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POSITIVE THINKING
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, writes Neil Harrison of RS Components.
And the good news is that the recession is likely to lead to greater innovation from
the building services sector and more recognition of how its ideas and broader
remit can add value to organisations.
O
ne of most interesting aspects of the economic downturn has been experienced it by innovating in major ways such as making it easier to buy
the amount of time people have spent looking beyond it. Of course, products online and responding to changing customer needs, for example
there’s been the usual speculation about how long it was all going by changing the pricing structure of cable, to enable customers to take
to last, but as we are – at last - spotting the first green shoots, there advantage of price breaks at lower order quantities.
is also a great deal of questioning about what sort of world will emerge. Will it • A better approach to partnerships. The idea of partnering may seem a little
be a new era with new ideas and principles, or will the world behave like a clichéd, but we shouldn’t let its overuse blind us to the ways in which it has
drunk, contrite during the hangover but back in the old habits as soon as the transformed the ways in which we work.
pain has gone? Most of these themes are now apparent in the ways in which managers and
Well, there’s good reason to believe that when it comes to our sector, it’s their commercial partners such as RS Components talk about themselves. That
most likely to be the former. Past experience tells us – or should tell us – that is what we hear at conferences, awards dos, exhibitions, in product literature
adversity in the economy sparks both a renewed focus on property and a great and many of the pieces you read in BSEE and other titles.
deal of innovation in response from the professions involved in the design and These are all important changes but the single common thread that binds
management of buildings. Certainly, the development of the facilities them together is a quintessentially 21st Century one - knowledge. It is
management profession has largely been information about the buildings we inhabit that
characterised by what evolutionary scientists
“Will it be a new era with new ideas
has moved the built environment higher up the
would term punctuated equilibrium: ongoing
steady development interspersed with periods
and principles, or will the world
corporate agenda. The wider information
revolution of the 1980s and 1990s meant that
of innovation in response to rapidly changing
behave like a drunk, contrite during
information could be transmitted directly from
conditions.
Already the wider economy has seen a great
the hangover but back in the old
an operational to a strategic level with middle
managers free to interpret rather than process
deal of focus on cutting cost. The most obvious
habits as soon as the pain has gone?”
the information generated at the sharp end of
manifestation of this is the shedding of jobs, the organisation. That underlying trend has
which is at least quick and relatively easy. But after people, the second highest transformed the way we view the workplace.
expense for most organisations is property. The scale of the opportunity for So, the question is now this; how do we get our sector more directly involved
organisations to save money on property was illustrated by the economist in strategic decision making at an earlier stage, how we get our voices heard at
Roger Bootle who argued that £18bn is lost annually through the inefficient use board level, how we help people to understand the scope of what we can
of property and that dealing with this could increase gross trading profits by up achieve and how we create the underlying hunger for best value and not just
to 13 per cent. cutting costs?
The challenge now is to use this renewed There is still a lot of work to do answering
focus on property as the driver for change - to these questions, but there is also good reason to
become a sector that sees itself and is seen by believe this is already happening. A report called
others as strategic, progressive and value-added. ‘Behind the Green Facade’ which appeared at the
The opportunities to establish this are very end of January from law firm Taylor Wessing
clear: found that levels of employment in the
• Experience. It has taken time to produce a sustainable development sector continued to rise
critical mass of evidence for the ways in regardless of the recession and that the people
which building managers and engineers can who work in that sector overwhelmingly believe
add value to an organisation. We are that the UK already possesses the technology,
increasingly surrounded by examples of best resources and skills to drive the sustainability
practice and these pioneers are well known. agenda forward. Most of the people surveyed
The trick now is to get executives to see also believed that cost is not the biggest obstacle
more clearly where best value can be to sustainable buildings. Around nine out of ten
achieved. end users believe that a typical organisation
• Research. We can now pinpoint the many would be willing to pay more rent in order to
ways in which buildings affect business secure a long-term sustainable building.
performance from the recruitment and That can only come about because these
retention of staff through to meeting organisations are looking beyond short term
environmental objectives. cost savings towards the more value added
• The public sector. The public sector has led aspects of development. So there is also reason
the way in innovation with many models of to believe that the new approach will not be
strategic building management emerging limited to green issues. A building by definition
from changes in government investment. touches on every aspect of the organisation,
Recent pronouncements from the Office of from human resources through to technology,
Government Commerce, including the culture to corporate ID. That is why the core
announcement at the end of January of a new message from our sector is increasingly being
property asset management tool is a sign of heard at senior executive level. And the message
things to come. that is going out is not about how we can cut
• Better products. In particular, better building systems, technological products costs, essential though that is, but also what we can offer the organisation and
and better reporting systems. What has been especially heartening has been the wider world. It’s a powerful message and one that can only stand us all in
the response of suppliers to the needs of customers. My own firm has good stead when the hangover from the current recession has faded.
More information
www.rswww.com/buildings
Reader Reply No 15
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