Facilities Managers. Most people only need interact with them when there’s a problem with the air conditioning. For the other 99% of the time Facilities Managers are unsung heros, working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the buildings we occupy meet our needs, providing us an environment within which our businesses can operate safely, efficiently and effectively.
Last month Sam Archer and Andrea Davison from NZGBC’s Technical Team toured the country to present to Facilities Managers in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as part of the Facilities Management Association of New Zealand’s National Breakfast Series. The audience was introduced to Green Star – Performance, a framework of best practice for the operations of existing buildings.
At the Auckland FMANZ breakfast event the audience was lucky enough to hear first hand from one of the first organisations to take up the challenge of achieving Green Star – Performance certification. Mark Sinclair, Technical and Sustainability Director for Britomart Group Management Company emphasised how FMANZ and Facilities Managers are well poised to take responsibility and propel forward the uptake of Green Star – Performance and drive continuous improvement. He spoke about Britomart’s motivations for targeting certification, including:
- The opportunity to work towards a more formal recording and structure for facilities management practices that can be measured against
- The additional benefit found in working a lot more closely with staffacross the business such as in-house marketing, facilities, administration and development teams all working together with the aim to achieve the desired outcomes and sustainability goals.
- the high level of interest towards sustainability and a willingness to participatewith reducing waste and improving business efficiencies from tenants within Britomart’s buildings, and the opportunity to take a lead rolewith driving forward these sustainability initiative’s and practices with their partners.
These motivations were shared with audiences at other locations around the country, along with those from other organisations taking up the challenge. One of these organisations is Auckland Council, Community Facilities Division who are planning to certify the three crematoria within Auckland Council’s remit.
The regional facilities that Auckland Council manages make up roughly two thirds of the organisation’s carbon footprint, so there is a motivation to focus on key areas for improvement. Green Star – Performance was recognised as being a useful framework to measure and improve upon, the performance of these assets. Auckland Council also recognises the opportunity that local councils have in demonstrating leadership and influencing change. Auckland Council’s Community Facilities department is the largest local government asset management provider in Australasia, and the organisation looks to lead in this space for better performing assets serving their communities.
The Green Star – Performance tool includes criteria relating not only to energy and water performance, but also management of the indoor environmental quality, transport policies and practices, materials procurement and purchasing and landscape and hardscape management, all contained within nine impact categories (Management, Indoor Environment Quality, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Land Use & Ecology, Emissions and Innovation).
Green Star – Performance certification is a great way to celebrate the hard work that Facilities Managers do on a daily basis to ensure the successful operation of our existing building stock. It is also a way that some of our older buildings can begin to compete with some of their newer, shinier counterparts in attracting and retaining tenants in buildings that have achieved best practice standards in performance.
For more information about Green Star – Performance please feel free to contact Andrea Davison, andrea.davison@nzgbc.org.nz