Facilities Management (FM) remains a term, which eludes precise or consensus definition. Nonetheless it has emerged in the modern business economy as a key strategy for developing and sustaining competitive advantage. Despite frequent references to it being a non-core activity, facilities and facilities occupation costs often represent a significant proportion of an organisation’s balance sheet, second only to staff costs.

Recent developments in information technology and business organisations have raised questions about the traditional approaches to the management and maintenance of buildings. Traditional building maintenance systems and techniques are also changing; the interface between them and the emerging discipline of FM are still evolving. These developments mandate an understanding of the changing relationship between the physical entity of the work and organisational environment and challenge both the operational nature of property maintenance and longer-term maintenance and refurbishment strategies.

Property, facilities and building maintenance managers, and business planners will need to examine and comprehend the complex issues confronting facilities management and maintenance and reflect on them in pursuit of efficient building management to support organisational activities and lowering of building occupation costs.