The Sustainable Campus Index also highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the most recent calendar year. This year’s Index introduces an International Top Performers list that recognizes the top-scoring institution in every country with at least one STARS-rated institution.
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Every public sector building is unique and requires a strategic facilities management program to ensure it can meet its mission and its users' needs. Amidst competing priorities, pressure to work within budget constraints, and lack of access to qualified labor, government agencies across the board — from federal to state and local/ municipal agencies — grapple with the challenge of runaway deferred maintenance.
Whether extensive deferred maintenance results from budget cuts, disruption due to the pandemic, or lack of resources, the time is now to handle deferred maintenance and put in place a strategic facilities management program tailored to the unique needs of the government. Getting a handle on years of deferred maintenance can seem like a daunting task. From knowing where to begin, prioritizing a seemingly unending list of tasks, and understanding the financial investment required, facilities teams may feel ill-equipped to tackle a list of long overdue maintenance tasks.
Learn the 5-step approach to address deferred maintenance, reduce the backlog, mitigate risk and address major facility problems.
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The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) are collaborating to increase awareness of GSA’s Art in Architecture Program and to promote federal art commission opportunities for artists that reflect the diversity of communities across the nation. Both agencies share a commitment to advancing equitable opportunities for artists, resulting in federal art commissions that are accessible to the public. Interested artists are encouraged to consider joining the National Artist Registry.
The Art in Architecture program oversees the commissioning of artworks for GSA-controlled federal buildings nationwide. In the fall of 2022, the program is launching 26 federal percent-for-art commissions in 11 states along the northern and southern borders, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. During September, the NEA will host four webinars about these opportunities, each focusing on a different region where there will be new commissions.
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When the High Point Police Department decided to move to a new headquarters to expand and modernize its operating space, officers wanted to ensure the new building preserved the history and identity of their department while providing a sanctuary to protect and serve members of their community.
In partnership with KI, the High Point PD expanded its facility with three times the space, outfitted with tailored solutions to meet the specific needs of the department’s officers.
to grow with the help of KI.
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"Key findings from the 2022 PDK Poll around school security provide a clear message that ensuring the core need for physical safety throughout our school systems weighs heavily on the minds of communities across the country.
"Combined with the escalating teacher shortage and the growing social and emotional needs of our children, teachers, principals and superintendents are stressed out to a degree that I have never seen in my 54 years in public education."
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In 2020, Amazon Logistics delivered 4.2 billion parcel shipments, up from 1.9 billion in 2019. It now makes up, by volume, 21% of the parcel shipments in the U.S., behind the USPS (38%) and UPS (24%) but ahead of FedEx for the first time (16%). By contrast, in 2014, Amazon delivered just 20 million parcels. Post Covid-I9, there continues to be an increase in home deliveries — from office supplies and dry cleaning to daily necessities such as groceries. This e-commerce convenience has become a nightmare particularly for those managing multifamily communities, adding work for both concierges and courier services and leaving a number of packages unsecured in lobbies and open to theft. Campus residence halls are also a challenge.
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It’s not hogwash. The State University of New York College at Cortland (SUNY Cortland) is using pigs to clean up unruly grass and weeds around its solar panels. It’s a first-of-its-kind experiment to see whether a special breed of grazing pig can someday replace gas guzzling machines in difficult-to-mow locations. SUNY Cortland already uses a small herd of sheep to crop the grass under and around its solar array.
Visitors can see the two new Kunekune pigs (pronounced “cooney cooney”) grazing with the sheep at the university’s fenced field of solar panels near Route 281. A breed native to New Zealand, they’re being trotted out as part of a test to see how well they perform next to their hungry counterparts. Considering their name means “fat and round” in the Māori language, the pigs’ owner thinks they should be up to the task. Caleb Scott, co-owner of Highland Grazing Ranch in Tompkins County and supplier of the pigs in partnership with United Agriovoltaics, says his company was among the first to commercially graze sheep at solar sites, and he is excited for the new trial.
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Facility managers will be walking the line when they reach Nashville to attend World Workplace® 2022, September 28-30. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has chosen “Take Center Stage” as the conference theme in recognition of the changing role of FMs in the workplace arena. “As the curtain lifts on FM’s shift from purely operational to indispensably strategic, there’s no business like know business,” says IFMA. “Get your act together — this year’s marquee FM event in Music City Center will prepare you to take center stage in making the spaces you manage your tour de force.”
World Workplace is the largest facility management conference in the world, offering discussions and sessions on FM and the wider built environment since 1995. World Workplace offers sessions in tracks, introducing “Emerging Topics” that consist of new or evolving business functions, external influences, or mandates that have a high probability of impacting the FM profession in terms of roles, responsibilities, and skills and knowledge requirements. The other tracks are FM Solutions; Finance & Business; Leadership & Strategy; Operations & Maintenance; Project Management; Risk Management; Facility Information Management & Technology Management; Occupancy & Human Factors; Performance & Human Factors. Sustainability; and Workplace Evolutionaries.
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One of the biggest questions asked in the past two surveys is if there was a “Great Resignation” in facilities management. What these reports found was that 66% of FM managers and staff had left or were considering leaving. However, they also found that the top three ways that organizations can retain FM professionals are through increased compensation benefits, opportunities for professional development and training, and offering opportunities for internal advancement. Furthermore, 54% of FM leaders say that they have open FM-related positions due to staff retirements.
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Education sessions and Product Zones are the most important reason to attend NFMT Remix in Las Vegas, November 2-3. For Pro and Elite attendees, there are 60-minute sessions focused on foundational principals of Facilities Management. The key trends of technology, safety and sustainability tend to be cross-functional and have a major impact on overall facilities strategies. These sessions are geared as more introductory sessions. Think Tanks, for Elite attendees, are 60-minute informal discussions focused around either a specific building type or trend. This will allow you to network with your peers in a small group environment. Attendees can pull up a chair and ask your questions to like-minded facilities managers from around the country. Each roundtable will have an official moderator to help guide the conversation.
Concurrent Sessions run on Wednesday and Thursday, while Product Zone Sessions are featured during the Expo hours between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The Women in FM panel and a reception conclude Wednesday’s activities.
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