Toward an Effective Design Process: Enhancing Building Performance through Better Integration of Facility Management Perspectives in the Design Process

Abstract

In today’s architecture and construction industry, there is a growing agreement that the input of facility management professionals (FMs) can be a vital resource during the architectural design process. FMs are responsible for the everyday operation of buildings, and are therefore aware of many practical details of maintenance and efficiency that designers may overlook. In this study, the current state of the facility management industry and the extent of FMs’ collaborations with designers were examined in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. The objective was to understand the challenges and concerns faced by FMs in these diverse regions, and to determine how the process of collaboration could be improved so that the accumulated knowledge of FMS can better inform design. The study included a comprehensive literature review of previous work on this topic, in-depth interviews with prominent facility management professionals, and a broad quantitative survey of FMs in the three study regions. An analysis of the interview and survey data revealed the nature of existing collaborations and their benefits, as well as barriers against collaboration and suggestions for overcoming those barriers. Difficulties in communication between the two fields were found to be the most pervasive obstacles, closely followed by a perceived lack of interest on the part of designers. The study data also allowed for a comparative analysis of FM-designer collaborations in the U.K., the U. S., and Middle East, and led to suggestions about the most effective times during a project’s life cycle for FMs to provide input to designers. The study results indicate that interventions to improve training and awareness in both fields may be particularly effective in increasing the benefits of collaboration. A process model for more effectively integrating the knowledge of FMs into the design process is also provided based on the study results.