Monthly figures show UK office occupancy hit highest levels in March

Monthly figures show UK office occupancy hit highest levels in March

March 2024 recorded the strongest month for office occupancy since May 2021, with a daily average office occupancy rate of 34.1 per cent, according to the latest report from Remit Consulting. The previous highest monthly average of 33.8 per cent was recorded in November (2023). Since the end of January, the UK’s weekly average occupancy…

WIU Facilities Management Team Conducts Open Burns to Boost Campus Landscape

WIU Facilities Management Team Conducts Open Burns to Boost Campus Landscape

The facilities management team at Western Illinois University (WIU) has recently taken on several campus projects geared toward enhancing the overall landscape of the university grounds. As part of this initiative, the team completed open burns, or prescribed burns, recognized as an effective method for planned land management. Courtesy: WIU Prescribed burns come highly recommended…

Know Your Fire Alarm Codes

Know Your Fire Alarm Codes

  Building codes have historically been developed to help avoid large conflagrations in our cities. In the United States, the most universally adopted building code is the International Building Code (IBC) published by the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC publishes a host of codes including fire, plumbing, and mechanical codes. Codes and standards specifically…

Clearing the Air: How Ventilation Delivers Multiple Benefits

Clearing the Air: How Ventilation Delivers Multiple Benefits

Forward-looking healthcare facilities managers are shifting their mindsets on ventilation to embrace ongoing recalibration and resilience. Every year, hospitals admit hundreds of thousands of people with flu, respiratory syncytial virus or COVID-19, often stretching institutional capacity. While those illnesses are often thought of as seasonal, other serious respiratory infections such as measles and meningitis have…

Why strategists should embrace imperfection

Why strategists should embrace imperfection

Conventional approaches to strategy have had to adapt in recent years, with rapid technological change and buffeting from external forces. In this episode of Inside the Strategy Room, the authors of the new book, The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times, talk about how companies can benefit from acting quickly to take many smaller yet…

Canada announces Rental Protection Fund

Canada announces Rental Protection Fund

The federal government announced plans to launch a $1.5-billion Rental Protection Fund to help non-profit organizations acquire more rental units and ensure they remain affordable for Canadians. The new fund promises to provide $1 billion in loans and $470 million in contributions to non-profits and other partners as a way to facilitate long-term affordable rents….

The 1970’s Energy Crisis Shined a Spotlight on Facility Management

The 1970’s Energy Crisis Shined a Spotlight on Facility Management

Buildings in the ’70s were not energy efficient. Facility managers showed the country how to reduce energy use and save money   “Building Operating Management’s” roots date back to the 1950s. However, until 1970, the publication was known by other names: “Better Maintenance,” “Better Building Maintenance,” and “Building Maintenance and Modernization.” To celebrate the magazine’s…

Drones Take Flight for Facility Inspections

Drones Take Flight for Facility Inspections

Facility managers can safely gather essential data on facility conditions without ladders or lifts Drones have changed the way many maintenance and engineering managers think about facility inspections. Prior to drones’ arrival more than a decade ago, managers looking to gather information on the condition of roofs, facades, windows and doors resorted to sending technicians…

Sustainable mixed-use districts: Crafting urban communities

Sustainable mixed-use districts: Crafting urban communities

As an integral part of the revitalization of Seattle’s Denny regrade neighborhood, Graphite projects combine to provide a model of a sustainable urban community that exemplifies principles of resource conversation, transportation synergies, lifestyle benefits, and long-term flexibility. Graphite has played a pivotal role in developing six buildings within a four-block area that serve the neighborhood…