by Frans Melissen (Author), Bert Smit (Author), Vitalija Danivska (Author), Andrew Ngawenja Mzembe (Author)
This book discusses sustainability within the facility management industry. However, it is not another anthology of so-called best practices and the seemingly endless range of certification schemes. It is also not
a (marketing) guide on how to communicate high-pitched sustainability
ambitions to potential customers to increase (short-term) market share.
Instead,
this book is based on the realisation that most facility management
businesses and departments actually find it hard to truly integrate
sustainability into their strategies, tactics and day-to-day operations
in a coherent way. It is also based on the reference point that
sustainable development cannot be realised only through technological
advancements and new procedures; it requires new behavioural patterns of
people. Not only of your own employees, as a supplier or department,
but also of those for whom you design, stage and manage optimal
workplace experiences. Those patterns will not emerge from nowhere but
need to be purposely created and cultivated, based on a thorough
understanding of what people and organisations need, want and desire.
Through
reviewing specific barriers and opportunities related to practical
situations and examples at all three levels of facility management – the
operational, tactical and strategic level – and supported by the latest
theoretical insights, this book provides students and practitioners
with inspiration and suggestions for using sustainability as a guideline
for improving workplace experience concepts and FM strategies, services
and processes. Each chapter uses specific cases and examples as the
starting point for reflecting on avenues to move from treating
sustainability as an add-on to using it as a powerful concept to create
optimal workplace experiences. In doing so, these reflections provide
lecturers, students and current and future professionals with practical
guidelines and pointers to take sustainability within the facility
management industry to a much-needed next level.
