BIM Basics for Real Estate and Facility Managers

Digitalisation is not just about the application of technology, but also about business transformation enabled by digital technologies. In terms of digital transformation, there is still a significant backlog in real estate management (REM) and facility management (FM) that must be addressed. Digitalisation is changing not only the format in which information is held and processed, but also business processes and working methods. This gives rise to new concepts and methodologies, commonly referred to as digital transformation. REM and FM managers need to be aware of and understand the relevant digitalisation technologies that play an important role in the REM and FM sectors in order to take advantage of them. This paper aims to increase stakeholders’ digital awareness by explaining key digitalisation technologies in the context of their use in business. It does so by first providing an overview of the selected technologies and showing how they relate to each other, resulting in a technology matrix that categorises the business uses with regard to REM and FM managers, building users and operators. These digitalisation technologies are then explained and discussed in detail. This paper concludes by structuring the technologies, identified benefits and key implementation challenges within a digitalisation framework. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.

Real estate management activities evolved with the development of the real estate industry, the needs of property investors and general changes in the market environment. Today, these activities require a comprehensive approach on the one hand, but on the other, are more and more specialized. The paper presents an integrated view of real estate management on the example of a multidimensional basic concept of real estate management developed under German market conditions. Detailed analysis of this concept was preceded by a review of approaches to real estate management made on the basis of literature and own research. It was on this basis that opportunities and application fields of the integrated model of real estate management in Polish market conditions were characterized. The presented concept can be used both as a raster to harmonize real estate management activities and tasks in business practice, as well as a classification scheme for the evaluation of scientific research. This concept is an important step on the way to structuring and organizing real estate management as a professional service according to the indications of management science.

PurposeThis research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It provides insights towards a comprehensive understanding of office facilities relocation as organizational workplaces.Design/methodology/approachAn investigation of the literature was conducted, to identify design aspects, drivers, challenges, and technical and functional considerations of the workplace relocation. A structured survey was utilized, as face-to-face interviews with 32 FM and 32 REM professionals, to explore and compare their perspectives and expertise.FindingsThe study identified key aspects for workplace relocation that were rarely focused on, holistically, in the literature. The research led to identifying the drivers, challenges, considerations, scenarios, and design needs pertaining to the implementation, acquisition, and occupation of the workplace in times of relocation. There is a dispersed view on workplace relocation between FM and REM, which requires alignment. FM and REM experts' perspectives were intrinsically discussed to ascertain the identified key areas.Practical implicationsWorkplace relocation is a change that disturbs almost every workplace around the globe, at least once in its life cycle. This study enlists comprehension of the knowledge obtained from a review of the international literature, to provide a holistic guide for organizational decision makers, and interlink FM and REM professionals' perspectives, for enhanced decision-making.Originality/valueThis article reviews the literature on workplace relocation, covering FM and REM domains perspectives to advance the organizational workplace relocation practices.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to describe the creation process of the model for identifying the added value of corporate real estate management (CREM), implement the developed model in a case organisation and test whether it works in practice.Design/methodology/approach– The study is carried out using a constructive research approach, where the validity of the model built is tested through a single, but in‐depth, case study.Findings– The research presents the model for identifying the added value of CREM, the theoretical connections from the empirical research and practical implications of the developed model. Furthermore, the study presents the main step of a constructive research approach and examines the applicability of this research approach to real estate and facilities management‐related research.Practical implications– The model tested and developed in this research provides corporate real estate and facilities managers with the tools they need to identify their contribution to the wealth of the firm. The model also helps organisations to ensure the match between a company's business and real estate and facilities strategies.Originality/value– Previous research has not tested the model for identifying the value added by corporate real estate and facilities management (FM). The research approach of the paper, a constructive study, is also quite unfamiliar to and untested by real estate and FM researchers.

Identification and classification of facilities managers functions: A proposal validated by Latin American experts

The textbook examines the legal and financial aspects of the economy and real estate management, market analysis, real estate, investing (including project financing) and mortgage lending; the essence of development; principles and approaches to effective management of modern real estate, and also questions of technical exploitation and safety of buildings; current issues of taxation of real estate; methods of valuation of real estate. Meets the requirements of Federal state educational standards of higher education of the last generation. Designed for undergraduate students enrolled in fields of study 38.03.01 "Economics" (profile "Economics and management of real estate and investments", "Economy and property management") and 38.03.02 "Management" (specialization "Management of real estate"), as well as for students of other specialties, post-graduate students, teachers, beginners appraisers, analysts, specialists in consulting and a wide range of readers interested in the status and development prospects of the real estate market.

This study addresses a critical deficiency in real estate management by examining how contractual arrangements between property owners and facility managers (FMs) can mitigate reputational damage arising from third-party liability incidents. While Spanish regulations impose comprehensive conservation and maintenance duties on property owners, current contractual frameworks inadequately protect owners from reputational risks when damages occur due to FMs’ negligence or operational failures. This conceptual study employs a systematic analysis of 16 Spanish regulations governing real estate conservation and maintenance duties, complemented by an examination of the statutory contract law and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to evaluate the proposed solutions. The analysis reveals four distinct liability attribution blocks, ranging from quasi-objective owner liability to full objective installation holder liability. Current service contracts between owners and FMs provide insufficient reputational protection, as civil liability remains with the property owners regardless of the FMs’ performance. This study identifies specific contractual mechanisms—combining statutory work contracts with representative mandates and installation ownership transfers—that effectively redirect tort liability from owners to FMs. While this study focuses on Spanish regulatory frameworks as a methodologically necessary foundation for theoretical development, the conceptual framework provides transferable mechanisms for adaptation to other civil law jurisdictions. This study constitutes the first comprehensive analysis bridging legal architecture and facility management to propose novel liability transfer mechanisms within established frameworks.

The "bricks and mortar" issues of facility management - HVAC, lighting, electrical, plumbing, space allocation, security and grounds maintenance - continue to be at the core the facility manager's role. However, the processes involved in addressing these areas have become more complex. The proliferation of regulatory mandates, worker compensation issues, increased employee litigation, and violence in the workplace have redefined the role of the facility manager beyond "gatekeeper" to that of full-scale operations manager. Today's corporations, organizations, and business partnerships invest heavily in their physical plants. It naturally follows that they expect to maximize the return on their investment. Facility managers are seen as the catalysts for ensuring that optimal return.The Facility Manager's Handbook addresses all of these issues, and provides a multitude of tested ideas, procedures and examples for successfully and cost-effectively managing facility operations. Written in a plain-language, reader-friendly style, it provides a panoramic view of the process by isolating the key areas the facility manager must address, including real estate, space and change management, indoor air quality, emergency preparedness and response planning, communications systems, regulatory mandates and more.

Building for a better hospital. Value-adding management & design of healthcare real estate

Corporate Real Estate (CRE) management has several functional components, which are often owned by different departments and stored on different data management systems. A Building Information Modelling (BIM) centralized software framework is an efficient way to document, manage, share, analyze and present information used in CRE management operations and provide a single source of truth to allow evidence-based decision-making regarding individual buildings as well as property portfolios. This paper explores previous examples from the literature and presents a case study whereby BIM models were created for two existing small commercial offices to display information related to corporate real estate management, facility management and space use, building operations and maintenance, and thermal comfort and complaint tracking. These case studies demonstrate the data visualization benefits of this tool within this context and its potential for scaling to the portfolio level, as information in each of these models can be interfaced with its associated centralized data management system.

The investments for the development of thermal timeshare facilities have started to grow rapidly. Timeshare property can be defined as a guaranteed, transferable and alternative right that allows its owner(s) to have a limited-term vacation, guarantees to spend at the same time and place every year, provides comfort and legally registered in the land registry. Timeshare properties are used only during a certain period of the year, leasing the remaining times to prevent the facilities from being idle, and this investment model allows a significant contribution to the local economy through the right holders. In this study, the development of timeshare investments in the field of thermal tourism has been examined in general, and in the second stage, interviews were conducted with the right holders and investors of timeshare investments in selected districts of Ankara Province. According to the Turkish Legal System ,the development and management of timeshare investment projects, the buildings and independent sections in the timeshare system must be residential properties, the beneficiary period of each property right holders should be not less than 15 days, the timeshare right can be transferred and left as a heritage to heirs, the facilities must be furnished with the annual maintenance-repair and other operating expenses equally shared, the facilities can be rented in case it cannot be used by the right holders, and the management of the facilities must be realized in accordance with the legal regulations regarding the condominium properties. The research results represent that in timeshare projects based on a condominium-principled ownership system; the total present value of the property price paid by the right owners for a certain use in the selected period of the year and the annual operating expenses are much higher than the present value of the annual rental prices, there is an option to have a holiday in comfortable conditions with the sum of the current value of the annual operating expenses and the cost of the timeshare acquisition, and consequently, timeshare investments are not rational. In the districts where field studies were conducted, although the rental prices/fees and sales values of the real estate subject to timeshare properties are 2-3 times higher than the equivalent properties in the district centre, it has been determined that the attraction of timeshare investments is low for the right holders. It should be emphasized that timeshare facilities need to be analyzed together with both timeshare investor and project developer, and that project development, appraisals, financing, construction, facility and property management services are carried out under the responsibility of real estate development and management experts to increase the project and investment success.

This book documents the state of the art and the emerging operational perspectives in the field of the appraisal discipline. It covers a wide range of topics, including energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, socio-economic evaluation of regional and urban transformations, real estate and facility management, risk management. It also discusses the potential role of appraisal in minimising unexpected consequences; the role of evaluators in urban development projects as well as the contribution of several methodologies with respect to the overall planning and design processes; the need to manage the complexity of the current decision contexts, while at the same time promoting efficient and effective evaluation processes; improving the quality of discussion and communication of the outcomes of evaluation processes; as well as the appropriateness of current regulation and policy regimes (EU, national, regional etc.). It comprises a selection of the best papers presented at the SIEV 2015 conference Appraisal: Current Issues and Problems, which was held in Bari, Italy, in July 2015, and brought together architects, engineers, urban planners, decision-makers and government representatives.

Current empirical evidence of the effect of physical settings on the innovation process or R&D work is scarce. Academic literature and articles on innovation and knowledge management, as well as studies on corporate real estate and facilities management, refer to the need of supporting knowledge work in companies by providing innovation-enhancing environments for the employees. A research project contributing to the issue is being conducted at the Helsinki University of Technology. The study attempts to improve general understanding and to deliver new knowledge on the interrelationship between innovation processes and place. Furthermore, the study aims to contribute to development of business practices especially in the participating companies, but also indirectly to the creation of new services in the real estate sector.

After years of education from within and outside the real estate industry, executives recognise that the workplace is a tool they can deploy to enhance the performance of their people, attract and retain talent and impact their environmental footprint. At the same time, corporate real estate and facilities management (CRE&FM) teams are under pressure to save money. These emergent workplace expectations are often seen as conflicting with the goal to reduce operating costs. This paper explores the extent to which these expectations — implementing highspecification activity-based work settings and at the same time reducing costs — may in fact be the yin and yang of the workplace: perhaps, rather than being conflicting, they are in fact complementary. Through applied research and using data-driven approaches and models, it challenges some fundamental thinking about how a corporate real estate (CRE) organisation is structured; it considers how people’s behaviours influence their demands of the next generation workplaces; and it explores what this means for CRE operating models and the technology to support them.

Purpose Owing to the many involved stakeholders, major challenges in the transition to a circular construction (CC) sector have an organisational nature. This study aims to better understand how intra-organisational changes can advance the transition. Design/methodology/approach The Delft University of Technology’s (TU Delft) circular campus ambition serves as a single case study. Construction projects are examined through desk research and interviews. Barriers to circular strategies are analysed using a framework that combines the R-Ladder for hierarchies of CC practices with organisational levels used for transition management. Findings Most barriers occur on the operational and tactical level, while most possible interventions are located on the tactical to strategic level. Current endeavours mostly target mid-R-Ladder strategies at the operational and tactical level. The linear accounting and project development frameworks remain significant tactical barriers within the campus real estate and facility management (CRE&FM) department. Moreover, strategic tooling such as consistent monitoring and forward dashboarding is lacking. Furthermore, CRE&FM is leading the implementation but is dependent on its parent organisation, in which measurable goals, understanding of their implications, as well as a circular financial framework, are largely missing. Practical implications The study provides valuable insight and practical recommendations for (semi-)public RE owners to support the CC transition from within their organisation. Originality/value This study advances knowledge on intra-organisational transition management and offers a new analysis framework that combines circular strategies and different management levels.