4 Strategies for Establishing a Facility Sustainability Plan

Sustainability goals have become an obligation, a corporate social responsibility many businesses are expected to fulfill due to pressure from the government, competitors, and customers.

One of the many ways businesses have responded to this pressure is by adopting a sustainable approach to their facility management. Many companies are redesigning their facilities and workplaces to be environmentally friendly. While this comes with far-reaching benefits, it’s not an easy thing to do.

For facility managers and building owners hoping to create a sustainable future in facility management, the following are effective tips to follow:

1. Conduct a Sustainability Audit

The first step toward building a sustainable future in facility management is to run a sustainability audit. This audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your current workplace practices that recognizes your environmental impact and suggests initiatives to promote and execute sustainable measures. It lets you know what hard and soft FM services are worth innovating, progressing, or eliminating to reach better sustainability levels. After doing this, you can create plans to make these initiatives a reality.

2. Replace Old Workplace Equipments 

The fact remains that old equipment consumes more energy than new ones, and while one of the goals of sustainability is to be energy-efficient, replacing that old equipment with newer ones will be an excellent way to further that goal. So invest in energy-saving appliances and implement ideas that’ll reduce energy consumption.

3. Collaborate with Green Partners 

Another tip for sustainability in facility management is to collaborate with green partners. Evaluate the people who supply products or services to your workplace to identify their commitment to environmental preservation. This would reflect their engagement with your organization and foster your sustainable vision.

4. Create a Culture for FM Sustainability  

Sustainable facility management shouldn’t be the sole duty of the facility manager. It should be a collective effort of all employees in an organization. This is why it has to be ingrained in the company’s culture. A way to foster this culture is to set guidelines and systems every member must follow. This may include managing resources, recycling large-scale e-wastes, and station maintenance during and after work.

Using Technology to Drive Sustainability in a Workplace

Facility managers are beginning to see the importance of technology to facility management. With technology, they can reduce maintenance costs to the barest minimum, initiate improvement in the lifespan of structures and equipment, enhance value submission for customers, and reduce downtime. So if you’re planning to build a sustainable future in your workplace, you may need to adopt technology in your facility management.

Additionally, technological tools — such as a CAFM solution – will help facility managers generate and simplify data on all facilities and assets such that these data are interpreted for actionable plans. With technology using artificial intelligence, all tedious and repetitive facility management tasks are simplified. The possibilities are endless when technology is leveraged toward achieving sustainability in facility management.

Achieving sustainable facility management in a workplace is a tedious task that requires intense preparation. However, once you define your sustainability goals as an organization, follow the tips suggested in this post, and leverage technological tools for the process, you’ll place your organization in the right spot to enjoy all its benefits. So make that strategic and highly beneficial decision your organization will enjoy for the foreseeable future.