(Newswire.net — February 02, 2013) London, UK — A report entitled Facility Management Forecast – Exploring the Current Trends and Future Outlook for Facility Management was released by the International Facility Management Association. This report outlines and examines the most significant recent trends in the world of industrial cleaning and facility management. The report takes a global focus and although it was released by an American organisation, the findings should be applicable throughout the developed world.
The report details three main types of trend: those driven by external factors such as society, politics and the environment; those driven by influences within the cleaning profession itself, and those driven by the organisations or businesses serviced by professional cleaners.
The externally driven trends are the most interesting and intriguing factors to consider. The first of these trends is a greater focus on sustainability, with an ever-increasing emphasis being placed on aspects of office cleaning such as recycling, use of sustainably-produced cleaning products, reducing the carbon footprint, water conservation and energy conservation.
The second trend relates to the changing nature of businesses, with many organisations being located in large and complex buildings with intricate systems in place. With space in urban areas being an issue at the same time that building technology has improved, this has meant that taller buildings used by multiple organisations have become more of a trend; the recent opening of the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, with the capacity for many square metres of office space epitomises this. This has meant that all those involved in servicing the building, especially the cleaning staff but also other contractors such as security staff, may have to change some of their schedules and change their technology and methods to integrate with the infrastructure and be more efficient.
The third trend is related to the second, and tackles the issue of aging infrastructure. “Some of the buildings we clean in are getting pretty old,” said a representative from the UK-based cleaning company Anyclean. “London’s an old city and some of the buildings have a lot of history. And the time comes when a business has to decide whether it’s more worthwhile to redecorate rather than to keep on cleaning. And in the case of heritage buildings where preservation of the original décor or finishing is important, contractors may have to change their cleaning methods – certain methods or chemicals may be too harsh.”
The fourth trend has been emphasised by recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy in New York and the earthquake storm in Christchurch, New Zealand. This has made contractors and cleaners very aware of natural disaster readiness and the need for response plans in the case of emergency. “You’ve got to know what to do if you’re called in to do the ultimate clean-up,” said the Anyclean representative. “We might not be likely to get an earthquake here in London, but even cleaners need to know what’s important and what to do if an emergency happens – natural or otherwise.”
More details about the report can be found at: http://www.cleanlink.com/news/article/Report-Top-10-Trends-Impacting-the-Future-of-Facility-Management–13206
Editor’s note:
For press enquiries and interviews contact Nicki Vassilev.
Anyclean Premium Ltd
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