New FM standard a ‘benchmark’, says CBRE

CBRE said: “FM is a discipline that needs to balance the rapidly changing needs and demands of the various stakeholders that it serves with effective, safe, and sustainable business needs. It affects the health and wellbeing of all those who come into contact with an organisation, and covers a wide range of areas – including occupancy costs (the second highest overhead in almost every organisation), use of space, maintenance, security, cleanliness, the environment, and more.”

ISO 41001, Facility management – Management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, the new management system, draws on international best practice, and, CBRE says, ‘constitutes a benchmark for developing and driving an effective strategic, tactical, and operational FM regime’. CBRE added: “It will also assist organisations seeking to outsource FM, as those providers who are able to demonstrate compliance will provide them with an assurance regarding their approach and processes.”

Stanley Mitchell, chair of ISO/TC 267, ‘Facility management’, the ISO technical committee that developed the standard, said ISO 41001 would ‘assist organisations in a number of ways by establishing a common approach and a set of processes that can be referred to around the world’. He explained: “Every company, big or small, has some element of facility management. It is a complex discipline that directly affects everyone, as it is all about the spaces that we occupy and how those spaces meet the needs of the people who use them on a daily basis.

“ISO 41001 is the first standard of its kind for facility management with the potential to make a real difference to organisations by improving workforce health and safety, reducing their impact on the environment, and making considerable cost savings and efficiencies.”

The secretariat of ISO/TC 267 is held by BSI, ISO’s member for the UK.