FMT302: You Have Recently been Appointed as the Country Head of Facilities for a large Educational Institution: Operation and Maintenance of Building Services Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Background
You have recently been appointed as the Country Head of Facilities for a large educational institution. The institution comprises 15 blocks of total GFA buildings of 250,000 m2.

These buildings were built almost at the same time in the 1990s. In the current global economic climate, the Institution’s Board of Directors is looking to make cost savings across the institution. It is proposed that the facilities management’s operation and maintenance budget for your location should be reduced to 80% of the 2020 – 2021 spend.

Your task is to present a report to the Board, explaining the strategic benefit of a fully integrated facilities management function within an organization, and the critical roles which this would perform. You are also required to justify one of the following decisions:
(1) Why the budget for 2021 – 2022 should remain at least equivalent to 2020 – 2021 spend. Or:
(2) How you plan to reduce the facilities management spend in line with the Group’s proposal whilst minimizing organizational impact.

You should make reference to a number of relevant FM issues, including legislative requirements; operation and maintenance requirements, future developments (where appropriate); customer service; workplace comfort; and any other issues of concern.

Note: Read the case thoroughly. Make any reasonable assumptions if required. You should present your report in the form of a single MS Word file, be fully referenced with a number of relevant literature sources, and should be around 1,500 – 2,000 words in length excluding photos, maps, charts, tables and etc.

Question 1
(a) Explain the strategic benefits of a fully integrated facilities management function within the organization.

(b) Discuss what motivates the FM team to implement energy efficiency measures and operate the building efficiently.

(c) Compare the differences and challenges between operating a building that is energy efficient and one that is not.

(d) Implementing energy efficiency measures in older buildings could require a higher cost in your budget, which provides returns over time as lower energy expenses. Illustrate with real-life cases, determine how you would able to overcome the higher cost barrier to justify the proposed budget in your report.