Evaluating the facility manager's role in project design
Date
2012-07-03
Authors
Tladi, Keaikitse
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Abstract
The aim of this research is to investigate the role of facility managers in project design. Facility managers play a crucial role in ensuring the continuous sustainable performance of facilities. They are responsible for the planning and management of facility operations and maintenance to ensure that these are done in a cost-effective manner. Despite the crucial role that they play, the facility design process tends to leave out facility managers. This results in designs that are not easy to operate and maintain. In order to improve facility maintainability there is a need for input from facility managers at the project design stage; involving facility managers in project design should result in designs and material choices that make facilities easy and cost-effective to operate and maintain.
The research relied on secondary sources, which included books, journals and online resources. These secondary data sources were used in the literature review to identify the functions of facility management, and these functions were linked to the design process. Questionnaires were then used to get primary data from selected respondents (purposive sampling was used in this research). The analysis of collected data revealed that design considerations and building material choices made at the project design stage have a bearing on the ease and cost-effectiveness of facility operation and maintenance. Therefore, decisions made at the project design stage must take into account facility management functions to ensure that operation and maintenance of facilities are cost-effective. The main conclusion from the research is that facility manager involvement in project design should lead to better designs in terms of facility operation and maintenance, particularly for large complex facilities. The choice of procurement methods and design processes also has a bearing on project design, and choices made in this regard must allow for all stakeholders in the project design stage (including facility managers) to provide input in project design.