ASTRA ZENECA – UK BUSINESS SERVICES Following organisational change at AstraZeneca the FM Guru Consultancy was asked to carry out a Diagnostic exercise exploring the capability and strategic options for the management of its UK facilities. SCOPE: A series of interviews with key stakeholders and desk top analysis of key documents revealed a number of … Continue Reading

Leaders of businesses and organisations don’t want to talk about Facilities. It’s a dirty word associated with cleaning, maintenance and other “non-core” activities. The common view seems to be that facility managers should be neither seen nor heard. In this series of articles originally published in PFM Magazine Martin Pickard highlights six reasons why this … Continue Reading

Leaders of businesses and organisations don’t want to talk about Facilities. It’s a dirty word associated with cleaning, maintenance and other “non-core” activities. The common view seems to be that facility managers should be neither seen nor heard. In this series of articles originally published in PFM Magazine Martin Pickard highlights six reasons why this … Continue Reading

Reputations matter to organisations today more than ever before. In his fourth article on the ‘F’ Word series, Martin Pickard considers the contribution facilities managers plays in maintaining and protecting the corporate reputation. CORPORATE REPUTATION IS A MORE IMPORTANT MEASURE of success than stock market performance, profitability and return on investment, according to a survey … Continue Reading

In his third article in the ‘F’ Word series Martin Pickard focuses on the contribution of facilities managers to the efficiency challenge through implementing lean management methods, improving workspace design and energy use, and by providing the inspiration and skills for working smarter ANY REVIEW OF THE FACILITY MANAGER’S ROLE in business is going to … Continue Reading

In the second article in ‘The F Word’ series to demonstrate the benefits of good FM in attaining organisational goals,  Martin Pickard focuses on the significant contribution that can be made to meet the challenge of compliance with regulations, standards and corporate targets. WHATEVER THE SIZE OR NATURE OF YOUR ORGANISATION, the array of regulation, legislation, policy and code … Continue Reading

Businesses leaders don’t want to talk about facilities and ‘dirty’ details associated with cleaning, maintenance and other non-core activities. In this series of articles, Martin Pickard will highlight six reasons why this should not be the case, starting this month with FM’s contribution to the battle for talent . ACCORDING TO THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE of Personnel and Development’s … Continue Reading

In some ways Chancellor George Osborne’s spending review came as a bit of an anti-climax as so much of the detail was leaked to the press well in advance of the formal announcement. Nevertheless there was plenty of substance in the actual speech and a great deal of small print still has to be revealed. … Continue Reading

Facilities Management as we know it was borne out of the recessions of the 1970s and 80s. The challenges forced upon organisations by the difficult economic circumstances of those years created the need for a different kind of workplace and a new breed of workplace manager. That need was met by the emergence of modern … Continue Reading

Now that the excitement of televised debates, Cleggmania and the votes themselves are behind us, what does the future hold for facilities management? Will the promises made in party manifestos and on the doorstep during the campaign drift into the recesses of memory as newly elected MPs and a host of familiar faces return to … Continue Reading