Smart building tech; janitorial after Covid-19; return to work metrics to measure FM; 15 tips for managing the hybrid workplace; and sustainability beyond climate change
fnPrime offers a 27-page Facility Management Predictions report with contributions from five industry experts who identify key trends FMs are already handling in 2022.
The FM Predictions report includes:
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Smart Building Technology is Becoming Mainstream — Just When FMs Need It Most by Kelly Spinola, global product owner of FM, JLL
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Janitorial During & After Covid-19 by John Hajduk, MBA, ProFM, executive director of facilities services for Sodexo and owner/president of Thornridge Facilities Associates
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Return to Work Brings New Metrics to Measure Facility Management by Paul Head, a business leader with more than 25 years of experience, providing digital and process innovation to enhance the user experience, drive performance, improve quality, and optimize ROI for the CRE and FM executive
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Innovative furniture designer and manufacturer Studio TK has just announced the launch of the Libelle group of lounge chairs, designed by Khodi Feiz for Studio TK. Libelle was created to deliver a sense of privacy and offer a personal escape while providing enough flexibility to allow for small collaborative interactions.
Khodi Feiz, founder and industrial designer of Feiz Design Studio, explained: We were exploring the notion of privacy within a social context. Just as important as having one-on-one interactions, it’s important to define privacy with a public space so that we can work on our own, focus, and go deep in ways that feel closed off from our surrounding environment and yet are deeply embedded within it.
Dutch for “Dragonfly,” Libelle is a functional and whimsical collection of seating options, including a pouf, a low-back lounge chair, and a lounge chair with a high-back privacy screen.
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Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, recently released its annual list of the key data center trends to watch in 2022, headlined by a dramatic acceleration in actions to address sustainability and navigate the climate crisis. Vertiv experts see long-held conversations around efficiency and utilization in the data center evolving to reflect a more comprehensive and aggressive focus on sustainability. This movement recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis, the relationship between resource availability and rising costs, and shifting political winds around the world.
Vertiv CEO Rob Johnson predicted: As we move into 2022, data center operators and suppliers will actively pursue strategies that can make a real difference in addressing the climate crisis. For our part, we continue to focus on energy efficiency across our portfolio, as well as alternative and renewable energy technologies and zero-carbon energy sources, to prioritize water-free cooling technologies, and to partner with research leaders and our customers to focus on impactful sustainability efforts.
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Global heating and cooling technology provider Hitachi says it has raised the bar for Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) control with its latest line of controllers. Featuring intuitive designs and robust capabilities drawn from a long heritage of precision Japanese engineering, these new models provide state-of-the-art control of multiple systems.
The systems can be ideal for applications such as offices, hotels, restaurants and schools. They provide a variety of features for HVAC professionals and building occupants, including the airCloud Pro, VRF Central Touchscreen Controller, and Advanced Color Wired Remote Controller.
airCloud Pro
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) professionals can enjoy anytime, anywhere control of an unlimited number of VRF systems with the airCloud Pro, says Hitachi. On the web or through a smartphone, the intuitive interface enables technicians to:
- Adjust temperature, fan speed and equipment modes
- Set operations schedules
- Receive error and maintenance alerts
- Add users with customized permissions
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Air Movement and Control Association (AMCA) International, in collaboration with Concordia University and a team of engineers and scientists, has released the results of a year-long study of the impact of large-diameter (greater than 7 ft [2.1 m]) ceiling fans — also known as high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fans — on coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) exposure in a warehouse in the United States.
Applicable to large open indoor spaces with low occupancy as well as to warehouses, the findings are based on more than 220 parametric computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) simulations varying worker and packing-line locations and fan speed (20 percent to 100 percent) with and without racking.
William P. Bahnfleth, PhD, PE, professor of architectural engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force, who served as science-team leader for the project, stated: This well-constructed and executed study by Professor (Liangzhu [Leon]) Wang and his team … is a significant contribution to knowledge about the effects of HVAC systems on risk of infection transmission and will be helpful both to building operators and to organizations developing guidance for airborne-infection-risk mitigation.
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Tango, a provider of cloud-based store lifecycle management and integrated workplace management software (IWMS), recently announced it has acquired AgilQuest, a provider of flexible and hybrid workplace scheduling. The transaction is said to extend Tango’s position as a global leader in the real estate and facilities management space.
Tango offers workplace solutions for space management and facilities maintenance, real estate, design and construction, lease admin and accounting, and more, including the Tango Workplace cloud-based IWMS platform that employs artificial intelligence and machine learning.
AgilQuest offers people-focused workspace and conference room scheduling and utilization measurement software solutions for the modern, flexible workplace.
The acquisition brings together Tango’s workplace management solutions with AgilQuest’s employee engagement and productivity — “uniting the Workplace with People” — to address the new requirements of hybrid work.
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The National Facilities Management & Technology (NFMT) Conference & Expo offers a wealth of facility management education, March 29-31, in Baltimore. In this conversation, NFMT presenter Stormy Friday, president, The Friday Group, explains what facility managers need to know about how hybrid work protocols will change space planning for commercial office facilities.
by Mackenna Morales, assistant editor, FacilitiesNet
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people work. Employers are trying to find the perfect mix of what employees want and need in order to succeed in the roles, regardless of where they are. A solution that many businesses have begun using is a hybrid-office method. This allows a “best of both worlds” approach where employees can work both in the office and remotely during the week. It is now up to facilities managers to retool any former protocols to ensure they still work in this new environment.
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It’s possible your workplace sensors aren’t providing you with an accurate view of your workplace utilization. In fact, 50% of your space utilization may be untracked right now. This can result in an inaccurate understanding of how spaces are being used, unreliable room and desk booking experience, and general misinformation negatively impacting your workplace strategy.
You can’t transform your space with incorrect data. So what are your options?
VergeSense’s Signs of LifeTM provides business leaders with the most accurate and scalable occupancy detection on the market. This capability leverages intelligent optical sensors not only to count people, but also to facilitate object detection to identify context clues that indicate use of space beyond a physically present human. This provides insight into both active and passive occupancy, providing the spatial intelligence needed to create meaningful spaces where people can thrive.
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New events posted this week
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