This year the program expanded by 23% — a new record, according to IMT — and it released a new Platinum tier that recognizes companies for integrating high performance leasing and social equity practices into building operations. The Platinum requirements address five core areas: Health; Resilience; Economic Inclusion; Social Justice and Racial Equity; and Scope 3 Emission Reduction and Embodied Carbon. There are nine companies in the inaugural Platinum cohort.
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The Associated Air Balance Council (AABC) Commissioning Group (ACG) recently announced the release of the ACG Building Systems Commissioning Guideline. The new digital publication, organized by specific types of building systems, offers insight and strategies from experienced commissioning providers on a variety of topics, and is designed to help providers execute the ASHRAE Standard 202 commissioning process effectively and efficiently — while overcoming common challenges encountered in both design and field settings.
"The ACG Building Systems Commissioning Guideline is a major leap forward, not only in its depth and breadth of information, but also in offering providers actionable guidance on implementation," said Jim Magee, CxA, EMP, ACG Guideline Committee chair. "The new edition tackles the what, when, who, and most importantly, the how."
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Real estate and land use professionals can address the challenges associated with drought and limited freshwater availability by giving priority to water conservation, efficiency, and reuse, according to a report by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). By adopting these objectives, the report argues, real estate practitioners can save money and generate long-term value for communities and the environment.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the inadequate water situation extends across over half of the United States this year. The frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts are increasing, leading to myriad issues, including regional wildfires, and this pattern is expected to continue with climate change.
Water Wise: Strategies for Drought-Resilient Development, the latest report from the ULI Urban Resilience Program, highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with drought and limited freshwater availability and provides best practices for real estate and land use professionals to address them. The report focuses in particular on arid regions in the western United States.
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As part of June’s National Safety Month, innovative maintenance solutions provider Goodway Technologies reminded plant and facilities managers and engineers of the importance of understanding the risk of dust explosions and fires in the work environment. The combustive power of airborne particles, such as dust, is astounding and can be a threat to a number of different industries, says the company.
OSHA’s Combustible Dust: An Explosion Hazard resource notes that “A wide variety of materials that can be explosible in dust form exist in many industries,” including “food (e.g., candy, sugar, spice, starch, flour, feed), grain, tobacco, plastics, wood, paper, pulp, rubber, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, coal, metals (e.g., aluminum, chromium, iron, magnesium, and zinc). These materials are used in a wide range of industries and processes, such as agriculture, chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, furniture, textiles, fossil fuel power generation, recycling operations, and metal working and processing which includes additive manufacturing and 3D printing.”
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Facilities managers were asked how the “Great Resignation” impacted the FM profession and how employers attract and retain top talent to help meet their organization’s strategic goals. Respondents indicate that 66% of FM managers and staff have left or have considered leaving their job in the past year.
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Landscape Forms, a designer and manufacturer of high-design LED lighting, structure, site furniture, and accessories used around the world, recently announced a fourth and innovative addition to its popular Strata line, the modular Strata Beam Bench expansion solution. Designer Jess Sorel combines boldness and subtlety in the Strata Beam’s interaction of materials — the strength of cast concrete is contrasted by the warmth of slatted wood surfaces.
"As a whole, Strata Beam offers the warmth and beauty of wood that people relate to, juxtaposed with Meldstone structural anchors that are thin in profile and sculptural in form," remarked Kirt Martin, Landscape Forms chief creative officer. "Now with the modular Strata Beam expansion, the already architectural presence grows to create runs and configurations that you couldn’t achieve in the past — U-shapes, zig-zags, crosses and fully enclosed hexagons and octagons, just to name a few. It’s limitless."
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Integrated facility services provider ABM recently announced the establishment of ABM Ventures, the company’s business ventures program and an important extension of its Elevate strategy to accelerate growth through investments in both client and team member experiences and industry-leading use of technology and data. ABM Ventures will explore new strategic growth opportunities and quicken the innovation cycle through investments primarily in growth-stage companies that are solving for the facility services industry’s biggest challenges, including sustainability, virtual and digital workplace services, and e-mobility.
"As one of the world’s largest providers of facility services, ABM has the scale and scope to identify opportunities to deliver solutions for our clients today and in the years ahead," stated Scott Salmirs, ABM’s president and CEO. "This new program will enable us to nurture and invest in exciting new technologies and ideas that have the potential to create positive, disruptive change for the industry, and in turn help our clients navigate and win in increasingly dynamic markets.
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New events posted this week
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