Bridging the Gap between Sustainable FM and Sustainable Buildings – Will the Green shift create a friendly restructuring?

Abstract

The Paris Agreement adopted by a consensus of 195 countries in December 2015 went into effect on the 4th November 2016. In Norway, as one of the countries that had ratified the agreement, the government has introduced the Green – climate and environmentally friendly restructuring as the way forward to reduce the climate gas emissions in 2050. One of the most important measures is reducing emissions in the building and construction sector.The purpose of this paper is to explore how we can develop a stronger and more integrated approach from the planning and design of sustainable buildings to sustainable facilities management (FM). We have to bridge the traditional gap between design, construction and FM by developing effective solutions analysed over the life cycle perspective of buildings. The answer to the Green shift for real estate and facilities management (FM) also needs to be a coordinated approach from the strategic and tactical levels in organisations to the implementation on operational level.Our theoretical framework is based on models for life cycle analysis of buildings, and organisational models for sustainable FM. In the case studies conducted by our Master students over the last two years, they have employed how sustainable FM is being handled strategically and operationally in large public institutions managing their own buildings. The main focus has been on university buildings, but some other institutions representing cooperate real estate have also been included in the studies.This paper takes the form of an exploratory approach based of the different case studies. Our findings indicate that the integrated approach based on an understanding of the life cycle perspective including planning, design, construction and FM are normally present in new construction projects, but the knowledge regarding the environmental impact and reduction of carbon emission gases when designing zero emission buildings are only present in pilot research and development projects.We have looked at how to bridge this gap better from planning to facilities operations and FM, and we see the need to develop better conceptual understanding and communication between the strategic / tactical and operational level in campus operation and development. By way of discovering further exploratory findings, the case studies have been supported by literature research from academic journals as well as documentation from a number of applied projects.