BIFM Ireland Region launches Southern Branch

01 February 2013

The British Institute of Facilities Management’s (BIFM) Ireland Region have announced the establishment of a new southern Branch in the Region, which marks the Institute’s first Branch outside of the UK.

Gareth Tancred, BIFM’s CEO, made the announcement at a recent event arranged by the Portobello Institute, a BIFM Recognised Centre, held at CBRE’s offices in Dublin, which was supported by the BIFM Ireland Region. Over 100 facilities management (FM) professionals attended the over-subscribed event held on 23 January 2013, which was themed around ‘Trends and Developments in FM’.

Following promising interest from attendees, a committee is currently being formed to serve the Southern Branch, which aims to be fully operational by spring 2013 to the benefit of the thousands of facilities managers across Ireland. The Branch forms part of the well-established BIFM Ireland Region, which has over 240 active members benefitting from many networking and CPD events which are run in the Region throughout the year, alongside the hugely popular annual Ireland Region Conference. The Ireland Region will now be the over-arching Region and a Northern and Southern Branch structure established within it.

Gareth Tancred, BIFM CEO who announced the new Branch at CBRE said “This new development comes in response to market demand, with many in the Region looking for the professional support structures to progress themselves and the industry and Ireland. BIFM already boasts considerable membership in Ireland, but as an Institute we recognise the very distinct needs between the two Branches. By establishing this new Southern Branch we will be in a much stronger position to serve more facilities management professionals.

“Following from the success of the Ireland Region I am sure that there will be some fantastic education and networking sessions in the pipeline, there will also be the opportunity to bring the expertise of our Special Interest Groups across for specific events, making BIFM more inclusive to those outside of the UK.”

The Chairman of the BIFM Ireland Region, Stephen Welch, said “The time is right for a new Branch as demand for the kind of support we offer has grown and the committee to take on this work is taking shape. The Ireland Region committee work hard to arrange great events for members, and I look forward to such events being established across the Region in some world-class facilities. The new Branch will give a local platform to showcase new talent, whilst giving us more reach to attract new individuals into the Irish FM profession. It will also enable best practice to be shared on hot topics such as energy and carbon management in a much more local and accessible environment.”

In total BIFM have 9 Regions across the United Kingdom, serving almost 13,000 BIFM members. Regions are currently bolstered by two Branches in the north east and north west. A third Branch is currently being established to serve the needs of FMs in the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands Branch is due to formally launch in April 2013 through events being hosted both in Jersey and Guernsey. Alongside the Regions, there are also 14 BIFM Special Interest Groups which work to address the needs of the membership on specific topics such as sustainability and catering and hospitality. Full details on all BIFM Groups, Branches and Special Interest Groups can be found on www.bifm.org.uk/groups