McMorrow Trend Report Article Archives

Published 2008

Americans & Europeans Feel Well-Paid...and Like the Boss
ROCHESTER, N.Y. –A new International Herald Tribune/France 24/Harris Interactive survey finds that, overall, in the United States and the five largest European countries, people are mostly satisfied with their jobs. At least two-thirds of each country’s workers say they are satisfied, with Italy having the lowest satisfaction numbers (67%) and Spain the highest (83%), according to Harris Interactive. 

Construction Management: Be in the Know
by Jerry Kingwill - Construction is a major responsibility of facilities management. One way to ensure successful construction projects is to work with a highly competent construction manager.

Avoiding Flooring Failure—Insist on Moisture Testing
by Terry Nali, Coordinator, INSTALL Twin Cities and IFMA MSP Member - A common phrase in the commercial flooring industry is: The most beautiful flooring in the world is useless if not installed properly. An additional caveat: A properly installed floor will probably fail if excessive moisture is present in the substrate.

Study Reveals Benefits of Managing Real Estate & FM Spending
by Beth Leibson Hawkins - Real estate and facilities lifecycle management solutions can cut costs while establishing significant process efficiencies, according to a new study published by Aberdeen, a Boston-based Harte-Hanks Company.

Published 2007

Greening Your Triple Bottom Line
by Eileen McMorrow - Executives are lining up for the opportunity to prove their commitment to the triple bottom line. However, few are well-enough versed in the language of sustainability and green design to incorporate it into their real estate decisions such as renovating existing facilities, taking on a defunct company’s brownfield site or building a new corporate facility.

Energy Efficiency Measures Combat Rising Energy Costs
Most North American business leaders, fully 79%, expect energy prices to continue increasing – and are investing in energy efficiency measures to fight these rising costs. They anticipate an increase of 13.25%. Despite the trend toward sustainability, decrease energy expenditures is actually the greater motivator over environmental responsibility, according to a study by Johnson Controls and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

73 Awards Distributed in Best of NeoCon Competition
by Eileen McMorrow - Seventy-three awards were distributed in The Best of NeoCon 2007 competition of contract furnishings. The competition is the major product highlight during the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago. The Best of NeoCon competition, celebrating its 18th year, also awarded six Innovation Awards and four Editors’ Choice Awards.

How E-Newsletters enhance lead-generation to your web site
by Paul Berezny - With more than 4,000 new web sites being created everyday, you would think web sites would be a good source of business leads. However, that is not necessarily the case.

Who Picks the Place?
by Beth Leibson Hawkins – Corporations value market access over basic cost savings in selecting a location for corporate real estate, according to a recent CoreNet Global study.  Corporations also look at how many other businesses are in the area when choosing a site.

Green Thumbs Up for FMs: IFMA and ASBE form alliance
by Beth Leibson Hawkins - The International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) has formed a professional alliance with the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments (ASBE).

Traffic Patterns are Key to Carpet Spec Decisions
by Marc Ahrens - Facility managers (FMs) can incorporate style, performance and sustainability in their commercial carpet choices even though they will have to sort through a massive amount of information in the marketplace. This short list of guidelines will help FMs avoid common mistakes in picking the right carpet for their commercial space.

To Have and to Hold FM Data: BIM
by Dana K. Smith, AIA - The maxim ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’ simply doesn’t apply when it comes to facility management. There’s a new plan down the road that facility managers can become involved with – called BIM – that will enhance interoperability and save time and trouble.

427 Products Compete for The Best of NeoCon 2007
by Eileen McMorrow - The Best of NeoCon 2007 Competition has received 427 product entries in 40 furniture and furnishings, flooring, lighting and interior environment categories. The competition, now in its 18th year, is sponsored by Contract magazine, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., The International Interior Design Association (IIDA), The International Facility Management Association (IFMA), and McMorrow Report.com.

U.S.GreenBuilding Council goes for Platinum-rated digs
by Lisa A. Mulcahy - The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, announces that its new Washington, DC headquarters has earned LEED Platinum Commercial Interiors certification for its office suite. The suite is located within the Service Employees International Union (SEUI) building, which is also a LEED building, having earned LEED Gold for New Construction.

Sound Masking Part III - Can You Hear Me Now?
Perfecting Sound for Video and Telephone Conferencing Rooms
by Art Barkman - Have you ever spoken on the telephone to someone who is using a speakerphone? Chances are that the quality of the signal was not good. It may have sounded as though the person was speaking through a pipe – that “tin can” effect. Usually it’s not the phone, though; it’s the room.

Sound Masking Part II - Containing the Beast, Isolating Noise
by Art Barkman, Once all sources of necessary noise—the unavoidable day-to-day background buzz of the workplace—are established, it’s time to control, contain and conquer. By understanding the principles of sound, and the sneaky ways it sometimes works, facility managers can implement solutions to mitigate its negative effects and significantly improve the quality of life at the office.

“The Times They Are A-Changing”: FMs Answer with Updated To-Do Lists
by Rodney Stone and Subodh A. Kumar Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a-changing,” an adage that for today’s facility managers could not be more true. From an entirely practical focus, facility managers’ commercial design “to do lists” will become more creatively pragmatic. But one constant will remain: the importance of technology to increase efficiency. With a drive toward “make it work” solutions that ensure tangible value in every project, below are some of the hottest topics heading FM’s to do lists.

Green Schools’ Students Attain Higher Performance Levels
by Gary Luepke - According to a recent American Federation of Teachers report, many schools are overcrowded and in a state of disrepair, often with inadequate HVAC systems, poor acoustics, even substandard plumbing. Add to that, ever-diminishing budgets and increasing student populations.

Decoding the Public Sector Procurement Process
by Phyllis Meng, CFM, IFMA Fellow - As a public sector facility manager, is your procurement process a mystery? Do you have difficulty getting what you want?

Sound Masking Part I - Mission Shhh …Combating Noise
by Art Barkman, Let’s face it doing business is noisy. In an office there are phones ringing, co-workers conversing, printers processing and a variety of other miscellaneous sounds to distract and annoy employees. In spaces like manufacturing facilities there’s a whole other set of problems caused by things like loud machinery. Then there are large public spaces like airports and convention centers where sound distortion is a leading concern. But regardless of what type of facility you’re responsible for, dealing with noise is a three-pronged process.

The Idea Center at Playhouse Square
A breakthrough, interactive center for arts, technology, education and ideas.  In a partnership that is the first of its kind in the nation, WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN ideastreamsm and the Playhouse Square Foundation have renovated the National Register landmark building at 1375 Euclid Avenue in the heart of Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district.

The European Union Could Benefit from More FM Unity
by Dave Wilson, To an American, the mission may seem clear: implement a Facilities Management Strategy in Europe. But for those faced with the prospect of managing in Europe for the first time, often the false assumption is made that the Europe of today is a homogeneous entity.

Well-designed office key to improving employee performance
The Gensler 2006 U.S. Workplace Survey reveals that workplace design has a very real impact on companies’ bottom lines. Findings suggest businesses that ignore the design and layout of their workplaces are failing to optimize the full value of their human capital.

Encasement Bests Removal for Asbestos and Mold
by Beth Leibson Hawkins - Being North America’s largest asbestos encasement installation, at 4.2 million sq.ft., is a dubious honor. Especially when it involves four mechanical floors plus a two-level mechanical penthouse, amounting to 1.25 million sq.ft. of space.

Published 2006

Vickie Berry nurtures SBC into the AT&T fold
Vickie L. Berry, AIA, SLCR, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Real Estate at SBC Communications, now AT&T, was interviewed by Eileen McMorrow, editor and publisher of McMorrowReport.com, and Michael Lobash, an editor with Building Operating Management during the National Facilities Management &Technology conference.

Expecting the Unexpected: Being Prepared with Facilities Data
By Ray Dufresne - Over the past year, since the string of natural disasters that affected organizations across the globe, many have revisited what constitutes “best practice” in disaster planning and risk mitigation.

Power is the Lifeblood
By Peter Curtis - Today more than ever, enterprises of all types and sizes demand 24/7 system availability, regardless of the technological sophistication of the equipment or the demands placed upon that equipment. Business losses due to downtime alone total billions of dollars a year globally.

Office Asking Rents on the Rise in World’s Major Office Markets
New York—For the first time this decade, asking rents for Class A office space increased simultaneously in 10 major global markets, according to preliminary year-end 2005 figures from CB Richard Ellis Research. Hong Kong and Tokyo were among the strongest office markets in the world, with significant increases in asking rent and declining vacancies.

India: The Next Real Estate Frontier
India is pregnant with real estate possibilities. Within five years, India is projected to be the world’s third largest economy, when measured in purchasing power terms. Its middle class is expected to be around 300 million people, larger than the entire U.S.A. population.

Careless Employees Found to be a Significant Risk Factor for Identity Theft;
Six Solutions to Address the Problem
LAKEWOOD, CO - A recent report authored by Dr. Doug Jacobson, director of the Iowa State University’s Information Assurance Program, finds that the biggest risk of data breaches or theft comes from careless employees or consultants who don’t properly secure the data they are entrusted with. The report audited 126 companies who suffered a data loss and found that more than 54 percent of lost data was the result of employee error, with only 34 percent being due to outside hackers.

Green Initiatives Start by Reducing Waste
By Fred Klammt - Businesses look to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for guidelines on how to be better at operating a green business. But in some cases, the EPA is shunned for fear of restrictions. And for many, the EPA is just the leader of being less bad—by prescribing exactly how we shall be less bad and by how many fines are to be paid if we don’t obey. 

Change Orders: Causes and Preemption
By Richard Fanelli, AIA, CFM, IFMA Fellow - Recently Fanelli McClain polled a group of general contractors specializing in commercial projects. Seventeen responded to the survey.

Nation’s Businesses Find Improved Work Environment & Health with Green Cleaning
By OneSource - The commercial cleaning industry has seen a great many changes over the years with project tracking technology, process innovations and most recently, more environmentally friendly or “green” cleaning products. Since the concept of “green cleaning” is relatively new, you may be wondering: What is it? What benefits does it provide? Is it really effective?

The Art of Successful Outsourcing
By Rakesh Kishan and Michael Redding - Organizations outsource facilities management to gain the benefits and value associated with focusing on their core business. It enables them to access professional facilities management technology, processes and competitiveness, while reducing costs and increasing value in ways they may not have been able to the do using existing methods. It also can result in better management of their workforce and increased operational flexibility.

Energy Act 2005 Encourages Building Upgrades and Reduces Expenses
By John Conover -The Energy Policy Act of 2005 sent an important energy efficiency message from Congress to facilities managers. As the first national energy policy enacted in over a decade, the Energy Act expanded energy efficiency goals, created incentives for the use of renewables and called for new product efficiency standards.

The Next Industrial Revolution is Found in Cradle to Cradle Building and Office Products
By Fred Klammt - If you ever did a life cycle (LC) analysis then you are familiar with the Cradle to Grave concept: from start-up to disposal. Cradle to Cradle on the other hand completes this LC loop: it requires a product or service to continue having a beneficial use at the end of its life cycle instead of being discarded.

How to Measure the Shades of Green of Building Service Contractors
By George Lohnes - Most building services contractors (BSCs) claim their operations are green and, to some extent, that’s true. Many have replaced harmful, petroleum-based chemicals and older equipment with environmentally preferable products. Yet, when you take a realistic look, you realize that many more tools have come into place and there is the potential to apply a higher level of green practices.

Published 2005

What are the most important considerations to FMs in hiring a consultant?
By Richard Fanelli, AIA, CFM, IFMA Fellow - In preparing to deliver a presentation recently to attendees at IFMA’s World Workplace conference in Philadelphia on the subject of working effectively with your FM consultant, I sent out a survey to professional facilities managers to see what they look for in hiring a new consultant. The results of the survey were somewhat surprising.

Moving the office? Beware Hot Cargo, Rats & Unions
By James M. Barnes, CMC, CFM - Is your company about to move its offices? Don’t sign a mover’s contract—or make any moving decisions—until your read this.

Real Property Asset Management in the Era of Full Accountability
By Ray Summerell - There is little doubt that the federal government has introduced the “Era of Full Accountability” into both public and private sector business processes. Within the past three years, there has been a convergence of requirements and regulations related to disclosure controls and procedures.

Outsourcing: Cut Small Services Co$t$ to Yield Big $aving$
By Michael Redding - By now, most facilities owners have recognized the potential savings in optimizing the cost and delivery of first-tier services—large contracts such as maintenance and janitorial services—and have taken steps to achieve them. However, the opportunities for savings associated with second- and third-tier services—smaller contracts ranging from building automation systems to indoor plant care—are frequently overlooked. Indeed, the greatest potential savings may be found where least expected, and the opportunity for cost reduction in smaller services may be larger overall than in first-tier services that already have been thoroughly scrutinized.

Life Safety: Curtain Wall-The Glass Shield
By Eileen McMorrow - While dampers have been used for decades, mostly in seismic restraint, a new application for this technology emerged about two years ago: blast damper systems that make glass curtain wall safer. The idea came to Terry Palmer, principal of structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic, in Seattle, from looking at robust glass frames and deep-mullion systems. Seele, a German company that designs, fabricates, and installs glass walls, also thought a cable-supported wall would be viable. It tested outer and inner curtain walls that consisted of single- and double-layers of laminated glass. In spring 2002, Seele conducted blast testing of cable-stayed glass walls and no shards were released.

Published 2004

Strategic Facilities Planning: How to Leverage Knowledge While Increasing Visibility in Your Organization
By Robert A. Klein, AIA, Principal, Horizon LLC, a business unit of HLW formerly known as HLW Strategies - As companies increasingly face the challenge of aligning their real estate and facility assets with their business goals, Strategic Facilities Planning (SFP) has grown as an area of expertise and discipline that provides increasingly sophisticated tools to support complex decisions. This article provides insight into Strategic Facilities Planning: what it is, what is the process, what are the major tools and what can it deliver? It provides a template for facility managers and real estate consultants to prepare an “RFP” for strategic real estate initiatives. In addition, it explains how SFP helps facility managers leverage their knowledge and increase their visibility within their organization.

Education Project: Design/Build a High School in a New York Minute
By Eileen McMorrow - When everything about the teaching and learning process for a new high school in Lower Manhattan would be far from traditional, Community Board 1 and the principal decided upon an unusual location–four floors of a downtown office building–and HLW introduced a construction process the New York City School Construction Authority had not tried–design-lead design/build.

Outsourcing: Five Success Factors for Choosing the Right FM Partner
By Brad Peterson - Facilities Management Program Director, FM Solutions Group, Avatech Solutions Inc.
Facilities management solutions enable organizations to make informed business decisions that optimize ROI, lower asset life cycle costs and increase enterprise-wide productivity and profitability. Choosing a capable and flexible FM solutions provider who truly understands your unique needs will pay dividends throughout the implementation and beyond. So what’s the secret in selecting the perfect FM solution provider?

Technology: Wi-Fi is the Next Generation...and Business Can’t Embrace It Fast Enough
By Paul Ziek - The budding success of Wi-Fi is testament to our willingness to adopt new technologies. More importantly, it is an indication that wireless is the next generation of computer-mediated communication. Media coverage is abundant and the buzz is almost tangible. The move toward wireless communication has been evident since the explosion of cellular service in the mid-1990s. Although cellular communication has grown enormously and still continues to grow at an astounding rate, the introduction of more computer-oriented wireless technologies, such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), will radically change the landscape of communications and interaction.

Seven Principles that Make a Difference in Creating a Value-Added Real Estate Strategy
By Robert T. Osgood—Years ago, at the beginning of a new project, a client urged our consulting team to develop a straightforward planning framework that could be used to create, measure, and communicate real estate strategies with people throughout the organization. The result is the Strategy Alignment Model, which has been used and refined on more than 90 projects with Fortune 1000 companies. The model consists of three components, which are based on seven guiding principles.

Safety & Health: Defibrillator Programs Can Achieve 40+% Survival
By Eileen McMorrow - According to the American Heart Association (AHA), a specific heart condition called sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) claims the lives of an estimated 250,000 Americans each year. Unlike a heart attack, which is caused by a blockage in an artery, SCA is an electrical malfunction of the heart typically associated with an abnormal heart rhythm known as ventricular fibrillation (VF). Defibrillation, delivery of an electrical current to the heart, provides the only effective treatment for ventricular fibrillation; however, defibrillation is most effective if received in the first few minutes after SCA occurs.

Published 2003

Bank of America, Nelson & Gensler Mine a True Outsourcing Partnership
By Eileen McMorrow - Bank of America’s shift in focus from growth via mergers and acquisitions to creating a corporation that will "be recognized as one of the world's most admired companies" has prompted them to adopt the Hoshin/Six Sigma process to achieve this goal. A critical foundation step for the Bank was to devise a planning model that enabled the enterprise to optimize portfolio opportunities, reduce cycle time, set standards for delivery and collection tools, etc.-all ways to improve time to market and, ultimately both internal and external customer satisfaction. As part of that model, Bank of America decided to restructure its outsourced strategic and tactical planning services and engage Nelson and Gensler, two strategic planning, design and architecture firms, operating nationally.

Compuware Revs Up Downtown Detroit
By Eileen McMorrow - Compuware’s downtown Detroit headquarters consolidates satellite offices, clusters of departments, and diverse employee groups that finally can work together having abandoned fragmented suburban Detriot offices. The first major new office building in downtown Detroit in 30 years since construction of the Renaissance Center, the $400 million facility has 2,400 employees working in a building designed to accommodate 3,500.

A Management Guide to Remote Working in the U.K.
Peter Knowles, consultant at British Telecom's (BT) Workstyle group, offers managers and HR some first-hand advice about homeworking (teleworking), as well as a few facts about remote workers and the United Kingdom. Over the last few years, flexible working has emerged as a popular method of working. According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the UK alone there are more than 2.2 million flexible workers and many organizations are starting to offer flexible working options as a method of enticing new joiners. Yet although practice has been proven to deliver a number of benefits in the form of cost savings and productivity improvements, flexible working has unearthed a number of issues for HR directors and the executives that must manage these dispersed teams. While technology has a large role to play in tackling these issues and enabling flexible working, there are wider management issues to be considered before this style of working can start to deliver real business benefits.

Brady & Sheridan Promote IFMA's Sustainability Platform
Making the case for where the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) can take the profession and develop its members are the chairman, Sheila Sheridan, and president and CEO, David J. Brady. Serving as president for another year, Sheridan reflected on the achievements of the Association this past year during her World Workplace address in Dallas in October. Her platform will lead IFMA through another year that will focus on a greater awareness of environmental issues and sustainability. To meet this challenge, IFMA expanded offerings to help educate and support members in their efforts to lead their own companies in environmentally responsible practices. Further, the association, with 17,000 members worldwide, is engaged in partnerships and participates in group efforts to promote these issues. The proceeding is based on conversations with Sheridan and Brady and excerpts from their addresses.