Last edited 29 Apr 2020

Hard facilities management

1 Introduction
2 Defining hard facilities management services
3 Uninterrupted operations
4 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

[edit] Introduction

Facilities management is the ‘...integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities’. Ref EN15221-1: 2006 Facility Management – Part 1: Terms and definitions. It is concerned with the management of facilities at both a strategic and a day-to-day level to deliver operational objectives and to maintain a safe and efficient environment.

Facilities management is an interdisciplinary activity with a high concentration of maintenance tasks that can be broken down into two types:

Hard facilities management (the fixed, physical fabric of the facility, which cannot be easily removed).
Soft facilities management (the services that help the facility to function).

[edit] Defining hard facilities management services

Hard facilities management services might include:

Building maintenance.
Electrical inspections and testing (including lighting installation and maintenance).
Emergency routes and exits.
Fire safety (including detection and life safety equipment).
Lifts.
Plumbing, drainage and so on.
Heating ventilation and air conditioning services.
Technical services such as CCTV systems, access control systems and other mechanical and electrical services.

[edit] Uninterrupted operations

Hard facilities management services are often essential to the continued operation of an organisation and require regular maintenance to ensure reliability. Some aspects of hard facilities management may be important for the continued safe operation of the facility and may be required by legislation such as the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

Hard facilities management services may be incorporated into a planned preventive maintenance (PPM) strategy that minimises the likelihood of service interruption and breakdowns. PPM has the advantage of enabling a more proactive approach to maintenance and helps avoid small issues from becoming larger ones at a later date.