Operating and maintaining a facility takes the biggest proportion of the lifecycle cost of a building. The growing emphasis on lifecycle considerations through new forms of project relationships together with the increasing refurbishment, retrofit and renovation of existing buildings instead of new build is bringing the role of the Facilities Management (FM) department to the forefront. Add to this the growing importance of sustainable approaches to building and engineering construction and use and the large part of the budget of an organization on a day to day basis for which the FM department is responsible and the critical role of FM becomes apparent.

Organizations need to be able to quantify costs and communicate management information about their facility and infrastructure. To do this, they are turning to new information technologies to drive productivity gains. The most successful companies promote a free-flow of information between departments, divisions, offices, and sites; and between themselves, their contractors and partners.

To promote the free flow of information that is a hallmark of successful companies and to accelerate organizations into the electronic economy, the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) is defining processes for quantifying, capturing, and communicating FM information. While many firms and applications are working on their own solutions, the IAI has developed the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) specification for communicating information that:

• covers all stages of a building lifecycle including FM,
• is globally applicable
• is supported by leading businesses and software developers.

The IAI UK Facilities Management Domain takes a leading role in the development of the IFC specifications for FM. It works in close liaison with its counterpart group in the IAI North American Chapter to deliver industry standard data specifications that cover:

Summary of Demand -> Use Information Requirements in the PAMPeR Project

Information on collaborative work with the IAI North American domain can be viewed at the CADD/GIS Technology Center

Information on the IAI FM9 PAMPeR/ED project can be downloaded from the PAMPeR/ED site

If you would like further information about the IAI UK Facilities Management Domain or about any of the current or previous FM project work, then contact:
Jeffrey Wix, IAI UK FM Domain Technical Support
Jeffrey Wix Consulting Ltd., 30 Northfield Road, Thatcham, Berks, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1635 864590 Fax: +44 (0)1635 860673