of Humanics is reviewing training and development in FM with a major survey conducted among PFM and FM Report readers. Does the FM industry recognise the potentially positive impact that training and development can have on business performance? Is FM providing real training and development opportunities to make it an attractive industry to work in? Is there enough focus on leadership and management development? Help us find out by completing the online survey … and win an iPoD Nano. The results will be published in the October issue of PFM magazine.
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More workplace futures at Worktech06
The 3rd annual Worktech06 conference at The British Library that focuses on the convergence of workplace technologies and real estate will be featuring author, Charles Handy as a headline speaker. The conference has established a reputation as a key source of valuable and up-to the minute information about innovation and workplace futures. This year it will have sessions entitled The Future Worker, Real Estate in the Age of the Internet, Working in the Knowledge Economy and The Challenge of Change. Delegates will receive a free copy of Handy's latest book and a reduced price offer on Space at Work, the new book from Philip Ross and Jeremy Myerson.
www.unwired.eu.com/worktech06.html

BCO research links office design and productivity
According to a British Council for Offices report, Workplace Productivity: design, location and people, moving or improving commercial office space can increase levels of productivity by a quarter, reduce absenteeism, help retain staff, encourage communications and the flow of ideas between individuals and departments and ultimately increase profitability. Research into six case studies of office occupiers who have recently relocated or refurbished, documents the effect the change has had on staff, working practices and the bottom line.
www.bco.org.uk

Business and FM info linked
Integrated fm and ARK e-management are integrate the ARK SIS management system with the FM facts range of software tools from Integrated FM. This will enable the information contained within the CAFM system to be brought together with data from other areas of a business to form an integral element of strategic planning across the organisation.
www.integratedfm.com