What does the new RICS survey tell us about FM’s investment in energy management?

The survey is based on responses from facilities managers, service providers and FM consultancies, it details sentiment across different sectors within facilities management, the experience of businesses and professionals, and expectations of which services will be most in demand.

Key headlines from the RICS Survey include:

• Respondents continue to cite solid demand trends across most sectors
• Investment into energy management expected to see strong growth amid the current high inflationary backdrop
• Three-quarters of respondents feel better benchmarking of performance is needed across the FM industry

Over three-quarters of the RICS survey respondents feel that data is currently not used as effectively as it could be within the FM industry. As demand for services continues to increase and workloads are expected to rise, firms and organisations need to better understand how their building is performing for people, and to support decisions around energy management.

Influenced by the current backdrop of sharply rising energy prices, survey participants are also increasingly of the view that energy management will attract a strong increase in investment over the next year.

Gavin Holvey, Priva UK & Ireland General Manager says he was delighted to see this data. “63% of respondents to the RICS Survey say they now expect energy management to be the fastest growing area of sustainability during the next twelve months, up a respective 50% and 39% in the Q4 and Q3 surveys respectively. Here at Priva UK we welcome this news and look forward to talking our FM sector partners and colleagues to see how we can work with them to deliver wider data-driven energy management solutions to their estates.”

Finally, three-quarters of RICS Survey respondents feel that data is not currently used effectively enough within the FM industry, and that better benchmarking of performance is needed. This underlines the important role IBOS* can play in helping firms and organisations to better understand how their building is performing, by creating consistency on cost elements for workspaces, people and technology in order to optimise the value for all concerned.

To download the Q1 2022: RICS UK Facilities Management Survey click here.

*IBOS (International Building Operation Standard) is a new approach to measure and manage how buildings perform for people, through data.